Christmas Decorations 2022

 This year, with both girls in college, I didn't decorate as much for Christmas as I have in the past. That being said, there are things I do enjoy putting up each year. 

One of the things I put on the windows each year is the collection of window stars that I have made throughout the years. These are the stars on the dining room and living room windows. 

 

One of my favorite things is the St. Nicholas Village that I have in the dining room. A couple of the buildings belonged to my parents who had a little village set up in the living room. 

In 2018, we had a fire at our farm. The building where the majority of our bins with Christmas decorations were stored burned to the ground...and with it many of the little buildings that my parents owned. It was very disappointing. However, the following year at Christmas I was thrilled to see that I had transferred a couple of the buildings already to the basement.

So, starting in 2020 I began adding buildings and people to the village. I go to the second-hand store and look for St. Nicholas Christmas Village boxes. This year, I found a ski chalet (far left in the picture below) and a home with Christmas lights (far right in the photo above). 

This year, on September 6th, my step-father-in-law died. Two of the things we inherited were these Santa figurines. I put them on our woodstove (when we don't have fires in it) so we can see them each day.

I put the stockings that I made for each person in our family (on the left) and our dogs (on the right). As I look at the stockings, it seems really bare in comparison to past years when we had many more animals - stockings for 4 family members and 13 pets (4 dogs, 6 cats, 2 horses, and 1 hedgehog). 

Right before Thanksgiving, one of our senior dogs - Scooby - died. He was 15 (almost 16) years old. So, it's hard to see only 3 dog stockings up there.

In the family room, I have a couple of Santas. If I open them up, there are smaller Santas inside them. I don't know where I got there...maybe an antique store?

For our Christmas tree, we were given one which was nice. Normally, we go to a local Christmas tree farm and cut a tree, but it didn't work with both of the girls' schedules when they were home for Thanksgiving. 

So, I put a bunch of lights on the tree (about seven or eight strings of lights) and added a few ornaments. This is one that I got for either Sophia or Olivia when they were younger and received gifts from St. Nicholas on December 6th. 

This is another ornament from Gammelgarden Museum (a historical museum that focuses on the Swedish immigrant experience). I always thought it was a horse. It's not. It's a goat...a Yule goat.

This is one of the ornaments I inherited from my parents when they died. This one features blue jays. There are two other ornaments with birds that are commonly seen here. 

This is one of many ornaments that Sophia, Olivia, and I made when the girls were much younger when I was homeschooling them (in early elementary school age). They were clear ornaments and we put acrylic paint in them that we swirled around. The result was these marbled-looking ornaments. 

In the family room, I have the flag from my dad's burial (he was a Korean War veteran). I put little nativity figurines in front of the flag. My dad, who was a deacon later in his life, would have loved these little figurines.

I have a nativity scene in the living room. Between last year and this year, one of the kings broke (the leg came off). I need to glue on the parts I can, but it won't fix his leg completely. I have had this nativity set since the girls were little - so probably a good 20 years now.

This is the advent wreath that Sophia made last year when we went to St. Croix Falls. There was a church that was offering this free craft using wood from a tree that had fallen down about a month earlier. They provided the (fake) greenery, candles, and decorations. 

Outside, I have lights that are strung on t-posts. For the past couple of years we had smaller lights. However, they were damaged last year by an animal that chewed through the cords - a rabbit...I have no idea. At any rate, it was frustrating to have to toss the lights. I do like these, lights, though. They are colorful and festive, and they are a nice welcome home when I come home in the dark. I also like seeing all the colors reflected on the snow when I wake up in the morning and it is dark outside.

So, that's some of the Christmas decorations around our home this year. Some new...some old...and the majority attached to memories that sustain me throughout the month of December. 

Scavenger Hunt #3

This is a swap on Swap-Bot that I'm participating in that I thought looked fun. The goal is to take five photos (from a list of ten items) and give some information about them - where did I take it, is it part of a series of photos, or whatever other information that I think is interesting. 

Another option is to use old photos that I have taken. This latter option is what I chose to do. I always enjoy going through photos that I've taken and seeing if they bring me back to when I took them.

Purple

I took this photo on June 8, 2019, in Osceola, Wisconsin. The town has a committee that does floral or natural displays along the main and side streets as a way to beautify the community and drive throughout town. One of my favorite colors is purple, so this display caught my eye.

Diamonds

On June 18, 2017, Sophia (then 16 years old) completed this diamond quilt. This was, by far, her most ambitious quilt because of the cutting and layout she needed to do to create the diamond pattern. She was very happy with how it turned out.

Keyboard

I had totally forgotten about this "learn how to type" program that I had Sophia and Olivia do as part of homeschooling. Here, on April 23, 2013, Sophia is playing a game on computer using the keyboard to learn to type.

