Seasonal Moments

Well, it's time to round up the Snow People!  They will eventually end up on the mantle, but I snapped this photo as I was unpacking them.  I like putting up the Snow People since they can stay up through February after all the Christmas decorations have been put away.  After Christmas and New Year, everything looks so bare and spring still looms long on the horizon before the bulbs pop up.  In winter, you have to find visual cheerfulness wherever you can!

 

The temperature has been between between 14 and 20 degrees in Portland all week.  We've crammed so many activities into one week, since my Mom is having hip surgery next Thursday and will have a long recovery.  It will be a bit of a juggling act over the holidays with kids coming into town, and Rick and Bryan heading to Pasadina for the big Rose Bowl Game between the U of O Ducks and the Ohio State Buckeyes. But, we did catch a fun performance of the Portland Christmas Revels, a couple of great parties, and more music events.

I also came across some of the Christmas books that I used to read to the kids when they were little.  So many favorites, but the ones that stand out are: The Polar Express, The Mitten, and the timeless, Night Before Christmas.  Our sweet Kannie Cat (named by Aunt Barb), likes to be wherever I am-she was named for the Neahkahnie Beach, on the Oregon Coast.  She was a stray and living off the land in our beach home's yard before we could catch her and bring her to her new home about 6 years ago.  She now lives a life of steady meals and comfy chairs.