Christmas 07

Lindsay and I got back from an awesome week out in Idaho last night yesterday. It was wonderful to meet up with friends and share time with our parents and brother and sister. This was also a time when Linds and I both felt like we had gotten a ton of stuff done in the course of a week. Please allow a few words and pictures to explain our break.

On Christmas Eve, Lindsay and I woke up to 6 inches of fresh snow, and a beautiful, sunny day to ski! We left after I made omelets for the first time time ever, and had an awesome day of skiing with the whole Brown clan! After skiing, we rushed to the Donnely Bible Church Christmas Eve service, where we experienced a refreshing and renewed sense of Christ's birth.

Christmas Day, we woke up to Handel's Messiah, and then exchanged presents. This took most of the morning as well as early afternoon as breakfast was a main priority. Dad Brown took care of the Sheepherder's Skillet (scrambled eggs, potatoes, bacon, cheese), as sou chef Luke took notes and cracked eggs. Brother Matt was in charge of buttering the toast.

After breakfast and a romp outside in the snow via snowshoes and x-country skis, it was time to mount the mantel above the fireplace, which turned out to be a very memorable experience. A shortened version of this story would be that the mantel was very hesitant to fit perfectly, which caused us great anguish as we continually mounted, re-mounted, chiseled, mounted, and remounted. In the end, it was an almost perfect fit, and the construction glue will hold fast for years to come. It looks great!

Finally, the beard came off. Two days after Christmas, I took the step of removing the main target of ridicule and awe (besides my nose) that I had endured the past two months. In order to look presentable for family functions and grocery shopping, but also to maintain the "western" feel that Idaho emits, I chose a timeless look:

I then watched Miami Vice and decided that the late 70's and 80's were really the peak of fashion sense and moved to change my facial hair:

In the end, realizing that my professional career as a mustached teacher would be in jeopardy with this atrocious bit of upper lip hair, and despite us attending a Baptist church where the mustache is next to godliness, I shaved the rest off. It feels good, and I don't miss the hair one bit.

We have a ton more pictures, and even more stories to tell, so stay tuned for more updates!