christmas

Christmas morning

Christmas has come and gone for another year.  We had a very enjoyable Christmas Eve and Day with family.  Our church's Christmas Eve service was so beautiful and well attended with about 600 people there.  The weather was perfect - mild (8C) and clear.

Christmas Day's weather was sunny and mild again (10C).  We had a green and white Christmas as you can see by the photo above.  The rain and fog ate most of the snow away before the big day so it was perfect for travelling.  Our son and his wife joined us at church for Christmas Eve then came to our house for a delicious meal.

Christmas morning shenanigans.  :)

Mark and Jenn came up for breakfast on Christmas morning before we opened our gifts.  We are not sports fans at all and may only watch hockey during the Stanley Cup Playoffs in the late winter if our team is winning.  Our team isn't Montreal Canadiens though. (it would be Toronto or Boston) But, it is our son and daughter-in-law's team so they thought Murray should have a Montreal Canadiens toque for the winter.  :-)  We enjoyed a Skype visit with our daughter and her family in Alberta while they ate their breakfast and the boys showed us their new super hero costumes.  They are so cute!!

Murray and I went to Hampton to his sister and brother-in-law's for dinner.  The drive was beautiful.  

The farther we drove along the highway the less snow there was.

Saint John - the port city.

Kayaking on the Kennebacasis River in Hampton on Christmas Day.  This would normally have ice in it and snow all around.  We also noticed walkers, runners and people on motorcycles along our way that day.

We had a great visit and dinner there and drove home in the dark.  When we got home the Full Cold Christmas Moon was up so I took a photo of it.  There was a skim of cloud over it for a while.

On Boxing Day we had a quiet day and visited good friends of ours for the evening.  When we got home I suddenly wasn't feeling great and next thing I knew I had the flu!  I was up and down most of the night and slept all day Sunday!  My side of the family was to gather at my niece's in Sussex but we decided to cancel due to the snow storm that was predicted on Sunday and in the end, my being sick would have prevented me from going anyway.  So disappointing!  I am feeling much better today (Monday) and have had a banana and toast.  Oh...we did get a snowstorm.  We got about 20 cm. of snow!!  And we have another storm coming tomorrow with another 20 cm. of snow!

One thing - snow we can deal with.  When I see on the news of the terrible destruction from tornadoes in the US my heart breaks for those who have suffered loss of life, home and possessions.  Such a tragedy!

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and holiday.  Soon it will be a new year to start fresh and I wish you all a year of blessings, peace, joy, good health, and special moments.

I'm looking forward to trying these out soon!  A gift from Murray.

Thanks for visiting and I hope you enjoy the rest of the holidays.

Be safe.

Blessings,

Pam

It's Christmas!

Just a few pics of our Christmas decor to share today before I take a break for the holiday.  

Some pics from other years.

Have a very Merry Christmas everyone!  

Enjoy the blessings of the season as we celebrate the birth

of Jesus and have a wonderful time with family and friends.

I'll be back next week.

Blessings to you!

Pam

encapsulated

After the ice storm on Tuesday this week we woke to a beautiful sparkling winter wonderland.  This photo is from our living room window just as the sun was rising.  The sun peeked between the horizon and a leftover cloud bank so it was a beautiful peek at the icy trees.  Once the cloud moved off we had blue skies all morning before more clouds rolled in.  I decided I'd better get out and take some photos.  Pour yourself a hot beverage as these photos may leave you feeling rather chilly.  :)  Enjoy.

Looking down the road into the bright sunlight....which was quite blinding.

As you can see by the above photo, everything was 'encapsulated' with ice....every stick, leaf, weed, grass, tree, limb, and rock.  It was amazing to see.

Bejewelled.

Deer tracks in the lane.

Leftover maple seeds.

Deer tracks in our yard.

pine branch

The Barberry shrub was the most beautiful with it's dark branches and thorns encapsulated.

All that ice caused a lot of power outages.  Some were without for 2 days or more.  We were fine until Wednesday afternoon about 12:50 when it went out.  My friend, Lois, was to come for tea and a visit and she did, even though I said we'll have water and cookies.  :)  Thankfully Murray was home and he started the generator to boil a kettle of water for us....so we had tea after all.  It was getting chilly by 4:00 so Lois left and the power came back on at 4:30 just in time for supper.

Yesterday the ice started melting and falling off the trees etc. with the milder temperatures.  It is 2C today and foggy after a night of rain showers.  We still have snow/ice on the ground...the driveways and walks are going to freeze and be very slippery as it will be a much colder weekend.  I'm not sure if it will be a green or white Christmas here.  If it doesn't warm up too much it will be white.

