Gifts After Christmas

From a look out along our trek, the trees show the weight of the previous week's ice storm.

Today was one of those great days.  Its Sunday so we started at church.  There was a baptism and my son decided he wanted to take  in the whole service, including communion.  He is 8years old and he seemed genuinely interested in the service which made me truly proud.  I was even more proud when someone commented on how well behaved he was.  Then as I picked my daughter up from Sunday school she was very excited to tell me she sang a song.  She shared a bit of it with me and I was happy to hear her sing a gospel song.

My father and my son made excellent companions for a great snow shoe trek.

After church it was time to take on an adventure.  My father, my son, and I went for a snowshoe.  We trekked over familiar terrain.  Some of it steep, all of it deeply snow covered.  The recent ice storms have left a thick layer of frozen snow.  My son could walk on top of this layer and so didn't need snowshoes, my father and I on the other hand were thankful for the snowshoes.  Once again my son made me proud as he hung right with us for the two and a half hour hike over some very tough terrain.  I had to laugh as he continually found ways to have fun and created the motto "When all else fails, follow the dogs."  When the spruce thickets were really thick he would drop to all fours and follow the dogs, while I had to beat my way through the thicket.  It was fun to watch him find adventure.  From the ice caves we explored to the ice covered logs he would slide down, he found a game in it all.

The kids watched intently as the choir sang and people acted out Christ's birth.

As dark settled in, we arrived home in time to meet with the rest of the family to go out and take in the "Living Manger" at the St. Mark's Anglican church in Sussex Corner.  The original show date was postponed due to the ice storms so we listened to the story of Jesus birth a few days late.  The feeling was a bit different and it lacked something but the actors in the show deserve a ton of credit for giving it all.  The missing element was my own sense of anticipation of Christmas.  With Christmas over it was anti-climatic but still very enjoyable and the kids still loved it.  They sat wide eyed as the shepherds brought in the sheep and the wise men presented their gifts.

The acting baby Jesus was very well behaved, even in the cold, but the heat lamp likely helped, I know it helps this photo.

As I sat down in the evening and recounted this day I was humbled.  The snow was falling hard and the weatherman was calling for yet another storm.  It was a great day and I have so much to be thankful for. 

I want to share some of the photos from today so I hope you enjoy.  Keep in mind, I'm not a professional photographer.

Snow mobile tracks helped our progress on the first part of our trek.

This small cave provided my son with a great exploration opportunity.