Christmas part 1, Estle style

As is tradition, we gathered with our (Stephen) Estle family the weekend before Christmas. And this year, the celebration took place way up north, at Gramie and Grampie's new house! We filled the car with kiddos and goodies to make the trek, stopping in Lansing to hang with the Minnaars for the night. (So fun! Thanks friends!) The farther north we drove, the more beautiful and white it became...oh how Ive missed snow!






Northern MI delivered. By the time we left there was well over a foot....Uncle Josh pulled the kids on sleds with his snow mobile, the hot chocolate flowed, and we all had chapped cheeks. Glorious.
Aunt Julie and cousins Gavin and Bowden made the very long journey from northern Wisconsin to join us, which is not an easy journey for a single mommy and two wee ones. We were so thankful for time to catch up, eat, relax, eat, read, eat, and watch movies (while eating). I had great intentions to run on the tread mill during our time there, but of course forgot my running shoes. Instead, I broke out Gramie's hula hoop, which is
an awesome workout...Im going to get my own!

Of course, we gave and received gifts. Among the favorites was a nerf "gun" from Uncle Josh to all the boys.....we dodged crazy flying foam for days, and a tea set for Luci from Gramie and Grampie. It was the first gift she opened the Im not sure she noticed all the others. She poured tea for us all day and was delighted. It was really quite fun to watch her in all her girly glory. I appreciated that the set was made of tin and had a vintage look to it. Im sure we'll have many tea parties (with some "gun" fire in the background) in the years to come.

We made it over snow and ice covered roads home a few days before Christmas. Sadly, central Indiana greeted me with grey, cold, snowless weather. And then it had the audacity to get up to 65 degrees a few days later. I'll just have to savor my memories of it all....and hope for real snow down here.

To see more pictures, click here!