Black Powder

Lou and I were greeters at church on Sunday and we had a delightful surprise. We looked up and I mean UP to see two tall (one 6 ft 5 inches and one 6 ft seven inches) grandsons standing in the receiving line. We did not know they were planning on attending church and that started our Rice Family Christmas Celebration off in the right way. Our pastor, whom is also tall, remarked "that it was good to be able to look up to a member of the congregation".

Immediately after church, as many of Lou's family as possible, met at his house for a time of fellowship and exchange of gifts. Once again there was an array of food to tempt everyone's appetite. A granddaughter, that is studying in Italy, had flown home and she traveled down to Pennsylvania with her mother and sister. This was another surprise to the whole family, we had been following her travels in Europe with her blog, but seeing her in person was rewarding. She promised all of us that she would keep blogging for our enjoyment.

After the exchange of presents the grandson's that attended church were anxious to shoot their newly acquired 50 caliber muzzle loader. Seems that Santa was very generous to them. One of the boys had shown me a little about the gun. The only experience with a muzzle loader I had was when my son was young, he had an authentic Davy Crockett muzzle loader that his grandpa had made a honest to goodness powder horn for.

I debated if I should go outside with the boys and their father to see them shoot the gun; however, I was not dressed for the outside, coming right from church. I did remember I had gardening shoes at Lou's house, so I quickly got a pair of Lou's socks and put them over my pantyhose and pulled them up as high as they would go and donned my long winter coat and scarf and off we went. I am so glad that I did, as that was the highlight of my day. The oldest grandson explained everything he did to the gun to get it ready to fire, and not only did he explain what he did, but why he did it as he did. I learned different amounts of gun powder were used depending on what you were going to do. He even let me tamp the packing, gun powder and bullet down, which I learned is not as simple as it appears to be.

I wanted to get a picture as he fired his first shot, and thankfully, with the new cameras I was able to capture the shot, after I recovered from the sound and the smoke. He was darn accurate on the target, pleasing Santa and the boys.

The boys stayed on at the house until Tuesday evening and were able to get out in the woods to try their gun; however, as we spoke to them last night they did not see deer close enough to shoot at. The sad thing of all of this is that someone hit a deer in front of Lou's house, not only hitting the deer, but also taking out his paper box. Where is the justice in all of this??

Now all has settled back to normal and we have a pot of homemade soup brewing from the left over bones of our rib roasts, getting caught up on thank you notes and such. The Christmas decorations are all put away for another year and we are looking forward to going out to dinner tomorrow night and a party with our square dancing group to celebrate New Years Eve.

Our Holidays

The holidays are over and we are about to pass into 2010. In a time of reflection, doesn't it seem like we were just concerned about the passing into a new century? My dearly departed father told me years ago that as we age time goes more quickly, and I have found that to be very true.

We all had a wonderful Christmas. The best part for our family was a Christmas Card from Krista with a copy of her latest PET scan results in it. This revealed that at this point there are no additional tumors. These were results we had all been awaiting. Thanks to God and to all that prayed for her.

Our Christmas eve service was delightful. We attended the Methodist church in Morris, as their service was earlier and that would enable us to get to our family Christmas celebration on time. Lou and I are always amazed at these community services, as they are attended by many different faiths and everyone unites and make for a real "fuzzy - warm" feeling. The music was especially good with an adult choir and a children's. Our Pastor had built a candle tree which held 50 white taper candles that were all lite for the candle light service.

Christmas at Susan's house is always special from the moment you step into the door. We all arrived at the same time and had refreshments before opening our gifts. It is always a special time for me when small children are involved, the excitement in their faces and the anticipation of what is to come. The little girls supplied us with all of our emotional needs as grandparents. Travis called as we were finishing and we passed the phone around so everyone was able to talk with him. Not as good as having he, Noell and Wyatt here, but a close second.