Wheels

On June 18, 2018, the propane company came out with a Bobcat to move our tank to a new location after we had a fire that burned down our hobby shed. The propane tank was about 15 feet - at the most - from it. Thankfully, our neighbor who was a retired firefighter saw the fire (we weren't home) and turned off the tank. Things could have been quite different had he not done that. 

Flags

On May 28, 2018, Memorial Day, I visited Fort Snelling National Cemetery. Someone had put a flag in front of my parents' gravestone - as they did in front of the gravestones in the entire section. I was so touched to think that someone took time out of their day to honor my dad who served in the Korean War. 

Shopping

On March 12, 2020, the shelves at Walmart were completely stripped of paper products - toilet paper, paper towels, and napkins. Other sections of the store, likewise, were bare. It made shopping for the basics quite difficult.

Mountains

For Sophia's (homeschool) high school graduation, we took a trip to Washington (state) and Alaska. This is one of the many mountain ranges in Alaska. It was such a beautiful place to visit. We went there before she graduated since the costs increase substantially in the summer there. This was taken on April 27, 2019, on the way to Girdwood, Alaska.

Boots

Of course I could have used a photo showing a normal pair of boots, but why do that when these attractive blue plastic boots were documented on June 3, 2012? Sophia, Olivia, and Colton (their cousin) went to a dairy/creamery operation. Everyone had to wear these blue boots when they went into the creamery. 

Vintage

This was one of my favorite ornaments when I was a girl. When my parents died, my sister, brother, and I went through the ornaments and I picked this one. On December 8, 2013, the little red fawn with white fur trim was on our Christmas tree. 

Glass

By far, one of my favorite places we visited when we were in Seattle, Washington, was Chihuly Garden and Glass. The glasswork there - both inside and outside - was spectacular. I especially liked this boat scene with the glass orbs in and around the boat. The black floor reflected the boat and some of the orbs. I could have spent hours there looking at all the different colors and patterns of this on exhibit alone.

Waymaker - Book Notes

The local library had some new books displayed in its entry including Waymaker - Finding the Way to the Life You've Always Dreamed Of by Ann Voskamp. 

I started reading the first chapter which interested me and then - by the second chapter - I could see that the book was going in a direction that didn't feel like it was the right fit for me. It had a religious focus which wasn't what I was expecting. 

That being said, there were a couple of parts that I found interesting. I just wish the rest of the book would have built upon the concept of finding and creating one's dream life, but in a secular way. 

Here are some highlights: 

- We may think we know what we want, but what we really want is to be known. Heard, Seen. Safe.

- How do you hope to find a way out of all that's going wrong in your one and only life? 

- Life is never made unbearable by the road itself but by the way we bear the road. It's not the hard roads that slay us; what actually slays us is the expectation that this road isn't what we hoped it to be.

That's where I left off...at the end of the first chapter. I wish the book addressed this last quote - especially as it relates to more aspects than love and marriage which seems to be the focus of Waymaker. 

Having gone back to work after homeschooling my daughters for about 18+ years, my job isn't what I was anticipating it to be. In many ways, it is a huge disappointment after having had the opportunity to have the best job in the world - being a mother and homeschool educator to Sophia and Olivia. Nothing...no job...will ever top that one. 

So, my challenge is to figure out how to make this next phase of my life more bearable, to deal with the loss of no longer homeschooling the girls, and to figure out how to identify the positive points of my job each day. This, ultimately, will be a key to getting through each day. Each week. Each month.    

Decorating for Halloween

It's that time of the year again when I pull out the bin of Halloween decorations and add some seasonal items to our home. We used to decorate the home - inside and outside - with lots of items to celebrate the holiday. I've scaled back this year since this is the first year without both girls here (they are both at college), so it is a bittersweet experience. 

Nonetheless, I did decorate our home for Halloween this year. There's a welcome sign on the gate for the holiday.

As I look at some of the Halloween items, they remind me of the girls' experiences in ceramics at the homeschool co-op they attended from Kindergarten through 12th grade. 

I put these jack-o-lanterns on the piano. It seemed fitting since both Sophia and Olivia played the piano from 3rd-12th grades. 

I chose not to put up the Halloween-themed artwork that they did throughout the years. When they move to their first apartment or home, I'll give them the art they created and they can decide what they want to do with it at that point. 

Some of the other Halloween items that we have are from my step-father-in-law who passed away last month. The trio of ghosts was something he gave to us when he went into assisted living (and eventually the connected nursing home) many years ago. I put these in the kitchen so it's the first thing we see when we walk into our home (we live in an 1890 farm home, so the main entry is a mudroom and then the kitchen).

