Merry Christmas! 🎄

Happy Saturday friends and Merry Christmas!

Here at the ranch, Christmas is dictated by ManChild because he's way smarter than we are. He likes to plan the day out ahead of time for maximum happiness. A few weeks before Christmas, he begins laying it out, "We have to get all the cleaning done before Christmas day so we can just relax. If we get up early on Christmas day, Dad can make his coffee (he knows what's most important!) and then we can open presents. Then ranch chores and breakfast. If we get up late then ranch chores, presents, brunch."

None of this:

Ooooo, I have a cute video for you! Check out Little Man channeling his inner racehorse! Since he's made friends with Jaffee, he's lost weight, gained muscle, and speed! I had the pedal to the metal on the golfcart (how fast do golf carts even go? Off to Google...14 miles an hour!) and had we had more room, I think he would have beat me lol!

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A sweet memory: ManChild passed Ethiopian court and officially became our son 16 years ago on December 19th! Mom and Dad were flying into Colorado from North Carolina that day to be with us during Christmas. When they came up the escalator I gave Mom a big hug and told her she was officially a Grandma! Lots of happy tears! We loved him so much already, even if it was from 7,000 miles away.

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Candied Pecans I was looking for something to put on my daily salads and these were perfect—not too sweet! Of course, I love the candied pecans that are literally like candy but maybe not for a salad lol. My current favorite mix is baby greens, baby arugula, feta, chopped candied pecans, and homemade honey mustard—yum. I had gotten out of the habit of fruit smoothies for breakfast and a salad as one of my daily meals around the Mom's birthday. I was eating my feelings. And all the sugar. Dammit. It happens doesn't it? Her birthday took me a month to get through and then hot on it's heels was the one year anniversary of her death. Another month went by. I hope I will remember all of this next fall and find healthier ways to cope.

I think I'm all aware of my feelings but nooooo, funny how much grief runs under the radar. There is the big ugly crying on the outside and it feels like: That must be it for now, right? Haaaaaaa! I'm so naive. And always so surprised when my life has imploded in some odd, unforeseen way. Lord.

Thinking of all that and giving myself grace. I've lost loved ones of course but I've never lost my mommy before. Brand new kind of grief.

I saw this and loved it. I must have seen it before, I remember the last line but not the rest of it. Beautiful:

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We had between 4-5 inches of rain on Sunday and Monday night as we were going to bed we heard what sounded to me (at the other end of the house) like a gunshot. Whatever. We live on the outskirts of Apex, it happens. But B-Rad said it was a tree! He said he heard a pop and then the rushing sound of it crashing against other trees as it was falling—and then WHUMP! when it hit the ground! I went out with a flashlight and wandered around, checked the animals but didn't see anything.

We went out the next day and found this at the back of our property:

It was a big, dead one! So glad it didn't hit anything important!

This vertical piece speared into the ground far enough that B-Rad couldn't even wiggle it!

CHRISTMAS MEMES:

ManChild and I say this to each other every year lol:

It took me a minute...I wonder if kids still sing that song?:

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