Dec. 8 and 9 th

We skied on Saturday at Ski Cooper. Ski Cooper is a much smaller area than the resort we skied last year, Beaver Creek, but it is plenty big for us and there are no crowds. It was snowing pretty hard while we were there but we still made several runs. Isaac and Olivia picked up where they left off last year, but Boyd needs a couple more times out to get back up to speed. He tired out pretty quick. Heather had a couple falls that I missed while keeping track of the kids, but I could tell she planted her head into the snow by the amount of snow wedged between her goggles and helmet. Last weekend we had around 15" of snow and from the 6th to the 9th we had from 12 to 18 additional inches of snow.

On Sunday afternoon we cut our own live Christmas Tree. Permits can be purchased from the National Forest Service for $10. The trees they allow you to cut are scarcely better than a "Charlie Brown Tree", but Heather and the kids enjoyed it. I kept waiting for a light to shine down on the perfect tree like it did for Clark W. Grizwald in Christmas Vacation, but I never saw anything more than snow. The tree was probably around 12' tall prior to me trimming the bottom off. Boyd was the only one who would help decorate it once we got it trimmed and stood up in the basement (our artificial one is in the window upstairs). Heather, Isaac and Olivia set around and watched. I guess the fun was gone once it was home.