It's Beginning to look a lot like

Winter. And, Christmas. Although, I haven't gotten the second done because the first makes it difficult. It is cold, very windy, and the snow blows sideways "stings your nose and bites your toes"! I would like to get the enormous wreath put up on the barn, but the thing is really heavy, and I've done it alone in the past, but am hesitant to try alone this year because of the silly disc thing. If I let go of the wreath, it will fall one story to the paddock below, getting covered in icy horse slop and frightening the ponies so badly, they may never venture into their stalls again!
Huz got the straw bales positioned around the west wall of the house and barn this weekend- Yeah for Huz!
But, although it is necessary for winter, does not attain "Christmas Spirit". And, the front of the house still needs adornment, the candles aren't in the window, and we have no spinet. But, the piano is getting a "Holly Jolly"workout from Eldest, "Carol of the Bells" from Middlest and ....a smattering  of sometimes indistinguishable carols from Youngest. We did get the tree decorated last night. Eldest demurred. Too cool? Too irritable? Who knows. But we put on each one of the trillion ornaments, including the popsicle stick and construction paper ones, the ones featuring a small child with a shaving cream "beard" and the yarn pasted on plastic bits, proudly bearing the early broken signatures of little ones. They join the beautiful fragile ornaments, the collection of 16 years of marriage added to the several years of bachelorettehood, and the box of sports ornaments that inexplicably showed up in my collection in 1992. No idea whose they were. But, they're on our tree. So, person out there wondering where the collection of tennis/fishing/soccer/baseball/hunting ornaments were lost in the early 90's? I've got 'em. And, we're taking fine care. There are crocheted snowflakes made by my Gram, many made by me, and a wonderful clay rendition of our first house, "Oklahome", made by sister in law, Yvonne. There is a miniature sled, made at the beach house in New Jersey, 1974?  by my mother and her friend Betsey. They made a hundred that summer for a craft fair? I eventually snagged one with little holly leaves and berries painted around the edges.  At the top is our angel. She is one of our more precious ornaments. She came to us on our wedding day. We were married on the beach, and a passerby, who realized the great group of folks building an enormous sandcastle were actually at a wedding reception, found me and Huz, announced she had something for us, and dashed home. Soon, she was back, bearing a home made angel, made with materials found on that beach. Our angel is precious to me, a gift given freely from a stranger and holding pieces of where we began. The tree is grounded by a skirt knit by my Gram that matches the stockings also from her hand. Family treasures.