Holidays

We had a nice Christmas eve get together at my niece's house. It was pretty emotional without my sister there, opening the gifts she'd had so much fun buying for everyone. Feeling her absence. We're still trying to feel our way through.

Christmas day we did the usual opening of stockings and presents in the morning, just the 3 of us who are still at home. It was a little weird because Liam got a super cool new video game from Katia the day before, and I had to wait on him before opening presents. Seriously? Usually it's the kid bouncing off the walls while the parent-zombie slowly gets coffee and tries to become human enough to understand what's going on. He even let me sleep in. My children have grown up. Darn it.

We finally got our tractor fixed. I'm not sure how many years it's been broken now. I don't want to talk about how much it cost. It needed a new engine, but first they did some work hoping to save the old engine, which I'm sure we paid for. It wasn't as much as a new tractor. It was probably more than a used tractor. Painful. But! I'm excited to have it back in action. So was Liam. He can't think of enough things to do with it to satisfy his need to drive it.

I couldn't think of a fitting way to express how happy my dishes made me feel the day after we had a bunch of family over for Christmas dinner. (No, we don't have a dishwasher, and I don't want one.) I love my happy-bright dishes. A reminder that life is beautiful even when the world is dark, and the number of them to show that we have enough to share and we are not alone. Right after I took this picture I got word of a suicide. Someone I don't know, a friend of a friend's son. It wasn't my disaster, but still I had a bit of a difficult moment. Ah, life.

Sawyer is looking quite good, eating like a king. 

Huckleberry was feeling proud after chasing off a dog. He stayed on our property and barked it out of sight. Good boy! Can't have any threats to our ducks.  (I think the dog was visiting our neighbors for Christmas.)

We had a lovely hike with our niece in the sun. Much needed for all of us.

Beautiful.

Huck and her dog Marshall got along well even though Huckleberry is a grump and Marshall wanted to play. Marshall knows when to back off.

This is my kind of cathedral:

Do you see Ariel, the tree-person?

Huckleberry brought home an awesome fresh moose leg left by a hunter. I should have brought home a second one for Winston, if there was one. Poor fella was crying about not having one of his own. It only took a couple hours for Huck to eat the entire hoof and all the skin. Yum.

My new year's eve: Sawyer's first ride in ages and he had to browse on old nasty thistles.

It was a glorious day with no wind.

Juniper got to come out for a walk-n-snack too.

I love my Juniper

I didn't go to my usual get together, instead spent the evening watching movies with my parents. I actually stayed up until midnight! I was outside when some the new year's explosions went off, and the air was twinkling with frozen particles, a perfectly still, clear sky. It was beautiful.

Here's to a bright and glorious new year for all of us, and the ability to see the good even amidst the bad. Find the twinkles in the cold and the colors in the darkness. Know your clan and don't lose hold of them.