Christmas Kick-Off Finale

On Sunday morning we enjoyed a beautiful brunch at Chateau on the Lake.

Next on the schedule was a visit to the Butterfly Palace…

 

We then headed to our favorite place in the world…Big Cedar Lodge. It’s a little piece of heaven.

We puzzled…

And built…

We rocked…

And walked…

And sat by the fire…

We lunched at the Truman Cottage…

And explored the beautiful grounds…

The tradition carried on another year…and we wiped “The Bickie Tree”…

 

Grandpa Joe said he would pass.

We visited the ho-hees…

And nestled into our warm cabin…

Tom built a fire and we waited for the cookie lady to show up with her evening delivery. The cookie of the night was Gingerbread, of course.

The sun went down and Big Cedar lit up.

The night was topped off with dinner at The Worman House…

And vomit, of course. Yes, I said vomit….again. There’s no shortage of it round these parts.

We sat at our beautiful table, admiring the cozy atmosphere and festive decor. Most of us ordered their famous fried chicken and we waited with much anticipation. Bryce crawled in my lap and said, “Mama, I feel hot”. I knew what that meant. I pulled my shirt forward and held him close to me as he vomited into my make-shift “clothing bowl”. He is a very peaceful vomit boy. No loud noises, lurches, or screams. Just quiet vomit. I tried to keep it on the down low since the restaurant was full of people paying good money for their dinner and “experience”. I had a feeling that yelling “He’s Vomiting!” would have ruined it for everyone. I quietly took him outside and shook the vomit out of my clothes in the parking lot. (Not good for the incoming crowd…I suppose).

The manager came out with a hot towel for me to clean him up with. He was so sweet. He had my food delivered to my cabin and everything. The Big Cedar Staff brought fresh bedding and had a hospitality tray delivered…complete with broth, crackers, and Sprite. It was heavenly dealing with the stomach bug at Big Cedar. If you gotta get sick…get sick there.

Bryce was running a temperature and woke up the next morning saying he wanted to go home. Karah was heartbroken at the prospect of leaving early because she had a horseback ride with Grandma scheduled the next day. She was so looking forward to it. Grandma kindly offered to let Karah stay with them for the extra day so she wouldn’t miss out on the fun. I think Grandma was kind of excited for the trail ride, too:)

We loaded up and Bryce slept the entire way home. He was so happy to have his bed again. Bradley had a hard time leaving his sister behind. Those 24 hours were excruciating for him. He wrote this letter to her when she was gone:

She came bounding in the next day – full of stories about her trail ride with Grandma…her outlet shopping, and her horse drawn wagon tour of lights that was topped off with S’mores by the fire.

It was a blessing in disguise. We got home a day early to prepare for Thanksgiving and Karah got that precious time alone with her Grandparents that she will treasure forever.

Everything happens for a reason. Even vomit.

Amazing trip…vomit or not.