It's been a very busy week and Mark was gone for 6 out of the last 7 days, so I've thought many posts in that time, but haven't gotten to actually writing them. It's time for some catch-up! During the time Mark was gone we got a total accumulation of about 20 inches of snow. I've been doing lot of shoveling and that's put a crimp in my knitting and sewing time.
Last week we had a nice day with our homeschool group visiting our house on Scrabble's first birthday! In his honor we made cupcakes. With all that snow there was plenty of sledding too..
We also went to the Bend Christmas Parade where there were more adorable animals and some cute kids.
I took photos of some of our Christmas decorations. We don't have a tree yet, but here's what's up so far.
I've collected Santas for a number of years. I've refined my habit now because my favorites are the hand-carved wooden ones. I look for them on all my travels. My reasons for collecting them come from a very happy childhood. My mom made great memories for all of us with her holiday traditions. I've always loved Christmas. My kids both have middle names derived from my love of Christmas. Can you guess them? We also have other advent calendars. The kids are 11 and 12 years old and still love their advent calendars. Chloe's doll house is decorated for the holidays. It came out to the living room for Christmas.
Lastly, here's what we have for downspouts in Central Oregon. I'd never seen these before moving here, but they are heavy chain reaching from the gutters to the ground. It's beautiful when the sun shines on the ice!