The Holiday Season of 2022 has come to a close and we have enjoyed our quiet, laid back, and simple holiday. We tried our best to maintain our family traditions - the little things that make the holidays special to us - gingerbread house making, neighborhood lights viewing and thank you notes giving, cookie baking, holiday gathering with Mr. Ben and Mrs. MaryAnn. Those are the sweet and simple things that anchor us. December has been a challenging month here but the moments below help make up for the hard days. We are very grateful for family, friends, and tradition.
As always we spent Thanksgiving in West Virginia where we had beautiful weather! Being outside in the WV hills is one of our favorite places to be!
Papaw was gracious enough to help us with some work that needed to be done on our car but to get our car in the garage he had to pull out this gem - a mail truck from the 1940s. So cool!
Two peas in a pod. Cable TV is a foreign concept to Luke - so many channels!
The father - son mechanic duo!
We never miss a WV campfire! We got to see the whole family this time and we loved spending time with each other.
I mentioned in a previous post that Luke had a bike mishap and bent the frame of the bike. Instead of buying a new bike L ordered some replacement parts and these two (+ YouTube) began a bike fixing project. Such a cool experience for both of them!
And they were successful! Luke's bike works like new and he had a hand in making it so.
As always, Jasper spends his Thanksgiving with Ima and Sheshy at the beach living his best dog life! So much JOY running free along the coast. Thank you Mom and Dad for being the best!
I hurried to get my phone to capture this candidness. Ha! L bought some patches to patch up a few pairs of his field pants. The seriousness and focus involved in this project made me laugh out loud...not to mention the "completely necessary" headlamp. I can't with this guy!!! Love
Two of my favorite 13 year old boys decorated our Christmas cookies this year! Job well done.
One of our favorite gifts from Granny and Papaw is a gingerbread house kit. This year Granny thought very highly of our architectural and building skills and the houses were not preassembled. Her expectations were not met! HA! Our houses fell apart within seconds but it was hilarious and didn't deter us from decorating and eating our hearts out.
It got down to single digits here! Brrrrr! But also Yayyyyyy! L and I got to break out these gems. Duck boots AND overalls?!?! I love it so much! I am in cold weather heaven!
Christmas morning. Always such a special time; quiet, calm, serene. Sparkling grape juice and monkey cake. A slow morning with smiling faces and grateful hearts.
These two. Both of them love a stocking! Luke investigating some fishing lures he got in his stocking.
A new game. I think it is called "sling puck". A simple concept that has us playing daily and yelling at each other. :-) L is really good - it is kind of precision based so it's not surprising he is the family champion. Luke and I have vowed to practice.
The day after Christmas we headed north to visit with these two love bugs! They are the greatest and we had the best day with Evelyn and Mia (and Daney, James, Ima, and Shesh).
Luke helping Evelyn with her Lego creation. Mia is an excellent assistant.
Books with Sheshy
Gifts galore
Shesh gifted Luke his old fishing vest and every pocket had a fishing treasure in it..from bait to "vintage" reels. Such a cool and special gift! Luke has it hanging out in his fishing nook in the garage and has enjoyed going through all of his new gear.
Books with Ima
Perhaps my favorite sister tradition...Daney expertly plays Good King Wenceslas on the piano while I sing all 5 verses. She tried to skip a verse this year but luckily I picked up on it and we got to do verse 4 again. Ha! My singing is not great (understatement) but her playing is and she graciously humors me each year.
It warmed up enough for us to head out to the greenway for an afternoon walk where Luke and Evelyn "ice skated" on frozen puddles and creeks.
As today marks the end of 2022 we will take some time to look back on the year we had and we will take some time to talk about the year to come but more than anything we will be thankful for TODAY. We hope today and everyday brings you moments of joy, love, peace, and gratitude. From our family to yours...
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
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