Tuesday, December 25, 2012

A white Christmas

Merry Christmas!


We woke up Christmas Eve to a white Christmas after all. A good six inches of fluffy stuff fell overnight, which along with a slight breeze, did a number in our little corner of the woods.


It was unspeakably lovely.







The day started out with the girls laying out our annual Junk Food Feast. Yes, we indulge in every bit of nutritionally useless stuff we never buy any other time of year. Don't ask, long story, but it's a treat the kids look forward to nearly as much as presents.


The idea is no one has to ask permission to eat anything, and potato chips for breakfast are fine. (On the upside, by Day Three they're begging for Brussels sprouts.)


In the morning, Don and I retired upstairs to wrap some gifts. We tend to recycle bows and ribbons from year to year, and mostly use grocery bags for wrapping paper.




However while we were so occupied, we noticed some activity past the end of our driveway. One of our neighbors (a sherriff's deputy) got his patrol car stuck in the snow. Another neighbor, trying to help, also got stuck.


So Don walked down with a snow shovel.


Then Older Daughter grabbed a shovel and went to help.


Then Younger Daughter joined the party, along with the neighbor's boys.


Lydia and Major watched everything.


After an hour or so, everyone was freed, and the neighbor with a snow plow attachment on his truck got us all cleaned out. Out here, folks have to help each other out.

In the evening our neighbors D and S came over. Their kids are grown and gone and living on the other side of the country, and they enjoy watching our kids open their gifts (which we do on Christmas Eve). D and S have been joining us every year since we arrived in Idaho, and Christmas Eve just wouldn't be the same without them. Some other friends, Mike and Judy, had plans to join us as well, but the state of our road was so bad (they live in town) that they decided to stay home.

Here the girls, after putting up with boring adult conversations that lasted way too long (in their opinion), decided to unify and put on puppy dog eyes (staring at Don) in an effort to get to the fun part.



It finally worked, and we gathered around the tree. Settling in to read Luke 2, Lydia decided she had to listen to the Christmas story as well.


Don reads the majesty of Jesus' birth.


We always have so much fun with D and S joining us.


Oh, and Lydia too.


This morning -- Christmas Day -- dawned clear and sunny. What a lovely gift.


I wish you all a joyous and blessed Christmas.

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

14 comments:

  1. Merry Christmas, Patrice! Your white Christmas is beautiful.

    We're spending a quiet day at home, too.

    We're still snow-free here, but it's windy and gusting to fairly high speeds. We're watching the gulls soar in the strong winds and the trees sway ominously back and forth. I have lamps at the ready and the the chainsaw is standing by.

    I loved the story of your rescue of the deputy and your neighbor. Such occasions are always sweeter at Christmas time.

    We've seen a new Christmas movie that we highly recommend called "Silent Night" and produced by BYU. (Not to be confused with a cheap horror flick by the same name.) It's the story of Joseph Mohr and the writing of what went on to become the most popular Christmas song in history. As a Christian musician and song writer
    I found much to appreciate in the movie's theme. It's very well done, I think, and one I'd like to add to my dvd collection.

    Eat a potato chip for me! Merry Christmas all!

    A. McSp

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  2. MERRY CHRISTMAS to all of you. Thank you for sharing your day, it brought smiles my way.

    I watched the weather patterns here in Northern CA and was pretty sure we would gift you that snow after taking our share. Yes, even Redding caught enough of the white stuff to notice.

    Winston

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  3. So lovely.
    Thank you for letting us view your Christmas traditions.
    Merry Christmas.
    andy

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  4. How wonderful. Thank you.
    Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year to you all! ♥

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  5. Merry Christmas to you and you family as well. I love the photos, no white Christmas in the SoCal desert, but at least I can enjoy one through your blog.

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  6. Gob Bless You, Don and the girls. Merry Christmas!
    Beautiful pictures of your place with the snow.
    Stay warm, it snowed here too. Not as much as ya'll, just enough to change colors from brown to white, lol.

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  7. Looks like a lovely time.

    The trees in the pictures must be the ones sung about in that song "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas": "...the sturdy kind that doesn't mind the snow."

    Just Me

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  8. Merry Christmas to you and yours, Patrice.

    Our family has a huge appetizer buffet every year on Christmas Eve; the only vegetables I recall seeing this year were the green beans in the standard casserole. I'm ready for a 4 day fast by New Year's.

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  9. Phyllis (N/W Jersey)December 25, 2012 at 6:13 PM

    Thanks for sharing your wonderful day! We too had a white Christmas and it was just lovely. Everyone has left, dishes and cleanup still to be done, tired but happy. Merry Christmas to you and your wonderful family and friends!

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  10. We had a white Christmas here
    Too in California, FOG! It's white so it counts right!! ;)

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  11. Thank you so much for sharing a part of your life with us. I so enjoy reading your blog everyday. What an amazing life you live. Thank you for giving me inspiration in my own. God Bless and Merry Christmas!

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  12. I'm loving that white dog.... What breed or is it a mix?

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    Replies
    1. She's a purebred Great Pyrenees. For a little more background on her, see this link:
      http://www.rural-revolution.com/2011/12/shes-great-pyrenees.html

      - Patrice

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  13. Patrice
    May I suggest a new piece of equipment for the Lewis family this year. A camera tripod. Would love to see you joining in some of the activities rather than from your eyes.
    May your family have a blessed New Year.

    City Dude

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