ESG: My Favorite Photos - December 2022

 Here are some of my favorite photos from December:

At the beginning of December, we attended the Festival of Christmas. Olivia is on the tech team, so she was operating a camera. She worked with the team to set up the stage, lighting, and sound.

Sophia performed in the Festival of Christmas on handbells. There was a pre-concert performance which I really enjoyed.

This is what the stage and lighting looked like. Throughout the performance, the lighting and images projected onto the walls would change. It was beautiful!

After the performance, Sophia - along with the handbell choir - went "caroling" throughout one of the buildings. The college was hosting major donors, so this is one special feature they do as part of the event.

On the 10th, the Lions held a Breakfast with Santa + Bake Sale. It was a fun morning. I was in charge of the five collection drives, and was so pleased with how generous people were to help local organizations.

Also on the 10th, was one of the Annie's Coffee Parties across the street at Gammelgarden Museum. 

All the windows had these lights in them.

Although this isn't a great photo, I was thrilled to see a flock of cedar waxwings in the apple tree. We left apples on the tree and a wide variety of birds peck away at the frozen apples.

There are five cardinals that are hanging around our feeders a lot - three males and two females.

I've been getting some new plants during December. It seems like the big-box stores had a nice variety of houseplants this year. It's nice to have some different types of plants. This is a jasmine.

I like the one too - the flower is still blooming over a month after I purchased it.

This is a Christmas Cactus that belonged to my dad. It's about 45 years old now. I realize, as I look at the photo, that it needs more height. I'm not sure how to do this.

This is another plant that is doing well. The jade plant/small tree is about 15 year old now and has just begun flowering during the past few years. It was one very small plant that Sophia, Olivia, and I got when we built a terrarium when they were about 5 and 7 years old. The little plants outgrew their terrarium.

On the 11th, I attended the Lucia Dagen service at Gammelgarden. Typically, up until this year, we've attended the St. Lucia Day service at another Lutheran church. Without the girls here, I did something different. 

it was held in an historic church that was built in the 1800s. It is unheated, so people had to wear coats, gloves, hats, and boots just to stay warm.

While I was at Gammelgarden, I enjoyed walking through its prairie. 

There were a variety of native plants - all now in shades of tan and cream.

Inside the historical church, everything was lit by candles. The half-hour service was done all in Swedish.

During December, there were a few significant snowfalls. This was the first one that blanketed all the plants in snow.

Everything was covered with snow. It was very pretty.

Cooper enjoyed burying his face in the snow and looking and listening for activity near the ground.

I liked the look of the snow clinging onto seed pods. 

The apple tree in the backyard was gorgeous. It kind of reminded me of a willow tree.

The snow left an interesting pattern on the fence. 

The trees in our front yard were loaded down with the heavy, wet snow.

This is the view of the trees along the road from our driveway to the west side of our farm.

Even the Christmas lights were covered with snow.

Inside, the St. Nicholas Christmas Village grew by two new buildings - a ski chalet and a home. It started with two buildings that belonged to my parents. There were a few more buildings, but when we had a fire in the hobby shed, we lost them and a lot of other items that I had inherited.

The Christmas stockings were hung by the wood stove. At one time, both sides were packed with stockings that I had made for all the pets and livestock. The years have passed and animals have died. We now have three dogs left.

The windows in the dining room and living room had stars that I made throughout the years. Some are coming apart, so I'll need to make some new ones for next year. 

We had a second major snowfall. This is the picnic table that belonged to my parents. We have not seen this much snow in the first month of winter for as long as I can remember. 

This second snowfall didn't load down the trees as much this time. The snow wasn't as wet.

This is the view down our driveway.

On Christmas morning, I woke up at 6 a.m. to make this maple twist coffee cake. It took four hours to make from scratch. 

During December, I bit on some items that were on an auction that the humane society where we adopted the dogs from was having. One of the items I bid and won was this wooden Christmas tree that was loaded with lots of dog treats and dog-themed items. Needless to say, the dogs loved it!

I love seeing how happy the girls are when they open gifts.

Here, Aspen is checking out the Christmas tree for dogs. Her favorite toy from it is a stuffed lamb. She loves to carry it around with her and have it next to her while sleeping.

Cooper is playing with "Long Husky." It has crinkle-paper in it and multiple squeakers. 

Here's Aspen with the stuffed lamb.

On Christmas, we went to dinner at my sister's home. This is the "young cousin" table.

This is the adult and "older cousin" table.

My brother brought his dog, Bear, a Corgi. He's such a good dog.

When we came home, we rested a bit and then opened some more gifts. One of the gifts I gave the girls were handsewn hats that someone made. Unfortunately, they didn't look quite right on either Sophia or Olivia. Sophia was a good sport and put it on.

For Sophia's 22nd birthday, she spent it in California with one of her roommates. She had never been to this roommate's home or met her parents, so - being it is her senior year - it was a good time to visit. At any rate, we celebrated Sophia's birthday a couple days early.

On the 29th, I was invited to a luncheon hosted by the director of Gammelgarden and the Butik manager. The other ladies are volunteers - greeters and tour guides. It was such a nice luncheon.

On New Year's Eve, my sister came over and we watched hundreds of slides that my parents took and that we inherited. This is my dad and me - I would have been about 4 months old.

This was my favorite costume that my mom sewed: a kangaroo complete with a kangaroo baby (joey) in my pouch.

My first tap dance outfit was for the song "Secondhand Rose." My parents planted red geraniums and white flowers in their raised flower bed.

In 1974, my parents acted as contractors and oversaw the building of their home.

This is one of my favorite photos of my mom when she was a little girl. Even as an adult, my mom loved dolls - so this captures one of her loves in life.

This is a photo I never saw until New Year's Eve this year. It's of my Grandma Olive by part of her garden - tomatoes. This was take in 1960 - six years before she died. She would have been 48 years old in this photo. 

On the 30th, I went to lunch at Famous Dave's with my friend, Karen. I made her an apple pie. Although it got a little overdone on one side, she said it was delicious. She loves pie, but never makes it from scratch. 

On the 31st, I made another apple pie for my sister and me. She, too, doesn't make pie since she lives alone. So, this was a treat for her too.