Alisha still answers her phone, "Hey, neighbor!" even though she has moved. (By our calculations, they're roughly 17 miles away. Wow.) No school today, so she sent Tautiana and Gaebriel up to play...
I brought Bri to the Conrads' house...
I made it back up the road on my first try. 
Out of the blue, as we were making supper, Logan says, "We should do that again, the thing where we sit on those things and slide down the road..." Ha!
We gave our kids (those who can read) new Bibles for Christmas. (Did I write about Mari giving her Bible away? I did-- but I think it was in a chat with Angie, not a linkable xanga entry.... Hmm. Well, that's a story for another day.)
I don't know, but maybe that's why they decided they want to have a Bible study. Only... they don't call it that. It's more just "time set aside to talk about what we read." I listened in to keep any potential heresy in check, and... they had a Bible study. Not in a contrived, "imitating adults" kind of way -- simply a genuine discussion of scripture.
My kids are cool.
Snow. The thick stuff you'd draw if you were drawing "winter." Mounds of it defining each tree. Layers of it settling on the roof. Pure, white snow. Walls of it lining the oft-plowed road, unblemished by gravel, ice or slush. Perfect for sledding.
Once we aimed our minds in the right direction, we noticed that Logan doesn't usually bother to join the other kids outside. When they're dashing for sleds, he's looking for his Legos. ...After all, there was that time he crashed into the rocks at the bottom of the hill... Other than that, his sledding experience has been more or less limited to riding down the hill to meet Daddy on his way home from work, and Mommy usually ended up dragging a sled full of six (heavy!) kids over a plowed / gravelled road. Hmm. We need to remind Logan that sledding can be fun!
So... When normally we'd be sending kids to put on their jammies, we sent the kids to put on their snow gear. I drove the Kubota down the road, following Bri, Myra and Wilson, Kirby and Logan, and Kendric on their sleds. At the bottom of the hill, we tied the sleds to the Kubota hitch and I traded places with Kirby; he towed us back up the hill at a decorous pace. The snowy spray kicked up by the wheels, the glow of the tail lights, the dog bounding out of the woods (after a quick mountain lion check) to trot along with us... A beautiful sight, we're happy tonight, walking in a winter wonderland.
trees, cozy under their covers...
an RTV that can stop on a dime...
fresh air...
mittens...
sleds...
laughing kids who take it all in stride when one falls off the back of the sled...
stomping snow off yer boots...
a warm house...
Logan's still not convinced.
Currently Reading: Hattie Big Sky
Christmas Eve:
I didn't take any pictures of Myra's shiny, bouncy curls before she went sledding and they went flat, but trust me, it was beautiful -- juuuust beautiful:
The whole family was here: Grandpa Merle, Grandpa Ernie and Gramma Betty, Mom and Dad, Kirby and me and our kids, Mark and Angie and their kids, Nicole, Cory and Rikke, Ben and Julie. Twenty-three of us around the table (24, counting Angie's not-yet-born baby). There was a slight commotion before the dinner prayer, "Are we holding hands? or folding them?" Granpda Ernie quipped, "You gotta know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em." Ha. Quote of the Day.
Cory did a fireworks show again. This time we called the neighbors, told them to watch up the hill. I don't know how well it showed up for them, but our sky was full of bright light / spirally sparkles.
Christmas Day:
Kirby plowed the road this morning; Dad plowed it again this evening:
Logan and Wilson were excited to go on an outing. All bundled up, they got to ride down the hill to check the mail:
Gingerbread men:
Currently Watching: A Little Princess
The weather outside is frightful
But inside the fire's delightful
And since we've no place to go
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!
Ben and Julie hosted us for dinner on Wednesday, and presented their Christmas gifts early. Logan is sick (colds, for him, tend to trigger asthma symptoms); as he rests in his chair, he insists on holding his new fire truck:
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