It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

 

We are nearly three-quarters of the way through Advent and full of Christmas spirit and activities here at our farmhouse.  This is a bit of what we've been up to as we try making spirits bright.

 

We've decorated a total of four Christmas trees this year, not including ones that we've helped with at schools and Church.

 

There's been some fun gingerbread cottage competition going on.

 

The boys built one, and the girls built the other.  I must admit that we girls added some inedible embellishments to give ours a bit more curb appeal.

 

We got some snow over the weekend, and the children were so excited to be on a two hour delay Monday morning due to the ice that accumulated on top.

 

And then we woke up this morning to a lot more snow, but there was no delay, much to the dismay of the kiddos. 

 

I've been creating some Pinterest-inspired chalkboard art in the kitchen and the front porch.

 

And the house has been decorated with a few new things...

 

...but mostly old.

 

We've still got our burlap plaid theme going on throughout the house.

 

And we even took the rustic preppy look to our fixer-upper cabin this year.

 

There is plenty of viewing of Christmas classics.  I think I've watched Christmas with the Kranks on Netflix three times already.

 

And we've been counting down the days with our Advent calendar and this crafty bit of last year's Christmas tree that I made.  I change this every morning before I get my first cup of coffee.

 

The Christmas cards have been sent.  The trees have been trimmed.  The halls have been decked, though not with boughs of holly.  Gifts have been purchased, wrapped, and hidden.  The Holly radio station is played every time we're in the SUV.  Most of the Christmas movies have been watched, and the books are being read.  All that's left is the cookie baking.  The children have been wanting to start on that for weeks, but I'm putting it off because I can't resist the sweet treats.

And I'm desperately trying to end this year no heavier than when it started.

May the remaining days of your week be merry and bright, dear Readers.  

First Snow Day of the School Year

School was dismissed an hour early today as our first snow arrived.  When I was growing up in the Northeast, we rarely got out of school despite much bigger snowfalls than we receive now.  I remember our schoolbus traversing the snow-covered country roads with chains wrapped around the tires, and we waded through snow in our driveway that was up to our knees.  We typically only get about three inches of snow at a time these days, and schools are almost always canceled.  Even so, I am always relieved to have my children back home safe and sound while the snow falls and the wind blows on our mountain farmhouse.  We stopped on the way home today to take pictures as we headed up our lane.  Our teen daughter took photos on her phone from the one-lane bridge over the creek.

From the mailboxes at the bottom of our lane, the sun shone on the fluffy snowflakes as we tried to snap pictures.  We all get excited at the first snowfall of the season.  We felt as though we waited a long time for it to come this winter.  By March though, no one is excited anymore.

We had to stop and check out the frozen, snow-covered pond.  

But no one was allowed to officially play in the snow until we got home and they changed out of their school uniforms.

Our youngest wants to go ice skating, but it's been fairly warm here for January, and I'm concerned the ice isn't thick enough to hold us.

The lane looks beautiful in the snow, but it causes me a lot of stress as we go up the mountain since I have gotten us stuck way too many times.

We got so much rain over the weekend that the brook that is adjacent to our house hasn't been trickling or flowing or babbling; it has been roaring and rushing down the mountain.

This is the view from our front yard towards our Amish neighbor's farmstead and up the mountain.  We are so blessed.

Once we were safely home, the younger children put on all their snow gear and went back outside to brave the elements.  It stopped for a little bit until a severe snow squall came along that looked and felt like a blizzard.  We're all somewhat hoping that the forecast underestimated the amount of snow we are to receive tonight, and that we might get a full snow day tomorrow.  This is distracting me, however, from finally tackling all these Christmas decorations that are still up all over our house and cabin.  Like the children, I still feel there is something magical and exciting about the first snowfall of the winter.