Merry Christmas & Happy Birthday to us!

 ❄️ 🌲 We had not celebrated December birthdays (Josephine and mine), nor Christmas. There were colds going around. I am glad we postponed, since I have heard of many getting sick with RSV, or flu, or upper respiratory infections after family celebrations. It's tough seeing all the Christmas photos people post when you cannot see your family. We made it, though.

We made a plan. JL bought the turkey. Caitlin made the stuffing! JB shopped for the veggies and cake. 

Sunday was a tad chilly. Happily, I was gifted a beautiful lap blanket made from recycled plastic! It is amazingly beautiful. So soft. I am blessed. 

Turkey was put into the oven. Lunch was had. I had shoveled the sidewalk and deck, I'd had my shower and was done. The kids went out for a walk in the snow, in the forest. Caitlin helped, knocking snow off the branches I couldn't reach. They look so sad! They came prepared with their bow saw, but the dump of snow did not help. It's dangerous walking where you cannot see the branches on the ground. I still need to find someone to do the larger branches. I don't think they are going anywhere, the tree limbs, and it will get cleaned up eventually.

This is what I had to do for a lot of pine trees around us after our big storm. Caitlin took this in the forest with her Smartphone in slow motion. Tres cool!

 

snow fall from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The turkey was wonderful. It takes me back to childhood Christmases, the smell of turkey wafting through the house.

Yes, they are both taller than I! 

Caitlin brought Christmas Crackers. They had a fun treasure hunt game. After all their work, I insisted on doing dishes while they played the game. They are a hard working crew.

I sliced the carrot cake. We've had it in the freezer for awhile, awaiting our celebration.

Jos served up the ice cream.

We opened up presents. 

Josephine has a teddy bear named Chaucer. It looks something like this! We were out at a the September Sundance Festival and found a beautiful necklace that looks like Chaucer. This was her birthday present. Its head and arms and legs move! [Peggys Passions Jewelry] The girls love their jewelry, but it is getting increasingly difficult to find special things for them. I texted them back in the fall. That has been handy. Books for Jos and a calligraphy set for Isabelle. They love art. Isabelle led a Pathfinders group in doing some art. She is quite prolific.

A grand time was had by all. We hadn't seen them since October. The girls are doing well in school. They both walked to school after the snow storm and busses were cancelled. They had 3 or 4 kids in each class. Things haven't changed! 

 Josephine's high school goes into exams after next week. The school board decided (in its wisdom?), not to give exams to gr. 9 & 10. I hope that isn't a mistake.