Merry Christmas!

So I still haven't sent out the Christmas Letter. It's written. We have the list of people to send to and most of the addresses. It's just a matter of printing the letters & envelopes, then sending them. But somehow there just hasn't been enough time. We were up until after 1am last night, just wrapping presents. The time crunch must have something to do with my habit of procrastination. It's probably why I didn't get the last of my shopping done until yesterday (the 23rd, although Greg remembered one last gift and had to go out today - it was *crazy*!). Oh well. I think we're ready for Christmas - but the letters will be late. Hopefully we'll get them out this week.

The day before Christmas Eve (the 23rd) we had a *huge* snowstorm. This is the third storm in the past week - according to the news - all dropping loads of snow, but this was the most. Lots of big, fluffy flakes that came down for a long, long time. Greg had to shovel the driveway, deck, & stairs since we had company for Christmas Eve. This pic is only from the last snow dump - we'd already cleared away the snow from the previous ones. Fortunately the snow was light since the snowblower isn't working.

Huge snowfall - but light & fluffy

So tonight (Chrismas Eve) we had friends over, ate food, visited, set up luminarias, visited more, had a gift exchange, and then visited some. Very nice. I was reminded once again of what great friends we have. We are truly blessed.

This is the 4th year we've done luminarias. We saw them in New Mexico years ago (has it been that long?!?) when we went down for Christmas. Dad sent back supplies for us, and the next year we set them up. They're beautiful. And (funny enough) this is the first year we've done it at our own house - previous years we've spent Christmas Eve with friends or family and shared the fun with them.

Luminarias - closeup

Luminarias lining the deck railing

Cool shot of the luminarias - didn't hold still for the long exposure

We hope that your day tomorrow (today) is filled with happiness. Merry Christmas!!

Winter Solstice

Starting tomorrow, days are getting longer - wahoo!! It's one of the things I look forward to in December. I know that it's the "official" start of winter, but to me it means that we're on the downhill slide... From an article in the Anchorage Daily News:

"The sun rises today at 10:14 a.m. and sets at 3:41 p.m. for five hours and 27 minutes of daylight. But after today, the daylight outlook gets brighter."