Boxing Day 2022

On Monday, Boxing Day, the travelers loaded up and braved our Colville kids mile long snowy driveway for some fun in the snow. It was above freezing and they wanted to get some sledding in before things got too mushy. Baba and Gramps stayed home and had a quiet recuperating day until dinner time.

Uncle Andrew and Uncle Josh used their muscle power to speed up the fun. Daddy was at work this day but he groomed the trails anticipating this fun day.

Addy wanted the snowman to be super big! Olaf the snowman is super big. Great job everyone!

When the fun was over they had a wild ride back to our Country bungalow through all the slush and ice. We enjoyed leftovers for our meal.

These are all Auntie Lolo’s photos and I love this shot of Main Street Colville that she got looking North towards Colville Mountain. The shot of the beautiful sunset is from her phone, too.

One more post coming of our time together celebrating Auntie Katie’s birthday.

BTTP (Back to the Present) It’s snowing again this morning. Our road has been cleared nicely of the snow and ice from the previous storms but the city side streets are still a mess with bumps and ruts and sheets of ice. It made for a very interesting ride to get Dear to Occupational Therapy yesterday. Our Westside kids all are home safe and sound and their snow is not an issue anymore. We had a couple of days of rain and above freezing temperatures that left us with a clear deck but today it is white again. Temps in the 20’s are predicted again for the first week of 2023 so our views will continue to be white for a while longer…

How are things in your corner?

Christmas Day 2022

On Christmas Day 2022 Josh and Laura were the first to arrive at our house in the afternoon having flown into Spokane Airport and renting a vehicle for the 2 hour drive to our Country Bungalow. Our Colville kids had brunch and presents at their home with Jamie’s family. After naps they drove over just beating Andrew, Katie and Willow arriving on their 6+ hour journey over the Cascades and through Central and Eastern Washington. Once all the bags and cat accessories were managed we took a family photos before we sat down to our meal.

Prime rib, creamed corn, roasted vegetables (carrots, asparagus and brussels sprouts) and Yorkshire Pudding.

After dinner we sat close to the tree and Dear read from Luke chapter two in the New Testament which chronicles the birth of Jesus Christ and the temple presentation of Jesus.

We let the young ones open up their gifts first.

This tea towel was a special gift from Josh and Laura with a handwritten (in Russian) recipe of my mom’s printed on it. So thoughtful.

This was a stocking gift year. The only presents under the tree were for Addy and JJ. Katie loved her cat socks.

After presents it was time was dessert. Jamie, Addy and JJ baked and frosted a Happy Birthday Jesus Cake. Jamie made the Chocolate nativity decoration for the cake, too.

 

And that was a Christmas Day wrap! These blankets were a gift from Uncle Joshie and Auntie LoLo personalized with A and J’s name in bold letters and the background of the blanket says Uncle Joshie and Auntie Lolo love you!

A day filled with the Joy of the Lord, love and good food.

Next up…Boxing day.

 

 

Be Back Soon…

Our travelers are leaving today after 3 days of nonstop fun and dishwasher running!

Praying today again for safe travels in the slush and snow and for their journey over Snoqualmie Pass.

We are so thankful for the time we all had together. We laughed, we cried, we laid our heads on our pillows content.

God bless us everyone.

Happy Happy Joy Joy!

They all made it to Gramps and Baba’s house for Christmas. This was no small feat this year. Josh and Laura’s flight did not get cancelled and there was a rental car (all wheel drive truck) for them. Andrew and Katie (and Willow) left their house as soon as they heard the Pass was re-opened and they made it to us by dinner time. The Pass was closed most of Christmas Eve day and all night! Our Colville kids came right after afternoon naps. We are so thankful for traveling mercies and safety all around! Thank you, Lord! More to come…

God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen ~ Hymn

         God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen

God rest ye merry, gentlemen
Let nothing you dismay
Remember, Christ, our Saviour
Was born on Christmas day
To save us all from Satan’s power
When we were gone astray
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy

In Bethlehem, in Israel,
This blessed Babe was born
And laid within a manger
Upon this blessed morn
The which His Mother Mary
Did nothing take in scorn
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy

From God our Heavenly Father
A blessed Angel came;
And unto certain Shepherds
Brought tidings of the same:
How that in Bethlehem was born
The Son of God by Name.
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy

“Fear not then,” said the Angel,
“Let nothing you affright,
This day is born a Saviour
Of a pure Virgin bright,
To free all those who trust in Him
From Satan’s power and might.”
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy

The shepherds at those tidings
Rejoiced much in mind,
And left their flocks a-feeding
In tempest, storm and wind:
And went to Bethlehem straightway
The Son of God to find.
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy

And when they came to Bethlehem
Where our dear Saviour lay,
They found Him in a manger,
Where oxen feed on hay;
His Mother Mary kneeling down,
Unto the Lord did pray.
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy

Now to the Lord sing praises,
All you within this place,
And with true love and brotherhood
Each other now embrace;
This holy tide of Christmas
All other doth deface.
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy

С Рождеством Христовым

(S Roždestvom Khristovym)

On the birth of Christ a very Merry Christmas to you and yours!

