Those Crazy Cut-Ups: Mother Nature and Father Christmas!

A Happy New Year to all!

I'm sure things have been hopping at your home, too,

as time slid into the New Year, and then the 12 days

of Christmas ushered in the season of Epiphany on January 6th.

Our fresh Sunroom tree, back on December 18th, freshly decorated.
You can still see ornament boxes stacked in the lower right corner!
This tree is a Canaan Fir, and took 4 Rubbermaid bins of ornaments,
1,800 colored lights, and one strand of white lights around the trunk.
Howard is a lighting wizard.

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How was your Christmas?

Ours was lovely,

with both of our daughters and our son-in-law under our roof.  

We had a big party on December 21st, but I took no pictures.

Too busy!

Christmas morning at That Old House: 

Josh and Alida made Monkey Bread for breakfast,

a tradition borrowed from his family.

So good, your brains could fall out!

Anne made her lighter-than-air waffles,

this year gluten-free!

Waffles, real maple syrup, and breakfast sausages.
We don't skimp on Christmas feasting!

 And then, it got cold. 

Really, really cold.

Brass Monkey alert cold.

Our fence, this week, with the Christmas lights still
festooning it, and the thermometer crying "Uncle!"

Our resident red-headed bombshell, Gilda,

is not bothered by the cold at all.

She wears a nice, thick fur coat.

All the time. 

 Dylan DiPoochy, whose coat is rather thin

in comparison, is less happy with the frigid outdoors.

We fenced in a play yard for the dogs; here's part of it,

as seen from the dining room windows:

 They haven't spent much time playing in it.

Gee, I wonder why?

Meanwhile, in the house, Christmas still holds sway

. . . in the front hall: 

. . . in the Parlor: 

. . . and in the Sunroom, where the Canaan Fir

still stands, still in good shape.

I really hate to take down a Christmas tree! 

Sunroom tree, on Tuesday morning, 1/7/14.

Gilda has started to yank ornaments off the tree

and put them on the floor.

I think perhaps she's pushing me into restoring

the house to a more normal state.  Gilda is a very opinionated lady.

She likes to sleep on pillows,

and often tips one over to make a bed for herself.

The other day she used her nose to push a pillow off a club chair

and into a basket of clean folded laundry.

Nice little nest, isn't it?

Happy Epiphany to all!

This season of the church year brings us to Lent, to Ash Wednesday.

How 'bout that?  Before we know it, we will be looking at Spring.

I promise.  -- Cass

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