January 2018

Christmas at the lodge was not as crowded as planned.  Instead of our expected 42 family members, we had only 30.  That meant that the younger couples did not have to sleep in the screened in porch and Katie did not have to sleep in the hallway by the pump.  But it also meant that a wing of our family did not make it due to scheduling and not being able to get off work.

And of course we are facing another possible drought in the sierra with only a trace of snow on the Thursday before Christmas (and not much since).  Even with all of that we managed to have a wonder, fun-filled Christmas.

Laura, Mike and Allison flew in from Georgia.  Ann and Jeff were there.  All of Patties family were able to attend and so was ours.

We spent our time making Christmas cookies and crafts for our own version of a Charlie Brown Christmas tree.  Some of the  kids, Mike and Jim found a douglas fir tree in the back of the property that they handily cut down.  It was one of our best Christmas Trees so far.  We cut the lower branches off to allow for all the gifts to be stored under it.

Crafts included lots of glue and glitter and some of the family managed to do some wood working off the screen room (branding some wood for signs).

We had one day of sledding before all the snow was gone, so the kids went skiing at Tahoe Donner and ice skating at Northstar for excursions.  We also managed to do a bonfire out in the back yard.  And of course, they played lot of games in the game room.

Pattie and Katie set up a puzzle and then another when the first one was completed.  Laura and I got time to do a painted window and Allison made Bull Dog Coasters for her mom and dad.

We had one slight accident (it would not be a Tahoe Christmas without some mishap).  Matt had a seizure of sorts, probably from going from an over heated room to the cold of the screen room and he was not feeling well that day.  Luckily he rebounded and all is well.  

We ate way too much food (as usual) and way too many sweets.

Once the big crowd departed, we had a much smaller group for New Years.  We celebrated New York New Years at Northstar and saw some pretty impressive fireworks. Then Jim took our small group up to Tahoe for a tour of the lake the next day.

Here are a few photos I have thrown together from our event and our finished (mostly) screen room: