We had a great view of Big Bear Lake from the house and surrounding deck.

We cooked all of our meals in this wonderful kitchen with granite countertops. Sure wish I had a kitchen at home this nice.

The house featured this nice deck outdoors with covered dining and even a fireplace, but it was too cold to eat outside. Scott did use the grill one night to bbq steaks.

The house appeared to be professionally decorated in "mountain chic." Many of the furniture pieces were works of art.

The little girls loved running up and down the stairs from the main level to the loft, where there was extra sleeping if we had needed it.

This is a view of the living room from the loft. We kept a fire going in the fireplace all day long for our white Christmas in Big Bear.

Megan loved watching her Daddy light the fire and wanted to help by carrying over more logs to put on the fire.

I parked myself in a chair by the fire and read most of the day. Very relaxing.

The lower level was the game room with fireplace and view of the lake from the deck.

The game room had a pool table....

a fabulous wet bar...

And a Christmas tree.

Megan was fascinated by the decorations on the tree.

We fed peanuts to the gray squirrels and Stellars jays that visited the deck.

We unwrapped presents...

Oh, look, Nicole got both a Nintendo Wii and an X-Box Kinect.

Little Megan.

We had some quality time with the grandkids.

Vic helped Lauren work her new puzzle, while Nicole's mother Maria helped Allison. I sat in the middle and helped on both puzzles. The girls tired quickly of the puzzles, which were a bit hard for them, and soon it was just grandparents on the floor with the puzzles! Funny.

The bedroom that we used was beautifully decorated.

The bedroom had a loft, a door to the deck with a lake view, and skylights. We could see the stars at night through the skylight.

Daytime was for snow play. We went to a park in Big Bear, where the girls enjoyed sledding.

Scott, Nicole, Megan, and the twins, Allison and Lauren.

We showed the girls how to have a snowball fight. Their Papa Vic was their favorite target.

The twins did a "run and throw" frontal assault, while Megan attacked from the rear.

Poor Vic. But I don't think he suffered too badly.

After a day of playing in the snow, the little girls went down for naps while this big girl headed for the hot tub. Delightful.

The twins turned five while we were in Big Bear.

Allie loved her big cupcake.

Megan's birthday was several days later, but I let her open the gift from us while we were there. It was a sleeping bag, which her mother said she wanted. When she opened it, she squealed with delight, "It's just what I always wanted my whole life." All three years of it.

A storm was forecast to move in our last day there, arriving around 3 am. Not wanting to drive down mountain roads while it was snowing, we decided to leave that night and avoid the storm. Good decision. Scott has 4WD and chains, but even they left at 6 am to avoid the worst of the storm. Great vacation.