December...

 

Hello again to anyone who is still reading here.  I've been away from the blogs for a little while, just taking a break and doing some things.  One  "thing" I've been doing for December is drawing or painting or creating each day.  Even just a very small drawing suffices.  Each day there is a prompt that can inspire the art.  I'm trying to think outside the box with it.  It's been fun for me and reflective in a way.  I'm finding that the more I draw or paint, the more I want to do it, and this is one of my goals.  To just keep on with it.  Winter is a very good time for me to work on art, but I'd like it to be more of an everyday thing throughout the year.  I've been learning a few watercolor techniques on YouTube that have been very fun and have brought some nice results. 

Last week some of the women and girls in our family attended The Nutcracker ballet in the city.  The Moscow Ballet Troupe performed and the local ballet studio supplied the children's parts.  It was spectacular.  The little ballerinas in our family were greatly inspired, and those who are not ballerinas were much impressed. 

 

Do you remember string art from the 70s?  You know....the nails all pounded into a board and then different colors of strings were woven in and out to make a picture?  Well, my daughters, my mom, and I went to a class where we made a string art snowflake.  It was a three hour class and we spent four hours there to complete it.  Some who attended the class did not complete their snowflakes, but took them home.  We were happy with our results, but all that pounding was quite an experience.  String art has become the new rage once again.  It would not be my first choice in art, but it was fun to try it and have something pretty to bring home.

I still don't have my Christmas tree up yet.  I'm really not a Grinch, but I am just taking things slow and not getting too wrapped up in the Christmas hurry & flurry at the moment.  I will though.  I think.  I am lighting candles, making juniper wreaths, and placing sprigs of evergreen here and there.  My father-in-law brought me a beautiful poinsettia which brings a dose of red and green Christmas cheer to our home.  I do enjoy a cup of chai tea in the evenings by candlelight or by the wood stove fire -- small signs of Christmas-ness. Oh, and there is snow.  I didn't have anything to do with that part, but it looks more festive here when there is snow on the ground.  I heard one lady who wasn't keen on holiday decorating say, "If you want to enjoy the season, just look out the window."  Amen!

The part I really love about winter is that we are in a nice, slow-down time here at the ranch and it's really been wonderful.  We needed it after a very busy year of work. We have more time with each other, more time to play, more time to just relax and be.  Again, it's a reflective time for us, for me.  We have been looking back on our year, evaluating what we did and did not do, planning for the year to come, and assessing how to go about it.  It's a good thing.  My favorite reflection is that Babe in the Manger, Jesus, whose name means, Jehovah Saves.  I'm so glad He came down to us, to save us, to be with us, to bring us His peace.  I hope you are enjoying the small, quiet things and the big, loud, joyful things of the season.  Christmas Peace be yours.
 

Quiet, stay-at-home Christmas...

It has turned out to be a quiet, stay-at-home, cozy Christmas for Hubby and I.  The whole lot of us (kids and grands and us) came down with the Christmas Crud (stomach virus) this past week and even before that, so we all opted to stay at our homes and just take it easy, recover, and not have our traditional Christmas Feast on the day.

As it always is here on the ranch, the winter feeding chores must be done no matter whose birthday it is or which holiday celebration is happening.  The Sons managed feeding the calves and thawing out the frozen water tanks.  After our morning coffee and a little breakfast, Hubby and I went to feed the cows and sheep.  It was -6 degrees F when we left so the livestock were very happy to see us pull up.  I thought the black cows' faces looked so cute with their whiskers all frosty white.  The sheep came on the run and were absolutely crazy for the salt blocks that were alongside the water tank.  It's funny, they know where the salt is, but they don't think about going to it unless they go down for a drink, and they don't drink much when there is snow on the ground.

I always think fondly of livestock on Christmas Morning, wondering about the animals that might have been in the same barn as Jesus was.  How strange to have people lingering so long and not going in to the house.  I wonder if Joseph might have had to feed some hay to cows or sheep or mules that morning while Mary suckled a warm baby Jesus, tucked in close beside her -- full and content. 

For our Christmas Dinner, I made a simple roast beef with potatoes, onions, and carrots all in the same pot.  The gravy that comes from that combination is the best!  As we enjoyed our salad and dinner, I popped a cherry pie in the oven.  I like to make mine with a mix of frozen sweet and tart cherries.  Hubby says it's his favorite pie.  Here it is, hot out of the oven.  We'll let it cool and have it for afternoon coffee along with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side.  Oh!  speaking of ice cream, do you ever put a small spoon of ice cream in your coffee?  It's a nice treat once in a while.

