so now the sun's setting on christmas itself. last night, i did luminaria; i put the family letter on this blog (see below); i notified the family and put the letter into an e-mail there too. got about six calendars out; there are three to go, maybe. no cards done yet, none.
we measure christmas success based on kid happiness. you would think they would be grateful, happy and mellow no matter what, but not our kids. they sometimes express their disappointment immediately, or, over a long stretch. in this case, they seem to be mostly ok with it. they got what they wanted. it's partly because my wife is on crutches, at home all the time, and able to ask them repeatedly, keeping a bead on the subtle changes in their needs.
i set up the trains again in the shed. this is actually huge, since it involves moving boxes around in an extremely cramped space, where the last boxes, the train boxes themselves, end up in the chair i'd like to sit on. it's a general, long-term project to make fewer boxes, more space back there, but for the moment, i'm happy with a little bit of open space, and room to watch the little engine tearing around the track. didn't get any train-related christmas presents, but no problem; i figure that'll take care of itself, eventually. thinking of putting christmas lights in it, or maybe working on the village part of it: make houses, buildings, roads, etc.
we live in this sunny valley a little east of cloudcroft itself. in cloudcroft it was snowing hard yesterday, and some people had a hard time getting around, getting up the shady side of the hill for example. but out here, it rained a little, and then as it went below freezing, it snowed a little. just a little, and all at night. just enough to see a little white out there when we woke up.
it's interesting that we have visitors even now; someone at family dollar said to me, "we're from texas, so this is good." i remember looking at that raging blizzard, and i'm sure my face showed my feeling, which was, here we go again. hope i can make it home.
the trip home goes over the high james ridge which really has its own weather system, though it is only maybe eight miles east of cloudcroft. as i left cloudcroft i kept my eye on the temp, which was 28, in the raging blizzard, with the snow sticking by the side of the road and the roads themselves threatening to freeze over. but down at the sixteen springs road junction, at the bottom of james ridge, it was already about 34 and really raining more than snowing. up on the ridge it was snowing again; maybe it was down to about 30. and then, down at our house, still raining, but thinking of turning to snow.
one last thing i did on christmas - changed the water filter. it gets all gummed up out here with sediments in the water; has to be changed maybe every couple of months. tonight was the night. i was tired, but figured it out, in the dark. i'm proud of myself. christmas success. the boys are hanging out, watching a movie. all is well.
we measure christmas success based on kid happiness. you would think they would be grateful, happy and mellow no matter what, but not our kids. they sometimes express their disappointment immediately, or, over a long stretch. in this case, they seem to be mostly ok with it. they got what they wanted. it's partly because my wife is on crutches, at home all the time, and able to ask them repeatedly, keeping a bead on the subtle changes in their needs.
i set up the trains again in the shed. this is actually huge, since it involves moving boxes around in an extremely cramped space, where the last boxes, the train boxes themselves, end up in the chair i'd like to sit on. it's a general, long-term project to make fewer boxes, more space back there, but for the moment, i'm happy with a little bit of open space, and room to watch the little engine tearing around the track. didn't get any train-related christmas presents, but no problem; i figure that'll take care of itself, eventually. thinking of putting christmas lights in it, or maybe working on the village part of it: make houses, buildings, roads, etc.
we live in this sunny valley a little east of cloudcroft itself. in cloudcroft it was snowing hard yesterday, and some people had a hard time getting around, getting up the shady side of the hill for example. but out here, it rained a little, and then as it went below freezing, it snowed a little. just a little, and all at night. just enough to see a little white out there when we woke up.
it's interesting that we have visitors even now; someone at family dollar said to me, "we're from texas, so this is good." i remember looking at that raging blizzard, and i'm sure my face showed my feeling, which was, here we go again. hope i can make it home.
the trip home goes over the high james ridge which really has its own weather system, though it is only maybe eight miles east of cloudcroft. as i left cloudcroft i kept my eye on the temp, which was 28, in the raging blizzard, with the snow sticking by the side of the road and the roads themselves threatening to freeze over. but down at the sixteen springs road junction, at the bottom of james ridge, it was already about 34 and really raining more than snowing. up on the ridge it was snowing again; maybe it was down to about 30. and then, down at our house, still raining, but thinking of turning to snow.
one last thing i did on christmas - changed the water filter. it gets all gummed up out here with sediments in the water; has to be changed maybe every couple of months. tonight was the night. i was tired, but figured it out, in the dark. i'm proud of myself. christmas success. the boys are hanging out, watching a movie. all is well.
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