For those following the orthodox calendars, it’s Christmas Eve, so a joyful Christmas to you!
When the girls were younger, before bed, they would leave their shoes out by their doors with “hay” in them for the wise men’s camels. In the morning, there would be small gifts waiting for them.
We still give them small gifts, and this year was no exception.
After today, we start taking down the tree and decorations.
The old year is slipping by quickly! A time to look back and plan forward.
This blog is not much past a year old, which means I can actually do this: make up a list of the top 10 most popular posts!
The Re-Farmer Top 10 posts of 2018
Let’s start with number 10.
Baby, It’s cold outside! This post is from earlier this month, but managed to make the top 10 list. (It was cold, but not as cold as today!)
And now for something more pleasant. Critter pictures always seem to go over well, and this post from almost a year ago, has some I’m really pleased with.
Cracker Toffee with bacon salt. This one was posted even more recently, but I’m not surprised it made number 8, is so short a time. These things are great!
Brined Turkey with bacon. I’ll be doing another one of these, starting tonight. It’s so good, I not longer do turkey without brining it, first.
Sourdough Rye Bread. This is another one from almost a year ago, and still popular. Mmm… I think, after the holidays are done, it’ll be time to start doing more bread baking again!
As I write this, we are starting to wind down from several busy days. Christmas Day itself, we try to keep more of a quiet affair. The fifth candle of our advent wreath has been lit, we have had our dinner, and it is time to get some rest before we continue with our holiday activities.
I just have to share something I got in the mail today, from a dear friend. She is so hilarious!!!! Check these out!
First, there’s the festive packing tape covering the box itself. Then there was the “snowfall” when it was opened, then there was the array of tiny little gifts for everyone – including treats and a skunk toy for the cats!
The tree and decorations are up. The gifts are wrapped. Aside from those few last things that have to wait for the last minute, we are ready for Christmas.
I am glad we were able to put our tree up this year. We missed out on a lot of that last year, with everything still being in chaos from the movers bringing our stuff over. Most of our ornaments are hand made. One of the things I still need to get back into is the making of new decorations every year. Now that we’re near family again, I want to get back into gifting them again.
Our tree has ornaments we made ourselves over the years, and others that were gifted to us. When the girls were young, as part of home schooling, we took part in something called Flat Travelers, which involved sending a paper doll to visit other families around the world, while hosting some ourselves. They would be returned with mementos of the place they were at, and sometimes that included Christmas ornaments. Almost every ornament on our tree has some sort of connection or story with it, and I love every one!
While putting up a few more Christmas decorations, I took the time to change out the batteries for some lights in our nativity scene.
It is the teeniest of nativity scenes. The tallest figures are maybe three inches high.
I used to put the trees on the dash of our old van for Christmas. I spent a lot of time in that van, so I decorated the dash with all sorts of bling and tiny creatures. Sometimes, while stopped at a red light, I would look over and see people in the vehicle next to us, taking pictures of it. :-D I figured, if I was going to be in the van so much, I may as well make it my happy place! :-D One year, I got a mini Christmas tree with a tiny string of lights for the dash. I couldn’t find it the next year, so I got a different tree, this one with its own decorations, and another set of tiny lights. The year after that, I found both sets, and had two trees on my dash! While parked, waiting for whomever I was picking up at the time, I would turn the lights on for a little ambiance. :-D
I started decorating the dash of the van we have now, but the surface is different, and the temporary adhesives don’t stick as well. I only managed a bit of bling, my Happy Face (a rockfish), a toad, some turtles, tortoises, frogs and lady bugs.
Also, the toad is holding a tiny Groot.
I don’t spend anywhere near as much time in the van anymore, so I don’t plan to add too much more. And no Christmas trees this year, so they get to join the nativity scene. :-)
The Re-Farmer 