Christmas Eve:
This is the first Christmas I’ve spent away from my family. It was a whole new experience to find some new traditions with my new family.
We spent a relaxing morning and of course some hot chocolate before heading up the mountain. Mary and Ahad took Rob and I up a different trail to see their “elephant.” We packed our pockets with sweets and off we went.
After a hike in the warm weather, don’t be fooled by the snow, I took off my coat I was sweating so much, we got to the “elephant.” Do you see him hiding in the rock? Look carefully.
And this explains the sweets in our pockets, they were for him. At the crack that is the “mouth” we gave our offerings and made a wish for the new year. I took some candy, of course. Rob brought cashews, Ahad, a cookie, and Mary, a cucumber slice. Here she is wishing and feeding.
Also by the “elephant” Mary recently found a GEO box. This is a game I guess, where someone puts a tin with some object, and then posts the coordinates. Then others go looking for the box. When you find one, you leave something, and take something if you want. Kind of cool.
After a hike in the warm weather, don’t be fooled by the snow, I took off my coat I was sweating so much, we got to the “elephant.” Do you see him hiding in the rock? Look carefully.
And this explains the sweets in our pockets, they were for him. At the crack that is the “mouth” we gave our offerings and made a wish for the new year. I took some candy, of course. Rob brought cashews, Ahad, a cookie, and Mary, a cucumber slice. Here she is wishing and feeding.
Also by the “elephant” Mary recently found a GEO box. This is a game I guess, where someone puts a tin with some object, and then posts the coordinates. Then others go looking for the box. When you find one, you leave something, and take something if you want. Kind of cool.We returned home to the lunch Valerie had put together, then Mary and Ahad taught us some songs. And we sang some Christmas songs, that are favorites of Rob’s and mine. Easily, the favorite of the week was “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” (Rob is still humming it.) I really like that they sing. It’s something we did a little when I was in college and my dad started to play the guitar. I enjoy the family sing-a-long. And Ahad and Mary taught us some of the songs they sing at the dances they lead. We learned a few of the dances too.