Well, it was a really good Christmas here; I hope yours was good as well.  It is so much fun watching kids open presents!  We made sure to hang their stockings on the fireplace mantel, and leave cookies for Santa on the mantel as well.  They wanted to leave the cookies on the coffee table, but I told them that the dogs would eat the cookies before Santa got here, and that he would see them on the mantel beside the stockings, so that satisfied them enough to get them tucked into bed.

They were so excited that they didn’t get to sleep much before 11:30!  And of course, they were awake by 4am and woke us all up so we could open gifts!  Thank goodness I managed to sneak in a nap shortly after breakfast!  My sister put the turkey in the oven and prepared the stuffing.  Most of the food was prepared the day before so all we had to do was reheat most of it.  All in all, it was a wonderful day, and I’m glad they came!

Yesterday was the first day of winter, and the shortest daylight hours day for the season.  I enjoy watching the beautiful snow blanketing the earth during the winter; it is so breathtaking beautiful when small amounts of ice cling to the branches of the trees and there is enough snow cover so that no grass is peeking through. 

Having said that, I have to say that I’m glad that I work at home and don’t have to travel in bad weather and can just enjoy the beauty of the snow through my window, or put on my cross country skis and go skiing right outside my door.  I truly do love the life up here, and the distinct four seasons that I can enjoy so many different types of outdoor activities!

Well today I went out to the local nursery and bought a small live Christmas Tree.  It has the root ball attached to it so that when spring comes I can plant the tree in the back yard.  I’ve been doing it this way for years.  I prefer to do this because I feel bad about chopping down a live tree just to decorate it for a brief time in the house and then throwing it away.  I just prefer to sustain life instead of taking it!  I had to arrange for the nursery to deliver it; I’m expecting them to deliver it tomorrow morning!  It’s a nice looking blue spruce tree.  Now I have to go dig out the ornaments!