You Can Find JOY If You Want To

Four days prior, we had our plan in place.  Last evening, confirmation of that plan was made.  This morning ole heck broke loose and our plan fell to pieces. That's life!   We are masters at saving the day, that's what you become, "masters at saving the day", when a large part of your life revolves around being in the mountains.  Today was to be our Christmas tree decorating celebration far-west of the city in the great big mountains.  Before leaving home, I saw our turnoff road was reported as being snow & ice covered.  I walked out the front door to load my car in pouring rain.  I made my way to the designated meeting spot.  We met, we discussed, we waited.  We hit the highway.  We pulled off, we stopped, we discussed, we waited.  We hit the highway again.  We saw trouble up ahead so we turned off, we stopped, we discussed, we waited.  After all the stopping, discussing, waiting, two hours later we were sitting in the parking lot at our revised location gearing up to hike. We did not know exactly what trail but we were determined to find a way to make today happen.  We ended up hiking in the close -west of the city in the smaller mountains along the Ridgeback Trail and Tom Snow Trail.  How fitting to be on the Tom Snow Trail today.   

The road was not sanded nor was it plowed but we slowly but surely safely arrived.  

We began our hike with the sky being gray, the snow falling, the view looking pretty.

There is loads of forest on these trails and the snow was accumulating on the tree branches.  We were sheltered from the elements.  Near the beginning, there appeared what looked like a welcoming arch for us to pass under leading us to the gate to pass through and start our day.  It felt very welcoming and almost like it was created just for us.

I knew today was not going to be about big far off vast views.  I knew today that we would be bringing the color and being the color.  After all,  we are "masters at saving the day" in any which way and I like color.  As we got well into our hike, we began the search for where we would hold our tree decorating celebration.  We crossed bridges.....

.....we passed through forest after forest.....

We finally found the perfect tree for us. It was time to celebrate!  I had an array of Christmas tunes to accompany us as we went to work.  We placed the ornaments with care on the delicate branches.  What a nice variety available to display.  Each decoration having meaning for each of us.  From snowshoes to skis, from joy to celebrate, from a hat to skates, from an angel to a snowman to a bear, we had it all.    

After making our tree beautiful, we secured our solo shots which we also considered to be our summit shots.  We had no idea if this was a summit or if it was to be our high spot for the day.  But, I know I felt high getting to be a part of this special kind of celebration.  

We then, settled down to dine with a view of the pretty tree.  We swapped stories and laughed all the while enjoying hot beverages, our entrees and thank you Short Stop for the deserts of gingerbread women and rum balls.  With the music still playing, we sang along too.    

The decorations were carefully packed into our packs, now with more meaing to place on our trees at home.  We continued on with finding our way on this hike. The day contained many oops as at times due to no flagging, no blazing, accumulated snow, it was hard to find the trail.  But, we are "masters at saving the day" and finding our way.  

Our hike concluded with an amazing sunset.  

It was almost like this was orchestrated especially for us.    

We wanted to find JOY today and we did!