Christmas in Broadus

For Christmas this year, we headed to Broadus. We stopped by the Reder ranch on the drive, only to get snowed in. We planned on heading to Broadus in the morning, but the roads were bad, so we played at Grandma and Papa's for a bit and then caravaned around lunch with them to Broadus (Grandma and Papa were heading to Bozeman). It was a cold morning, but it was beautiful due to the fresh snow. Snow always makes it feel a bit more like Christmas.

Poor Grandma Mary had a cast on her arm because she went ice skating by herself on her pond and fell and broke her wrist. Personally, I think it is pretty cool that my mom broke her arm ice skating...hopefully she learns to not be so crazy in the future.

Wally had a great time playing with Jason's old constructs. OK, so did I. I made a ship once Wally went to bed just to show him some things you can do with constructs. When he woke up, he asked me if I made it when I was a little girl...well, honey, your mom has never grown up and doesn't plan on it.

Wally asked Grandma Mary and Papa Randy for wood. Wally has been wanting to build stuff with wood and nails and screws. Who would have guessed a box of wood scraps would make a kid so happy. This would have been a great picture, had Wally's hand not been in front of Grandma's face!

Wally brought his Lego Star Wars advent calendar to Broadus. On the 23rd, he was to build a Christmas tree. He was so focused on Star Wars that he couldn't figure out what it was. He guessed it was something for Princess Leia because of the star.

Daddy, Great Gramma, and Gramma Kathy...what beautiful eyes! And, they are all pretty swell people too!

Wally has always loved Gavin, and this visit was no exception. Playing Legos with his big cousins was quite a treat.

Keegan (and Chandler) are also growing up to be such great young men...when did that happen? (The growing up part, not the being great part!)

Who says that the economy is in a slump? And, I don't think this includes everything or the gifts from Santa!

So many cousins having a great time together at Gramma's house. But who is missing?

Ah, there he is checking out Aunt Amy's computer!

When you have 8 cousins together at Christmas, what better thing to do than to put together a Christmas pageant?!! The kids worked on the story deciding what lines to say and they chose songs to sing between scenes. Then they worked on costumes.

Aunt Amy was the master mind behind the pageant as she is incredibly talented in the singing/acting/creative arena (I stapled paper plates together to make angel wings).

Wally was too tired to participate in the pageant on Christmas Eve, so he let Great Gramma wear his crown...I think both ladies should have crowns!

Chandler was able to convince Wally to sit on his lap at the end of the show for pictures. What fun it was! And, a great way for the kids to remember that Christmas is not about getting presents wrapped in wrapping paper.

Gramma Kathy gave Wally Minotaurus, a Lego game. We have had so much fun playing it as a family.

Wally was so tired come Christmas Eve, that he fell asleep in my arms during the second song of the Christmas Eve service (at 5:00!). He snored his way through the rest of the service, even the candle light part. Then, while we were all opening presents, Wally asked me if he could save his presents for later and go to bed. You know a kid is tired or overwhelmed when he wants to go to bed rather than open a pile of presents. We did manage to get a note written to Santa and a plate of cookies and a cup of water by the fire place.

Wally was quite excited to awake to a plate of crumbs on Christmas morning.

Opening presents from Santa. Check out Jenna and Molly's PJs - too cute! Check out Papa Steve - um, too cute?Aunt Katie gave Wally a whoopie cushion...enough said. He loved it.

Yeah, Aunt Katie gave me a shirt too.

Wally really wanted Pixie dust, and Santa pulled through (see videos at end). I was very pleased to see how very excited Wally was to get Pixie dust.

Gavin gave Wally a Star Wars puzzle. What is better than that? Putting it together with your cousins of course!

Aunt Katie gave Joel a shirt too. He wears his to work...I don't.

Eric and Bruce...think they're related?

Joel and Wally helped me pick out some fabric for a blanket for Great Gramma, we think she likes it.

OK, time to try out the Pixie dust. Everyone got a handful of Pixie dust...

Everyone threw it up in the air...

The girls laughed and smiled...and Wally cried, "Why am I not flying? Why didn't it work?" Poor kid. I thought he knew it wouldn't really make him fly. He was pretty crushed...Mom felt bad. But, he got over it. He now loves using Pixie dust for art projects.

We got the kids out of the house and went to the windmill that Joel played at so often as a kid. After being married to the guy for over 8 years, I finally got to romp through the hills around Broadus. We even made it to the turtle pond.

It didn't look or feel much like Christmas, but it was beautiful. Looking SE towards Broadus.

A boy and his daddy.

Wally and I went to the top of the tallest hill (Sheep herders monument). It was beautiful. We scared away a hawk and were going to head to another hill to see where the bald eagles always hang out, when the fun stopped. My son, managed to fall with both hands straight into a giant prickly pear cactus patch on the very top of the tallest hill...screams ensued. I tried to pull the thorns out of his little palms, but soon realized there was no way to get them all out on top of the hill, so I picked him up and started running down the hill. Joel heard the screams (as did most of SE Montana) and came running for the hand-off. He was a brave boy as several of us worked on pulling the thorns out. Now, on Jan 17, he still has some bumps on his wrists from the thorns and a few keep working their way out. Well, now we have a story every time we look at the hill.

Hmm...is Steve annoyed with Eric or me? Probably me!

All the cousins love their Aunts! Jenna, Mary, and Molly.

So, I may not wear my shirt to work, but I did wear it all Christmas day...turns out it made me into some sort of super star...maybe it was my gold star.

It was great to be able to see Kourtney and Wayne.

Even Papa Steve wanted a picture with me!

Ah, Linda. You wear Hawkeye gear so well! We love you!

Aunts, nieces, nephews, brothers, sisters, friends...whatever we are we have a great time together!

Reading with Great Gramma. With everything going on, Wally had a hard time finding his special time to spend with Great Gramma. He managed to find some time at the very end of our trip to read to her. What a special memory.

Wally had plenty to keep him busy on the drive home. He loves his Star Wars Lego sticker book from Gramma Kathy. He has now finished all the "good guy" pages, but is a bit slower to finish the "bad guy" pages.

OK, so here are the videos. I don't want to risk having them get deleted while I try moving them, so they are all stuck here at the end.

Wally's reaction to getting Pixie dust in his stocking, Part I.

Pixie dust, Part II.

I guess Wally had a party in his head. The cousins were all sitting quietly playing with hexbugs. I guess Wally had too much joy to sit still.

Again, a bit too much Christmas spirit to hold in while making a puzzel.

Reading with Great Gramma.

Christmas is always a wonderful time of year. Being able to spend it with family makes it just that much more wonderful. Thank you to everyone!