Christmas in Cle Elum

I have enjoyed a nice, relaxing Christmas in Cle Elum with my parents. And I have to say, it’s been wonderful, although not a typical or traditional Christmas. That said, I don’t generally do a “traditional” Christmas, so non-traditional really is my tradition.

I woke up early this morning and made my way out for a sunrise run through the streets of Cle Elum. There was no traffic and the snow-covered Christmas lights made for a lovely vision as the sky began to lighten up. It was a very cold run, but it felt invigorating to be out in the snow on Christmas morning.

After my parents were up and everyone was settled in with their various morning beverages and such, we opened Christmas gifts. Well, kind of. We didn’t really do a big gift exchange but there were a couple of random gifts for each of us from different people.

Mum and I then put together little bottles of her homemade (mock) cognac and “cough syrup” to take up to the cemetery. Cognac for Grandma and my husband (Paul) and cough syrup for Grandpa and Uncle Joe. I had to shovel a lot of snow just to get to the graves, then I had to shovel even more to get to the headstones. But it was worth the effort to bring some Christmas cheer to people I love.

For dinner, I set the table with a lovely blue cloth and Mum’s Blue Willow dishes and Dad cooked our feast of ribeye steaks with all the “trimmings”. And then we enjoyed our meal before settling down to watch a Christmas movie.

As I said in my “home for the holidays” missive, I expected a relaxing and uneventful Christmas and that’s just what I got. It wasn’t like the traditional Christmases I enjoyed as a child (which also means it wasn’t filled with fighting between me and my five sisters!) but it was good. And I am so glad to have been able to spend the holidays with them.

I hope that your Christmas was filled with blessings and joys, as mine was!