Winter traditions

Life in Walla Walla doesn't usually mean snow at any time of the year let alone before Christmas. Last weekend we got a treat when we woke up on Saturday morning, it was snowing. It wasn't sticking quite yet but eventually it stuck and stayed. YEAH. We were going to get our Christmas tree that day so we were very excited that it was snowing because it's not fun to pick out a tree when the grass is a sloppy mess. So we bundled up the kids and heading for the hills (literaly). It took us awhile because half way there we decided we couldn't make it there and back on the gas we had so back to the pumps we went. Once we got up there we spent about 30 minutes to find the perfect tree (or at least one that would be good for our house) and heading back home. We found a place that we get to cut our own which makes it fun. Erik had a blast being pulled in the sled and Sarah tolerated being out in the wet snow as long as mom held her. (She lasted in the snow long enough to get a picture).
We didn't get the tree up that night because just getting it home and in a stand in the garage took it out of us so we took part in another new tradition. Roasting marshmellows over the fire and making smores. It's really fun to do in the winter and we used homemade marshmallows YUM! If you are a fan of marshmallows, you HAVE to make your own. It's soo easy and very very yummy!
Sunday we were able to take the kids sledding at the park where there is a great hill for children to go down (and adults). Erik went down once by himself and crashed and burned (yes, he slammed his face into the snow and got snowburned), so he refused to go by himself again and when I bribed him to go, he screamed the whole way down. Oh well, maybe next year. My boy is just not as brave as others. After an hour, Sarah went from mildly annoyed to histaria so we headed home. That afternoon/ evening we finally got the tree up and decorated. I wanted to start another tradition of stringing popcorn, well that won't happen. It takes a lot to string popcorn and enough to get around the tree would probably have taken me days of stringing popcorn so I stopped with one strand that goes half way around the tree. Smores= doable tradition, stringing popcorn= undoable tradition.
Enjoy the Christmas season and all it has to bring. Remember what we are really celebrating and it's not how much of a deal we can get, it's the birth of Christ and we should praise him for all he gives us because if he didn't give it to you, it doesn't exist!