As soon as school was out for winter break, we packed up the car and drove one hour into the Cascade mountains. We don't expect to see any snow in Eugene so we were very excited when we heard about this little cabin resort on Odell Lake who promised to have lots of snow. It took a bit of preparation to acquire snow pants, coats, boots, gloves and hats for everyone in our family but we packed it all up plus a few sleds and plenty of snacks. 

We were so happy with our little cabin in the snow and enjoyed the time cloistered away in the mountains for a few days. 

Morning view from the front porch of the cabin. 

Good morning snow! The boys were out the door with the sun, I followed in my pjs.

Handsome Gage

The snow was very wet. It was a mixture of rain, sleet and snow. Noah would just say, "It's precipitating!" 

The boys named the snowman, Cyclops. They also made a small one for Sibby. 

Sweet Sybil on the front porch ready to get in the car. We drove a little ways up the hill, through the gorgeous trees to a great sledding spot. We had it all to ourselves. 

I couldn't get over how quiet it was in the woods. And how pretty the snow lay on the trees. 

"Heaven is above our heads as well as under our feet." - David Thoreau

We raced each other down the hill, held hands, sat on laps, went belly first, threw snowballs and had so much fun. The favorite was the penguin sled, definitely the fastest. 

Sibby also enjoyed herself although she preferred to stay perched at the top of the hill rather than zoom down. 

We stayed until the boys were soaked all the way through and then convinced them to head back to the cabin to warm up. 

Not pictured: Poor Gage getting a stomach bug on our last night and being too tired to play board games and drink hot chocolate. And pouring rain all through the night which washed away all the snow! Glad we had so much snow the first 2 days. We will definitely be back. 

Dave and Noah putting lights on our Christmas tree. 

It was so fun to bring out our Christmas decorations including some of our treasures from Asia for the Christmas season. 

We also enjoyed editing our list of our family traditions and activities to do with the children. Noah and Gage had very strong opinions about what they wanted to do. For some reason I didn't take as many pictures this holiday season as usual but we enjoyed making cookies together, setting out the nativities, singing Christmas carols, delivering treats to our neighbors and teachers, making Christmas cards, reading Christmas stories, watching Christmas movies, and many other things on our list. 

We are so grateful for this time of year to focus on Christ's birth and his example of love and charity. We are so grateful for that love that we felt in our home. 

Noah and Gage making cookies with Noah's friend, Toby. 

The fourth graders performed a Holiday Sing one night for the parents. They sang many songs that they had worked on at school and we also sang some songs together, passing out bells to the younger kids in the crowd. Noah (back row with glasses) did not want us to take pictures but was very happy and smiley the rest of the night. 

We had a few friends over one Saturday to decorate Gingerbread houses. 

Rileigh was our master builder, constructing the graham crackers into houses for each kid. 

The kids spent a lot of time making their creations, eating lots of candy along the way, and definitely produced some masterpieces. We are so grateful to be making new friends in Eugene to celebrate Christmas with. 

Gage and his gorgeous Christmas tree.

Henry

Henry and his mom, Kimberly

My handsome Noah

Noah's masterpiece

Sweet Sybil

Ben and his daughter Evie

We drove out to Northern Lights Christmas Tree Farm to cut down a real, live, fresh, Oregon Christmas tree. This is such a change from the Christmas trees we've gotten in tropical Singapore for the last five years. Being at the Christmas tree farm was almost magical. We had such a great time together, enjoyed being outdoors and came home with a beautiful tree. 

The boys enjoyed the fire, the farm animals, the tractor ride out to the trees, and especially the hot chocolate at the end. Gage was born to be a lumberjack. He spent a lot of time walking through the trees and cutting small pieces of wood he found on the ground with his big farm saw. And Noah was so helpful to Dave cutting down the tree and them carrying it back to the tractor. 

The owners at the farm told us that Oregon exports the most Christmas trees in the world. I said, "I know!" We have been buying them in Singapore! It made me feel connected to our friends in Singapore this year as they bought Oregon Christmas trees sent overseas in huge refrigerated containers.