Snow day on the mountain.

Christmas Day Retired Mountain Man brought in some firewood and played the usual fetch game with the dogs.  I was just happy to be out there walking around the driveway and taking pictures.


He pointed out his next firewood splitting project.

This is the slash pile to be burnt when all of the kids and grandkids are here.  

Maggie and Thompson taking a break from the fetch game.

I did manage to do a bit of decorating outdoors.  

The snow that we received the day before melted, but we still need firewood to keep the furnace going.

 Jon tosses the ball, but the dogs are very picky.  If he doesn't throw it just right, they complain by whining and barking at him and refusing to fetch the ball.   WHO is in charge here?  If you've ever lived with a border collie, you know the answer.

 I am experimenting with my gluten-free baking.  Lemon meringue pie.  The results of the cookie bake are that the sugar cookies, made with the instant vanilla pudding in the mix, are good.  The gingerbread recipe was so-so.  Trying a different next year.  The coconut macaroons are excellent.  

Today is the day all of our kids and grandkids and great-grandkids arrive to celebrate Christmas and New Year's combined.  We have a white elephant gift exchange, play board games, plus the usual bonfire.  We hang lanterns along the sled run at night.  Unfortunately, I will not be going down the run on a sled this year, but I'm hoping that everyone else can.  

 A white elephant gift from last year.

 I don't remember who was the lucky recipient....

 2018 bonfire.

It's snowing again this morning and the forecast is for 1-3 inches.  We need the 3 inches and I'm hoping for five or six.  (Sometimes we get some lake effect snow on the mountain)


Come on snow!

Four-star day?

Today I bake the gluten-free sugar cookies and the gingerbread cookies.  We will see if the recipe is good.  Gluten-free baking is a challenge.  There are thousands of recipes online and hundreds of cookbooks, but which ones are really good?  

The wreath from Ellie and Bob.  Jon added the lights. So pretty.

Yesterday I baked Coconut Macaroons, which do not contain flour, so no gluten.  I have never made Coconut Macaroons and I'm not sure why because Retired Mountain really likes them.  They did take more time to bake than other cookies, but they are a four-star cookie.  

Next I tried a recipe for the Mexican Wedding Cookies and they are a no go.  Rating of one.  Even though the recipe had a cup of butter, you couldn't really taste it.  The cookies were crumbles and broke apart when I picked them up to roll in the powdered sugar.  All is not lost though as I will dry out the crumbs and use them for a pie crust.  

We added Christmas decorations all day long, both inside the house and outside.  I added a few more touches to the Christmas tree and our sloth now has a red ribbon and lights.  I will say that even though we have added bows and boughs to several locations outdoors, it's still green out there.  It just doesn't quite work for me.  It does make it easier for me to get around since I'm still using a cane.  Much safer for me too so I won't complain too much.

The packages are all wrapped and underneath the tree and I finally got my Smart Home device to work with Alexa to turn the tree lights on and off.  Sweet!

Kathy - 1990?

Tai

 There will be some carols sung even if it's a few days after the official day. 

 Retired Mountain Man's favorite is, "Christmas in Killarney. 

I'll let you know how the cookies turn out.

May you have the same Christmas spirit as Jon and Clark do.

This is the one.

Retired Mountain Man is a pro at cutting down the Christmas tree. 

Speaking of trees, remember the ones that blew down the day before Thanksgiving?

 It's definitely going to take a lot of work to clean up this mess.  It's sad to see these trees down. 

Jon always has the Christmas spirit.  He came home from a grocery shopping trip with two poinsettias.  

 I had ordered the sparkle ball for one of my white elephant gifts this year, but as soon as I took it out of the box, Jon claimed it.  Sorry, white elephant participants. 

Everyone in the family used to have a sparkle ball because Jon's parents made them and gave each of us one.  They spent hours putting them together and sold them at craft fairs.  We had ours for over twenty years until the lights quit working.  This one brings back memories of those years and Jon's mom and dad.