Christmas day, Lou fixed the standing rib roasts and all have agreed, he has a new job for Christmas. He did two roasts each differently and it seemed that both were a success. I made a Yorkshire Pudding to go along with the roasts and think that may also become a new tradition. All in all a good evening for all of us.

We thank God for the travel mercies for all of our families as they traveled to and from all of our homes. More on the Christmas celebration at Lou's house later.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas One and All * * *

I am going to hurriedly bring everyone up to date on the happenings here in Catlin Hollow. Lou and I have had a very busy few days, as I am sure all of you have had.

Today we are down to the nitty gritty. We have finished up DH's Christmas shopping and both of us have declared that next year we are both doing differently, so families be aware, change in on the horizon.

Today, I am quickly cleaning up the house for all of the company for tomorrow. Lou had a few errands to run and he is off to accomplish them. I am in hopes that we will both finish at the same time. I have a huge pot of home made vegetable-beef soup simmering on the range and home-made bread rising to the occasion.

We will attend Christmas Eve Services at Morris at 7:00 pm, then arrive at Susan and Tim's home after church to celebrate our Christmas as a family. This is always a joyous time, as there are lots of grandchildren and great-grandchildren and they are all eager for the evening of entertainment after sitting in church quietly for over an hour. Sue always has a beautiful array of finger foods, and every kind of Christmas cookie imaginable. As usual their home will be decorated to the "nines" with everything natural and smelling of pine wood in the wood stove and the freshly cut Christmas tree.

Christmas Day - all of the adult in my family will be here for dinner. Susan asked Lou to fix what he fixed last year, so we will be dining on a standing rib roast that he prepares with cranberry relish, ginger ale, and onion soup mix. It is a wonderful holiday presentation, of course, we will have the many favorite side dishes to compliment DH's main attraction. Deserts will be apple and pumpkin pie along with The Golden Lamb's Christmas Eve Pudding with rum sauce.

We will celebrate Christmas with Lou's family on the 27th of December. We will all meet at his house and they are also planning on finger foods. It sounds like it will be a quick gathering, as we will attend church in the morning, Lou and I are greeters this Sunday, and we plan on eating around 1:00 pm, and one daughter and her family have to head back to Harrisburg in the afternoon. It will be a smaller group than Thanksgiving, but we realize as family grow, more family obligations arise and different arrangements have to be made. There are two new babies in Lou's family and neither of them can attend this gathering. We certainly enjoyed them on Thanksgiving and it sounds like Ande and Denny are really enjoying the new role of grandparents. It certainly is a wonderful gift from God to all of us.

Hopefully, after the first of the year, things will be a little calmer, but I do realize we will have a busy month of January getting ready to head south the first part of February.

Enjoy your Christmas holiday....

Lack of Snow

We were awakened on Saturday morning by phone calls telling us that there were huge amounts of snow around us and wanting to know how much we had. Lou looked outside and found nothing here.

You will notice that we did not receive the snow that was received south of us.

In fact, we never saw a snow flurry the whole weekend.

Our Friday evening dinner went very nicely. We spent a very enjoyable evening with my brother, Jerry and his wife Joanne. We both had intended to take pictures while we were all together and both of us forgot, so we have made arrangements to go out for dinner together before we head south and accomplish the goal.

Saturday brought reality home!! Lou had not done any Christmas shopping for his family and what was he going to do...... Phone calls were made some suggestions were made, promises that suggestions would arrive via e-mail, some did, some did not. Needless to say, it is nearly completed, and the rest of the task must be accomplished this week. Next year will be different!! We hope.

Yesterday we attended church, then went to Nell's for dinner and a ride to see where the new gas lines are now located. Lou had gotten all of this straight in his mind while he and Preston were hunting, but I couldn't understand what they were telling me, so now I have a better idea of what is happening. I would certainly think all of this has had a positive concept to our depressed economy in Tioga County.

Today, we are planning on making candy and a new cookie recipe that Lou found in the paper yesterday.

