Ushering in Winter

But Winter has yet brighter scenes—he boasts
Splendors beyond what gorgeous Summer knows;
Or Autumn with his many fruits, and woods
All flushed with many hues.
–William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878) Winter will soon be here and Mother Nature is ushering him in with style. As it stands now we are only going to get a small amount compared to Philly, DC and NY. It definitely puts one in the Christmas spirit...or it does if you have all your shopping done and no place to go- otherwise I am sure it adds to the stress of the season.

This snow will make it even harder on the wild animals. The wild turkeys are having a hard time scratching through the ice we got previously. With high temps below freezing nothing is melting. They are frequent visitors now.

With the impending snow, #2 daughter and I left the house early to go put swags we made on the cemetery's. They are nothing fancy by a long shot, just trimmings from the tree, some greenery we picked in the woods and leftover bows and ribbons, but it is something we do each year. As they are not big on plowing the cemetery's I figured I better do it now or they wouldn't be one before Christmas.

After that we ran to the store to check if they had duck because I didn't find any while out yesterday. Luckily they did have some and I got two for Christmas dinner. On the way home we passed the local food pantry. The place was packed. I assume they were handing out Christmas dinners and presents. My brother and I, along with my older kids unanimously sponsored a local family with three kids this year. Seeing all those people standing in line made me so extremely thankful for what I have and happy that we could help in a very small way. I pray they all have a wonderful Christmas and that the new year treats them better.

In knitting news, I have finished #1's present. I took pictures and will post them after Christmas because she checks in here every once in a while. I have to say that my kids are nothing like me, I love to squeeze and shake packages. I can taunt them with one of theirs and they don't care and are willing to wait. It is frustrating!

One present I do buy each of the kids is an ornament specific to their happenings that year. (first fishing trip, football game, first job etc) #1 daughter decided to make some ornaments for everyone this year. The first was her Grandma angel ornament (so she will always be with us at Christmas) and a lollipop. My mother's answer to what do you want was always "a lollipop"! Then the other day I was organizing (I use that term loosely) yarn and came across some yellow (my mothers fav color) knit-cro-sheen that I inherited from my aunt. I have been saving a pattern to Drops Christmas heart since last year. So I crocheted up a couple of them.I tried beading some of them but they were clear beads which don't stand out enough. They may show more on the tree with lights behind them though.

I would love to go play with more yarn I "found" but I have to make cheesecake and spinach balls for a party I am going to tonight....if it doesn't snow to hard. If it does I can play then while eating the cheesecake!!!