Christmas in Wisconsin

I feel fortunate to be in Hayward, Wisconsin this Christmas with my family. My sister and I barely made it out of Portland, Oregon before the weather set in and transportation ground to a halt in the West. Then we arrived in Minneapolis to find more snow than we had left in Oregon. :-) The drive back to Mom and Dad's was pretty intense with the snow and ice on the roads but my Dad is pretty good with that (he's a midwest boy).

We've had an awesome week so far. I got to go out cross country skiing a couple times and loved it. We even made a late night trek in the dark through the north woods. Granted, this made it much harder to see the hills and ice! I saw my Dad disappear down a hill in front of me and then sliding down the ice on his rear with his skis in the air. Fortunately, there were no broken bones from our little midnight venture but plenty of bruises. And lots of laughter...

Today was Christmas Eve and my family had drafted out our plan for the day. Everything went smoothly up through the candlelight service. Then we were going to find dinner somewhere. (FYI, we started a new tradition this year - each person in the family got to cook dinner one night during the week leading up to Christmas - Me: Monday, Susy: Tuesday, Dad: Christmas Eve, Mom: Christmas!) So for Dad's big dinner, we were going to go eat in town (less preparation and dishes that way). After the candlelight service, we drove through town and everything was closed! Even the Perkin's family restaurant. We considered going through the gas station for a hot dog. Fortunately, the McD's was open til 6pm so we managed to sneak through just in time for a quick cheeseburger so Dad didn't have to cook after all. Mom had also planned to run by Walmart but it also closed at 6pm. Basically, Hayward was ready for Christmas today by 6pm! The entire town seemed to shut down. :-) It was a humorous end to the day - and one that we didn't anticipate. Even the theater was closed...

Tomorrow is Christmas. My life has gone through a lot of changes since last year. But the awesome news is: Jesus Christ is still the same as he was yesterday, today, and forever. Thanks be to God for that incredible gift!