There's no place like...

 I have been thoroughly enjoying being in a snow-less land this winter!  There is such a beauty in the earth that I am so happy to witness that had been previously covered in feet of snow by this time of year in Alaska.  Being able to walk to a lovely park just across the river behind the house is a real treat (though don't think my walks are without my Alaska Bear Spray in hand - one just never knows what lurks behind those menacing cottonwood trunks!)

 I was able to take in some Christmas joys like Christmas Windows and lights recently with my "Beaches" friend.  To clarify if you haven't ever seen the epic friendship film, we connected many years ago and now see each other rarely (much less than we'd like), but I would do just about anything for her and we pick up like we haven't been apart at all!  Unlike "Beaches," we are not competitive, and neither of us has any life-threatening disease.  I'm waiting for her to begin her singing career though.

M has this neighbor who I think is just hilarious.  He is slowly decorating his car.  Notice the "YOLO" shout out.  The tree on the top of his car is not en-route to any further location.  It is for the car.  He has a Christmas Tree for his car.  I find this fascinating.

 I have finally decided to begin preparing Christmas cards.  I am about 2 weeks late.  I know. You may not even get one because in reality, just because I have purchased the cards does not mean I will get these out.  I don't believe the meaning of Christmas is to update all my friends and family of my goings-on.  I do want to share what we are doing, though, so I will try.  Plus, I like to get your cards!

 Speaking of the meaning of Christmas, I want to share one of my favorite things with you.  If you have been around me much during Christmas, you know I love the music of the Charlie Brown Christmas. (Charlie Brown music is pretty fabulous anyway.)  I love the jazzy low-key flow of the tunes in a total juxtaposition of the chaos that the commercial Christmas brings.  In fact, the true meaning of Christmas, that being the momentous miracle of the coming of the Savior of the world in human form, is the pivotal message in the classic tale of "A Charlie Brown Christmas."  The boldness, and consequent staying power of this Peanuts cartoon special are such a sweet surprise to me every year.

Thankful

Since we have been spending much time in Iowa, it was so providential that God would place family nearby, just for me.  Sometimes I am just in awe of what He does for me.  O.K., perhaps there was more to it, but nonetheless, I have been extremely thankful for the opportunity to spend Thanksgiving with family whom I have not seen in years!  I took the time to enjoy being with them as opposed to taking many pictures, but I was able to capture the festive mood the Barr family showed to the neighborhood!

 Once again, I was able to go along with Paul and Shannon and crew to an Iowa State Game.  This time I took Pat!  It seemed that I brought along with me the Alaska air, as both games I attended were bitterly cold.  Yes, it is cold in other places besides Alaska - and I would know.  This particular game began around the 36 degree range, but with the winds at 27 miles per hour, it felt like 16.  I checked the temperature in Nikiski and it read a similar 17, with no wind.  Honestly, that sounded much better.  This particular day in Ames was sunny, though, and even though the crowd was less dense than regular, it was an excellent day for football!  ISU played West Virginia, ranked 12th in the nation, and played a strong game despite the fumble at the end that really cost them the game.

 It was right after this game that we made our Iowa exit and "moved" back to Kansas.  No more living in the RV.  (Not exactly roughing it, mind you.)  I was able to make it back for my sister-in-law's baby shower!  These are things that I know I will miss out on in the future, so I was thankful to get to participate.  I also have been thankful to get to see my eldest niece play her first basketball game of 7th grade!  She did great and scored 8 of the 40 points that day!

Then, finally, we have been thankful for this time of bonding with my mom!  Pat has gotten a computer now and rather begrudgingly joined the 21st century.  Don't worry, though, he is firmly keeping his distance from smartphones or other touchscreen technology.

Christmas and Stuff!

 This is not a reflection on how our Christmas went!  Well, maybe it is.  If you think about the Charlie Brown Christmas story (my favorite cartoon) Linus reminds the gang what Christmas is all about when he quotes Luke 2.  I love that part.  It makes me tear up every time.  Charlie Brown then takes his spindly tree and decides it is indeed enough, because the tree isn't what Christmas is about anyway.  My tomato is celebrating that as well!  On Christmas Day, one of the only traditions we continued was the reading of Luke 2.  It was a low-key, special day with Mom and Pat!  (I only wish I had more pictures of all the things we did while she was here!)

 While Mom was here, we went "moose-hunting."  The shots we took were of the digital kind opposed to the ballistic variety, but we had lot's of fun with our game!

 We also took time to enjoy the scenery with shimmering mountains and blazing sunsets.

