Christmas for our family was a bit non-traditional this year. Thanks to a generous friend of my husband, we were given a cabin to stay at in Richland Center, Wisconsin. You might say I was a bit skeptical considering traditions and being home for Christmas are important for me. My husband reminded me how selfish I was being and that this was a great opportunity...one of which we should not pass by. However, it came with a small price to pay, and that was the underlying plan was for my husband to hunt on the land we would be staying on. You see where this is headed now.
In my continued state of uneasiness with making the trip a little over three hours away, and for Christmas, I agreed to this new adventure as a family for the holiday. So off we ventured on December 23rd, packed in our Jeep Wrangler, husband, wife, two kids and two dogs heading northwest in Wisconsin. All Christmas presents were opened the nights leading up to our trip so there would be no Christmas presents to open on Christmas Day. Just the joy of our family spending the day together.
As we pulled up to our destination, my original fears of being away for Christmas began to stir again. You see, the cabin we pulled up to was nothing like my husband described as a "house" or "six bedroom house". No -- it looked more like a hunting shack! My husband again assured me we had not ventured inside yet and it could be better than at first glance of the outside. The family departed the Jeep and cautiously walked to the front door and in...to find it was a typical cabin. A bit more than a hunter's shack, but with the underlying sense hunters come there for stories of their hunt and celebrations of the kill. Instead of a "six bedroom" house we did get a six bed and six room cabin. Completely decked out in pine from head to toe, heat, full kitchen, full bath, washer/dryer, television and even satellite. Rest assured, it was enough to make a great family trip and a new tradition.
Richland Center is a quiet place. We drove through what I like to call "Wisconsin mountains", which are basically rolling hills. The views are gorgeous and our little cabin sat on top of a high point amongst the rolling hills. We could not have asked for any better of a trip as it snowed, a gentle snow, the whole time we were in Richland Center. The air was clean. There was not one sound other than the noise from birds flying above. So our little adventure had taken us to heaven and a true "Little House on the Prairie" story....one to be continued for the next few days as I share our adventure.
