Walkin' in a Winter Wonderland

Last weekend Matt and I took the "Snow Train" to Leavenworth for our anniversary. Friday I took Seth down to stay with my sister Gerilyn in Tacoma, and Matt and I went to a nice dinner in Seattle and stayed in a hotel before catching an early train the next morning. It was a beautiful ride and the best part is that we didn't have to drive ourselves over Stevens Pass. Folk singers, accordian players and magicians entertained their way through the train cars. The closer we came to Leavenworth, the more snow we encountered. It's a beautiful little Bavarian town, quite touristy this time of year, but we didn't mind the crowds. It snowed the whole day and it got heavier later in the day. The smell of burning wood stoves, roasting chestnuts and cider meant Christmas is around the corner, and it made everyone a little more cheerful and celebratory.

We shopped and walked the streets admiring the Christmas displays and hospitality of this little town. At 4:30 every Saturday in December there is a tree lighting ceremony in the town square. To our pleasant surprise, there was a prayer by a local pastor and we all sang "Silent Night." What a nice surprise to have some "Christ" in Christmas at a civic event (not something you would experience in Seattle). We all counted down together and then all the lights came on in the town square and all the shops turned theirs on as well. What a magical sight!

That was the first time we've been away from Seth overnight, and we missed him terribly, so we kept getting out the camera to gush and coo over our little cutie. Last year's family photos were taken when Seth was just 2 1/2 months old, and here we are holding him on the special Christmas stool.

(photo courtesy of the Teeples)

Now here he is this year sitting up all by his big self "helping" us decorate the untangle the lights and decorate the tree.

This is such a bad video we took on our little digital camera (we have the longer better version on the camcorder), but this is what we looked at on our trip whenever we wanted to see our little guy in action. I think the flashing lights were making the autofocus feature do some strange things. Still, I love this short clip and cannot count how many times I've watched it!

Here's just one last random photo. Seth loves bath time and gets a kick out of lying on his back surrounded by bubbles. He seems to have fun hearing his voice with his ears under the water. It's obvious by the round tummy that we had just finished dinner!