this is my blog: Christmas in Vermont!

We arrived in VT on Sunday, Dec. 22 night after 3 plane rides across the country (Fargo to Chicago--which was delayed an hour--to washington to Burlington). It was a LONG day, and when we finally arrived in Lincoln the power was out from the ice storm! We had a cozy supper of macaroni by lantern light, and then the power was restored just in time for bed. The next morning we were up and excited for a visit from my bestie, Ruth, and her son Joseph and new baby Nora!

Sophia and Joseph enjoyed my brothers' old bin of legos, and even Kaia was interested.

My mom reading to Ruth's baby, Nora

Sisters!

Ruth and Nora!

We really wanted a besties photo with our baby girls, but Kaia wasn't too interested :(

As good as it was going to get!

Sophia and Joseph did some speedy sledding on the ice-covered hill in my parents' back yard

After lunch we were joined by my brothers and Chris' wife Sammy, and we all headed up to a tree farm to find this year's Christmas tree! We missed the Thompson farm this year; they are no longer selling trees.

Pop pop pulling the girls

My super adorable baby brother Schuyler :)

My other super adorable brother, Christopher :)

Me with Sky and Kaia

Family photo in the trees! We had many family photo attempts, and not any really great success. It gets harder as you add more family members! So many people need to face the camera! And smile! And not blink!

Kaia with her Grammy

The perfect tree! Each man in the family took a whack at it

Sky took it down!

I can't remember who remarked that it looked like the men were hauling a body off through the mist...

Sky, the pathological tree killer!

I love these pics of Chris with Kaia

The men with the little girls (and Sophia's evergreen branch that became her personal tree)

Sky quickly found that they way to Kaia's heart was through his smart phone!

That evening we headed to Bobcat restaurant; which is becoming a tradition for us!

Unfortunately Sky had to work and wasn't able to join us, but his "significant friend," Roberta, was able to come! We almost had the whole crew!

Food pics never do the food justice, but this was the butternut squash risotto that Travis and I ordered for appetizers. DIVINE. Our main course and the beer was also wonderful. Bobcat is awesome!

I love this pic with Kaia! This would be my favorite family photo, except we're missing Sophia. Darn!

There's Sophia. :) Fast asleep on Pop Pop!

Chris with his wife Sammy and their daughter Zoey ;)

Smart phones again!

Sammy one-upped Sky by downloading a baby app, which Kaia loved

Old fashioned bonding :) Oh wait! Kaia's holding a remote! ;D

Our first game of Scattergories... FUNNIEST family game nights EVER!

More attempts at family pics!

We attended the children's Christmas Eve service and, again, Sophia was an angel in the pageant.

Sophia could hardly contain herself during the carols! After one song she proclaimmed during the silence following the carol "I know that song!" After we sang Noel she held a hand to her heart and announced "That's my favorite song." (It really is). Thanks for the entertainment, Sophia! Ha

Our Reverand Randy Rice was pulled up to be a Wise Man, and he called on Sky to be the second Wise Man, who called up Chris to be the 3rd. Funny!

We always end the service with candles and singing "Silent Night."

Another new tradition: Family photos with my other bestie, Alice, up in the pageant nativity scene!

Alice with her son Ethan, and me with my girls. Poor Sophia had a cut in the corner of her mouth and was grimacing more than smiling. Have I mentioned that group photos are impossible??!!

Me, acting classy!

Me and my honey :) (No, I'm not pregnant... you'll notice as my trip to VT progresses I got fatter and fatter. Too many treats!)

Chris and Sammy :)

More attempts at family photos!

Sky has always been good with kids, even when he was little

Sophia continued our old tradition of opening a gift from a relative on Christmas eve. She opened "Brain Quest" flashcards from Chris and Sammy, which she didn't act too overjoyed about at the time, BUT they have been a big hit ever since!

We stayed up until 2am Christmas Eve playing Scattergories. THIS was the funniest game EVER. There is no way anybody has ever enjoyed a funnier family game night!

I wish I had video taped the whole thing. SO funny!!!

Christmas morning! This was the most special tradition for me: opening presents on Chris' bed. When we were teenagers Chris reached a point in his life when he wasn't interested in coming to my room on Christmas morning anymore for opening stockings (our old tradition when we were little kids that enabled mom and dad to sleep in a little). However, Sky was still little (I think we were all about 15, 14, and 10) and excited and I was the sentimental big sis, so I just took Sky and brought him onto Chris' bed and MADE Chris continue the stocking tradition through the teenage years. Ever the sentimental big sis, I brought my little girls onto Chris' bed on Christmas morning, and we continued our Gale Children Tradition; quite possibly for the last time ever.

I did mention that we played Scattergories until 2am Christmas Eve, right? We were a motley crew on Christmas day!

Christmas day selfie :)

Opening presents!

Sophia was very intense about enjoying all of her presents as quickly as possible!

Kaia's favorite toy in VT was my dad's old pair of sneakers. No kidding.

The day after Christmas we met Alice and Ethan at Cubbers restaurant (another VT tradition) in Bristol for lunch. Yum! Kaia and Ethan were pretty interested in each other (perhaps a betrothal should be arranged??)

Alice came up to my parents' house in Lincoln and we were joined by Ruth and her kiddos

One of my favorite pics EVER! Alice and Ruth and I have been best friends since preschool. Whever we get together it's like we've never been apart!

The next day we headed to New Hampshire to visit Chris and Sammy's restaurant, but first stopped at the Montshire Museum! (Another new tradition!)

Okay, I don't know how this happened, but here is another bestie pic from the day before. These pics were hard to get on the blog! Too many!

Back to the museum. :) In addition to her shoe fetish, Kaia's other favorite thing right now is balls. This was a big globe that you could spin and observe water patterns, but Kaia just seemed to think it was the best ball ever.

Kaia also really enjoyed the display with foam balls and air tubes

Sweet pic of Kaia with Grammy and Pop Pop :) Kaia became a pure walker (no crawling) while we were in VT, and now she is RUNNING!

This was the only pic I took in the restaurant. We were too busy chowing down!

One last visit with my besties on our last day in VT

Sophia was upset about the box breaking, but still tried to manage a smile. That box was a great source of entertainment in VT! It was her fort, her safe spot from Chris' hyper pitbull, and finally a sled. I reassurred her that there will be more boxes in her future :)