It's been a quiet day for us, the first Christmas we've spent "just the two of us".  We've enjoyed it, but it's different from the rowdy houseful of kids and grandkids that we are used to for holidays.  We will all celebrate together very soon though.

I hope you're enjoying this day when we remember the Reason for the Season -- Jesus!
Merry Christmas, friends!

Creche...

Our very small creche sits table high so our grandkids can enjoy it and imagine the awe of that Christmas night.  The figures are set in some bark to make it look somewhat crude and cave-like along with tiny lights.  The creche is a Fontanini and the tallest figure is only 2.5 inches in height.    I'm thankful I have the main characters in the manger scene.

The Star on the Barn is up and lights the dark near the county road that goes by our ranch.  These two things are my favorite Christmas traditions.

I've been doing a very little baking, mainly two kinds of cookies so far -- soft molasses cookies and snowballs.  I will make a few cut-out sugar cookies before the big day comes.  It sounds like our fair weather is about to change and cold days are coming.  They will be good days for being indoors and for baking, but while it stays so nice, I'm out walking every day.

How are your Christmas days going?

December...

 

I like December for so many reasons.  Days are short and indoor living is long.   That could be considered a bad thing to some, but to us it feels like we are resting from a very busy year of outdoor work.  It feels cozy and homey.   The sheep and cattle are in their winter pastures and  although these pictures show a little bit of snow on the ground, the grazing is open and that means a longer time without feeding hay and cake.  We still go out to the cows and sheep to gather them up, inspect them, and give them a little something to eat as their reward for coming to us.  Everything is looking good and healthy right now.  The ground is bare again and thus far, our winter has been mostly mild, save the wind which has been anything but mild.

We are enjoying the joyful bustle of Christmas with friends and family. Christmas cookies and coffee was our treat at the neighbors' yesterday afternoon. Our home is "lightly decorated"  with mostly greens and cones and candles.  The Christmas tree is up and shining and so is the tiny creche.  I have one of those Fontanini  nativity scenes that are both beautiful and durable which allows our grandkids to touch and imagine with the figures.  I like that part so much.  Singing Christmas hymns at church warms my heart and lifts my spirits.

I have a few embroidery projects going, nothing difficult or extensive, but they keep my hands busy while watching a football game or a Christmas special.  Sometimes I just enjoy embroidering in the quiet with candles burning and twinkle lights glowing and a cup of hot tea to sip.

I hope you are enjoying these December days, appreciating the little things -- noticing the quiet of nature, appreciating the warming sips of coffee or tea on a cold day, enjoying the familiar Christmas hymns that you memorized through many years, lighting the second Advent candle, holding hands.

I wish you JOY.  Take JOY.

Drifts...

The round "wheels" have fence posts underneath 

and then you see the wires in between all wrapped in snow.

 Jackrabbits galore

 

 Sharp-tailed grouse on the snow

 Christmas Day Windows

Christmas Day Stump de Noel Cake

Christmas Day we got a Big Snow.  It came in with wild winds and white-out conditions.  The two youngest sons ate with gusto and were out the door and on the road for home before the heaviest stuff dumped on us and there was no way out.  It was slow traveling with blowing snow, but they got back to their home safely.  PTL!  The rest of us just stayed inside and watched the blizzard happen while feasting and celebrating.  

After Christmas Day, we all went out to see what we could see.  Drifts everywhere.  On the high ridges and flats, it was somewhat bare, but wherever there was something to catch snow -- whether it be a fence, some trees, a little clump of grass or a barn -- there was a drift.  A big drift!  Some 10 foot drifts!!  The local weather station said we picked up 12+ inches of snow that day and since it blew up to 50 mph for about 24 hours, I really didn't see how anyone could measure such snow.  I enjoyed exploring around the tree patches near the homestead on the hard drifts, walking up high in the tree tops and over fences.  

Since then I've been out daily, discovering and trekking around on my snowshoes.  It's so interesting to see how the snow sifted and drifted like sand and made beautiful patterns and snow creations everywhere.  Yesterday I went out in a pasture where the sheep are and walked the deep, snowy draws and then climbed up to the hilltops.  My trusty Sue came with me.  Despite her old age, she stayed with me and never lagged behind like she is sometimes apt to do.  She enjoyed herself with the spirit of a pup.

With all the drifted snow, the men have been busy digging everything out.  The corrals and the barn was buried and many stockades and water tanks and roads.  There are snow piles everywhere and the children who live here are delighted at their new snow hills built by Papa and Daddy for their sledding joy. They even created stair steps for them to walk up the side of the sled-hill.