Krista has gone to Williamsport to meet with the doctor that will head up her treatment for radiation. I know this is a day that she faces with mixed emotions.

Yesterday I spent the day cleaning and finishing up my wrapping and such and waited until after dinner to clean and wax our kitchen floor. In the hopes that we could enjoy a Christmas movie. Lou got the movie ready and pushed the buttons; however, nothing happened. He tried many things without any results, so we went to bed without watching our movie.

Krista called this morning and I told her what had happened, and she said she would come down after running an errand in town. She waved her magic fingers and presto it works fine, in fact, now that I do not cable she was able to hook it up for easier operation.

The bad thing is she put in a DVD that Lou had brought entitled The Nativity Story and I hit the play button, so here we are two hours later and we sat down and throughly enjoyed, probably the best rendition of the birth of Jesus I have ever seen. Now I am going to have to scramble to get dinner and the house ready for guests at 6:00 pm.

Traditions

Kathy was disappointed that she hadn't gotten the picture she wanted for this mornings post, she wanted to get one of square dancing last evening, but we were having such a good time it was forgotten.

This morning, after waiting for her granddaughter to come down to set up her nativity set, she started to put it out herself and I suggested that she use this for the post. She set it up and I got the camera out and took the picture and now she can explain the history behind it. I'm off to get "her" Buick inspected.

DH had a good idea - As many of you know my mother had a ceramic shop for years, so she poured the character for our set, and the the other grandma, Grandma Bryant painted the characters and they presented it to our children for Christmas in 1968. My late husband build the stable from wood that came from our barn on the Rice Farm in 1981. After Michelle was born she took on the task of setting it up each year, and she has done so every year with the exception of this year, and I probably would have waited for her this year also; however, we are having guests for dinner tomorrow night and I hated to have a vacant stable.

When I decided I wanted to get back into ceramics and bought a lady's business, Kris and I thought we would pour another nativity set, we soon found out we needed a little more practice pouring before we would tackle this, all of the cows, donkeys and sheep have ears, horns and legs that have to be poured and attached to the bodies. Krista is the one that has the pouring down to a fine art, and has had really good luck. She is looking forward to feeling better next year so we can get back into the ceramics and use the many things we have purchased to enjoy our mutual hobby. Our kiln, pouring table and the majority of our molds are all set up in my heated garage. The perfect setting for both of us. We found out that Lou even likes to paint and hopefully we can use him to help us pour some of the heavy molds.

Now I must get busy, have a big day planned, the sheets are awaiting me to get them on the line. Lou told me this morning, he had a mental imagine of the RV going down the road with a clothes line attached and the sheets blowing in the wind! Reminds me of the time I was cutting the grass and was in a hurry to get this job completed, I had someone go by me and blow the horn and motion to the back of the lawn tractor. When I looked behind me, I had a pretty pink sheet trailing, I had pulled it off the clothes line as I went under the line. I quickly pulled it off the tractor and got it back in the washer with a little bleach. I could write a book of my experiences of cutting the grass. In fact, Dr. Nespola told me, while I was working for him, that I should write all of the experiences down. He alone knows what I went through the year after Al died, as I learned to do the things that he had done. I thought I had learned it all in the nine years that I had taken care of Al, but God had other plans!! I'll tell you the tales of the varmints someday.

Noises in the night

I was awaken early this morning with this hair raising sound. I lay in a bed thinking DH's day of reading and previously hunting had really worn him out; however, I didn't remember ever hearing him snore before. I got up and went into the bathroom and as I did I found the source of the snoring. Would you believe that our little dog was stretched out as far as she could and snuggled up as close to DH as she could possibly be and snoring like a large lion. Now I don't know what she did to tire her out so completely that she slept like the dead, but sleep and snore she did. I snapped her picture and she never moved; however, it did get the attention of DH and we both had a good laugh about the whole situation and Estee awoke to see what was so funny.

