Christmastime in Wyoming

We have been in our new house for more than a month now, and we are finally past the worst of the unpacking-after-moving stage. Only a few unpacked boxes remain, and I also have some organizing to do in a few rooms. The office/school room is seriously a problem right now, as is the master bedroom. Ugh. However, having gotten most of it behind us, we’ve been able to take some time off for family fun again. A few weeks ago we went into the mountains to cut our Christmas tree. Cutting a wild tree has become a family tradition for us, and it’s one of the things I love about living here in Wyoming. For $8-10 or so (depending on the area), you can buy a permit from the National Forest Service to cut a Christmas tree.

This year we went to a new, unfamiliar spot, so we ended up hiking for a much longer time than we usually do to find our tree. It was a gorgeous day, though, and considerably warmer than some other tree hunts we’ve been on, so we didn’t really mind.

After we had selected a tree, and were just starting to cut it down, our oldest son asked if we had straps to tie it to the roof of the vehicle. “Yes,” I answered confidently, “Dad has straps in the car.” He got a stricken look on his face… then asked if they had been in a cardboard box. “Yes, in the back of the car,” PJ said. As it turns out, PJ had a bunch of empty moving boxes in the back of his car that he was going to haul away but hadn’t gotten around to it yet. So that afternoon, before we left to go to the mountain, he had asked our son to get ALL the cardboard boxes out of his car and move them over to my car. Which he did... and consequently, we now had no straps! Oops! Fortunately, with some creative jockeying, we managed to get our 8-foot-tall Christmas tree INSIDE the car and home we went. 😁

It’s been fun getting our new home all decorated for Christmas. We put up the tree, and some lights, and other decorations. We set up our nativity and the Christmas advent/countdown calendar for the kids. We hung the stockings on the wall (had to give up our nice fireplace mantle when we moved). It feels all comfy and cozy to me. I love seeing all the decorations. Sometimes I wish I could leave them up all year, but then they wouldn’t feel as special, either.

Earlier this week we wrapped up another pre-Christmas visit with my in-laws. They’ve been able to come out to visit us every year at this time, and again in the summer, for a good number of years now. We also got to see my parents twice this year, most recently this fall shortly before we moved. The kids always look forward to seeing Grandpa and Grandma! We were supposed to travel to spend last Christmas back east with everyone, but changed our plans and decided to go in the spring and then, for various reasons, that trip actually never ended up happening. So it was a real blessing to get to see them all, especially with the craziness that has been 2020.

This was our first time hosting anyone in our new home. It was definitely different, as we do not have a dedicated guest room at our place anymore. Despite that, it was comfortable and actually felt less crowded than it did when we had guests at our former residence. This house has a more open floor plan, and more space in the kitchen and dining area, so I think that’s a large part of why it felt less like we were bunched together all day.

PJ’s parents hadn’t really spent any time in this part of Wyoming before, so they were looking forward to exploring the area a bit. The weather was cold and snowy for much of the time they were here, and we had lots of inside activities to do (like making Christmas cookies!), so we didn’t do a whole lot outside. We did, however, take them to Devil’s Tower on one of the nicer days. Our family had been to Devil’s Tower once before, though the younger kids were pretty small and didn’t remember it. Our guests had never been there. If you’ve never been, you should definitely take the opportunity if you’re ever in the area. The tower is much more impressive in person than it even is in pictures. Signs on the trail explain some of the geology and history of the area. It’s very interesting. It is also located in a very pretty part of the state (watch for deer on the roads, though, there are a LOT in the area).

It was cold the day we went, but the trail around the tower was clear of snow and ice, and it was still a nice day despite the temperature. (Last time we went it was around the same time of year, but the trail was icy and slick so it wasn’t as nice.) There was only one other car in the parking lot when we pulled in. When we were partway up the trail we saw a couple other cars pull in, but those people must have only gone to the base of the tower because we never actually saw them.

We walked about 1 ¾ miles from our car, around the tower trail, and back. We took about 45 minutes to do so, because we stopped a lot to look at things and take pictures. During that time, we saw five whitetail deer, a few red squirrels, some birds, and only two other people. It was really nice! We felt like we had the place to ourselves.

We saw another car or two just as we were leaving. I think this National Monument is open all year round, but I’m sure it’s much, much busier in the summer than it is in the winter. We saw some more hiking trails we’d like to check out when it warms up, so we’ll be back again.

One of the things I like best is how different the tower looks from all sides as you go around it.

You’re up on a hill, so there are some great views, too.

Lots of people come to climb the tower. I never intend on doing that. Yikes! I’ll keep my feet on the ground, thank you. This is an old stake ladder that you can see through some viewing tubes along the tower trail.

Can you imagine going up that thing? It’s not close to the ground, either. It’s partway up the side of the tower.

After you go past the entrance station, as you come into the area around the tower, there is a prairie dog town there beside the road. We had planned to stop and watch the critters for a bit, but we didn’t see a single one. This caused the kids to wonder if prairie dogs hibernate. No one in the car knew the answer for sure, which led to the kids doing some spontaneous research when we got home. (Spoiler alert – they don’t hibernate, but they also don’t come outside much when it’s too cold.)

There was a big storm predicted for the east coast right when our guests were supposed to head home, so they ended up staying for an extra day to avoid the worst of it. None of us minded the extra time with them! Now that they are back home we are working on getting back into our regular routine, and I am catching up on a bunch of laundry that I let go while they were here. My poor washing machine… 😵

The Christmas season is one of my favorite times of the year. I love seeing the decorations and lights. I like listening to Christmas music and taking part in various holiday activities. I look forward to celebrating advent with our family. It can be a time of mixed emotions for many people though, myself notwithstanding. This year has been especially challenging. Having just moved, I am missing friends and being involved in some of the local activities we traditionally participated in. Last Christmas was also a pretty tumultuous time for me personally, and I can often be triggered by unhappy memories these days. This past Sunday, our pastor said something in his message that really struck me. He was talking about a time when he had to make a long drive through a white-out blizzard. He wanted to stop, but had to press on because it was more dangerous to pull over than it was to keep going. All of a sudden, he drove out of the storm and it was a sunny day. He could see the storm clouds in the rearview mirror. He said that having driven through something like that and come out of it, no one would willingly turn around and go back into it – they’d keep driving forward on the good road. Yet often times when we go through a storm in our lives we keep going back and reliving it. Essentially, his point was that there’s no reason to go back. We should continue moving forward and moving on with our life. Leave the storm behind. Walk in the sun. He also talked about how sometimes we can pray and pray and pray for something and feel like we’re never going to get an answer, and then suddenly God moves and does a miracle. Our circumstances can change in an instant and suddenly the storm is over. His message was an advent message, and I can’t hardly even tell you how this story related to all the rest of his message because it’s just the one part that stuck with me. While I cannot stop myself from remembering things from the past, I can choose how they affect me. It’s just too easy to let a memory cause me to turn around and mentally put myself back into the stormy place. Painful experiences in the past don't have to result in a lifetime of misery. I need to make a decision to see the memory through the rearview mirror of my mind and move forward anyway. Some days are better than others. Some memories are easier to move on from than others. It’s a process, and I’m learning (slowly). I'm so thankful that God empowers us to walk in freedom if we will set our mind on Him.

"For to set the mind on the flesh is death,

but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace."

- Romans 8: 6 (ESV)