A Quiet Christmas

These 50 cent finds at Goodwill restored my Christmas goodwill.

The barn gets a bit of cheer too. Nice when gathering around the water cooler.

My favorite chair for cuddling.

Christmas angels come in all shapes and sizes.

Christmas is here and it's all turned out to be a lovely season.



We had time with Evan and Crystal to do a few things at a slower pace. Crystal and I shopped a little bit while the fellows played a round of golf. We got to meet some of the special people in their lives, the dear souls at their church who will care for them in the coming weeks as they adjust to being new parents. And Evan toured us around his school. It warms a parent's heart to walk in their grown-up child's world, however brief the visit.

When Alyssa, Rowan and Katelyn came, we were in the midst of getting one of the Friesians shipped off to his new home in Kentucky. This gave Alyssa a glimpse into our lives, the part of it that puts on multiple layers of warm clothes quite quickly and dashes out the door, to come back who knows when. A winter visit makes me grateful that I didn't raise three boys in snow country! It takes ages to get one boy into snow gear. I imagine if you had multiples, the first one would be having to whiz right about the time you got the last jacket zipped!


Playing in the snow is so much fun with little ones, once they're finally out the door!

Go, Goddy, go!

Goddy had just been to the dermatologist, hence the bandaids

Finding a Christmas tree has gotten a lot easier since we moved into our house with a really low ceiling. There are lots of 7-foot trees pretty close to the road. Handy for taking helpers along!

Rowan, carefully following Gremmy's footprints.

We introduced Katie to the joys of bone-picking. Lamb, of course. We want her to stay true to her Kiwi roots.




A highlight of the season was awaiting the birth of Evan and Crystal's little girl, Piper. Dec. 22 will be a red-letter day for the family from now on. Goddy and I kept busy during the final hours by cleaning out the hay barn and goats' pen. It's the little things that count...


While waiting for Piper, we were also on tenterhooks with one of the Friesians. Max, long a ranch favorite, ended up spending the week before Christmas at the vets with a mystery disease. We're hopeful he's turned the corner and will come home soon.

Today we're enjoying that special sense of day that is Christmas. There's just something about it, even when the day is quiet. The fire is lit, holiday music is in the background and the day outside is lovely. We talked with the down-under family yesterday and managed to quell the longings for a warm holiday. We'll have fresh air time when we go feed the horses, and there are a few leftover huckleberry biscuits tempting us on the cooling rack.

All things really do work together for good...