On this rainy day, DH took the packages to UPS, stopped off at a friends house to give him the book that he had just completed and on to his house to put his favorite decorations on his tree in the front window. He said he wanted to decorate it his way one more time, then he would pack his things away. Part of the ups and downs of "love after loss" and we both find it difficult during the holidays, and hopefully, it will be easier next year as we begin new traditions with two different families. This was a topic of discussion in Bible study last evening also. No one has come up with any magic answers, the same questions remain out there. We continue to remember that God IS in control.

We attended the band concert and hand bell concert at the high school this evening. We met Krista and Steve there, in fact Lou and I were early!! Lou and I saw many folks we knew and enjoyed talking with old and new friends before and after the wonderful concert. Michelle was in the hand bell concert and they did a fantastic job, as did the band as a group.

We walked out of the concert to find that it had snowed about an inch and was still snowing. We needed to stop at the grocery, and while we were in the grocery the temperature dropped five degrees. We had to shovel our way into the house, and DH was hungry, so after putting the groceries away, I fixed us an Italian sausage sandwich. Like he said, we have got to be crazy, but it sure is fun to do these things together.

Touring Texas

Allow me to explain my title. After nearly two week of hunting, Lou wanted to get caught up on his reading. Preston got Lou started reading William W. Johnstone western books around ten years ago and he has found many hours of enjoyment with this colorful author. I recently found a new series that Lou had not read, and ordered them. These books are historical westerns and the main character takes the reader through the battle of the Alamo with Sam Houston, Jim Bowie and Davy Crockett. Lou and I are both interested in history, so we tracked the story on the map and found there were huge distances that these colorful characters traveled under difficult circumstances. Can you believe we spent the majority of the day reading his book and discussing what we had read. He did finish his book and has started the second one in this series of nine books. Retirement is wonderful!!

I did get my sheets washed and hung on the lines again, I think Lou thought I was a bit crazy thinking they wouldn't dry; however, they are back on the bed and smell just wonderful.

We had gourmet hot dogs and potato salad for dinner, a nice treat after having big meals last week.

After dinner, we quickly got ready for Bible study and arrived on time and enjoyed an evening discussing the scriptures that will be used in our worship for Epiphany Sunday. After we got home, Lou and I got out an old Bible Story book that I had growing up and re-read the Christmas story, as we heard many renditions of the Christmas story this evening, and it seems the stories that our parents told us, is what we really remember. Did you know that the word Magi doesn't have a meaning in Hebrew??

I am on the worship committee at church and will be doing the scripture readings every third week while we are in town. Lou and I will also be greeters, the first Sunday for that is the 27th of December. Pastor Keith asked me to make up forms that can be handed to new folks to enable him to meet visitors needs. I am very happy with my new church home, and am so grateful to the members for making me feel one of them.

We stopped at Lou's sisters home on the way home from Bible study. She will be flying to Texas on Wednesday to spend the holidays with one of her sons and his family. She had just finished an afghan for a lady and she wanted Lou to see it before the lady picked it up. It had a huge cat in the center of it, and Lenore did her usual great crafting job on it. We will miss her while she is away, and pray for a safe flight for her.

Thanks to you folks that have given us positive feed back on the blog. We are enjoying doing the posts, Lou even comes up with some of the ideas.

Thought we might have a deer to show you, but guess Tim would have to show us his deer.

More memories

Today didn't turn out as I had thought. We were awakened by a phone call from Preston and he had started home and found route 15 to be all ice with many accidents. We got up and looked around here and it was fine, but a fine rain soon started and it was also freezing.

Our favorite hunter (Ed) was still at his cabin across the road from our home, and Lou was concerned for him as he would need to travel to the Philadelphia area. Lou dressed quickly and was going up to the cabin, when Ed backed out of his drive way. Lou was able to flag him down and Ed spent the morning with us, as we tracked the storm via Preston on the road and the radar on the computer. Ed stayed and had lunch with us; he and Lou discussed planes, Air Force and the Navy. Ed had been a mechanic on the jet engines F-8 Crusaders, so many memories were shared. Just heard from Ed and it took him 6 1/2 hours to travel what normally takes four hours. Praise God he arrived home safely, as did Preston.

