Sleeping Dogs

The weather has been so cold that we have the wood stove going every day. Not only is it the family's favorite spot to sit and read, the animals love to snuggle into the pillows and enjoy the warmth, too.

 Tipsy, just barely opening one eye so she can see what we are all giggling about. It is so comforting to see all the animals so comfortable in front of the fire. It just seems to say, "All is right with the world!"

 Here is Cookie, Queen of the Chair! She never wants to share the chair, she is either there by herself, or off she goes! She is actually a very sweet cat, but she really doesn't like to share 'her' chair!

 

 Sam-dog sleeping on a few pillows by the fire. He's just checking to see what the flashing is all about, but right after I took his picture he sighed and went back to sleep.

 

 Well, not all the animals like spending time in front of the fire. This is Stinky (yes, that is really her name!) and she is sitting on her favorite house in the Christmas Village. We find her here quite often, especially when the village is lit. I think the light makes the village house a warm spot for her to sit.

Silly Turkeys!

A few photos of our silly turkeys. They decided to come into the back yard today so I fed them some old corn bread that I was going to take out to the chickens anyway.

They decided to play on the patio, on the roof, and on the gazebo. It was fun to watch them and see where they would go next.

Yummy treats!

Wow! Look how far we can see from up here!

Time to sit for a while out of the snow.

For the last week or so the turkey with the pretty feathers has been pretty friendly. We don't know what's wrong with her, but she doesn't mind when we pick her up or corner her. Maybe she figured out the number one rule on the farm: Be nice or be tasty, and decided that she would like to be nice. They are still on the farm because they really weren't big enough for dinner yet. They are so fun to watch! Some days they are on top of the barn, too!

City Lights

We went into the city that is about 40 minutes away to see the lights. The church there has a beautiful display at Christmastime and I love to go see them when I have the time.

One of the trees on the square is lit with 1,500 strands of red lights with 50 lights per strand — that's 75,000 lights on one tree! I also noticed this year that some of the trees had the newer LED lights. I imagine that they will replace the regular lights with LEDs over the next few year. There are probably one million lights throughout the display. A beautiful and serene place to walk at night surrounded by beautiful music and wonderful reminders of the life of Christ.

Here is one of the full-sized Nativities they have displayed.

 

The lights were beautiful! You can see in the photos that it was snowing lightly. It was a bit chilly, about 23 degrees, but that is much warmer than the 7 degrees we 'enjoyed' last night!

Who Started Christmas?

I found this story on the internet while following a trail of Christmas stories. It caught me up short, and said so much in such a short story.

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Who Started Christmas?

Author Unknown

This morning I heard a story on the radio of a woman who was out Christmas shopping with her two children. After many hours of looking at row after row of toys and everything else imaginable, and after hours of hearing both her children asking for everything they saw on those many shelves, she finally made it to the elevator with her kids.

She was feeling what so many of us feel during the holiday season time of the year - Overwhelming pressure to go to every party, every house-warming, taste all the holiday food and treats, getting that perfect gift for every single person on our shopping list, making sure we don't forget anyone on our card list, and the pressure of making sure we respond to everyone who sent us a card.

Finally the elevator doors opened and there was already a crowd in the car. She pushed her way into the car, dragged her two kids in with her, and all the bags of stuff. When the doors closed she couldn't take it anymore and stated, "Whoever started this whole Christmas thing should be found, strung up, and shot."

From the back of the car everyone heard a quiet, calm voice respond, "Don't worry, we already crucified him." For the rest of the trip down the elevator it was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop.

Don't forget this year to keep the One who started this whole Christmas thing in your every thought, deed, purchase, and word. If we all did it, just think of how different this world would be.

Blessed are those...

Christmas Photos Around the House

Here are a few photos of Christmas around our house this year. It is the same almost every year, set up just this way. This year we have a live tree and it is huge! Usually we have the artificial tree because some trees make my allergies act up. No problems this year!

The Nativity. My favorite part.

 

 Our Christmas Village. Almost too many pieces for the table this year. While the village is up we eat buffet style (Hubby's favorite anyway).

The stockings that were completed last year. From left to right: Hubby, mine, Blondie and her husband, Spunky and her husband, Son1, FosterSon and his wife, Prion, Vet2Be.

On the chest in the front room. I love this little 'forest in a basket' that I put together last year. One of these days I want to find a miniature log cabin Christmas ornament to put in among the pines.

 

The Wreath on the front door. I made this many years ago and I still love it. I need to replace the grapes, though because they are starting to peel from being in the weather.

The Nutcrackers. One of our sons is in Mexico for two years. This is his collection and we have put it up each Christmas that he has been gone.

The Tree! Yes, it is tall! Our neighbor brought it for us and he had to chop 2 feet off the top to get it to stand up. It touches the ceiling and Hubby hasn't had time to lash the star to the top. It has been great fun to have such a huge tree!

O Holy Night