Done and Dusted

For the past month, I have been focussed on Christmas preparations.  So much thought, planning, baking, cooking, wrapping and decorating - done joyfully, in anticipation of a celebration with loved ones.  In the blink of an eye... the day comes and passes - the presents opened, the food eaten - and my heart is filled with the memories of love, laughter, and childhood magic.  It's a little strange, now, though, to have the holiday over so quickly - leaving me with a temporary feeling like I should still be getting ready!

It does not escape me that I am in the midst of a precious time of life - an all-too-fleeting precious time - and so I try my best to squeeze every ounce of joy from these days spent with our farm family - both blood and adopted.  We were lucky to have all of our kids and grandkids home for Christmas.

Tyler - can you believe how big he is?  Bigger than me, now.

I am popping in for a moment to share a little of our Christmas with you.

We had our family Christmas party on Saturday (Christmas-Eve Eve).  Though our dining room table is very large, we needed to add a second table to accommodate 28 of us.

Dinner was a buffet with a variety of festive food - something for everyone.  Dessert seems to be the favorite part of dinner for all of the kids - making it the perfect time to catch a quick group photo.

Luckily, I had taken a few photos of the goodies before they were consumed.

The yule log...

My favorite part is making the meringue mushrooms.

Whiskey cake (a favorite... and yes, the alcohol is baked out of it) topped with fresh whipped cream...

And lots of homemade Christmas cookies...

(I am absolutely certain that no one went home hungry!)

Christmas Eve treated us to the most beautiful sunset... followed by a nighttime woods walk with the dogs (headlamps to light our way).

Christmas morning was spent at home - with our critters

before heading to town for dinner with our Littles and their extended family and friends.

The rest of this week will be spent at home... relaxing (something I have not done for the past few weeks!)

I'll also be spending a little time searching for tiny green frogs - 

100 of them were hidden around the house by Maggie (picture here, holding the youngest member of our family - Clara.) 

 So far, we've found about half of them!

We are ending 2023 with unseasonably warm weather.  The farm is a bit muddy these days.  The grass has turned brown.  Winter is here and the colors have faded.  I am hoping that we get a little snow this winter.  The farm looks beautiful with a fresh layer of snow, and I cannot wait to see Forrest experience that for the first time.  Who knows what the coming year has in store for us!