it twas the night before

 Christmas Eve gift inspection

G’nite and Merry Christmas, friends…

nature style

I woke this morning to gray light.  I could feel the stillness of the snow even though I was snug as a bug in a rug.

This is the view from my bedroom window…this is what was missing.  It feels Christmas-y now.

I put my boots on and ventured out to look at the brook.

The brook runs right next to the barn, it sounds comforting.  I think of all the people who have lived here the past 200 years and listened to the same babbling water. Living in the country, it makes me feel less alone.

The shed in the back looks cold and forlorn.  We haven’t done anything with it…there’s bunk beds in it but truthfully I can’t imagine sleeping it for fear a bear would come knocking.

The old truck is almost reaching vintage status…almost?

 

I hope these last few days before Christmas find you warm and happy. 

Happy Holidays!

hen pecking and holiday decorating

 

 

 

PS: don’t mention this post to my husband

tags of yore

The one activity the kids and I return to each year is making gift tags.  We set up some tables and all the stuff that can be glued onto card stock and spend our free time making tags.  Sometimes it’s 10 minutes and sometimes the whole day.  There is always Christmas records playing and candy to munch on. Often we are loud (some of us more than others) and occasionally we laugh and fight at the same time.

 

                                                                                                              

I save the tags each year and love looking back at them.

Hadley comes home today, as well as my husband.  The house feels warmer when everyone is home, so does my heart!

hand-me-downs of the best sort

Growing up my grandfather shared many stories about his parents.  Quickly I fell in love with them, and I think it’s safe to say so did my brother Mike.  We were the youngest kids in our family and those stories we heard were better than TV.  And not just because our TV was miniscule and only got 2-3 channels depending on the weather.

As we grew older we inherited the contents of their lives.  I know my great grandmothers handwriting like that of a familiar dear friend.  And though I never met her I just know her. Do you know what I mean?

I had a small box of cards from her older years.  There were stacks of cards all neatly bundled and tied with the year tagged on each.  She labeled everything, maybe knowing that someday someone would be looking at each one with appreciation.  Did she know it was me?  

I laughed out loud when I saw she put a special index card where 1954 should have been to let whomever know  that year she used her cards to make gift tags.  It’s a good thing as I would have been up all night wondering where all the cards from 1954 were!

glittered skates

One of the great things about saving things (aka collecting junk) is sometimes you have a brainstorm and after digging through barn bins and boxes (aka making a huge mess) you find everything you need to begin and end a project.  That is one of my favorite feelings.

This project is relatively easy and a good alternative if you are tired of hanging a wreath on the front door.

These pictures are terrible as there was an awful glare, not that I’m complaining about glorious sunshine.

I glittered the skates, added vintage ribbon laces and some faux feather boa trim around the top.  Then Henry and I went in the woods and cut some greenery, this was my favorite part as it was a foggy, gray day and it felt like an adventure to both of us.  The only sad part being he found where I hauled our jack-o-lanterns after Halloween-- they sat with distorted expressions all saggy and deflated. He talked about those pumpkins all day.  Oh the sad facts of a jack-o-lantern life.

Sally O’Malley has become a part of our family. She has added a softness and sweetness to our days.  I have to refrain from talking too much about this cat.  I can only imagine how I will be when there is a baby in the house.

This brings me to say thank you for your well wishes… we are halfway there, the baby is due in April.  The good days are slowly pushing ahead of the not so good days, I have some other health stuff going on but each day feel more and more invigorated and dream of holding that little baby in my arms! 

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PS Recently feeling lowly and gruff I reread the first year of my blog, it’s so dumb!  I wanted to delete the whole thing. Has that ever happened to you? 

Go ahead and act like those two grouchy old men on the Muppets and ask me, what are you so worried about?  It’s still pretty dumb!  ha-ha

 

from holiday lights to dry heaving

I love this time of year.  From Thanksgiving right up until the New Year, I like the busyness, the sparkles the school programs.  The days spin along with their own agenda pushing us from one thing to the next. 

We went down the road to cut a Christmas tree, something our younger kids have yet to experience.  We walked about the tree farm until we all ended up in the same corner and decided we found the right tree, somewhat because it was the right size and somewhat because we were tired and the trees all started to look the same.

a ta

That’s Ken and I giving each other the look of love, and Molly setting off on her high speed trek to find the right tree.  She runs everywhere, do you have a child like that?

Thanksgiving came and went.  I spent that morning with my head over the garbage can, something that is all too frequent and I really wish would stop.  But in just the nick of time I managed to get dressed and go to my sister’s house.  My brother was there whom I haven’t seen in 5 years and it made me cry.  Surely he thinks I am a freak with my dry heavy breath and wild look of black mascara tears. 

After that we went to Ken’s side.  We had a full day, in a very good way.  It was a much different Thanksgiving than in past years when we had a table full of airman who were unable to go home for the holiday.

This is my Irish mother in law. She likes to pick on me and I like to pick on her, so it works out nicely.  This would be an example of the face she would make if I asked her if she boozed it up before we arrived.

My oldest came and went.  We tried to fit a lot in while she was here, to include crafting marathons and sushi.  I miss her being close by.  She makes me laugh so much!

(This is where a picture of Hadley should be but after a recent Facebook incident of posting pictures that are unflattering without asking all us girls agreed to only post pictures with permission,though pictures of my mother in law are always okay.)

Henry turned five yesterday and is officially not a baby anymore.  He has hauled around a stuffed cat he named “Mama Kitty” for years.  She used to be vibrant and cute but now well... she smells a little tangy in a not so good way.

So we got him a kitten.  A real one that doesn’t take batteries.  I put her in a gift bag and Henry was pretty surprised.  I think I will remember his face my whole life.

I love the little kitten.  We named her Sally O’Malley, okay I named her Sally O’Malley because if we let Henry name her he would have said something like ChukkahBukkah or CheezyWeezy.  

 

Sally O’Malley and Mama Kitty.  One of these cats smells better than the other.

That’s all I gots for now.  It’s time for dinner- chicken soup with rice.  So I best be getting to the kitchen and doing some cooking while listening to holiday music of the big band swing variety.

Tootles, friends….

PS We saw the Muppet movie and it was good, it was the first movie in a very long time that our whole family could watch together without it being too loud or scary or full of fart jokes.