All of the activities we were planning on attending were cancelled, so I did what most women are doing these days. I made Scott's favorite cookie and saved some out for square dancing on Wednesday night.

Lou did the last of his Christmas cards and then we got to talking about deserts for our dinner guests on Friday night and I remembered a family favorite from the Golden Lamb in Lebanon, Ohio. Lou brought the web site of the restaurant up on the computer and finally I have found a place Lou has not eaten or visited. We did a tour on the computer and what fun to share stories of being there, as it was a favorite place for my father and mother to visit when they came to Ohio, and our family went there on Christmas Eve, hence the desert for Friday night will be Christmas Eve Pudding with hot rum sauce.

We talked about The Yankee Tavern and The Pine Club, all favorite places to eat and that brought us to the Dayton Daily News and a story telling that the owner of The Yankee Tavern had passed away very unexpectedly in May of this year at the age of 61. Girls, does this bring memories back to you also? How about you Scott, remember these places?

We are hoping tomorrow will be a day that we can get packages to UPS and on their way to Florida and North Carolina.

Bittersweet

After getting DH fed and on his merry way to chase the deer through the woods, I tackled my daily jobs, even had time to do some decorating in the house. Seems like every year I look at all of the things I have packed away and wonder where I had placed all of them last year. I am pleased with the way it all came together this year.

Krista and I had set this day aside to tackle some "bittersweet memories".

Many years ago Sue had given her dad a Memory book for him to fill out, which he had completed before he died. We had a problem, one book and two grandsons in Sue's family. Kris and I thought we would copy the book and make up a scrap book and add some pictures, so Kris scanned the book and printed it on card stock and then we went through pictures and added pictures to make it complete. This will be given to both of the boys at Christmas time. Kris had a girlfriend at her house today also, so the three of us tackled the job and we had a good time telling and remembering each and every picture. All good memories passed on to two loving grandsons.

I scurried home from Krista's to get dinner on for the hunters and they didn't show up until after 6:00 pm, obviously we had a late dinner, and they did not get a deer; however, Casey did get a buck. Now the deer can rest and find a warm spot to bed down, as we are to have some bad weather.

Sunday is going to be a busy day, church, The Messiah Sing-A-Long at the Episcopal Church and then on to the Hand Bell and band concert at the high school.

Guess we can say we are in the midst of the Christmas season and still have time to have enjoyment each day.

Christmas Cards

Lou and I came to the realization that sending out Christmas cards is a very time consuming effort. We have sent out around 100 and we have gotten the task down to about the easiest way we know to do. This year we both wrote letters to all of our friends, and family members and enclosed a picture that was taken as we exchanged our wedding vows. Next year should be a bit easier, only one letter and perhaps not as many cards. Today when I went for the mail I was delighted to find cards from folks that I hear from but once a year. The shear pleasure of opening a card and finding a letter along with pictures of grandchildren, new homes, birds from their yards, vacation pictures and yes one with sad news of the passing of a loved one. The special one today was from a girlfriend from college, so many years ago, but a nice long letter bringing me up to date on all of her family. The special one for Lou was a card from one of his retired buddies wife congratulating him on his new life and telling him how glad they were that he had found someone to share the rest of his life with. That pleased both of us and that is exactly how we feel. We are so blessed that God has given us both a chance for love and happiness for the rest of our married lives. We have so very much to be grateful for this Christmas season while we are celebrating the birth of our Christ.