He also gave us this Halloween train when he moved into assisted living. This year it is at the end of our dining room table so we can enjoy seeing it at every meal. 

This year there is a new addition from him - a witch with a black cat. He had that at the nursing home and we just received it when his room needed to be cleaned out after he died. I'm not sure what (if anything) is supposed to go on the platter that the witch is holding.

Also in the box of Halloween items was this string of ghosts that light up. Many of them are playing musical instruments which I love. Music has been and is such an important part of our lives, so it is quite fitting for us. The witch, dressed in white, also is from him when he moved into assisted living many years ago.  

Back in 2018, we had a fire here at our farm that burned our hobby shed where I stored some of our Halloween items. So, I purchased a few replacements - like this Halloween bunting. It is hanging right by our woodstove. It adds some color and festivity to this area.

Also by the woodstove is our Halloween tree. With its purple lights, it has become one of our favorite items. With each passing day, it is getting darker earlier so this adds a pretty glow to the room. 

The final Halloween decorations are window stars that I made. I chose purple, orange, and green. There is no black kite paper, so that color is not an option. 

This is the only window that has the stars on it this year. I could make more to decorate other windows. I have the time now in the evenings. Maybe I could make some extra ones, too, and send Sophia and Olivia a surprise Halloween package at college. 

I have not put up the Halloween lights yet - indoors or outdoors. The first step is to do the last mowing of the season and then put up t-posts before the ground freezes. Once that is done, I can put up the lights outside. Whatever lights are leftover, I use those on the windows inside the home. This is what one of the rooms looked like last year with the lights up.

This is what the string of lights along our driveway looked like last year. I also continued the string along the road for everyone to see as they drove by. 

Maybe this year I'll add some more lights to the other windows in the front of the house. It seems a bit dark in the front compared to the windows on the right side of the house.

5x5 for August 2022

There's a swap on Swapbot that I signed up for called 5x5 in which there's a list of five things and you list five items for each one. Here are my answers:

5 websites you visit every week 

On a daily basis, I go to Outlook (to check and send emails) and Facebook. Other websites that I go to, but not on a daily basis are: 

Ancestry - I have been doing more with filling in my family tree recently. My sister and I have been working together to go through items that belonged to my parents who died in 2012 and 2015. We are in a much better frame of mind now to go through photographs and other memorabilia, scan the items, and then upload them onto each ancestor's record. 

My dad in his younger years.

One thing that we also have been doing is searching for information about how each relative died since Ancestry lists their age at their time of passing, but not the cause. My sister and I have ordered some death certificates for relatives (grandparents, great-grandparents, great-great-grandparents) and are seeing a pattern in terms of health conditions. We also are seeing a lot of ancestors who died in their 50s and 60s which is rather surprising. 

My mom in her younger years. 

My favorite part, though, is definitely uploading photos and finding newspaper articles about ancestors. Reading and looking at their Life Stories paints a much better - more personal - view of who our ancestors were and what their lives looked like.

iNaturalist - I opened a free account in March 2020 and have uploaded photos of animals, insects, flowers, trees, and shrubs. So far, I have uploaded 1,371 observations which reflect 466 species. The most frequently seen things I've seen are: white-tailed deer (23 observations), goldfinches (19 observations), gray squirrels and black-capped chickadees (18 observations each), and ruby-throated hummingbirds, house wrens, and robins (15 observations each). 

Black-capped chickadee at the oriole feeder.

The most frequently seen amphibian I've seen is the American toad (8 observations) and reptile is the painted turtle (7 observations).

For plants, the most common thing I've seen is milkweed (11 observations) and red-berried elder (7 observations).

Pinterest - When I was homeschooling my daughters, I would use Pinterest to gather ideas for different subjects. There were so many creative ideas for hands-on projects that we've done over the years. I also use the website for ideas for projects for county fairs, holidays, birthdays, and recipes. 

Currently, I have over 13,400 pins. That's a lot. Will I be able to do them all? Not in my lifetime. What would be good to do is to go back on them and delete what I won't be doing and then start making more of an effort to try some of the pins - like this window star I made after seeing this pin.

5 people from history you'd invite to a tea party 

My first answer would be five ancestors - my dad, mom, and grandparents on both sides of my family. That would actually be six, though. However, I don't think that's what the question means. 

From a historical standpoint, I would like to invite five people from different times, beliefs, and faiths to a tea party. My five would be:

- Jesus - because of his commitment to his beliefs and wanting to share them with others, how he inspired others to lead better lives, and how his legacy lives on through the lives of people throughout the world.

- Martin Luther King, Jr. - Although he died at only 39 years old in 1968, he had a tremendous impact on the Civil Rights Movement.

