MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE

Bob did a beautiful job on the tile in the entry and halls. I love it and now I want it everywhere, but I havent' told him that - yet. So far we have only rattan patio furniture in the living room and though it looks rather nice, it is the most uncomfortable stuff to try to relax in which draws us back downstairs to the comfy couches. Its nine in the morning and finally daylight. The thermometer outside the kitchen window reads minus 26 celcius-but hey, there's no wind! There is always something to be thankful for, even in a Saskatchewan winter.

In my ongoing quest to make the holiday season less commercial and stressful I have stopped sending cards, though perhaps that is more laziness on my part. The sad thing is that now we rarely see any actual hand written cards and letters come in the post box. I know my mom still loves to receive cards and letters, as most of us do. One compromise was to purchase some cute foam cutout cards from the Canadian postal service: snow man, cow, and xmas lights to send to some special folks, not that you all aren't special to me - you are! I have also strung some new led lights in a living room window and have a new craft displayed-I wish I'd thought of it or done it, but can't take credit. Susie Spence is putting mini lights inside glass building blocks and wrapping them in decorative ribbons-a popular new thing this year I understand. Since I still am not sure where we will be for Christmas I am sticking to a minimalist theme and may not even do a tree.

Last year in Baja we had a dried agave blossom for a tree - it was about 7 feet tall - and since they make tequila from the agave I figured it would be a good choice; however, my boys were not impressed and Dylan said it was the saddest excuse for a Christmas tree he had ever seen. Since I can't find a photo of it I thought I'd have some fun and show some of our great gathering of friends. I think we had 17 around the table for turkey dinner on the 25th. The back row of the gals were actually standing in the pool which was full of cold water - we lifted our skirts and were reminded of I Love Lucy stamping grapes.

Its not hard to tell who was having the most fun. Beverlee seems to be in almost every shot I took. We had a lot of fun laughing about Karen's purple velvet stretch stirrup pants too.