Decorating the tree requires boxes and boxes of lights, ornaments, ribbon and garland. 

Does the red jacket on the bear look familiar to anyone?

Even our sloth is in a festive mood.  I think he might still need a red bow or maybe a scarf.  To be determined.

  I think we have a Clark Griswold tree this year.

 


There's a tree underneath there somewhere!  Warning:  Lighting overload.

I plan to just wear my sunglasses because it's too much effort to try to take any lights off of the tree.

As I am writing this the sun is coming up over the mountain.  Can you believe it?  
Sunshine!  

Tree day

As the weatherman told us, a "river of moisture" is moving our way.  Yes, it has been raining and raining.  The inch or two of snow that was on the ground has either melted or turned into ice with water on top, soon to be melted.  

One of the items on tap for today is to cut down our Christmas tree.  Retired Mountain Man has two picked out.  My job is to choose one of them while looking at them from the inside of the car.  Cutting down our Christmas tree in the pouring rain really doesn't bring on the Christmas spirit.  It has to be done though, because tomorrow there are football games to watch and cookies to bake. 

 No, it won't even look like this photo from 2016.  You see, it's green out there.

The answer to yesterday's question:

Did I get my "get out of jail free" card from my doctor?  Yes, indeed, and even more.  My broken femur is totally healed and everything on the x-rays looks good.  Plus, since it has been three months since my first surgery, all of my restrictions on movement due to my hip replacement, have been lifted.  That was fantastic news that I wasn't expecting.  I can drive my car.  My goal now is to continue my physical therapy to regain my strength and also get my stamina back.  Things are definitely looking up.

I will be experimenting with a recipe for my Snowball or Mexican Wedding cookies either today or tomorrow.  They are my favorite Christmas cookie and one that my mom always used to bake.  She baked dozens of them every year and mailed them to all of her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren until she was 92 years old.  I have a letter from her that I cherish because the first sentence says, "Now Connie, don't expect to get cookies from me this year, because I just don't know if I can bake them anymore".  She was 85 then.  She never stopped baking them and they were always the first cookies to disappear off the cookie plate.  

Mom at 90

No, the photos of today's tree-cutting will definitely NOT look like this one from 2013.  I call this photo my "Norman Rockwell" Christmas card.

It doesn't matter.  There will still be a Christmas tree, decorated with all the ornaments and even some bubble lights.  Today is the day. 

Circle of Friends on the mountain.

I've been baking a bit and yesterday I tried a recipe for Chocolate Zucchini Bread.  The recipe called for cocoa powder and chocolate chips.  I am only moderately happy with it since even after baking it 15 minutes longer than it called for, the bread is kind of sticky in the center.  It definitely is a chocolate sugar rush to eat a slice and it tastes similar to a sticky chocolate cake.


I'm only going to give the recipe three stars.

Next was making a wreath for my cowgirl friend, Julie.  Every year I make her a wreath and she displays it in her barn because that's where she spends all of her spare time - with her horses.  The wreath lasts until springtime and Julie always saves the decorations so that I can use some of them again.  

This year's version is on a grapevine wreath frame.  We do have enough grapevines that I could actually make a grapevine frame, but I have never tried it.  It seems to me it would be difficult.

Wreath-making is so fun and it's a challenge to come up with a new design each year.  Plus, the greens are so fragrant.

The cowgirl hat and boot ornaments have been re-used several times over.  The dried baby's breath is from a bouquet I received earlier in the year from my friends Ann and Neil.  This is what I call a special "circle of friends" wreath.

This morning I baked some chocolate oatmeal cookies.  They were from a mix given to my by another dear friend, Linda.  The cookie mix is gluten-free.  My kind of cookie and the plan is to share them as well.

It is definitely a friend's day on this mountain.

Merry, merry, merry.

My doctor's appointment is today.  Will I get my "get out of jail free" card?  

Photo from 2017, but it looks close to the same this morning.

Is it really five days until Christmas?