Reflections on a Great Trip

You know those times when you look back on something with a sigh of contentment, realizing that it couldn't have turned out any better than it did? That was our Christmas vacation this year. We spent almost two weeks with our Canadian family, and we thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. (We especially enjoyed the freezing temperatures and the snow!)

Our vacation included lots of family time, seeing some friends, drinking lots of coffee, and enjoying the snow. Here's a peek...

We were getting ready to go out and shovel.
After a few minutes on the driveway, the scarves came off. It was cold, but not that cold!


Shoveling - something we enjoyed doing while we were there.



The snowblower came out once or twice as well...


While we were home, we had a bridal shower for my cousin Stacy, who is getting married in a few months. We totally surprised her, and had a great time that evening. It was such a blessing to be able to participate! (Sorry for lying to you about the movie, Stace...)


Apparently my cousins got a bit bored at Stacy's shower. They probably never knew they'd have the chance to be featured on my blog. Beth & Jen, you're famous now! :)


I love the sights and sounds of Christmas.


Christmas is full of great traditions with my family. Having missed it for a few years, it was great to be home again this year. Here we are with our Derksen cousins. Heather, we missed you!


Christmas morning breakfast at Grandma's - we always look forward to this because we get cookies for breakfast! (There's a lot of other good stuff too...)


Sharing some silly moments with my sister, Lori.


We tried to keep up with work while we were away. Welcome to our "office!"


Andy had never been snowmobiling before. We started him off small, as you can see... :)


And then we allowed him to quickly graduate to something a little more his size!


One of the great highlights of the trip was no cooking. Mom makes such good meals, and we ate SO much. To top it off, I was on cooking vacation. I did hardly anything in the kitchen. Here's one of our favourite meals - pigs in a blanket, made with Canadian farmer sausage. There's not much to beat this treat. Thanks Mom!