Colorado Christmas!

This is going to be long because I haven't written in awhile and a lot happened over the 2 weeks I was in Colorado for Christmas!

We had a fabulous Christmas this year! That is if you don't include my mini-meltdown when I thought my husband wasn't going to be with me on Christmas day.

The plan was that I would leave early for my parents’ house in Loveland, Colorado (NW of Denver at the foot of the front range mountains) to spend some days on my own with my parents before my husband and the rest of the family arrived for Christmas. I did that last year and I loved it so much I wanted to make sure I did it again this year. Stephen was to arrive the Friday before Christmas so that we would have some time to do our shopping and be ready for Christmas Eve before my sister Kirsten and her husband Jeff and children Olson and Kaelen arrived. My oldest sister Melinda and her husband Cody and my youngest Teresa, live near Mom and Dad and would come over on Christmas Eve. Every Christmas Eve, we go to the evening Christmas Eve service at my dad’s church (this year it was in the morning during the Sunday morning service), then we come home and have our traditional Christmas Eve meal where we stuff ourselves with ham and Norwegian kumla smothered in butter and salt and pepper. Mmmmm… Then we clean up a bit, change into pyjamas (with stretchy waistbands) and open our presents. The presents are opened one at a time and we take turns from youngest to oldest. It’s always a fun time with my niece and nephew. Everyone wakes up on Christmas morning looking forward to opening stockings and stuffing themselves with more of the leftover kumla fried with leftover ham (smothered in butter, salt and pepper) and prune soup and kringla and rice pudding. Mmmmmmm…. And then we start making Christmas dinner with turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, sweet potatoes and pies. Mmmmm….

So I flew in on a beautiful, bright, calm winter day. It was the Tuesday before Christmas. As with most Colorado Christmases, there wasn't any snow and the weather was mild. I was so excited! It's my favorite time of the year!! I had a wonderful time with Mom and Dad. We woke up in the mornings and had coffee by the light of the fire, Christmas tree lights and candles. My mom and I shopped as much as we could on Tuesday and had planned to do more Wednesday but our plans, and the plans of most people in the state of Colorado, were interrupted by a massive blizzard.

It stopped snowing Thursday but was still blustery. Over 2 feet of snow fell in one day, so we were stranded in the house! Most of the highways on their side of the state were closed. Everyone on the street was digging out as massive snowbanks blocked in front doors, garages, driveways and sidewalks. Streets were impassible until snowplows could get through. All flights to and from Denver were suspended and thousands of people were stranded at the Denver airport because road closures had kept them from leaving. At first they were saying it was going to open up again on Friday morning in plenty of time for Stephen's flight. We stayed cozy inside with the fireplace on, baking Christmas goodies, listening to Christmas music and watching the snow build up around us. It's funny how suddenly the winter wonderland we found ourselves became a nightmare for me. I opened my e-mail on Thursday afternoon to find that Stephen's flight the next day had been cancelled. After an hour on the phone, being cut off or put on hold by United Airlines, I was told that the earliest they could get him to Denver was Christmas evening. And that's when I had my meltdown. I finally got a hold of myself and started to look into other airlines until I found a flight that was to come in early afternoon of Christmas Eve. That was better but I was still very sad that he'd still be so far away for a couple more days.

When Stephen and I talked later we decided that we would have to share shopping duties since we couldn’t shop together. It actually turned out okay. Mom and I did make it out of the house on Friday to go shopping even though the roads weren’t great. We met up with Dad and my sister Teresa for one of my favorite American treats, crab rangoons (also called crab cream cheese wontons) for lunch. We got stuck in the snow several times during the day – Teresa and I had to jump out and push – and traffic was an unbelievable mess on the snow-packed roads but we did get our shopping done! It was actually a fun day. We knew all of it would take a very long time so we didn’t get too impatient and enjoyed the hours we had to talk in the car.

Kirsten, Jeff, Olson and Kaelen arrived on Saturday afternoon. Fortunately the roads from Minnesota down to Colorado weren’t too bad for their drive down. It was great to see them but they were also disappointed that Uncle Stephen wasn’t there until the next day. He called the next day from the airport in Calgary before he left. He almost didn’t make it through security due to a poorly chosen response when they asked to search his carry-on. He had some Tim Horton’s coffee containers in his bag and the security officer wanted to make sure they actually contained coffee. Here's a tip when going through security - even if you have over-stuffed your bag and had a lot of trouble getting it zipped shut, and you are afraid everything will pop out if they open it, it is not a good idea to warn the officer by saying “Careful when you open that, it might explode.” Everyone, security guards and the passengers in line, went dead silent ... and Stephen quickly tried to explain what he meant to say. They did let him through - with a stern warning.

We had the Christmas Eve service that morning and my niece and nephew participated. We were all very proud as they stood and recited Psalm 100, a prophecy from Isaiah and the entire Christmas story from memory! Dad and I left for the airport after the service. When Stephen arrived he went straight to my father with a thermos mug full of still warm Tim Horton’s coffee. He had bought it as they were making the final boarding call and had wrapped it in newspaper for the hour and 45 minute flight to keep it warm. My dad was very pleased with the Canadian treat – one of his favourites!

And the rest of our Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were just as we had expected! So much fun! It was great to have our whole family there! I love them all!

Our days after Christmas were spent playing games, shopping, digging a big snowcave with tunnels that we named Canorsky Cave, going up to Estes Park in the mountains to visit Olson and Kaelen’s favourite toy store Gepetto’s, going sliding near Canorsky Cave, visiting Canorsky Cave at night with flashlights, lots of eating, enjoying hot coffee or tea by the Christmas lights and fire, making ice cream and being snowed in again by another winter storm.

Kirsten and Jeff left with the kids on New Year’s Eve (Sunday) morning. It was very sad for Stephen and I and my parents when they had gone. The house was suddenly way too quiet and way too tidy! Dad left for the church shortly after that to finish preparing for the service that morning. Mom and Stephen and I got ready for church and went out to the car to find that the battery was dead. Dad did have a recharger but it took awhile and we ended up only making it for the last half of the service. There was a severe rollover accident on the road we took to church and we think that the dead battery was part of God looking out for us. If we had left when we wanted to, we probably would have been there when it happened and on those icy roads we could have been a part of it. We went for lunch after church and then got some digital pictures from Christmas printed. We sent them to Olson and Kaelen in little photo albums as presents. Our New Year’s Eve night was quiet but fun. Dad and Mom and Stephen and I sat in front of the fire working on a puzzle, talking and laughing. We had crab rangoons and edamame with some of the leftover Christmas treats.

All in all it was a great time! Stephen and I, sadly, had to fly back to Calgary on New Year's Day ... and, sadly, our bags didn't make it back to Calgary with us. There was still a lot of back log and chaos in Denver from all the cancellations and in the midst of it, our bags got misplaced. They did arrive the next evening however so it wasn't so bad.

It was very hard to come back but there was the challenge of my new position to come back to and that has kept me busy so far. I am really enjoying it.