Each year, the weekend before Christmas, we drive north to Idaho Falls to visit our daughter Missy's family and deliver the Christmas booty. While we're there, George and I love to treat Matt and Missy with an evening at Mountain River Ranch. If you love the Old West...this is about as Cowboy Christmas as it gets. The Ranch is located near the Snake River in Ririe, Idaho.
The horses came in three sizes...giant, enormous, and ginormous!
Oh, What Fun it is to Ride...
The winter nights are so very, very dark and cold at the Ranch. Even the stars are freezing pin-pricks of light. The trip to the Dinner Theatre takes us through woods and pasture. Colored lights on the fences line the road and lighted Christmas vignettes are set among barns, cabins and other outbuildings. My favorite kind of drive-through light display!
Missy and Matt are the young couple in the center.
Trails end...we unwrap a precious bundle!
Mckinley's 5 sisters could not be trusted to babysit her...lol!
Fiddles and Fun...
What better accompaniment to dinner than a Country-Western show! The food was served on huge platters...slabs of ranch-grown prime rib so huge they could feed a small family. Thank goodness for doggy bags!
Silent Night...
The Last Christmas Tree...
The show ended with the story of "The Last Christmas Tree"... a pioneer family has only one tree remaining in the grove near their remote cabin. Instead of cutting it down...they decorate it...and in the morning, open their gifts beneath its branches. After the story, we all sang "Silent Night," before boarding the wagons for the return journey. Christmas can come now...my spirit is renewed.
Merry Christmas and a Blessed Sunday,
3 comments:
Oh Shirley,
I so love your stories and your photos! That looks like the perfect way to spend the weekend before Christmas!! I am sure your family enjoyed your visit with them and really enjoyed this special treat. The cutie that couldn't be left home is so sweet! I hope you had a wonderful weekend with your family! Merry Christmas and the package arrived safe and sound!! Thank you so much!!! I was squealing with delight when opening the package and my hubby was in the kitchen fixing a late breakfast of eggs and sausage and I heard him tell the furbabies, Mama must have gotten something good in the mail lets go see what it is!!! He loved it too! He said, Honey, I hope you are going to send all the sweet ladies something nice in return for the goodies they have sent you this Christmas. I told him I was and he said if I needed to go shopping to get some more stuff for my packages we could go after breakfast. How sweet he is to me and how sweet that he understands the how much my online friends mean to me! I am so blessed!!! Merry Christmas and your box is headed your way in the mail tomorrow. It is all packaged and waiting for the mailman to come and pick it up!!!
Hugs,
What a fun time! I love Christmas traditions! They make the holidays even more special!
Blessings
Linda
What a fun time! I love Christmas traditions! They make the holidays even more special!
Blessings
Linda
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