Tyla, Elijah and I flew back to Indiana for Christmas this year. Leading up to the trip, we had visions of a relaxing white Christmas with lots of fun activities. It was definitely a memorable trip, but it was not what we had expected!
It was over 60 degrees the first day so there was no snow for Christmas. Soon after we arrived, Elijah started throwing up and that lasted a few days. And on the last days of our trip, we had a freezing rain/sleet/snow storm that knocked out power for 3 hours, snowed us in for an afternoon, and took down three trees on the driveway. We had to saw our way out.
Still, with all that going on, we had a great time. Elijah’s sickness had a pretty big effect on our activities and even going to church as a big group, but there were plenty of smiles to go around. I was very thankful that we were at Mom and Dad’s house for Elijah getting sick like that. I kept imagining how much harder it would have been if that had happened on our trip to San Diego or something like that.
Dad has the new shop all buttoned up on the outside. The doors are in, the siding is up, and while we were there, he parked his Allis Chalmers in the garage for the first time! After 30 years of storing the battery inside and putting a tarp over the tractor every time he was done with it, this is really a game-changer! There’s still a lot of interior shop work to be done, but I’m glad he was able to get the exterior done before winter hit.
We took a lot of video while we were there with the intent of making another Christmas movie. That should be posted soon, but until then you can check out some photos.
It is a great set of memories.
The only detail I would add to your post is that Elijah has renamed the Allis Chalmers as “Otis” , and that has stuck!