- Mother Teresa of Calcutta - She was a Catholic nun who dedicated her life for caring for the destitute and dying in the slums of Calcutta (now known as Kolkata). She received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 and, after her death, was canonized as St. Teresa.

- St. Francis of Assisi - He is the patron saint for ecologists because of his boundless love for animals and nature. There's a quote that is attributed to him: "Start by doing what's necessary, then do what's possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible."

Source

- Betty White - Although she was a comedian, she defended civil right, condemned racism and homophobia, advocated for marriage equality, and advocated for animal rights and welfare. 

5 topics you'd like to know more about 

- Dog allergies and natural ways to address them. One of our dogs has allergies and the vet said that sometimes it can be an allergy to chicken. We've removed chicken from his diet since May along with giving him two allergy shots - one in April and the other in May - and he seems to be doing so much better. I want to see what other things we can do to further improve his skin (he has dandruff which can be a reflection of allergies) and coat. 

- Endangered trees. When I was at Kew Gardens in England I came across a sign by a tree that was endangered. I had no idea that trees could be endangered. Animals...yes...but trees? I need to read more about what types of trees are at risk of being endangered in the United States and/or extinct.

- Utopian communities that existed in the United States. There were many Utopian communities set up in the U.S. in the 1800s. Only a couple survived into the early 1900s...with the Amana Colonies being the only one to make it to 1932. There were more Utopian communities started in the 1900s. Interestingly, there are a handful that still exist today.

- Photography and taking more "professional" photos. Ideally, I would upgrade my camera to one that has better clarity when printing photos. Currently, I have a Nikon D3400 which has 24 megapixels. However, I would like a camera that has more than 24. We'll see...with better quality comes a higher price. 

- Service as a spiritual practice. I ordered a book from the library called "Deliberate acts of kindness: service as spiritual practice" by Meredith Gould. I found the book on Pinterest and it piqued my interest. The book is basically a handbook for volunteers that explores the significance of service as an expression of spirituality, and provides advice on discovering the type of work that best suits you.

5 things you'd like people to know about you 

- I was raised by two parents who loved me unconditionally and provided a childhood filled with simple - yet memorable and meaningful - pleasures. It was the little things that truly created a childhood that I can look back upon with good memories. 

My brother, me, and my sister either in 1974 or 1975.

We had just moved into our new home that my parents 

worked with an architect to design.

Things were financially tight back then, 

yet I remember being so happy on Christmas Day. 

As I look back, there weren't a lot of presents, 

yet my parents made it feel like there were. 

It was these traditions that we'd return to and 

treasure with each passing year. 

- I have two daughters who were born in China and adopted by my husband and me in 2001 and 2003. They truly have blessed my life more than they will ever know. 

My parents, daughters, and me in Grand Marais, Minnesota.

September 8, 2010.

- I love animals - especially dogs - and having them be a part of our family. I can't imagine my life without having dogs. We had two corgis when I was growing up. 

Here's my brother with our first corgi. 

He was such a good dog.

Since 1990, as an adult, I've always had at least one dog. We have four dogs now which I like. I've never had that many at one time, but it is fun to see them all outside in the backyard or sitting nicely together waiting for a treat. 

Olivia and Sophia with Aspen, Cooper, Danny, and Scooby.

- Service is a HUGE part of my life and values. Growing up I volunteered and am thankful to my parents for integrating that into my life. When I began homeschooling Sophia and Olivia I made sure that service and volunteering was a significant part of their education. Since 2017, I have been involved with the local Lions Club and coordinate the majority of their service events.

One of the events I thought of during the pandemic was a 

drive-through breakfast with the Easter Bunny. 

It was so well-received that in 2022 we did a 

breakfast with the Easter Bunny again, 

but this time inside the community center. 

- I am an off-the-scale introvert. Consistently, whenever I have taken personality tests, I am to the far side of being an introvert. I am the complete opposite of people who are extroverted who get their energy from others. I find that being around others and having to talk (especially small talk) literally drains my energy. After any gathering, I need to spend time alone to re-energize myself and feel like I can interact with others again.

5 simple joys others might overlook

- A fire in the woodstove on a cold winter day.

Homeschooling in front of the woodstove.

Olivia was 5 and Sophia was 7.

January 19, 2008.

- A sunset or sunrise.

A sunset on November 22, 2021.

- A meal together as a family.

Mother's Day 2021.

- Watching butterflies, bees, hummingbirds, and hummingbird moths visit flowers in the yard. 

Bumblebee on monarda.

Hummingbird moth flying towards monarda.

Look at the curled up proboscis. 

- Fresh produce from the garden - either eaten raw or steamed. 

Beans and carrots - just picked and cooked. Yum!