Christmas Visitors

When the weather gets bad and the snow falls, we start getting visitors at the house. The first kind are not welcome but nobody knows what to do about it. I don't know how many magpies we feed each winter, but I wouldn't mind nearly so much if they didn't make such a mess. Last year I heard a ruckus out on the step and when I looked, a magpie was marching around and squawking because the dogfood dish was EMPTY.

The other visitors we get are usually of the family variety. This year we had the Halls for a week and lots of visits from Nicholas' family... grandchildren, yay!

We had scheduled our own gingerbread house making session before I knew we'd be decorating for the church potluck, but that was OK. Nicholas and Danelle helped me and Kelli do the two larger houses while Dayna and Shane had an eye doc appointment. You should have seen Nicholas' face when he saw all that candy on the table! After one repair/rebuild job, they held together and turned out nicely. Danelle is almost a pro at decorating now. Nicholas is a pro at eating the goodies, and Koa was the beneficiary of whatever fell onto the floor until we decided he'd had enough and locked him upstairs in the bedroom.

Thea is nearly 6 months old and yet we don't have many photos of her, really. Second child syndrome? Or maybe because she always has that same look on her face? Stingy with her smiles but paying attention. If you want to see Thea in a happy mood, catch her in the morning.






This year our visits with Rachel and Jason were by phone. This is the first year Rachel wasn't physically here for Christmas, but she and Jason had a good holiday with Tennesse family. And I hear they will probably be making a trip to Central Washington in mid-May 2009 ...