Christmas in Colorado, 2021

 For the first time since Christmas 2018, all of the Bundy siblings were together once again! My parents rented two condos in Pagosa Springs. 

Getting there was a lot harder than anticipated though! On the 23rd, we got the van loaded, dropped off Shadow at the kennel and made it about 10 miles out of town when Dale noticed the thermostat on the van was at “H”. We pulled over, and waited a while before realizing this wasn’t something we could take care of there, so we turned around and drove home. 

When we got home, Dale figured out the radiator had a crack. Two days before Christmas in Ada, OK meant there weren’t many options so we went to a local dealership to see what they had available. We test drove a Tahoe, Chrysler Pacifica and Ford Expedition. After much deliberation, we bought the Pacifica…and 5 hours later we were loading up our new van and back on the road. We had planned to stop somewhere along the way once we got too tired, but the weather was looking awful so we decided to drive all the way. We only got stuck once after Chama, NM, and pulled in to Pagosa sometime after 5:00 AM.

Our family was in one condo with my brother Nate’s family, and in the other condo were my parents, my brothers Robert and John and my sister Hannah. 

After a few hours of sleep, we got up and the kids couldn’t wait to go play in the 3 feet of snow that had fallen. 

Our kids hit it off with my brother Nate’s kids and played hard all day. That night we had enchiladas for Christmas Eve dinner, and put on our Christmas Eve pajamas. 

The kids were wired but eventually settled down, and Santa was able to come.

The next morning, our kids slept through all the chaos of Nate’s kids opening their stockings and finally woke up around 8:00. We opened stockings and headed to the other condo to open presents which was insane…presents practically flying everywhere. The kids spent the rest of the day playing with their gifts and enjoying the snow. 

We had a delicious Christmas dinner and celebrated my brother John’s birthday. My mom got Christmas crackers that came with whistles in them so we could “play” Christmas songs and it was hilarious! 

The next day was Sunday. Due to Covid and the uptick in cases, we decided not to attend church, and my mom got permission from the local bishop to hold Sacrament meeting with just our family. That was the quietest and most reverent our rowdy group had been the whole time. Cameron and Kimball got to assist with the Sacrament, and afterwards we had a testimony meeting of sorts. 

The kids loved going outside and grabbing icicles to snack on all.the.time! Then they would steal the kitchen towels to wrap around the icicles.

 

On Monday, we went sledding. Kimball was the craziest getting air and rolling down the hill. Lily was content to just pose in her sled and play safely in the snow above the hill. Everyone else got exhausted going up and down the hill. 

Tuesday we went to the hot springs. The kids swam in the pool for hours on end. The adults took turns going to hotter springs and watching kids. Dale, Kimball, Kelsey and Nate did the polar plunge multiple times. 

Wednesday most of the adults and Kimball went to the Escape Zone. We got there late and had a deduction off our time, but we still beat it with plenty of time to spare! It was the Da Vinci room, and the prize was the goblet. 

That night, we had “The Great Bundy Bake-off” where my parents and siblings and I had to make a dessert, then the grandkids judged. I was the winner with my Christmas tree sugar cookies, having baked to the audience. 

Thursday we played lots in the snow, and played lots of games. Bree got “Life” for Christmas so that was a hit with the kids.

That night, Cameron’s stomach started hurting and he threw up. He spent the night next to the bathroom, and in the bathroom, as well as much of the next day.

Friday, Nate and his family left drive home to Utah. We went sledding again. The girls went to a smaller hill, and the boys went back to the big hill we went to on Monday. We even saw some domesticated wolves!

 

Friday night was New Years Eve. After getting everything all packed for our drive home the next day, we celebrated with games, food, and sparklers at 10:30 pm. I think almost everyone was fast asleep well before midnight. Poor Kimball got hit next with the stomach bug and spent most of that night at the toilet. 

Happy New Year!

The next morning we loaded up, cleaned up and hit the road as soon as we could. We stopped by Walmart to get Gatorade, chapstick and other necessities for the boys to make the trip home still feeling pretty sick. There was a winter storm from Colorado through much of Texas so the roads at time were slick, and there was a wreck near Santa Rosa, NM that closed the freeway for a few hours (though we were able to go around on a frontage road). We drove for over 14 hours and finally pulled in to home, sweet home.