Christmas 2023

Not every year, but with an irregular frequency, we’ll all rent a house at Christmas to gather the families and friends. Lots of food, great conversations, plenty of games, and daily outings make it a ton of fun.

Hiking

This year Emily found a great house just north of North Conway, NH. It stood on the side of Mt Stanton, with easy access to hiking trails. Well… not so easy that we could find our way through the woods. Emily & Izzy had no problems navigating, but the rest of us got lost at least once. Navigation issues aside, we all had fun hiking up the minor mountain.

On my way back down from the summit hike on day #2, I bumped into a bunch of birds feasting in the woods by the house. It was pretty dim, so most of the shots weren’t keepers, but I did nab this one of a wood pecker:

Gifts and stuff

On Christmas Eve we had a Yankee Swap, which has taken the place of years’ past Secret Santa exchanges. The swap is fun and low-key — a great time to sit together and enjoy some really thoughtful gifts. I made off with 2 games which we’ve already played a bunch of times. Good stuff!

Gwenda got a lackluster clementine 🤣

Christmas morning we exchanged intra-family gifts.

Fog

Fog rolled in on Christmas and hung around for the next few days. Up on the mountain, we were above the blanket, but venturing around town was soupy. Vic got some great shots from the front yard.

Diana’s Falls

On our last full day, we drove to Diana’s Falls. A short hike led to a picturesque scene. Vic got some close up shots (very nice!) and I concentrated on wide angle views.