Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas

Abigail celebrating the last day of school, until Jan.

By Allan Olson

Even though I haven’t really felt like I was all full of Christmas cheer this year, when we woke up on Christmas Eve morning, I was ready to celebrate with my family. My wife and I woke up by 5:30 a.m. We just sat and waited for the kids to get up to open their gifts. Marcus was the first one awake – by over an hour – and he watched television with us, waiting for his siblings. Finally I sent him to wake the others up so we could get our Christmas done at home before heading north.

When everyone was finally up, I decided to delay things a little by sending them all to shower, since they had made me wait all morning. I figured they could wait a little longer. They finally got to open their gifts and enjoyed them briefly. Then we made them eat something, and we were on the road before 10. Right on schedule. 

I thought we would spend the afternoon on the snowmobiles, but my brother and his family were visiting other family members and so didn’t arrive until about dinner time. In all honesty, by that timeI didn’t really feel all that motivated to get my gear out of the vehicle and pull it on, so I didn’t even get on the sled. I did, however, get to shoot my brother’s new pistol. It was the first time I’ve shot a pistol bigger than a .22. Of my kids, Alivia was the only one to get on the sleds. Her cousin gave her a ride around the farm. She felt that getting her winter clothes out of the vehicle was well worth the effort, and she said her ride was awesome.

The rest of the afternoon was spent enjoying delicious food, playing games and visiting with family. Sunday morning we spent a little time visiting some more before heading to another Christmas party at my mother-in-law’s. While there, we enjoyed visiting with more family, including my wife’s Grandpa, who was at Christmas in Minnesota for the first time in at least 30 years.  

We left that celebration somewhat abruptly, as the more I watched the radar the more concerned I was about the impending storm. I really didn’t want to drive home in the dark or on treacherous roads, so at 2:30 p.m we hit the road again, heading for home – minus Nikolai, who instead went home with my brother and his family.

Thankfully, we made it home without having to deal with any bad roads, and in plenty of daylight. Someone made the mention of the AC unit not being covered, so my wife and I set about taking care of that task before darkness fell. I tried watching a show with the kids, but I was exhausted and so I told the kids to wake me at 8 p.m. and we’ll watch a movie then. 

After about a 90-minute nap, I woke up refreshed. My wife made some eggs for those who wanted something to eat, and then we watched a movie that my niece thought was great. I was not impressed, but the girls enjoyed it, so I guess that’s what’s important.

When the movie finished, I was ready for bed again. I read my book for a little while, and then decided I would finish it in the morning.

On Monday morning, Marcus and I cleaned off the deck. The girls came out and they all played in the snow until they got cold. We spent the rest of the day in the nice warm indoors.

The weekend was a lot of fun, and I was glad we made it home before the storm. The local roads were in pretty poor shape on Monday, and I would not have wanted to try and venture very far from home. This weekend we will host our annual New Year’s party – as for how many will be here, the number always varies and we never actually know until the day arrives – but regardless, I know we will have a fun time, either watching movies or playing games.

I hope everyone has a happy and safe New Year’s weekend, and a healthy and happy 2017.

Please remember to watch out for the buses that are carrying our most precious cargo. Also snap a photo or two to preserve a lifetime of memories. Thanks for reading, and have a great week! Feel free to drop me a line at cltimes1@arvig.net or stop by the office for a visit.