Christmas

I think that this was probably one of the most blessed Christmases we've had in a long time.  TBear and I decided to play Secret Santa to a lovely elderly neighbor of ours, "J."   She has lived alone since her husband passed away a few years ago, and her children seem to live far away.  I think she is often lonely too.  We are surrounded by other terrific neighbors, with one in particular who makes a point of visiting "J" frequently.  At any rate, for the 12 days leading up to Christmas eve, we left little packages and notes on her porch.  (I will share more about the 12 Days in another post.)  Then on Christmas eve, other fabulous friends who live a few miles down the road from us, joined our family to go caroling at "J's" house and finally reveal who has been leaving parcels for her.  It was crisp and clear and cold, and the stars twinkled.  We had a wonderful time!

After caroling, we gathered up TBear's violin and piled into our car to head down to our Caroling Friends' house on the lake for a Christmas eve service.  After the service, we gathered around a bonfire by the lake, watched the stars twinkle, and sang more Christmas carols.  It was a perfect ending to a beautiful evening.  Riss and GrandSunny met us at home shortly after we returned.  We enjoyed a cup of cheer and some hors d'oeuvres.  The children hung their stockings by the chimney with care and went to bed to dream of... I don't know what... a whiter Christmas, perhaps?

On Christmas morning, I woke up at 5:30am.  Amazingly, I was the only one awake then.  I spent the next hour listening to what I thought was Riss's phone alarm going off every few minutes.  (Which was strange; I couldn't understand why she would set her alarm since she didn't have to be anywhere but here.)  The smell of the coffee brewing finally drove me to the kitchen, which is when I discovered the musical alarm was actually coming from OUR room, not Riss's!   I discovered TBear had set the alarm on the to-be-used-for-emergency-only cell phone that was buried in the bottom drawer of my night table.  He hadn't shut the power off when he was done playing with the settings.

TBear's thoughtful Christmas gift to his dad was to roll out of bed early to do the barn chores by himself, so Dad could enjoy his coffee in the quiet of Christmas morning.  Sunny didn't even wake up until TBear was back in from doing chores!

Finally, coffee or tea in hand, we gathered in our living room by the fire, and Christmas tree, to read the last chapter of "Bartholomew's Passage," an advent story we started just after Thanksgiving.  At last, we opened stockings and gifts.  What a wonderful time of sharing we had.   I was so happy to just sit and be with this family I love so much!  Especially since Riss works late hours and I don't get to see her much, and Nutmeg will soon be leaving to embark on a new journey to Oklahoma.  She has accepted a teaching job there, so it will be some time before we get to see her again.

My narration wouldn't feel complete without some updated pictures of our family, so I will share those now.   This is the wonderful Chore Boy Who Gave His Dad A Break On Christmas Morning, TBear, just in from doing the milking.

 
About a week before Christmas, Riss's boyfriend Jacob got a pair of absolutely darling hound puppies to help him hunting.  Their names are Savage and Zoe...guess who named which puppy?

Nutmeg knit a beautiful blue sweater for Sunny for Christmas.

Here is Nutmeg the talented Sock and Sweater Knitter, enjoying the journal her grandmother sent back to us this Christmas.  We got the idea for this last year here.

Nutmeg taught me to knit this summer.  Grandmas knit, right?  I wanted to make socks and mittens for grandchildren, so in August I took lessons from Nutmeg.  After tinking  (that would be knitting backwards, or un-knitting) and starting a mitten over again six times, I finally got the hang of it.  I was so delighted with the outcome that I ventured to sign up for a class at my local yarn shop to make a sweater.  (MyJane told me I skipped some steps in the learning process there, but scarves are boring. :)

This is the Icelandic sweater I made the Farmer for Christmas.  (And, hallelujah, it fit!)

 

The day after Christmas, we gave sled rides to some friends with family up from Virginia.  Pat and Scooby are still very good boys, and they love their jingle bells.  (I do too!)

Unfortunately, we're expecting rain tomorrow, which will quite possibly wash away all our snow.  This is truly weird weather for Maine this year, but January is here soon.  Hopefully, the weather will return to its normal snowiness.  (Yes, that's a word...now. :)