Christmas in Estes

Thanks to the generosity of the Stacy family, we were able to spend Christmas up in Estes Park at their beautiful home on the river.  With the beautiful location and a gorgeous mountainy home, you can't find a more cozy, "Christmas-y" place!  We arrived a little before dinner on Christmas Eve.  Joely said she needed a potty about halfway up the canyon, but he had her hold it until we got to the house.  Once we got there, she ran in and immediately threw up.  Lovely.  We thought maybe she was carsick from the windy canyon roads (she is more like me in that respect, poor child), but then she started in with a fever.  She was a little bit miserable all Christmas Eve.  Luckily she woke up Christmas morning at 98.6 all smiles and sunshine.  Hallelujah!

Christmas Eve we got all settled in, ate dinner, started constructing our gingerbread houses, and reenacted the Nativity before sending the kids up to the loft to sleep with visions of sugarplums dancing in their heads.

There's a reason Dave is in the construction business and not me... These were hard!

Dave was a good sport and played the role of Joseph.

Sweet Mary

Beautiful shepherds with their sheep.

Grandpa was the narrator and the innkeeper, I think.

The whole cast assembled together.  I think maybe Carson was a wise man.

Sick little Joely with a scary Joseph :)

All ready for Santa to find his way to the cabin!

Santa came!  Santa came!

Descending down the stairs to see if there are presents under the tree.

All better!

Merry Christmas!

Stockings first!

Grandpa enjoying the festivities.

Santa brought Joely an Elsa doll!

And an Elsa dress!

Santa brought Emma the exact Lego Friends set she'd asked for.  Wow!

Carson asked Santa for a Lego Movie set, and Santa delivered!

Tara gave Grandpa and Grandma a gift that made her think of them...McClure pickles!

What a fun gift!

Modeling the dress

Grandma gave Joely an American doll.  She was SO excited!  Best Christmas ever!

Look at that train.

Dad and Uncle Ryan's big project revealed...bunk beds for their dolls.  Grandma McClure and I sewed all the bedding for it.

The dolls look like they're sleeping peacefully...so is Grandpa!

Snow glows white on the mountains tonight...

Showing off the cute new boots on a cute girl!

I love that smile!

Under construction.  That house looks like an outhouse to me!

Hard at work

Finished product.

Emma's cute house.

Joely's A-frame

The nicest gingerbread village we've ever made!

Grandpa took the kids out to feed the fish in the pond before we left.  The snow was a-blowing!

Merry Christmas from the Jex family!

I love this guy so much.

 We loved our time up in Estes.  Most of it was spent curled up reading and watching movies while we basked in our gorgeous surroundings.  It was peaceful and perfect; a great way to celebrate the birth of our Savior!