Hello everyone!! This is just a little Saturday post, where if you want to chat about soup that you have made or eaten or a recipe you have, and tell a story about your life, a memory, a book you are reading, anything, here is your chance!

The soup for today is broccoli cheese, a favorite of mine during the winter. It is just so creamy and delicious!! Wyatt asked for a painting dinner, where we all do various art projects and eat, which Billy was skeptical about but it worked! I thought we would give it a try and if it didn’t work, we would just pause painting/drawing/coloring until we finished eating. It went fine! When I was kid we used to have reading dinners, where we would allowed to bring our books to dinner and read while we ate. Those were always a treat, so I thought it would be fun to let Wyatt have this easy wish. Especially since he didn’t feel super this week. He was all congested poor kid. He had a great time painting and eating his dinner. We all just scraped together whatever and did our own little pursuit.

Lately, I have been daydreaming about snug cabins in the a snowy woods, thick blankets, warm fires, mornings drinking coffee slowly. A trip away at Christmas. Just a short one. Like a night or two, me and Billy and Wyatt, a quiet in the chaos. A step back for a moment. I wouldn’t miss Christmas with my family and friends for anything, but a little trip to a little cabin might be nice. It is too late for one this year, but maybe next year. I even started looking at different places on Airbnb. Chalets, A-frames, little log houses. Deer and woodpeckers and rabbits – and hopefully not bears. We don’t need to drive all that far to find ourselves in the “wilderness” here in Michigan. I can see those evergreens lining the roads now, all covered in white.

The closest I ever came to this dream, because I have had it before, is a snowboarding trip Billy and I took with my dad, my brother, and one of his friends. My brother and his friend were both in high school, and Billy and I were in our early twenties, recently married. We arrived to my dad’s friend’s A-frame in the woods in the dark of night, and on those country roads it was difficult to find. It had been snowing hard the whole way, and the snow was already piled high. We found it finally, then moved our bags inside, claiming our rooms. Billy and I took the main floor, that had two walls of windows. Which was pretty cool in the morning, but that night was sort of intimidating, all those big trees and who knows what else lurking outside? My dad and the guys were upstairs in the loft and it was late, so after a quick look around we went to bed. We were going to the resort the next morning early so that all the guys could hit the slopes. They were all snowboarding, while Dad and I were hanging out in the lodge. It was not as picturesque as I romanticized though. I had pictured reading in a big chair near a fire, hot chocolate next to me, while they all exhausted themselves in the snow. I still had fun however reading, it just was not the hallmark movie setting I pictured.

Eventually the guys all tired themselves out – or at least Devin and Shaun. They came back, minus Billy. I was of course like where the heck is Billy? And my brother was like, “Oh, we passed him on the way down. He was laying in the snow.” I immediately panicked and ran outside like I was going to run up that mountain and find him, maybe a St. Bernard with a cask of rum or whatever by my side. I stood at the base of the ski lift, contemplating my next move, when I could see my own little Crash coming down the mountain, back on his board. I let out a sigh of relief, both that he was ok, and also that I did not have to go up that mountain. I am terribly afraid of heights and can’t even fathom getting on a ski lift. We thankfully were heading back to the lodge to get cleaned up, and go to the city of Boyne Falls for dinner and for some shopping. I think it was Boyne Falls at least.

The next morning, we piled back into the car, and headed back downstate, stopping at one of my favorite places in Michigan – Hartwick Pines. I love going there, and I love it even more in the winter. We hiked the trails in the snow, surrounded by some ancient trees, stumbling onto the maple sugaring shack they have there, the historical lumberjack camp, the church. I loved every moment of it. We went inside to warm up before heading back to the car, and gazed through the huge windows at the birds feeding outside. Well, I did. The guys were exploring the nature center but I was glued to that vision of snow and trees before me.

Eventually we hit the road again, and in a few hours we were home, all tuckered out by our adventures. But I remember what those days felt like, the glorious majesty of the woods and forests and snow. And I want Wyatt to see that too, and feel that magic of winter.

And that is it from me today! I hope that whatever you do, you do something that makes you smile!

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