Abundant Joy

The wrapping paper and ribbons are tucked away for another year, but the joy that came with the unwrapping remains!  Let me highlight just a few of the presents I received on Christmas morning!  (I am joining LeeAnna for I Like Thursday.  I bet others have their own joys to share!)

LeeAnna's prompt this week is "facing a turning of the calendar page, and a new year stretching out in front of us, is there anything you would like to try or to learn this coming year?"   Faithful readers of this blog will know that I have been working on drawing skills; isn't it wonderful that #1 Daughter and The Fiance support my endeavors with tools such as this book?

 

Christmas has delivered a precious gift in the form of time with family.  #1 Son made it safely from Idaho Falls, and we are relishing these days together.  He loves documentaries, and we have watched "Icarus", about doping in sports, and "Pepsi, Where's My Jet?", the story of a teenage boy who decided to take on Pepsi after its ambitious cola-wars ad campaign.  Playing games.  Making cookies.  And good old-fashioned conversations around the dinner table.

Food in our house is always delicious, and Christmas brings some extra-special culinary delights - smoked turkey dinner with all the trimmings, and fruitcake that has been brushed with brandy for a couple of weeks.  Yum!

 

In retirement, I am with Spousal Unit for most of the day, but those days tend to be filled with a flurry of various activities.  In the week between Christmas and New Year's, life is slower and we can truly enjoy each other's company.  I call it "re-connecting".   This week, we hopped aboard the Montana Trolley for a tour of the Christmas lights around town.  Overall, the displays were underwhelming, but watching the excitement of the littles on the trolley was heartwarming.

Of course, to me Christmas signifies the Ultimate Gift, Jesus' birth and through it, our salvation.  

Wishing you a very Happy New Year, and many blessings in 2023!

Mosaic Monday #9 - December Delights

Josie cat-napping by the Christmas pillow

Welcome to Mosaic Monday 2019!  As I begin this post, I am typing from a concourse at the Cincinnati Airport.  I look around at my fellow passengers, and wonder about their stories.  I imagine that most of them are returning home after a holiday trip, as we are.  College kids heading back to school.  Or business people wrapping up a short week.  Yes, Christmas and New Year's are once more in the rear view mirror.  But I can extend my holiday spirit by scanning my photo gallery from December.  Will you join me?






FESTIVE FARE

Preparing fruitcake at the beginning of the month is one of our Christmas customs (see last year's post on this topic).  Every year, we exercise the ultimate patience until Christmas morning to enjoy the rich, brandy-infused flavor of the cake, accompanied by a slice of cheddar cheese.  

In the meantime, neighbors and friends spoiled us with delicious foodstuffs and food-oriented gifts.

Breakfast made with deer sausage from our neighbors

"Hedgehog" Chocolates from former neighbors in Cleveland

Handmade cupcakes from one of our neighbors

Santa platter from one of our neighbors

FAMILY TIME

The family that plays together, stays together!  I got my fill of board games after #1 Son arrived home, and I won't even hold it against him that he had the winning record.









On Christmas morning, the stockings were full and the tree surrounded by gifts; what a relief to know that Santa could find our new house!  Josie hid among the bags and boxes when she wasn't nibbling on ribbons …

As we lounged in front of the fire throughout the day, the aroma of turkey, ham and other mouth-watering vittles wafted through the house.  As always, Spousal Unit fed us well, and a clean kitchen with all the dishes and pots washed was our payback - a win-win for everyone!  (Christmas crackers are customary at our Christmas table - this party favor consists of a decorated cardboard cylinder that typically contains a paper crown, a joke/riddle, a snap that opens with a BANG and a gift or novelty item.)

And a winter in Montana is not complete without skiing and snowboarding - although #1 Daughter was only home for four days, we managed to squeeze in a family outing at Whitefish Mountain Resort.

FOREST SPLENDOR

A glittering winter wonderland is only as far as our back forty at this time of year.  The barren aspen branches reveal the summer nests that were previously hidden from view.  How cute they are with their elfin caps of snow!

Animal tracks are prolific; you could spend many a happy hour following them.  Despite my best efforts, I have yet to locate the burrows of the snowshoe hares that hop in a seemingly willy-nilly way throughout the woods.  I've been a little luckier with the trail cam, capturing squirrels, a healthy buck and one of my favorites, the coyote.

On one of our walks to check the trail cam, #1 Daughter and I spotted a pygmy owl high atop a pine - I couldn't believe it was out in the middle of the day in such a conspicuous spot!  Both shots are poor, but you get the idea!

FAST-FORWARD TO 2019

In my next post, I'll write about our trip to Ohio, which was centered on the celebration of my Mother's 90th birthday.  For now, I am eager for home.  To see fresh-fallen snow around the log house.  To be greeted by our cats at the mud room door.  To sleep in my own bed.  To have time to re-connect with all my blogging buddies.  I pray that Christmas and New Year's brought you joy and peace, and I merrily anticipate all that 2019 will bring as we share our journeys.

