Good Saturday to you from our home where ........"the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful...." What a difference a day makes! Thursday it was in the 40's and Friday afternoon the snow storm hit. Much of Minnesota is covered with 8 - 21 inches of snow! For us in northern Iowa we are estimating 4-5 inches on the ground. Joel is out blowing snow from the driveway, and clearing the sidewalk and back deck. Two days ago he was outside all day doing woodworking from our driveway. Definitely a big change.
This past week we decorated our tree. We were going to get a real one, but the more we thought about it the more it made sense to get out our artificial tree. The first picture shows how the bottom half of the tree lost its lights and the second picture is what it looked like after we added three more strings of lights! It looks good!!! The third picture is of it all decorated. My favorite part of Christmas is worship on Christmas Eve and the decorations we bring out that hold so many memories. Our tree is filled with ornaments the kids made, or ornaments friends and family gave to us over the years. Many represent places we have lived. So fun..,,,,
Speaking of fun, this past Wednesday our oldest son came for a day long visit. We had a great time visiting, playing cribbage, and eating a good meal together. He also helped his dad get a big, heavy, older TV out of the house and down to the Salvation Army for someone else to enjoy.
Right before Thanksgiving we received a pumpkin pie from a neighbor who has moved away. Friday Joel went out to the mailbox and came back with the mail and a box of caramels wrapped and sealed from ?? We don't know! It was not mailed to us, but left in the mailbox. What a nice surprise!! Joel said they are delicious!
Speaking of delicious, we made pumpkin bread this week. It freezes well and it is our tradition to make many many smaller loaves using mini bread pans, or cans we bake in and then we give some to friends and send home loaves to each of our kids and families. The recipe I use is from a cookbook that came out at our church, St. Olaf Lutheran, in Austin MN when I was 16. I have a copy of the cookbook that Joel has put back together for me a couple of times. Many of our traditional recipes are from there.....like for Lime Pear Salad, Pumpkin Pie, Pumpkin Bread, and Ginger Cookies. Now I am getting hungry!
Joel kept busy this week with woodworking while the weather held and a couple of walks outside. I worked on getting a newsletter ready to mail out this year for Christmas. I often wonder if people read them.....we read the ones we get, and after the holidays when January weather has us bundled under blankets in front of the fireplace we re-read them and look over the photo cards we have received one more time. We have lived many places and have friends who have moved around too, so it is fun to catch up on what people are doing.
So today, I am grateful for Christmas greetings that come in the way of cards, photo cards, and newsletters. I am grateful for the tree that stands in the corner of our living room, for surprises that show up on our doorsteps and in the mailbox, for decorations that bring back memories, for a visit with our oldest son and his warm hugs, cribbage, for love and forgiveness, the snow....and our fireplace, Christmas music, laughter, tears, pumpkin bread, caramels, and so much more............
Enjoy your weekend!
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