In the past, when the girls were younger, I did more for each of those days. As they've gotten older and Sophia is now at college, the holidays were less packed with things to do. Nonetheless, it was a great month to go through and look back upon. There are quite a few photos, so I won't go into detail with each one.
The girls made gingerbread houses together on December 1st.
Later that day, we went to a nearby Christmas tree farm...in a blizzard! Olivia loves the cold weather.
Sophia pulled the tree back to the check-out area.
I'm realizing that the cold weather is more challenging for me as I get older. I'm in the middle with the face mask and clunky winter boots.
We've been having some spectacular sunsets.
I like seeing the bright moon high in the sky. This is looking south from the house towards the barn and back of our farm.
We got the tree up and I put the lights on it. At the time I didn't realize how many strings of lights I put on it. When Olivia took them off at the end of December she told me there were nine strings of lights...significantly more than we've used in the past.
All the stockings wee up by the woodstove. I finally got Danny's and Scooby's names on their stockings.
On the 7th of December, we went to see Sophia at college. She was in a major Christmas performance and played the pedal harp in several pieces.
This was the annual performance that we watched last year when she was a high school senior. It was the major deciding factor in choosing this college.
This is Sophia by the harp she played. It belongs to the college and she is able to practice and perform on it.
After the concert, the girls said goodbye to one another.
Olivia has been taking Tang Soo Do - a type of karate. She has been doing very well. She tested for the next level of belt and received it during a special ceremony on the day after this photo was taken.
Olivia helped at the Lions annual Christmas breakfast for the community. She and two other teens helped make buttons for people who sat or stood with Santa. I took the photos of the children and families.
The day after Sophia came home from college, she played the harp at the nursing home. The gentleman who is listening to her is 99 years old! He was alert, engaging, and had many stories to share with us. It was a joy to listen to him.
A few days before Christmas, we took Paige's stepfather to Green Mill near the nursing home he's in. We had a great meal together.
We looked at Christmas lights before bringing him back to the nursing home.
On Christmas Eve, we went to the church service. We had a ham dinner that evening.
On Christmas, the pets wanted to be part of the action.
I made a maple twist coffee cake that my mom used to make for special occasions. It is a recipe that came from family friends of ours.
Olivia made cupcakes for Christmas dinner at my sister's home.
Sophia made a gingerbread tree for Christmas dinner.
When we came home, we opened more of our Christmas gifts. Aspen wanted to watch.
Scooby did too.
Danny and Eenie sat right by Sophia. They've missed her while she's been away.
We put a trail cam up that I got for Christmas. On the day after Christmas, there was a fox in the front west pasture.
We spotted a coyote two days later in the same pasture. This was a surprise. We didn't realize they were so close to the horses or our home.
Olivia has been doing gymnastics and her skills have been continuing to grow this year.
A couple of days after Christmas, Olivia and I walked to the back of our property. We saw lots of evidence of deer in the nature trail area.
For Sophia's birthday, we went to Momo Sushi for lunch. We had to go a day early because it wasn't open on Mondays (her birthday). This was one of the best Japanese and Tibetan restaurant I've ever been to! It was fun trying a new restaurant and tasting some food we've never had before as well as food we enjoy eating, but prepared in a new, fresh way.
I made my grandma's cinnamon rolls on Sophia's birthday. We had a late breakfast and Sophia opened her presents. The presents are all in separate boxes of graduating sizes within the big box. She had fun open a box within a box...within a box...within a box...and so on.
Danny wanted to be involved in the action.
On New Year's Eve during the day it was beautiful with a new snowfall. There were few clouds and bright sunlight. The snow sparkled.
The horses were curious as to what I was doing when I went back and forth to take the disc out of the trail cam and then replaced it later.
On New Year's Eve during the night, a deer walked near the new location where I put the trail cam. She used the same path that Olivia and I saw out in the nature trail area.
And that wraps up December...2019...and the decade.
1 comment:
Always fun to see how your month went. I love a tree with tons of lights on it! Nice to see everyone--including the critters. Happy New Year! :)
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