I hope you all had a good Christmas and are ready to forge ahead into the New Year.  Wishing you all the best.  Keep looking up!

Yesterday, just snow.                    Selfie-- Sue and me

Fresh voices on old carols...

 I'm in love with these fresh, young voices. Enjoy! Blessed Advent to you!

Love Notes...

 

Since it's Advent, I've been trying to slow down and see things from a different perspective than my own.  I want to see things through God's eyes.  I find that when I have "eyes to see" that there are Love Notes everywhere that He is trying to send my way.  And I know He's sending them to you too!  One Love Note was included in this Jade plant.  It was growing outdoors this summer and I brought it in for the winter months to enjoy.  It lives in the laundry room along with a few other plants.  It's not a showy place to live, but it's sunny and I'm in there regularly so I see and appreciate my green things growing.  If you look closely at this Jade, you can see little, pink rootlets hanging down from the branches.  They are just beautiful (to me) and what I see is a Reaching Down from above.  Little rootlets are wanting to reach down to some fertile soil and grow and grow and spread.  The Love Note came:  God is reaching down to me, and He wants to put roots down in the soil of my life and bring new life, and grow in me and spread His love.  I also think about the verse:  "I am the Vine and you are the branches..." and I think to myself, if I am one of these Jade branches, I need to reach out too and share the life that is in me and spread the Good News.  The life is Jesus. 

Another Love Note came while I was grandmothering.  While two little ones napped, I got the two older grandkids started on the old potholder looms.  Remember these?  I taught my own kids how to weave with them.  It was a trying experience reaching through and across and over.  It's not easy weaving with inexperienced hands.  The Love Note came:  You are like a woven potholder.  The potholder might look wonky in some places and lumpy.  It might be uneven,  the colors might not coordinate, and some of the loops might be missed in the weaving or loose.  It is imperfect, but it's a beautiful imperfection.  When a child gives a homemade potholder to his mother, it is a cherished gift that is loved and used as intended, and she thinks about those wee hands that made it.  There is love in the gift.  We are beautiful, imperfect gifts  to one another and beautiful, imperfect potholders that God loves unconditionally.

Thank you, God for these Love Notes.
Thank you for the Greatest Gift--
The Greatest Love Note ever written,
A baby named Jesus, from the Root of Jesse,
Sent
To live and grow
Among us and to us and in us and through us.
The Perfect Gift of Love
Sent
To redeem a perfectly imperfect potholder like me.

A little break in the weather, a little cheer...

 We went from Blizzzzzz....

...to sunshine and melting in a few days. The poor chickens were literally cooped up while the wind blew and the snow sifted into the cracks of the hen house and the barns.  Today the snow melted off, mostly, and the girls got to go out and scratch in the sunshine.  Do you see the kittens amongst them?  George and Elaine.

I've been puttering around about the house and in the Christmas things.  I decided to make a couple of little wreaths with juniper greens that I cut from our trees.  I just wired the greenery on wooden embroidery hoops and added a smart, red ribbon.  Ta da!  I like to put branches of juniper here and there around the house in vases and around candles.  It smells so good.

 

This is my new tinsel tree.  

I've always wanted one, and this year I splurged.

The star on the top changes colors 

which I think goes very well with my retro-vintage tree.

The mantel above our wood stove is decked out with greens and lights and Nativity.  I used to try to put candles in those glass hurricanes, but learned to just put some battery lights in them instead.

.

This is my tiny nativity set which sits on our old trunk so little ones can look closely at the scene.  The Fontanini sets are so nice because they don't break and I don't have to worry about small hands holding the figures.

I've started my own Advent study using this book:

The Greatest Gift:  Unwrapping the Full Love Story Of Christmas

 by Ann Voskamp.

So far, I'm really enjoying it.

The men hung the Star on the Barn 
and set up the cross on the well house
so we are all set for the Christmas Season to begin.

I hope you're enjoying special moments as you unwrap Christmas treasures, hang wreaths, light candles and sing jolly songs.  May you take JOY in every gift of every day.

Stump cake...

 

 sliced with layers!

For Christmas Day, I had in mind first to make a Yule Log like this.

But when I realized it would only serve eight, I thought I needed a bigger cake.

So I decided against the branch and went to the larger stump cake
or Stump de Noël inspired by this.

This cake was such fun to make!

(and a challenge, which I enjoyed.) 

I started with this 

Chocolate Crème Fraîche Cake (a.k.a. the BEST chocolate cake EVER)

which ended up being just like my mother's chocolate cake except that this one included hot, strong coffee and Mom's recipe only used hot water.  