And finally, Pat has discovered the ultimate slipper-warmer.  He is so smart.

Christmas Catch up, pt.2

To continue, in no particular order, our trip to the "south" was filled with even more fun and memorable things!

In New Mexico, we were able to spend some precious moments with Aunt Bea and Great Aunt Mary.  Pat has some great memories of Aunt Mary.  We were further blessed to have them both lay hands on us and pray for us!

 It had been a while since we'd seen Granny, too!  We got to spend some time with her enjoy her famous beef and noodles!  I'll have to get that recipe and convert it to Gluten Free!

 Back in Kansas, Pat made his own "Wipe-out" Course for the kids, complete with a Clementine eating finish!  He also went with Mom to the shooting range and they worked over a mean-guy silhouette.

 We had some sweet moments!  Raegan made us some very special hats, and Pat helped Jackson build a new fort!

 Isaiah discovered his balancing abilities (again, thanks to Pat), and we got to see Sydney direct her cousin's and sister in a lovely musical production!

Because I am a goof ball, I will have to dedicate an entire post to one particular dream-fulfillment of mine! Yes, it has to do with a particular team sport...

December

Christmas has come to our home! The decorations came a while ago, but yesterday and today was part of a gift we gave to Jesus. I'll have to explain that in detail a little bit more later! In the meantime, I have felt renewed Christmas Spirit, and thought you might like to see our Alaskana Christmas decor!
Quite an eclectic mix of traditional/lodge. I don't know if HGTV has that in it's style category. I tend to think we don't really fit any category!

Yes, this is the bunny that taunted me just after Rowdy brought me, unaided mind you, a snowshoe hare. The difference between a hare and a rabbit is simply that a hare is born with hair! Rabbits are born "naked." A visual difference between adults is the bunny above has shorter ears, smaller feet, and a fluffier tail than a snowshoe. By the way, this little fella hopped around in between the garage door, shown above, and the deck of the house just feet away. When we get low in the freezer, this guy won't stand a chance!
On the off chance that you were curious as to our driving conditions, I paused on my way home to take a picture from my driver's vantage point. As you can see, the road is fairly snowcovered and yes, it's slick. Once the first snowfall is over, people tend to remember how to drive on such roads and it's relatively safe. The biggest hazard is moose who pop out of nowhere in the dark and on such roads, it is extremely difficult to avoid them. This is why we have the roadkill meat programs. Yep, you heard it right. We eat the roadkill! Typically churches are called after the H.P. is alerted of a kill. Our church then has a list of potential helpers to go to the site, collect the carcass, and bring it somewhere to harvest. Only the salvageable meat is taken which can vary. The meat is then either wrapped there, or taken to a processor and left at the church for anyone who has need. I wouldn't turn it down any day. I think it's still a cleaner meat than chicken!
The other day the sunset was so breathtaking that I had to go out and try to capture it. I was utterly unsuccessful. As beautiful as these pictures may be, they don't hold a candle to what I really saw. As black & white as our landscape seems to be at times, the color of the sunset was more than fabulous.

The light was fading into the horizon around 3:30 or so, and as it's now the shortest day of the year, these few hours of daylight are not to be missed.

Pumpkin Carving Madness!

Last night, we were invited to a Pumpkin Carving Contest/Party. I was told it was pretty competitive and there had been some good entries last year. I told Pat about it and he was up for the challenge. We went to the store and had to carefully select just the right pumpkin (it had to be big enough), and headed to the party. It was on, right away.


My friend, Tami had a very popular pumpkin with the kiddos! The judging commenced when all were set up and lit. Pat's Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation Logo Elk is on the top right. I'll have to get another better close up! It turned out really well, and it won the prize for "Most Creative" pumpkin!

Christmas

Our Christmas Eve was pretty low-key. Pat worked and I relaxed and baked! I made these wafer cookies, an apple tart, and a turtle cheesecake for Christmas Day. When Pat got home from work, he went back to work in the garage, putting up insulation.

Christmas morning I got Pat up by bringing him some puppies in bed along with his coffee. I have to say that it didn't exactle bring him out of bed!

I proceeded to bring all the pups up for Christmas morning until we went to our friends. They were so sweet!

Rowdy even got a Christmas present!

My finished tart and cookies.

After spending my morning on the computer webcam with my family, we loaded up our goodies and went to our friend, Aaron and Stacey's house for dinner! Our new traditional Christmas Crab dinner with Aaron's amazing shrimp gumbo stuff was absolutely marvelous and stuffed us completely.