Christmas, Round 2

"Up to the Country"

Christmas Eve day we went up to Gowansville where my Aunt Gerrie and Uncle Charlie have a house. It used to be my Aunt's mother's house, and until they decide if they will renovate and live up there, we use the surrounding acreage to go 4-wheeling and make bonfires and roast stuff. We ask "Hey, are you going up to the country tomorrow?" We call it the country, despite the slow suburban sprawl creeping up Highway 14. 

Uncle Charlie and Aunt Gerrie have Alice and Elizabeth. Alice and her husband Brian live in Birmingham, and were up for a couple of weeks. My Aunt Nancy has Ben and Carole, and Carole and her husband Matt came down from Richmond for a few days. Carole and I are the same age and she is the closest thing I had to a sister growing up, and we still love hanging out. It was fun to catch up and play outside together. 

It was cold, but not windy, but rainy, and we stayed out in the rain anyway. It was kind of ridiculous, but so fun. We rode the 4 wheelers through the new paths Uncle Charlie had cut through the woods, and my cousin Carole and I like to go to the dove field and ride where it's more open so we can kick the speed up. There are bramble bushes that you have to look out for - I have scratched my face and hands going 20mph more than once. We also had shooting practice and roasted some hot dogs. We were outside for hours, just talking and playing, and it was so fun. Uncle Charlie doesn't need an excuse to start a fire, so he was more than happy to get a hot one going for us, complete with snowflakes made of ash.

My cousins Elizabeth and Alice. We were keeping warm by the fire.

Uncle C enjoying his dog on a fork. We ran out of buns.

Uncle Charlie telling Carole where he cut the new trails. 

The Fam, though not everyone. Missing is Ben and Andrea and their kids Emily, Jake and Lizzie and Monie, Uncle Ray and Aunt Heather weren't able to make it up. This pic is funny b/c I have the camera propped on twigs on the bannister of the deck. Elizabeth and I had 10 seconds to press the button and run off the deck, around the ivy bed and get to our places. Her picture is a bazillion times better than mine, but it was so funny.