Here I am about to do the final scrapbook updates for 2022 (which will be backdated to get into our 2022 printed blog book - so it's gonna look like I wrote it in December not today, January 4 of 2023!).
The dust has finally settled from our holiday celebrations and I find myself alone here in the house while Jason gets the first seeds started for the year (onions and shallots). Our kiddos are having a grand time extending the holidays with Aunt Christie and Uncle Mark in Pittsburgh, giving Jason and I the longest time we have had without kids since, well, we didn't have kids!
December 24 - We kicked off Christmas Eve by making fresh bagels. YUM! We did three kinds: sesame, caramelized onion, and cinnamon and raisin. My goodness our family can plow through a pack of cream cheese when bagels are involved!
December 25 - Christmas morning with the light coming in the front windows got off to an early start for our crew. I think everyone was awake well before 8, which is saying something for us. Christmas morning was a lovely morning of lounging, opening presents, eating and sharing around some of them, hot drinks and then all heading out for chores together. After all the Christmas snacks, we were quite ready for Christmas brunch. In terms of presents, you win some and you lose some. Our gracious kiddos would say there were no losses, but I would say the nature kaleidoscopes were more like collide-oscopes! I REALLY hate false advertising!!!! The images on the website show a product and possibilities that are absolutely impossible to replicate with the product that we received. I got to a dead end with customer service so we'll be modifying them on our own and hoping for the best. 
In the afternoon we met up with Christie and Mark for a very memorable hike to Hensley's Pond. The one side was not frozen enough to play on safely, but a trip around the pond netted us very solid and thick ice! I will admit that it took several check ins with Jason as our precious trio ventured onto the ice before my heart settled and I joined them.
In the evening we savored a Christmas pork roast with green beans, roasted potatoes and achara (a dish that Tala taught us to make and which I'm not as good at as she is!!)
We made it! Quarantine complete, Covid tests negative, HUGS RECEIVED!!!!!
See next post for our Christmas time with 7 of us!
Here's a snapshot into some of the things that we filled our Christmas time together with. Since we were in "deep quarantine" for a week, we got to savor time just the 5 of us here at home. Who knows how often we'll get such a treat as the years go by, so we did our best to soak it up!!
I'm gonna go day by day again this time, as that helps me organize my thoughts - though my kids aren't here to help me remember if we watched Elf on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day (thanks, Xfinity, for a free movie on you!!). The kids would know but neither Jason nor I can remember!!
December 24 - We kicked off Christmas Eve by making fresh bagels. YUM! We did three kinds: sesame, caramelized onion, and cinnamon and raisin. My goodness our family can plow through a pack of cream cheese when bagels are involved! Much of the rest of the day is a blur for me, though pictures tell me it involved some popcorn and Boggle playing. Kali was working to finish her popcorn seed testing from 2021 before the time for testing the 2022 batch came around. As promised, that was also the night of our sleepover in the living room near the tree!
December 25 - Christmas morning with the light coming in the front windows got off to an early start for our crew. I think everyone was awake well before 8, which is saying something for us. Christmas morning was a lovely morning of lounging, opening presents, eating and sharing around some of them, hot drinks and then all heading out for chores together. After all the Christmas snacks, we were quite ready for Christmas brunch. In terms of presents, you win some and you lose some. Our gracious kiddos would say there were no losses, but I would say the nature kaleidoscopes were more like collide-oscopes! I REALLY hate false advertising!!!! The images on the website show a product and possibilities that are absolutely impossible to replicate with the product that we received. I got to a dead end with customer service so we'll be modifying them on our own and hoping for the best. 
Terah got to actually light the fire on Christmas morning! She's been wanting that honor!!
Phew, the mint o's were not forgotten!!
Terah not only got to light a match that morning, but also use an ax in cleaning up a large branch that had fallen on the driveway in the recent ice storm.
Once all the animals had been taken care of and given Christmas morning treats, we venture in to treat ourselves to waffles with chicken gravy.
Smiley's Peppermint Bark ice cream was in fact delicious on waffles!
December 26 - While a good day, no pictures were taken! Jason did all the grape pruning. I did all the house cleaning (which I'm enjoying a lot these days since it gives me a few hours to binge listen to the Good Inside podcast). And the girls had a "school afternoon" together. In the evening, Kali finished her popcorn testing and the girls got all their 2022 corn sorted in preparation for shelling and winnowing.
December 27 - This was our final family winter cut back day. I LOVE these days where we are outside together (in all honesty, we are all out there together for the afternoon not the whole day!). We tackled a whole variety of pruning and trimming tasks. Kali managed the little bit of chainsaw cutting needed. Alida mostly managed the fire where we were burning raspberry canes and discovered her love of elderberry pruning. And Terah helped to prune and weave her turtle shell which is now strong enough for her to climb. And sometimes our help looked like this:
The pizza dinner headed up by Alida tasted really good that evening!!
December 28 - Jason continued on the winter cut back solo while Terah and Alida helped me make several rounds of mozzarella and a large batch of green noodles. But the hours were ticking by way too slow for our youngest who wanted to know about every other minute how soon Christie and Mark were coming!
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