I used the filling recipe from the Yule log cake (above)

and frosted the exterior with the icing from 

the Chocolate Crème Fraîche Cake

The meringue mushrooms were made from this recipe.

Hubs helped me so it was a fun joint effort.

The guests loved it,

and it tasted scrummy!

I learned a lot along the way.

I hope you had a Very Merry Christmas!
We did!

XXXOOO

Waiting...

Waiting is hard, isn't it?  Waiting to be fed, waiting in line, waiting for answers, waiting to light each candle of Advent, waiting for Christmas.  I must admit, I have the hardest time with waiting to light the candles during Advent.  I feel like a child; I love candles and I love to light them -- all of them at once!  And with the Advent candles, we light just one at a time, adding one more for each Sunday that passes until they are all lit on Christmas Day.

During Advent, I like to sing and meditate on of one of my favorite carols, O Come, O Come Emmanuel.  There is a deep yearning in this song that draws me into anticipation.  The words and the lighting of the candles remind me of Whom we are waiting, counting off the days, "Until the Son of God appear.  Rejoice! Rejoice!  Emmanuel shall come to you O Israel."

In these last days as we wait for Christmas to come, let us be patient with one another as God is patient with us, let us bear with the darkness until each candle is lit and darkness gives way to The Light.

His name shall be called, Emmanuel -- God is with us.
~Isaiah 7:14

That Holy Thing

 

That Holy Thing

THEY all were looking for a king

To slay their foes and lift them high;

Thou cam'st, a little baby thing

That made a woman cry. 

O Son of Man, to right my lot

Naught but Thy presence can avail;

Yet on the road Thy wheels are not,

Nor on the sea Thy sail! 

My how or when Thou wilt not heed,

But come down Thine own secret stair,

That Thou mayst answer all my need--

Yes, every bygone prayer. 

~George MacDonald

Let there be light...

The Star is hung on the old lambing barn;

it's shining brightly towards our lonely, gravel road 

where just a few folks will travel by and see its light.

The Cross is lit on the well house roof. 

It's so bright and stands so high.

I often wonder what the low flying USAF planes think

when they see it at night. 

Our ranch-house mantel has a lit cow head 

along with the nativity hurricanes and poinsettia.

Let there be light

in the darkness!

He is LIGHT of the world.

Matt 5:14

Dancing violinist and other weekend links...

Have you ever watched a dancing violinist?  It looks like quite a feat to me.  This little lady looks like a music fairy dancing and playing her violin with spunk and joy!  Her name?  Lindsey Stirling.
She played in the CMA Christmas Special.  Wonderful!

While I was shopping in my favorite health food store, Good Earth, I stumbled upon a brand new tea blend by Rishi.  It's called Chocolate Chai.  I couldn't resist buying a little bag of loose tea to try and I think it's really good!  I like a strong tea, so I prefer to make it like chai and allow the tea to simmer about 15-20 minutes and then add a little milk and honey.  The ingredients include:  black tea, coconut flakes,  cinnamon,  cocoa shells, sarsaparilla root, licorice root, cocoa nibs, roasted dandelion root, cloves, natural chocolate flavor.

I've also been making my own version of chai tea.  I mix Yorkshire Gold tea (my all-time fav) with cinnamon stick, fresh ginger root, a star anise, nutmeg, and a grind of black pepper.  Throw all spices in a tea bag like this, crush it with the side of a knife, and throw it, along with the tea bags, into a pot of boiling water.  Simmer with the tea bag(s) 15-20 minutes and add honey and milk at the end.  It satisfies a sweet tooth without too much sweet.

Next on my list of drinks to try is a Dirty Chai Latte.  It's a blend of chai tea, strong coffee, hot milk, a dash of cinnamon and a little sweetener.  Here's a homemade recipe.

Have you ever cut your own hair?  I have.  Lots.  The hairdressers say you shouldn't, but I do anyway.  A year so ago, I found this video by a young lady who cuts her own curly hair.   Since I'm a curly head too,  I took her advice and haven't been to the salon since.  I'm cutting my hair tonight!

Look at this!  A blue poinsettia?  I bought one at Stuff-Mart yesterday upon my husband's insistence.  He thought I should loosen up a little bit this holiday season.  Bah!   So I bought a red one for me and a blue one for him.  I put the red on the mantel and the blue on the dining table.  It's kinda pretty with its glitter and all.  They say it's a special dye that is sprayed on the white poinsettias and the glitter is added while the dye is still wet.  When the afternoon sun comes through my big window, I move the beauties to the floor to catch as much sun as possible.

I hope you're all making merry!  And feeling loose!