At first, the news was devastating. Every time I heard “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” by Bing Crosby there was a pang of sadness and homesickness.
I wasn’t going home for Christmas.
Luckily, I married a creative, sentimental romantic and he vowed to make it a Christmas to remember. About 2 hours north of Star is a beautiful little town called McCall and near there we found a cozy, little condo in a ski lodge on a deserted ski resort. We had the time of our lives!
Before we even got there, our adventures began! Sitting on a fence post on the wayside, we saw this huge gorgeous hawk! We flipped a U’y and headed back to get some pictures… it flew away right as we were getting there.
Although a little disappointed, we continued down the road and soon found more, 9 to be exact!! Thinking that they were territorial, we were surprised to see so many. While we were watching this one in particular, she took off from her perch…
…and then dive bombed at the ground to pounce on something we couldn’t see…
After a few nibbles, she took her prey a little farther away only to be attacked by this big black crow!
Shortly after the crow, 2 other BEAUTIFUL birds of prey came and attacked her as well.We think we were able to identify the left one as a peregrine falcon, the hunter, in the middle, as a red tail hawk and the big black one on the right as a rough-legged hawk.
We arrived safely to our winter wonderland and after unpacking, we took a little nap. Next we went out hunting for a little branch or SOMETHING that we could use as a Christmas tree. We had so much fun rolling around in the snow, making snow angels and having snow ball fights. When we LITERALLY heard the wolves start to howl, we decided to head in. It was SO relaxing to just have a big bowl of taco soup complete with shredded cheese, a dollop of sour cream and Frito chips. Later, we drank hot chocolate with candy cane spoons all bundled up on our balcony, looking at the stars and then after that we went hot tubbing and had hot oil massages… it was FANTASTIC and a much needed relaxing vacation for both of us!
The view from our balcony…
For dinner on Christmas Eve, we did a traditional Perkes Family Jerusalem Dinner. We ate all kinds of food that would have been eaten by Jesus Christ. We had pita and naan bread, brie cheese and water crackers, pistachios and cashews, dried papaya, mango and pineapple, hummus, olives and feta cheese and grape juice. Delicious… and light! After dinner we read Luke 2 and then watched a little of the Christmas Story. Ha! Classic.
Christmas morning was a DELIGHT and I’m really happy that the holidays haven’t lost their magic even though I’m no longer a little girl. We went ALL OUT on our stockings this year! We both got each other perfume and cologne and sugar scrub… Nate got a Crucian Bracelet from St. Croix… I got some hot new jeans and stilletos from the Buckle… Nate got ‘The Pursuit of Happiness” and an FM transmitter… I got some beanies and SNOW PANTS! Here am I modeling my new skiing outfit!
Such an outfit was needed because Christmas Day we went skiing at the Brundage Ski Resort! Nate is amazing, but this was only my second time. I basically rolled down the hill the first time down that day, but I will be the first to proudly admit, I got progressively better each time after that. After a while, I curled up with a good book to dethaw and Nate took off to the Double Black Diamonds he had been itchin’ to go down all day. Here we are on the ski lift!
It was so nice to come home and take a hot bubble bath, have ham and cheesey-broccoli-potatoes and then curl up and watch Nate’s new movie. The next day, unfortunately, it was time to head home. Nate found this Elk Run that was opening up THAT DAY, so we took a detour on our way home! On a privately owned ranch, hundreds of wild elk gather each year to be fed. The owners of the ranch have these beautiful horse drawn sleighs that they use to take people out to get close to the elk. We weren’t supposed to touch them, but I couldn’t help myself. They were lovely.
Here is a video of some snippets of our vacation!
For a Christmas present for our Mom’s, I made a little slideshow…. take a look!
ALSO, check out these other beautiful shots that Nate took with his new camera and lens!
Merry Christmas to ALL! Family, although I missed you all SO MUCH, know that I am in good hands! It was the perfect honeymoon Christmas!
Only 360 Days to go until Christmas again… : D
show hide 5 comments
Nate Perkes - Hey Baby!
What a great Christmas! We had so much fun. I just wanted to also point out that Luisa took ALL of the hawk pictures. She's a natural! Love you babe!
Your Hubby
The Perkes Family - Hey You two!
Awesome Christmas post. I have to say for braggin rights… do we not live in the COOLEST place ever! Your pictures are so beautiful….. Thanks for sharing!
Love Ya
Buckley - Luisa: What a beautiful summary of your and Nate's special Christmas together in the mountains! Where there is love, there is joy! How blessed the two of you are to have found each other. You continue to delight us with your sense of adventure and romance.
HAPPY NEW YEARS!!! And may we be together next Christmas!
–Dad
Jonna - Can I just tell you that I think you guys are the cutest happiest looking couple ever!
Thanks for visiting:
http://getoffyourbuttandbake.blogspot.com
The photography is just beautiful, and I also enjoyed sipping my Hot Chocolate to the pretty music. My daughter is also a photographer…we are lucky. I'm learning to use my new Nikon D-90 in Manual Mode….little by little.
I also live in Cold Idaho…Idaho Falls to be exact.
Thanks for visiting my baking blog.
Jonna
Bree - What an amazing Christmas getaway!! I'm sad we never made it to McCall while we lived out there! I guess we'll just have to come visit!!
We miss you guys, hope you're doing well and best wishes for a happy new year! keep in touch! 