Happy New Year & Our Cabin Christmas

Hello and Happy 2017! It's been too long. Last I blogged was my Christmas Home Tour. How are you? Life around here has been keeping me busy, but I am certainly not complaining about that.

We spent Christmas in the Adirondacks for the very first time ever. Billy has been scheduled to work either Christmas Eve or day for the last 20 years. When we realized that he was off for both this year AND the cabin was available for us to use, we made a plan to spend the holiday there. Which led to a very busy December because we wanted to celebrate Christmas with our families before we went away. And then there was the general business of packing all of our Christmas gifts, food (along with all of the necessary pots and pans necessary to cook a holiday dinner) and winter gear. I asked myself on more than one occasion if it was really worth it to travel for the holiday. But when we arrived to a winter wonderland, we knew we made the right choice.

As soon as we arrived, we set about decorating the cabin. I brought up a few of my favorite Christmas decorations from home and used what was available in nature. Our tree is a bit sparse because we cut it down in the woods behind the house in a snowstorm. It seemed a lot fuller when it was full of snow! Once we added some lights and homemade ornaments, it was perfect for us. Here we are dragging the tree home by snowmobile.

We made a log cabin gingerbread house with pretzel rods. We simply used a store-bought gingerbread house kit and added the pretzel rods to it with icing.

I was so proud of our little log cabin and I couldn't stop taking pictures of it. Here it is on the porch in the snow.

Our family's vacation house isn't exactly a log cabin, but we added some big Christmas lights to the porch to add some holiday cheer.

The dogs were very excited about all of the snow. Keeper literally burrows herself down into the snow. She can't get enough of it.

The gazebo down by the lake is always decorated so simply and beautifully at Christmas. I take this picture every Christmas season and it never gets old.

I snapped the picture below of the gazebo in the middle of Warrensburg, NY. Any Gilmore Girls fans out there? It reminded me of the gazebo in Stars Hollow.

Christmas Day was bright and clear and after opening presents and eating a big breakfast, we headed out for a snowmobile ride.

I used to think that I would be sad as my kids got older and Christmas changed. Turns out, the magic of Christmas has nothing to do with Santa Claus at all. I have learned that I really enjoy being a mom to older kids. These guys keep me laughing all day. Spending the day with them is the best gift. Here we are all bundled up taking a break on our ride on a hill overlooking the lake.

We spent the week playing in the snow, shopping a couple of after Christmas sales and playing board games. We even fit in a trip to Vermont that I will talk about in my next post.

Now that's not to say that we don't get on each other's nerves once in a while. A week in a remote area with no internet access can be difficult for us all at times. I watched some excellent movies on my iPad to escape (thanks so much, Netflix, for letting us download content now). But overall, we have a great time together and Billy and I know our family is better all year for the time we spend in 

the mountains together.

Today we are back home in NJ and as of this morning, the kids are back in school. Instead of pretty snow outside my window, there is a chilly rain falling. As soon as I hit publish on this post, I will  finish up packing away the Christmas decor. It's time to add some cozy winter decor to our home. Happy New Year!