12 Days to Christmas Countdown~

Day 10- Christmas Memories from Amelia

Here's a memory shared by my closest sister in age, one that once I read I had to try and remember, but unfortunately to no avail. It sounds like it was quite an experience, and now at least I can relive it through her memory.

Thanks Millie!

"I remember a Christmas when I was like 11 years old. We always drove up to my Grandma and grandpa in Michigan's house after we opened presents. So we had packed up our minivan with presents, clothes, and 6 kids. My parents would put a crazy contraption on top of the van and put ALL the presents for every relative inside. Riding up to Michigan was always kinda fun/crazy because we'd be forced to sit, talk and entertain each other. This was before there was such a thing as "GODS GIFT" the T.V./DVD player combo that attaches to the car seats.
It also sounds like it would be relatively painless to get to the grandparents house since Ohio and Michigan are next door neighbors and it should be really quick right? WRONG. If Michigan is your palm, my grandparents live on the tip of your pointer finger basically.
This particular trip went by extra fast because we all had Christmas toys and stuff to entertain ourselves with. As we neared the point of the pointer finger, the weather started to get really horrible. I will also add that my grandparents live somewhat extremely far from civilization. Literally down a dirt road. So we are inching along in our huge, lumbering, front wheel drive mini van when it looks like we will FINALLY get there. Just then my dad loses control and we go off the road and get stuck in the snow. We all start screaming as loud as any car full of 5 young girls (and my mom) can. I'm sure that sound in and of itself made my dad wish he could bury himself alive in the snow. After a couple of valiant pushes, it was clear the van wasn't going anywhere. This was also before Cell phones. WOW I'm really feeling old. So we all grabbed our most prized toys, and backpacks, and had to walk it down the dirt road in like 2-3 feet of snow. I thought it was fun and we all had a story to tell our grandparents when we showed up with all of us marching with our stuff through the snow.
My grandma and grandpa helped us in. The house was always cozy and warm and so much the same, with their real Christmas tree, and overlooking the frozen lake it seemed totally worth it. "

(My sidenote-They do still live on a lake, a beautifully crystal clear lake that has trees surrounding nearly the whole perimeter. One other thing I remember is that in the winter in northern Michigan it gets so cold and the ice starts to crack up against the shoreline, and it makes a gorgeous sculptural view that it something to behold.)