Sunday, December 27, 2009

first Christmas

Christmas Day..a favorite and a special, but even more so this year with our little Abbie!!! We arrived fairly early at Kassy and Nate's for our traditional Christmas brunch. They had been busy and had everything all ready and so nicely set!!! So much yummy food, and I have to say that breakfast is one of my favorite meals.....





We opened gifts with the "Flagg" side of the family, and just enjoyed being all together!!! Camille had to be the center of attention.. and quickly claimed Dave's lap... they say that people often look like their dogs... but Camille doesn't belong to Dave.. so what's the "family resemblance here?"








Kassy quickly claimed Abbie, as did Banjo!! (all of our dogs are so good with this baby - they truly love her!!)




After Kassy and Nate's we went over to my parent's house to have Christmas with the rest of the family. My sisters and their hubbys and girls...
Little Naomi was such fun to be with and watch as she opened her gifts... at three, she was "really into Christmas" this year!!! I feel so blessed to have children at Christmas time.. nothing like kids at Christmas....








Abbie, of course won't remember this year, but we certainly will. She got a lot of wonderful things, but I think this little horse (a gift from Deb) is going to become a favorite... his name is Douglas, and she held him for the longest time!!!

So another lovely holiday, full of family, wonderful time together, peace and joy. We are so blessed that we can be together... but next year... it's going to be at our house -- one way or another!!!!









decorations....

I have to say, that one of the many things that I enjoy about Christmas are the decorations. Personally, I tend to keep to more of a "traditional New England" style (whatever that is)... but it doesn't mean that I don't enjoy the "other styles" that people do. I really didn't do a lot in the decorating side of things this year, most of our "things" are still packed away, and I am anxiously waiting to decorate "my" house, but still.. we had our beautiful tree and a few little "goodies" around the house.



Last fall, at Halloween time, I took some shots of a little house that had some awesome decorations.. I think they had several "scarecrows" and some "ghosts" coming out of their windows and the like.. and they do no less for Christmas. Here we have Santa and Rudolph up on the house top....









While the rest of the "team and sleigh" wait down in the yard. The pictures really don't do it justice~~~ it is quite the display!!!







And then, there are the folks that go "all out!!" Again not my style, but you have to appreciate all the time and effort (and clean up!!) that goes into all of this!! and I certainly enjoy it... it's great fun to bundle up in the truck and drive about and see what "things" people come up!! Can't wait until Abbie is old enough to travel with us and see all the sights!!!




Christmas Eve (day)

Christmas Eve day turned out to be as busy as I thought it might be. First things first.. Chester had a visit to the vet for the last of his puppy shots. Even though I adore my vet from the "old town", I decided to take Chester to a vet here, mainly for convenience. NEADS operates a lot on donations, so we asked this vet.. Dr. Spahn .. if he might contribute some of his services for Chester - which he gladly did... not charging me or NEADS for any of this visit!!! (thank you so very much!!!!) Chester is such a good puppy, and is taking to training like a "duck to water"!!! Here he sits proudly on the scale!!!!



And then waited quietly with Camille until it was his turn to go in and see Dr. Spahn. I have to keep reminding myself, that he is NOT a cocker spaniel!!! He's growing so quickly and even though his dinner bowl looks so big and so full of food... he's NOT a cocker. For this visit, he weighed in at 20lbs, already bigger than the others!!! He was a very good boy for his shots and doesn't have to go back again until spring time (for the big operation!!!)



Returning home, I noticed that the Channel 8 news truck was at the fire station. Certainly "something" must be up to have the news truck at the fire station, I had heard some "rumors" around town that a very special person had said something about "making a special stop" in Acton. Seeing this news truck could only mean one thing... that "he" had decided to come......








could it be?? Yes, I am quite certain...

It's SANTA!!!! seems there are some very special children in Acton that he needed to see, so he left the sleigh at the North Pole (to have the elves pack) and borrowing a fire truck, Santa and a few helpers from the fire department, made some deliveries around town.....