Mosaic Monday

Welcome to Mosaic Monday, a weekly meme where we get together to share our photo mosaics and collages.
Please include at least one photo mosaic/collage in your post.
The link will be open from 1 p.m. Sunday until 11 p.m. Monday (U.S. Mountain time).
Remember to add the link to your Mosaic Monday post and not the one to your blog.
Please link back to this post so that your readers will be able to visit and enjoy more wonderful mosaics; taking the MM blog button from my sidebar is an easy way to link back.
As host I will visit every participant and leave a comment so that you know I stopped by.
Please try and visit as many other blogs as you can, especially those that join in later, so that everyone's creativity can be appreciated fully.
Thank you for joining in today and sharing your mosaics with us. 

An InLinkz Link-up

Treasured Traditions

The (gas) fire is flickering, Josh Groban is crooning The Christmas Song and 12 inches of snow blankets the world outside my window.  What better time to recap December's delights?

ONE: Christmas baking.  In the US, fruitcake is the butt of many holiday jokes.  But I can tell you that Spousal Unit's fruitcake (we call it Christmas cake) is no joke.  Currants, sultanas, raisins, glace cherries, dried apricots, candied peel, almonds, treacle, lemon rind and orange rind join the normal flour, margarine, eggs and spices in a Mary Berry recipe that has tantalized dozens of our friends and family who had sworn off fruitcake forever!  Maybe it's the brandy that is brushed onto the cake every week from Thanksgiving to Christmas that 'takes the cake'. 

Monty the Moose is in charge of

quality control - small cake

is for my Mom

The cake is first served on Christmas morning - accompanied by a healthy slice of cheddar cheese.  And coffee, of course!  Only three days until we get to dive into this beauty!

With our retirement this year, time is a ready resource.  This December, some of that time was plowed into cookie-making for neighbors - the launch of a new tradition!  #1 Daughter pitched in with her culinary talents - clearly inherited from Spousal Unit.  What a joy it has been to deliver these bright packages!

TWO: Christmas cards.  Traditionally, Spousal Unit pens the Christmas missive, summarizing our year, and a personalized card jumps in the envelope as well.  This year, our log-home-in-construction was a no-brainer for the card.

Josie as lap cat is a new

development

Miss Josie insisted on helping Spousal Unit with his cards.

THREE: Christmas shopping.  For the last decade, Spousal Unit and I dedicated a day in early December for shopping.  (Of course, I was working then and this meant a vacation day for me!)  Santa's elves made the rounds of the stores and then capped off the day with a late lunch, complete with an adult beverage or two.  Call it a Christmas date!

Clockwise from top right: Early morning sky; festive

store decorations; a snack at Starbucks 

Shopping has changed dramatically since the kids were small - the advent of on-line sources combined with their interest in fewer but bigger-ticket items diminishes the need to invest a whole day playing elves.  But it's still exciting to come across those one-of-a-kind surprise presents.  And nothing gets in the way of our Christmas date!

Pizza and peanuts at Moose's, a Kalispell institution.

Drop those shells on the floor with the sawdust,

carve your name in the table,
and you'll fit right in

Whitefish Mountain Resort as viewed from our bedroom window

FOUR: Winter sports.  A family that plays together stays together!  We have been blessed with many winter skiing vacations, and now that we reside in Montana, we have several ski resorts within driving distance. 

Whitefish Mountain Resort is known for "inversion" days.  Inversions occur when the cooler air gets trapped in the valley, bringing fog or even rain to the valley, while up above on the mountain, things are sunny and clear.

Distant mountains are peeking out above the inversion

There is a lot of humidity in the air here, in spite of our cold temperatures.  That is due to the influence of Flathead Lake.  So, on days where the air is super cold, the humidity causes vapor to freeze immediately onto whatever it comes in contact with (also known as rime).  Most of the time that is our trees, our lifts, and sometimes...our goggles.

#1 Son bundled up!

So, if you think this is really deep snow on our trees ... it is actually many layers of rime - locally, we call these trees snow ghosts.  

FIVE: Christmas decorating. Always a family occasion for us, including the furbabies!

Come on in!

(The deer have since nibbled the evergreens on the left

post - at least as high as they can reach ...)

This year involved some compromise - #1 Daughter flew home on December 3 but #1 Son would not follow until 2 weeks later - we just couldn't wait that long for ALL the decorations.  So, with #1 Son's concurrence, we decorated everything except the tree prior to his arrival.

When the kids were toddling around, I created cross-stitch stockings for them. The masterpieces for the parents came much later!  Can you guess which is which?

Upper left - mine; upper right - #1 Son; Lower right: #1 Daughter; Lower left: Spousal Unit

And now for the tree!  In Montana, pine trees can be harvested from public lands for a whopping $5.  You just have to go out and find it!

Looking ....

Timber!!!!

Over the river ...

OK - maybe it's a creek ....

Onto Scarlet (my car) for the trip home

#1 S adds the angel for the finishing touch!

So, here we are.  Three days until Christmas.  I trust you have enjoyed a few of YOUR treasured traditions this season.  Join me in praying for the peace, joy and hope that only Christ can bring.  Merry Christmas!

Linking to:
All Seasons


Outdoor Wednesday


Skywatch Friday

Willy Nilly Friday