I can't believe the holidays are over. It just went so fast, it was a blur. I started out doing so well and getting ahead, but wound up out shopping for my last gifts just a few days before Christmas.
Here is the final Christmas card photo. I had it printed in black and white, because, sure as eggs, out of the 300 black and whites I took, the one I liked the most was in color. Typical. I was feeling so good because this was taken in November and I was soooo far ahead of myself...
Then we moved on to a big lake effect snow storm.
We got over 3 feet in our little village. One of the highest totals in the whole area. I love how funny the snow looks on top of my pergola! Just like an egg carton.
Check out that pile-up on the bar...its getting close to the top of the umbrella...
...there's nothing like 38 inches of snow to put you a little behind...
...but, we went out to get the tree just the same.
There were so many to choose from, and it was c-c-coldddd...
...so we decided to look in the barn and see if there were any good trees hanging around...
...we found one.
It was beautiful on this tree farm in the country, so we went for a walk...(Little V stayed in the truck to warm up).
...then back to pick up our freshly wrapped tree in the barn...
...we took it home and trimmed it.
Then we decked the halls...
...the hutch in the dining room...
...wreaths at the windows...
...with Grandma's old beaded silver wreaths...
...my little kitchen tree...
I made a bunch of beaded snowflakes that I joined together to create a garland. It will take many more of them to make a noticeable length. But, it's a start.
The coffee table had it's show of antique Christmas ornaments...
Even the basement was decorated.
We had a little gathering...
...so the pub was treated to some joy...
...and texture...
...even the villagers trimmed their tree.
Then we stocked up on warm blankets to get ready for the winter...(which, according to the calendar, didn't even start yet).
We decorated cookies...
...many cookies..........I ate some (she says in a Forrest Gump voice).
This tradition started when Big V was a toddler. My parents would come over and we would spread everything out for her to decorate the cookies with us. My mom and I were the ones who spread the icing and my dad and the girls always did the decorating. Many happy memories there...
It has been very hard not to eat them all in one sitting...
...and when they are gone I always debate making more...hmmm...
We even decorated Dad's house...
The trick every year with these little ladies is to see if my dad notices that we didn't spell NOEL with the letters. Last year we spelled LEON, this year Little V came up with LENO. My dad noticed right away.
All done.
After the remaining baking, shopping, wrapping, more baking and our annual Dec 23 friend visit where we drop off jars of jam with fresh baked bread, we were exhausted. Well, I was exhausted.
Big V left a cookie for Santa...
The presents were placed under the tree, I put out the lights and went to bed.
We are so thankful that we can provide this kind of Christmas for our kids. We have memories that some children never get to have with their parents, grandparents, siblings, and cousins. From the start of the season, we said we were going to cut back since we bought a new PC, but it seemed we were able to buy more than we thought. My sister told me she was having her granddaughters over to decorate cookies and that one of the girls' friends was coming too. This girl had never decorated cookies before. I was amazed. We always did cookies with my mom growing up, and now we have all carried that tradition on with our own kids and grandkids too. I can't imagine not having that memory.
Hope you all had a wonderful and blessed holiday.
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