Cabin Time!

Once a year I get my own little retreat. A night with the boys up north at the cabin! It's been an annual tradition so long that none of us can actually remember when it started. It's been more than 20 years, we know that, but as with most things at the cabin, the rest of it is a bit hazy...

The Friday after Christmas we met at our usual location: Aaron's driveway. We were definitely pumped for the trip and pumped to see each other! Some of us hadn't seen each other since the last time we went last year. We may not spend as much time together as we used to, but the moment we are together it's like no time has passed at all. We filled up the vehicle and we were off! Chatting and laughing the whole way up, we stopped, as is our custom, in Big Rapids for lunch, and then eventually found our way, after a little jog in the road, to the good ol' cabin!

Settling in, getting the fire started, freezing for the first hour or two. All part of the joy of being there! We decided to do something different for dinner this year, opting to skip out of Sporties, we drove north of town until we found a restaurant that was open. Now here's the thing with trying someplace new: it's not always a success... Was the food good? no. But was the atmosphere good? Also no. But at least the service was good? Also no. I don't think we will be going there again, if I'm being honest...

Returning to the cabin, it was now time for the main event: game time! We gathered around the table, put on an Aaron original mix of music, and got busy playing dumb games and making each other belly laugh for the rest of the night! Eventually we got to the chatting part of the night, except Jon, he called it quits pretty early. Sleep came a callin' and finally we all tucked in for the night.

The morning, as always, it mostly about waiting for everyone to wake up so we can make a run to the gas station and use the bathroom or get coffee. With everyone up, we cleaned up and gathered our things. Another successful cabin trip is in the books!

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South Bend Christmas

A bit unusual to be down in South Bend on Christmas morning, but it's been an unusual season. We did Christmas with my family and our Christmas a bit early this year because we wanted to make sure we had as much time as possible with Diana's family. David's daughter Alanna and her son Tavish were visiting for the week from Boston, so we wanted to make the most of it. We drove down the afternoon before Christmas to see everyone. Staying in Mom and David's place along with Alanna and Tavish made for a really packed house, but that's part of the fun!

Ledger and Tavish get along really well together and were both pumped to see each other! They have been best buddies ever since they were toddlers, and this visit was no exception. Minute one, and they are already laughing, smiling, and talking a mile a minute! We took it a bit easy that first night, getting everyone settled in and catching up. By Christmas afternoon Barbara, James, and Dad all stopped over for the gift giving festivities. We, as always, had a great time giving and receiving gifts, filling our tummies with delicious food, and then chatting the afternoon away. After all the guests left, everyone found a little cozy spot to take a short nap. When we woke up, it was time for ice cream and pie- perfect! We were able to stay another day and a half, which was a lot of relaxing fun!

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Night Before Christmas

We decided to throw tradition out the window this year! Usually, we have our family gift giving on Christmas morning after eating cinnamon rolls. But with our plans to go to South Bend to be with Diana's family, we are not going to be at home on Christmas morning. So, we had some options: either bring all the gifts with us or wait until we got back. Neither of those sounded very good, so instead we made the decision to have a Christmas night!

This was a little weird for Ledger, opening all his gifts before Christmas- and at night! But for me, this was pretty normal. Growing up we never opened gifts on Christmas day, and usually we would do it in the evening. After a little bit of adjusting our plans, we began our night of prizes! Fortunately, I had been on top of it this year and already had all the gifts wrapped. Normally I do that on Christmas Eve but got lucky this time. We popped some Christmas cookies in the oven, turned on the fireplace channel on the TV, and gathered around for a special evening!

As always, almost all the gifts were for Ledger, but I did manage to get a few goodies for Diana, and she got me some as well. Ledge was quite pleased with the little gifts and toys we got for him, but of course he didn't make it easy on us. He never actually gives us a Christmas list, he just says we can just get him 'whatever'. Ugh. That makes it much more challenging to find things that he will actually like! I think we did pretty good, there were some big winners and a few 'meh' gifts, but overall, he was very pleased. Diana loved her prizes and so did I! Finally, the last gift to open was the biggie: this year we got Ledger a new queen-sized bed! He had been complaining for months that his twin bed was too small, and his feet were hanging off the end, so we fixed that with a huge queen-sized foam mattress and frame. At first, he was a little disappointed because he just saw the box, but once we opened it up and the foam started to expand, he saw how huge and comfy it was going to be and then he was all on board! We had to let it sit overnight to firm up, but he was filled with excitement about getting it set up in his room.

