christmas

Big Santa is back. And Little Santa.  There’s also water skiing Santa, but he’s hard to see in the dark. Here’s the cardboard Santa Jay’s mom gave us back in the early 80s.  Candle lights are all set. I thought some little girls might like to help with the tree, and they did for about […]

  Merry Christmas, Love, Val, aka MOM

No in person church service, church on the phone. Santa was put back up again after the blizzard. Swedish meatballs! This distanced Christmas, we did not go to each others houses or any of that.  We were all at our own houses, but the pictures, texts, phone calls–helped it feel not so isolated.  We had

They made time for us and I was so glad.   It was warm and bright out, John had built a little fire. We had a good time.  It was nice to spend half an hour together, haven’t seen them since we closed the cabin. They were enthusiastic about their gifts and that was fun, even

Our neighbor texted to ask about the candlestick lights we usually have in the windows.  I told him the kids hate them because this old house is lacking outlets and they hate giving up any plug ins, so we’d made a compromise that I’d put them up the week of Christmas, not the whole month.

The socks arrived, and as I opened the package and tossed them out on the table, this is what I thought, “A feast.”  Look how beautiful they are.  They are expensive, about $20 a pair, but they are everyone’s favorite, and you can see why. And this guy, bravely standing outside on brown grass.  On

It was a good weekend, spent brief time with all my kids, a face time with John and Dannell, watched her Christmas dance performance and saw the gingerbread houses they made. Such a sweet dancer, very nice. All the creations were unique and charming, even John’s made from toast which caved in from the weight

Shopping is done, most of it done online this year, bam.  Boxes keep showing up, which is great. Sugar cookies are baked and decorated. We were so glad for this crew.  They are fast and sanitary, don’t have to supervise them for licking fingers or sprinkle bottles. Jay on frosting duty: Gingerbread all baked and

On Friday when I mentioned to p.j. that tomorrow would be the family Christmas party, she threw back her head and laughed, “Yes!  The cousin party!” Glad for that enthusiasm.  The got them all together right away while they were smiling and still in their pretty clothes. This was from a few hours later after