Course, we took advantage of this private encounter ... and introduced Abbie to Santa, making sure that he added her name to his list....












She seemed pretty comfy in his arms, almost like she had been there before!!! :-)







and then Chester had to say hello, and make sure that he was also on Santa's list.. especially after being such a good puppy at the vet. He wasn't one bit afraid of this gentlemen in the long white beard....

After visiting with Santa, it was back home.. barn chores waiting and Christmas Eve beginning. Now, I must confess here, I was actually feeling rather sad about Christmas Eve... we had made plans to be with Kas and Nate , going to their church and then over to Pease Air base to welcome home the soldiers returning from Iraq. Well, when the bell choir plans changed, it meant that I would have to "give up" our plans and be at our church. Since everyone had other plans, it would mean that just Sadie, Abbie and Ed would see me play with the choir..I had been hoping for a much bigger audience!!! About two hours before church, Ed got called out with the fire department to a structure fire... a barn - fully involved. Now, I've been around the fire department for many years, and "fully involved structure" means one thing for sure... hours of work!!! Ed would now miss the bells too.


So, Sadie and I packed up Abbie and headed to the church. Going there in such a "bad mood" certainly was not the way to begin the Christmas celebration... but, I just couldn't help it.

As we were doing a quick practice and the folks were coming into church, I noticed a pretty gal in a pink coat, and thought to myself.. "Kas has a coat like that"... and then, looking a bit closer.. it was Kas!! and Nate!!! Plans had changed again (the flight bringing home the soldiers was bumped to an earlier time that they couldn't make).. so they surprised me and came to hear the bells. Then, just before service began.. in came Ed. The barn fire was a total loss, but no one - including animals - were hurt, and since it was in a neighboring town, Ed felt he could leave and come to hear me..... so, for all my fretting - Christmas Eve turned out to be a very nice time. AND a good reminder to me as to "why" we celebrate this very special season!! The birth of our Lord and Savior -Jesus!!!!



We had a short visit with Kas and Nate after church.. it was late and they had a drive home, we would be with them all Christmas Day...

then it was time for bed and wait for "Santa" to do his work (he was probably at church too!!!) but looking at some beautiful gifts sitting on the counter, I would say that Santa had already made some drops!!!! (right, Rick??)






















day before the day before....

I think I might be "back in business" in the bloggin world!! It's been a long road, and technically our computer still isn't fixed, but Ed graciously went to his office and brought this one home, just to keep me sane. So, even though the real date is 1-17-2010, I am going to pick the blog up where I left off.. back in December, and bring you up to date on all the news. Happy reading everyone.. you have no idea how happy I am to be back!!!!!














So, it's the "day before the day before" and if you were reading this blog last year (or the year before) you already know that I love the 23rd!! To me, the excitement of Christmas is just around the corner, and still waiting to happen, sadly, once the 24th arrives, then it is Christmas and the celebration is happening and beginning to end.. sort of a strange way to look at things.. but...




Kas had the idea of doing a "girls" lunch on this day before the day before, so, we all met at a great little restaurant and just enjoyed each other's company and the day. Abbie was as good as gold, and pretty much slept thru this great adventure, but there are many more to come and I think she will appreciate this day as much as her silly Grandma does...






She woke up happy just as we were about to leave, isn't that smile just the greatest???


















It was back to the farm and chores after our lunch. Not as much snow as last year (fine with me) and I have to say, I think Turkey Manor looks much better with lots of "green" around it... but here it sits, waiting for next year's residents.....















Early Christmas gift... help with barn chores!!! Talk about "knowing what to give someone!!"












And later that evening, finishing up in the gift wrapping department, though I think Abbie was more tired than interested.

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, the bell choir is scheduled to play. We were suppose to play "Christmas Sunday", but snow kept our choir director from coming to church, so, she called to see if we were available to play tomorrow night. We did have other plans with the kids, so everything had to be changed on our end.. but I didn't want to be the one that kept the choir from playing.. so change it is...