Deep Freeze

Winter has come in frigid.

We venture out for a very short time and only if necessary. Our faces start feeling the freeze almost immediately.

We did venture into town today to the post office and to the grocery stores. Since we were in town we decided that Chinese Food would be a treat and something different for lunch. Back home safe and sound. We have our interior doors to the bedrooms all shut including any other room that has a door to conserve our heat to our sitting areas. We continue to throw out seed for our feathered friends.

On Wednesday at dusk we were startled by a large bird landing on our deck and taking off quickly with a fat quail in it’s claws! It was a huge hawk. We were stunned. Birds of prey need to eat, too.

We are hoping our kids from the west will arrive safe and sound on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We’ve got some wrapping and a little baking yet to do. We’ll also mop and steam the floors that have seen the worst from snow covered boots here and there.

Hope you all are ready to enjoy this joy filled time of year.

Piano Recital

There were 9 of us at church on Tuesday night to listen to Addy’s two pieces on the piano at her recital. Many others were in the audience to listen to their kids or grands.

Addy is Miss Darcy’s youngest student at present.

Music set and she’s ready to go.

Her feet barely reach the floor. She was not distracted by the crowd.

She shyly/humbly accepted the applause.

On to the treats which Addy and JJ enjoyed.

Well done Miss Addy!

Good job in the audience, JJ!

 

Cousins Christmas California

Because we have 3ish more inches of snow on the ground and we are below freezing (high of 16 degrees) and the next few days are going to be cold and brutal in our area and many other areas, I’m stealing all the joy from photos that our Laura and our nieces Debbee and Kristin shared on Facebook from their cousin time in California Sunday and Monday, where the sun is shining and there is no snow. (That is one long sentence and this is one photo logged post)

Our Josh and Laura are intentional in their relationship building and keeping. God has blessed them with the means to follow-through with the desire to use their discretional time wisely in the love and care of others. Here it worked out for them to fly to Southern California to be at the annual cousin Christmas time with some of our nieces, nephews, and grand nieces and nephew and spouses.

They bumped into Santa at the airport.

The party this year was at our nephew’s home on the beach where the cousins were treated to the extra bonus of the Christmas boat parade that they could watch from the deck. Dave and Kristin hosted our kids overnight, too.

Our kids, Josh and Laura. My sister Kathy’s daughters, Melissa and Michelle with Michelle’s husband and Jack and Avery (our grandnephew and niece). My sister Vera’s son and daughter with their spouses.

Our beautiful girls…we claim them all.

My brother Steve’s son, Tim, and his family arrived so they had a re-do of the deck photo.

Some of the crew gathered at Disneyland on Monday and had a magical time together.

All day and into the night at the Big D.

Josh and Laura made the most of their 2 day stay in Sunny Southern California. They are coming home to snow today on their side of the mountains.

These cousins have had so much fun over the years together. Now they are enjoying the added fun of the spouses that their cousins married. We are so thankful the love continues. My mom and pop would love seeing these times continue.

“Stay together, Love each other” Their Dzeda (grandfather) left them with that encouragement and they are doing a good job listening.

The photos above are from the 80’s in California.

And speaking of World Cup Soccer (Futbol), (That is a weird segue!), here we are arriving at LAX from Seattle in 1994 to attend some of the World Cup Games when Los Angeles hosted the games. My sister Kathy and her girls picked us up from the airport. Our sons were able to get tickets for some of the games in Los Angeles and San Jose. Brazil beat out Italy to win in 1994.

World Cup 2022 just ended this past Sunday and what a championship game it was. Argentina came out ahead of France in the end and are the World Cup Champions for 2022.  It was fun to see Lionel Messi finally add a World Cup Championship to his soccer accomplishments.

Congratulations on making it through this post. I like to document these special times to look back on as a kind of journal of life as it happened. Sometimes they flow well and sometimes they have diversions…

 

All Creatures Great and Small…

 

 

What a treat to view this kind of critter wonderland out our window sitting on our couch and recliner on Sunday afternoon.

Earlier on this Sunday we enjoyed our Children’s Musical and Play, It All Happened in the Country, for our church service. The presentation was so well done and so much fun with the meaning of Christmas presented so well. My photos aren’t the best but they will help me remember.

 

We sat in the front row with our two little grands to enjoy the presentation.

It was a good day all around with God’s goodness showering down on us.