Christmas Celebrations - Part 3: Oklahoma Day 1

On the Saturday before Christmas, we got up long before the roosters to fly to Oklahoma to celebrate Christmas with my husband's family.  Our travels have been filled with mishaps in the past due to snow, so when the weather forecast called for snow (between 2" and 20"), I got a little nervous.  Thankfully, it did not snow during any of our travels.  While there, my in-laws were all hoping for lots of snow while I kept praying that the snow would hold off until we flew back home.  Ironically, it did start snowing in their area right after we returned home. To top it off, my husband's brother was featured on the front page of the city's newspaper in a large photo of him walking through the snow.  He looked like a GQ model in that photo that accompanied an article about all the snowfall coming to the area.  I am so thankful to God for easy travels this year.

After only a few hours of sleep the night before our flight, we were all super tired the first day.  Yet, the family had a packed day of excitement scheduled for us.  They always go out of their way to make every day spent there extremely memorable for us.

When we arrived at Grandma and Grandpa's house, the kids greeted most of Grandma's 18 cats, her 3 dogs, fish, geese, and chickens.  The kids say they have each adopted one of Grandma's cats.  Thankfully the cats stay in Oklahoma.  Our son's cat, Johnny-B-Good, is the large cat perched on top of the fish tank in the top left photo in the scrapbook page pictured below.  Johnny likes to drink fish flavored water from the fish tank.  Maybe he is hoping that one of the fish will jump up within reach.  My husband took a little nap on the couch before we headed out again.  My son generously let his daddy sleep with his lovie blanket named Bubba.

After a brief rest, we traveled to Dry Gulch.  The pastor at my husband's parents' church built this fabulous western style town for movies he once filmed as part of his children's ministry.  Now the town is used as kids' camp during the summer, and it hosts the Christmas train outreach during the winter.  The huge western "town" includes a western style steam locomotive, bumper cars, race track, arcade, pony rides, carriage rides, playground area, and so much more.  The cabins are converted into restaurants during the Christmas season.  One restaurant served the best beef stew I have ever had.  We were told that their cinnamon roll shop puts Cinnabon to shame.  The Christmas train takes passengers through the entire Christmas story from creation to Christ's crucifixion and resurrection.  The images and the dramas are quite powerful.  We were there on the last night they were open, so the lines were exceedingly long.  Everything was well worth the wait, however.

 

Here's a video of the youngest cousins on the bumper cars: