It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

Happy Snowfall!

This is the picture of my guys walking up the lane to get our Christmas tree a couple weekends ago. Thought you might enjoy some of the beautiful scenery. Almost looks like a movie set or something, doesn't it?

Last weekend my mother-in-law took us out to eat and then onto our fabulous sleigh ride. She gives us this as a family gift rather then presents, which I LOVE. We had a wonderful time and even got to see Santa this year! Last year, we had earlier in the season reservations, but due to a monsterous sized ice storm, we had to delay them until after Christmas, and of course, Santa's on vacation then. This year, he was there with his reindeer, dressed in plaid overalls and chatted with the kids. It was magical and we had a great time. It's really wonderful to spend time with my mother-in-law, all of us as a family. I know she's making great memories for my boys and I'm very happy that they will have those. I have comforting memories of my grandparents as a child. I would go to their house and play with my cousin there. My grandfather would hide butterscotch candies on himself, in his cuff, or collar or something like that and we'd spot them and get to have a treat. I don't remember him well as he passed away when I was 9, but the memories I have of him are warm, wonderful and definitely added nourishment to my childhood. I'm glad my children will have the same memories of their grammy, too.

My parents live far away and can't be as interactive with the kids as I know they want to be, and that's hard for all involved. Time gets away from us and suddenly it's months since we've seen them. But, I'm thrilled that I will be seeing them again next week as they come down for our annual Christmas gathering. Which I'm hosting. The last time I tried to host was in our beautiful post and beam house of past and everyone had a flu (both my sister's families!) and could not come. I had decorated the house to the nines, bought lots of food and cleaned for days to get everything ready...and they could not make it. I had a very special announcement to share with everyone as well, but ended up doing it a different way. I had made a special card to share with our families that we were expecting another addition to our family tree...our second son was due the following August. I was sad that I was not able to make it a grand announcement for the whole family, but it was nice to have my parents open the card just the same. Wow, that seems like so long ago to me, and it was 6 years ago now. Like I said, time gets away from us.

Well, Little Red and I are baking brownies for him to bring to school and Music Man to bring to work for all his coworkers. I wish you all some delicious smells in your kitchen and wonderful Christmas memories as well.

Peace to you, ~Peacemom

It's a nice little tree

Joyeaux Noel!

Is this not a cute little picture? These are my three men, all hauling in the lovely Christmas Tree that is now adorning our living area. We decided last Sunday to go in search of a tree. Two years in a row now, we've been on our way to cut a tree in a town a bit away. There aren't as many cut-your-own tree places as there used to be, so we've been traveling a bit further each year. This year, we had a destination in mind, but thought as we did last year, if something promising pops up, well, we'll try that. As we were driving our way out to the tree farm, we passed by a sign for Green Tree Farm. Looked promising, so we took a side road to find out what it was all about. Pulled in, found the sign said they were getting out of the tree business (sigh) and that they only had cut-your-own this year (perfect, just what we were after) and all trees are $35.00 (within our budget). We needed to go in search of an ATM machine as I did not plan for this excursion ahead of time. Got the necessary funds and returned to the farm.

As we walked down the snowy lane, we came across a tree all decorated for us. There, I took the sweetest picture of the boys in front of the snowy tree. And yes, it is honoring the front of our Christmas cards this year. I was truly hoping to get snow (we did!) before we got our tree as I really need it to be snowy to enjoy the process to it's fullest. Then we found an honest to goodness blessing. Music Man pointed out to me that sometimes when you don't plan everything down to the letter (we rarely do), you have wonderful experiences. We happened upon this farm and met some truly nice people, got to pet a Christmas donkey (and Morgan Horse) and enjoy the stunning rolling hill beauty of their farm. It was peaceful, lovely and just one of those perfect moments in life. The boys got to throw big snowballs into a little pond, Music Man and I wandered around choosing the right tree (which for a change was so easy to do, we had to narrow it down from all the perfect ones!), and enjoyed the moment for all it was worth.

As we wandered back out up the lane towards the cars, hand in hand with our happy, chattering offspring wondering over lots of things, like the reindeer crossing sign (Little Red pointing out to me that not only SANTA has reindeer, you know), the tracks in the snow, and the beauty of their surroundings, I felt truly blessed. To live in such a gorgeous place, to have happened on such a fun moment, and to have met some new people in town, oh, that's a bit of perfection. I had peace in my soul on that walk back to the car, and felt honored to be part of that snapshot in time with my family.

May you have such blessings for your soul this holiday season,

~Peacemom