Christmas in McCall, Idaho - Part 1

We asked the girls if they would like to spend Christmas skiing in Chamonix, France (we were there, afterall), and they unanimously said no, they wanted to be in McCall, Idaho with cousins. As time went on it turned out Geoff's entire family would be in McCall for Christmas, so we came home to spend Christmas in one of our very favorite places on the planet.

We would arrive a week before anyone else (except for Tennie who joined us the second week), and we watched the weather looking forward to snow, but there wasn't much. The first week we literally prayed for snow so Brundage, the local ski resort, would open! And sure enough, later in the our first week there, we got a lot of snow. That first week was full of crackling fires, reading, games and walks. It was delightfully quiet and uneventful.

Before it snowed...

After it snowed...

It was a typical McCall winter wonderland.

Most people arrived on my birthday. I treated myself with some goodies from the local bakery, Stacey Cakes, and had a pretty low-key day. It was very nice. The best part was setting out to cut down our own Christmas tree in the woods! (Any good quality pictures were taken by Geoff's sister Brittany.)

On Christmas Eve we took up a good chunk of the overflow at church. 

We were staying in three homes (including Ingrid and Trent's place). The largest of the three was the gathering place for all activities. Christmas Eve afternoon we decorated the tree and acted out a nativity play organized by Liz. It was awesome. Those kids took their parts seriously and put on a beautiful play. Tennie played a script helper, and Adele and Ceci were narrators.

Getting ready...

  

I love Lucie, the angel below, with her snowsuit under her costume!

We had a big taco bar for dinner, after which Geoff gave "snowies" to all the boys...and Ceci.

There was front row, indoor seating to watch...

As it was getting closer to bedtime, Ian began to read The Night Before Christmas, allowing the kids to finish off each sentence.

We then broke out into a rowdy version of Here Comes Santa Claus, and then we heard a "Ho Ho Ho!"

The kids almost immediately recognized Poppop! He passed out a present for everyone there, one at a time.

  

We finished the night off with a little circle of singing Silent Night around the tree (a Davis family tradition) and a fondue dessert before going our own ways to get ready for Santa's visit.

On Christmas morning we opened presents and ate breakfast in our own houses.

In the early afternoon we gathered at the main house and exchanged family gifts (all adults pick a name, and all of the cousins pick a name). This opening seemed to go on for eternity, but was so much fun. Tennie doing a little dance with her yard of Snickers...

In between there were games.

We had a big ham dinner and Geoff, Robin and I made batch after batch of ableskiver. Mmm. I think we are 37 strong now.  That is a lot of ableskiver!

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!