Today was a bitter cold day for Preston and Lou to hunt, but being the troopers they are they stayed out and hunted. As Preston told me at dinner they had a country stroll. They both enjoy each others company and it is a good time for both of them with or without a gun. I always enjoy our visits after dinner each evening. Tomorrow is the last day to hunt and I believe Brion and one grandson are coming up late tonight to be able to hunt tomorrow.

Passions

All of you that really know me, know that I have several passions and yesterday I allowed one of those passions to overtake me. I absolutely love the smell of laundry hung outside and ALWAYS hang sheets outside. Well yesterday was a windy sunny day, although cold. I did all of my bedding, quilt, blankets, the works and hung on the line. Lou just sorta rolls his eyes, when I ask him not to make the bed, as I am going to wash the sheets, even if I did it the day before. I had always told myself, if I didn't have to work each day, I would have clean sheets each and every night, and we often are able to do that. When it is bed time and we pull the quilt to the bottom of the bed and get into those sheets, it makes all of it worthwhile. The memories of coming into the farmhouse I grew up in and the smell of freshly baking bread and sheets being warmed on the clothes bars after freezing dry on the outside lines are strong and precious memories. Do you suppose they will have fresh sheets for caskets???

While I was awaiting all of my laundry to finish, I used that time to make a favorite chicken recipe for dinner and stirred up an Apple Sour Cream Bundt Cake. I brought in home frozen green beans and took the snow off of my herb bed to find parsley and basil for a special green bean recipe that includes fresh mushrooms. Dinner underway, I tackled another passion, clean and orderly home at all times. After having DH here for three days and many outside activities, our home needed attention.

I even got to wrapping the presents that have arrived and need to await the arrival of more and can get the packages mailed to family outside of town. I was even able to get my tree decorated, thanks to Krista. She came in for a few minutes this afternoon and said we needed to do something for this little tree, so she put the lights on and I finally put the decorations on later.

Lou and Preston came home before 5:00 and brought with them huge appetites and cold bodies, no deer. One of the men that usually hunt with them hurt his back yesterday and didn't dare to try and walk in the woods, so my guys did a lot of walking today and both admitted it was a very cold day to hunt. So Scott, you didn't miss a thing today.

Christmas Card Good Morning

It truly looked like a Christmas card when we awakened yesterday morning. It made Lou and I very grateful that he had persuaded me into retiring last June. We lingered in bed until Krista called and told us there was no school and she was soon to be on her way to Williamsport for her scheduled PET Scan. Steve had taken off work to be able to drive her.

As we were sitting at the kitchen table enjoying our breakfast we noticed a Carolina Wren at our feeder, however she wasn't eating the sunflower seeds that we had put out yesterday. I retrieved my bird seed cook book that Sue and Tim had given to me many Christmases ago. We found the perfect recipe for her and quickly mixed it up and got it outside for her. Lou had suggested that we move our feeders to a protected location in front of our kitchen window and it was the perfect suggestion, as we spend a lot of our time sitting at the kitchen table. The table has become Lou's library, desk and communication center. It does afford us a wondrous view of the hillside, where we can usually see deer, turkey, foxes and an occasional bear, along with my brothers beef cattle. The wren did not return and when we looked out this morning to see if she had sampled her treat, we found "Estee" prints all around the wren's dish and an empty dish. As Lou was leaving to go hunting this morning he refilled the dish. Puppy doesn't seem to have gained any wings!

Shawn came with his truck and blade and made quick work of our paved driveway. Michelle came down and helped Lou and I shovel out the sidewalks and scrape down to the blacktop. Stanley used his four-wheeler with a blade to do around the mailbox and the top of the driveway, so with many grateful hands the whole job was accomplished. Can't say the same for Lou's driveway, it was a mess and the snow was so heavy with the accumulated rain added to it. We worked on it in the late afternoon, but couldn't do it all. Our backs and Lou's wrists just don't allow us to do the heavy lifting. Hopefully, Preston was able to get up the drive way last night when he arrived for three days of hunting with his father.

