Every Christmas the boys venture into the Cascades and cut down a real tree. I hadn't gone in 7 years, so Mike, Dad and I climbed a mountain, felled a 20 footer and drug her back down! Incidentally, we had our first snow that day.
Carly, Curt Helton, and Dave Burnett all geared up and staying warm. They brought enough food and built a fire large enough to warm an army!
Dad, Mom, Michelle, Mike, Mitch, and me trying to embarrass Michelle in front of her date before she went to Varsity Ball. I think we succeeded.
Mitch finishing off the last of Jared's cheese balls. The little thief.
We hadn't finished off all of this year's crop of squash...
...so we took them SNOW pumpkin golfing!
Mike thought this highly of the activity.
This may have become an entrenched family tradition.
Singing Jingle Bells at the ward party. Oh boy, that wasn't stressfully pulled together.
Around the Christmas Eve dinner table: Mike, Adchara DeLong, Elena Hunter, Grandma (Beth) Critchell, Dad, Jon DeLong, me, Catherine DeLong, Michelle, and Mitchell. Elena stayed with our family between Thanksgiving and Christmas and sang for our Christmas Eve program!
How the twins have survived every Christmas Eve program for the past 18 years.
The kids bought Dad the State of Washington for Christmas! As if he already didn't own it. :) We're State's Rights people.
Yet another year of Hand and Foot tournaments. This year our table played friendly and no one left with festering animosity. Did I mention that Vanessa and I won?
Santa brought new snowshoes this year! So the kids decided to try them out on Saddlerock on New Year's Day.
Mitch, Michelle, me and Mike at the top!
The view over Wenatchee. Somehow it appears smaller when covered in snow.
Good thing Mitchell drug a sled the entire way up, because we sledded down the entire trail.
Mitch took the front and the brunt of the casualties.
We enjoyed sledding so much we decided to build a luge off of the garage roof. Pretty good view, eh?
We also decided to build the snowmen house of horrors from Calvin and Hobbs along the front walk. Mom was really happy. And fewer people came to visit.
Harry, built by Briggs Helton, used to hold a golf club. We had to return it, though.
Herman, built by me, is swimming away from three shark fins.
Norman, built by Mitchell, just felt uncomfortable with his neighbors.
And Fred, built by Mike, is contemplating where he came from and what he will unavoidably be reduced to.
I've never seen anyone eat so much. Matt, you have some serious competition.
Michelle and I have similar problems when it comes to chopping onions. To feed the twins we had to do a lot of it, so we became innovative.
Fred's worst fears came true quickly. After five days of life, a Chinook came through and wiped him out.
It also wiped out a few things in the yard other than snow, come to think of it. We lost three trees! Which meant we got to chainsaw and make a burn pile out of them.
Dad's tarp shed didn't fare well, either. Christmas break officially ended.