Overall, another successful family Christmas!

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Brinkmas '24

For the past several years we have had Christmas with my family on Christmas day itself, but this year we bumped it up a bit and got together several days earlier. We still had all the usual fun- games, gifts, and fantastic food!

Chad and his family came down early and stayed with Mema and Papa for a week or two. The rest of us arrived late afternoon. Once everyone was there, the festivities began. We start with a little gift game for the kids. My mom always comes up with something different each year. One year it involved a ball of saran wrap and mittens, another year it was a dice game. She always finds something creative and silly! This year there were a bunch of upside-down bowls that the kids had to pick. As always, everyone had a blast with lots of laughs and lots of candy and gift cards by the end!

Now with that out of the way, we all headed downstairs, each taking a bowl or plate filled to the brim with tasty food. Everyone filled up their plates and drinks, found a seat to settle into, and chowed down and chatted. After we each got a second (or third) helping, it was time for the main event: presents! The kids are always thrilled with all the amazing prizes from ol' Mema and Papa, and we get to spoil the nieces and nephews as well.

About an hour or so later, all the boxes have been unwrapped, and all the adults are exhausted while the kids try out their newest toys. There is, of course, the required wadding up of the wrapping paper and throwing it at each other, as well as helping the youngest ones assemble their colorful loot. After another visit or two to the table full of sweets, we clean up, pack away our newest acquisitions, say our thank you's and goodbyes.

Another successful Brinkmas in the books!

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Oh, Christmas Tree

Winter is here, and so are our Christmas decorations! We've been a bit delinquent lately with decorating, waiting until mid-December to finally put them up... Better late than never, huh? I pulled out the dusty old boxes from the garage and basement and we opened them up and went about transforming our humble abode into a lovely winter wonderland!

First, in order to get the house in the right mood, we baked up some Christmas cookies- get that delicious smell wafting through the house. Next, we fire up the soundtrack to the Muppet Christmas Carol, and then we get to work! The tree goes first, then the lights, tinsel, and ornaments. Ledge, as always, has to hop into the Christmas tree box. Something he's been doing since he was 1 year old! It's still cute, but in a 5'10'' way... 

As we sing along with the Muppets, we get the place looking good! With a few well-placed seasonal knick knacks, we finish up the transformation. Now we are ready for Christmas!

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A Super Dog Movie

One of my favorite things to do is hop on YouTube from time to time and catch up on all the latest movie previews. Often times I'll see that a new big movie dropped a trailer, so I check it out and watch five or ten more trailers for movies I've never heard of. Well, I had heard that the first Superman trailer was just released, so I turned on the TV to check it out. I knew that it was going to feature Krypto, Superman's dog, so I figured ol' Wiggins would want to watch it as well! I scooped him up and pressed play. The preview itself was pretty great, lots of great dog stuff. Surprisingly, Wiggins wasn't very interested, but that didn't stop me from enjoying it!

(I didn't realize it at the time, but my wife was watching me and laughing at me the whole time- even had time to take a picture! Rude...)

A Song in His Heart

Fa la la! It's time for the annual Christmas concert with the ol' middle school. When first entering sixth grade, Ledger wanted to be in band. After trying out a couple instruments and realizing the amount of practice he would have to commit to, he quickly changed his mind and settled on Choir instead. We have been very happy with that decision ever since. For us it means we don't have to suffer through him practicing an instrument either, and also it means that our house is often filled with singing from a beautiful little boy's voice! Though he may not exactly like all the songs his Choir teacher picks, he is still using his voice and getting very good too! I was never a very good singer, once puberty hit anyway, but Ledge has continued to use and develop his voice- and it shows! Diana and I always look at each other with delight when we hear him singing any old random song from the other room- we just love to hear him!

As usual, we invited Mema and Papa to join us in listening to the middle school choir concert. It was surprisingly good- in fact, the choir teacher herself talked about how this has been one of the best classes she has ever had! The nice thing about that is she challenged them with some of the more interesting Christmas music. So we got to hear quite a few unusual and impressive songs during the show! Though our boy didn't have a solo, Diana swears that there were a few times that she could hear him individually. Afterward, all four of us got to heap praises on him, which he liked of course,

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