How about you?  Will you have a green or white Christmas?

Can you believe Christmas is just a week from today??

We have our Christmas music night on Sunday evening which will be amazing with all the talent in our church.  It is the highlight of the Christmas season for us.

I hope to come back with one more post next week but if you can't be around visiting then I wish you and yours a very blessed Christmas.  Enjoy those special moments with family and friends. Be safe travelling.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL!

Blessings,

Pam

baby it's icy outside

Good icy morning everyone.  Well, that's what it looks like in our world this Tuesday morning.  Yesterday we had a bit of snow followed by ice pellets for a few hours then overnight it was freezing rain and still is this morning.

This is what it looked like here on Sunday afternoon - no snow.  And that is a Christmas tree going home on that trailer from a nearby tree farm.

The hydrangea bush.

There are power outages but so far we are good.  The trees are so heavy with ice so I expect we will lose ours before the day is out.

The maple trees out by the road.  The branches are bending low over the driveway.

We had a good weekend.  Murray went to Houlton without me as there wasn't room and he didn't take our car.  So....I called my bestie, Lois, and we went to the 2 markets in Fredericton where I had some successful shopping.  It was a beautiful sunny day and 12C and we even ate our chicken souvlaki at a picnic table outside.  I've never done that in December before!  

The little birdies are out feeding at the ice covered bird feeders hanging on the ice encrusted clothesline.

The weather network is saying we could get 15 - 20 cm. of snow this afternoon!  Yikes.  With the northeast wind, the ice on the trees, then heavy snow, it will be pretty bad.  I'm glad we have a generator should the power go out.

I made this photo on pic monkey yesterday just for fun.  The scene is our backyard and of course the snowman and critters are added.  I even added garland on the fence and a wreath on the tree.

I hope you aren't enduring any bad weather today.  If so, be safe.  Thank you for visiting and commenting.  It's a busy time of year so I appreciate any who can stop by during a 'lull' in all the busyness. I'm trying to visit around as well.  Take Care. 

Have a wonderful week and enjoy the excitement and blessings of the season!

Blessings,

Pam

when push comes to shove

Hi everyone, how is your week going?  Can you believe that Christmas Eve is only 2 weeks from tomorrow?  And guess what?  I'm almost ready.  Last night I put the push on to wrap and package two parcels that had to be mailed today.  And this morning, I did all my Christmas cards that had to be mailed.  I guess when push comes to shove I'm right there.  LOL  

I went to the post office and mailed the whole lot this morning so they should reach their destinations before Christmas.  

This afternoon I started paring down some of the 'stuff' I have in our house.  Oh my.  I just got the spare bed cleared of Christmas gifts and now it's loaded with boxes of things for the thrift store.  I want it gone this week before I change my mind.  :-)  I know January is usually the time to do this job but I'm getting a head start.  (more pushing and shoving here!)  It sure feels good!

I've been to town shopping on Monday and Tuesday....the latter being 6 hours long!  Monday was the day I went to my friend Kathy's for tea along with 3 other friends, after I'd been shopping and to a doctor's appointment - where I waited a good 90 minutes.  I was so tired and hungry by the time I got to Kathy's but, we had a wonderful time chatting and laughing and, of course, eating sweets and drinking Christmas flavoured tea.  Sweet fellowship. 

The weather the past few days has been really nice - sunny and above freezing temperatures.  Just look at last night's sunset.  It was gorgeous.  Today was cloudy all day and there is rain coming later tomorrow.  Great days for getting out and shopping etc with no snow or slippery roads to worry about.

We are off to Houlton, Maine on Saturday (yes, I'm going this time) as Murray is playing for The LaPointes at Country Road Baptist Church.  If you're in the area come on out for an evening of beautiful music.  The next concert is at our own Sunset Church on the 20th at 6:00 with our Christmas Music Night featuring our choir (including moi) and talented singers and musicians, along with The LaPointes.  Then we can relax and enjoy Christmas.  :-)

How are your Christmas preparations coming along?  Getting any closer to being done?  I still have to shop for our son and his wife who "don't want anything" unless it's something that will "support local business" (not 'big box' stores!) so I'm going to have fun finding something for them.  I totally agree with what they want and will do my best.  I just need to get to town again and maybe the market.  Any suggestions?

Well I must get going and post this.  I'm slowly getting around to visiting you.  Thank you for visiting me and commenting.

Have a super rest of the week and weekend!

Blessings,

Pam