Red Headed Woodpecker

For some reason we don’t see the Red Headed Woodpecker…who remembers Woody the Woodpecker he had a red head too?

We have Pileated Woodpeckers, Red Bellied Woodpeckers, Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers and assorted Sapsuckers and the beautiful Common Flicker.

We are in the breeding range of the Red Headed Woodpecker but not the wintering over area.

Anyways…my Dad made me one for Christmas.  He was busy in his garage/shop…cutting sanding and painting.

Far Guy put it up on one of the poles of the wood/tractor shed this week.  As you can see we still have plenty of snow.

Christmas Cards, Letters and Photos

Chance and Far Guy love their trips to the mail box during December. 

Since we send 120 Christmas Cards.  We get many in return.

I did find one of my Christmas Cards…tucked away in a box of cards that I sometimes take to carving when my hand is not up to working with a knife.

2017 Christmas Card inside it said “Christmas comes anew each year to draw people in from the cold.”

The sled/birds design was a stamp, stamped on water color paper and embellished with markers and glitter then it was framed with a border of red (other colors were used too) and then mounted on the white snowflake embossed paper ( which I also embellished with some kind of glitter!)

Yesterday I read through all the Christmas Cards and letters again.  Then they were either tucked away in a folder or recycled.

 

Photo Christmas Cards were looked at again and placed in a folder for a someday look back down memory lane.

Some letters were kept.  The letters are bittersweet; they told of struggles with cancer, deaths, births, lonliness after being widowed, and the usual what Far Guy calls “Brag” letters…we vacationed here and there and everywhere. Two letters in particular touched us this year…Jamie with her sense of humor and Bob and Sheila…  well I guess really only Bob writing about an old print of Rural 1950’s Farm life and never giving up on our dreams. Bob is a retired Pastor and he and Sheila are the other set of Grandparents to Noah and Adam.

Some cards had notes inside and some were on the front…like this one…from Sharon, her husband Gary was Far Guy’s best friend who died way too soon back in 1993.

The card count this year:

46 Christmas Cards

24 Christmas Photo Cards

22 Christmas Letters

Lots of good reading!

Ongoing Project:  Last year I organized all the Christmas letters and photos and put them in page protectors in three ring binders.  This year is was real easy to get out the binders and slip letters and photos where they belong.

Downstairs Tree

We took down the downstairs tree, of course I need to go through all those Christmas totes before they are stacked away properly in their corner.

Chance was greatly relieved that the living room is back to his “normal.”  The tree really bothered him.   He hates change.

Chance got a special ornament from Miney and Little Elvis.  It is a beautiful addition to our tree.   It says Merry Christmas Chance!  Love Miney and Little Elvis.  ( It made me cry.)

Our good friend Sue from Indiana sent another beautiful ornament to me this year! I have a big popcorn tin full of Sue and Joe ornaments!  I treasure them.

The blue lights have made it another year.   It is always a little sad when the last ornament is put back in its proper place. 

Now the tree is just a memory.  As Far Guy said “In 340 days we will get it out again.”

The upstairs Shiny Brite tree will remain up for awhile…Chance doesn’t go upstairs anymore so he is not bothered by it.

Brutally cold up here, it will warm up this week but the wind will blow making it seem colder than it is.  Oh well spring is only 5 months away.

Ongoing Project: School Days

One of my “ongoing” projects has been gathering together small school photos of the girls.  Good grief those photos were here and there and not in the right size.  Everytime I discovered a school photo it was like Christmas for me, progress was so slow I was not sure the project would ever get finished.  I eventually scanned the larger ones and found a place online that would convert my scans to whatever size I wanted.  Finally I dared to hope that I could finish the project.

Some projects take on a life of their own.  I was obsessed with finding the photos and trying to figure out what years they were from without asking the girls.  Afterall I am their Mother and I should recall.

It was a project that I started a number of years ago…like about 15 years…uffda.

It must have been about 2002/2003 or so that I made scrapbooks for both of the girls that concentrated on their school days.

It was shortly after that when I found the perfect addition to their scrapbooks.

Trica

Jennifer

I wrapped them up as Christmas gifts.  I think I got the years all correct except Jen’s 10th and 11th grade photos are reversed.

I also included a simple family tree.  I have more detailed family trees that covers many more generations but this simple one is a great addition to a scrapbook

I was happy to finish this ongoing project that never made my list last year.  It was the only “from the heart” project that I finished before Christmas.

It is really cold here.  We are safe and warm and working on various projects and napping.

 

Grands and Great

We gathered.  Jen, Andy and the boys came on Christmas Eve and Trica, Richard and the girls on Christmas Day.

Here they are…  our “Grands” that light up our lives.  We were thankful that Savannah was able to join us this year.  Paige spent Christmas in the Florida Keys…we missed her.  She called us, cause she missed us too.

“Grands” plus one “GREAT”

Mikey seems to like the tall boys and looks at them in complete adoration!

hey Mikey!

Mikey can sit up by himself. We got him a toy train with zoo animals that has lights and sounds and should drive his parents and grandparents a little nutty.  He liked the wrapping paper just as much as his gifts!! Mikey is seven months old.

Savannah

Maddie

Noah and Little Elvis

Adam

We are thankful for those who were able to join us.

Our weather turned really cold.  It is was –25 F or –31C eh! with a wind chill of –45 on Christmas Day in the morning. We are in the deep freeze and won’t be getting out for at least a week…maybe longer. Day time high temperatures will not break the zero mark.  Good thing we have a well stocked pantry and freezer…we will not be venturing far from home.

Merry Christmas!

We would like to extend a Merry Christmas to all! We are having a cool white Christmas here in Minnesota…we got some fresh snow and it is way below zero.

The Shiny Brite tree is complete.

Here is our Christmas Letter 2017.  I don’t have a photo of my finished Christmas card…I mailed them all off without a photo of the finished card… they were all pretty and glittery.