I did get the sidewalks and the front porch cleaned off at Lou's house and now have a Christmas wreath hung on the front door. We have the lights on the Christmas tree in his front window and he set the timer. One job nearly completed. My tree is still awaiting lights and ornaments. Another accomplishment is Lou and I finished our Christmas cards and they have been placed in the mail box with the exception of three that he needed to check on addresses.

Square dancing was cancelled last evening, as we dance in a school and there was no school, and we wouldn't have heat. Darn it was Christmas cookie night, hopefully everyone will freeze their cookies and we can enjoy them next week.

I got my hunter up this morning, fixed him a hot breakfast, helped him into extra warm clothes, got his car started to warm up; awaiting his arrival, and sent him off with a kiss and a prayer for his safety.

Today, I have hopes of getting my house cleaned up, some cookies baked and dinner prepared for two hungry hunters and who knows maybe I can get some lights and ornaments on my tree. Going to start with a nice hot shower to see if I can limber up my back so I can accomplish my goals. Fly lady doesn't seem to understand "I couldn't do it".

Parties and Concerts

Well folks, we didn't get to our trees yesterday, so that is a goal for today prior to going to our square dance class at 6:00 pm.

We did enjoy our party at Lou and Ella's. They have a beautiful three story log home that was beautifully decorated. There were over thirty of us and we had a wonderful "sit down" meal. Their home is decorated with huge amounts of antiques and each room a different style, from Victorian to Primitive. A huge open stair case, exposed beams, massive windows, Christmas quilts on all of the beds. One room was designed with the grandchildren in mind with antique dolly beds, dolls, teddies, and rabbits. The Christmas tree in that room was all tiny stuffed animals. The entire home has walnut flooring and a wide array of highly polished woodwork. I thought my home had a lot of things to dust, but it doesn't hold a candle to Ella's home.

It was wonderful to be able to talk to the people that we dance with weekly, and renew acquaintances that had been lost over the years. This is one of the nice things about becoming the "aging" population, no one is trying to impress the other, we can just enjoy each others company and relive the fun times we had growing up in a time when we were supposed to be "poor" and didn't know it until years later.

After the party we made a mad rush to get to the high school for the Christmas Concert. Once again, Mrs. Smithgall outdid her self. Lou and I were impressed by these high school students, that we remember as young kids just starting school. Time does hurry on!

We stopped in town on the way home to pick up a wreath for Lou's front door at his house and new lights for both of our trees. We are going to use colored lights on our trees this year. This will be a big change for each of us, we both decided it was time for a change.

We must accomplish much today, as tomorrow will be a hunting day for Lou, Preston will be up and ready to hunt and I will need to have dinner ready each night for two hungry men. We still have Christmas cards to finish and I have many presents to get wrapped and into the mail.

The Beginning

We had devised this blog to use while away from home, but find that life is busy here at home and hopefully this will allow all of the family to know what is happening here.

Yesterday was a busy day, we enjoyed a walk behind the Allis Chalmer

Church. A delicate light snow had fallen the night before making the sight of the pine trees a delight to behold. We found the perfect "Charlie Brown" tree for my house and a much fuller fir for Lou to put up in his living room. We got back to his house about dark and he quickly put his tree into the tree stand and we moved living room furniture around to accommodate the tree at it's spot for display in front of the bow window. Hopefully, today we will be able to get the lights on it so it can be seen from the road. He put the decorated sled on the front porch where the fall wreath had been displayed.

We hurried home to make a huge salad for our dinner and quickly changed our clothes and back to Whitneyville to attend an Open House at the church parsonage. As usual, we were the last ones to arrive, however; we were able to have a lovely chat with our pastor and his wife. They have the parsonage beautifully decorated for the holidays.

Today we have a Christmas Party, at the home of one of the couples that we square dance with, at 3:00 pm and a concert at the high school at 7:00 pm.

Someplace during the day we would like to decorate two Christmas trees. Time will tell...