We start the holiday month off on Tuesday, 04 DEC, by decorating
are artificial xmas tree; & setting out the many hand crafted xmas items
Corrie has made and/or decorated over the years.
As is probably true for most people, most of the month was spent
in what seems to be endless preparations for Christmas day. But we did celebrate our anniversary on Wednesday,
19DEC (37th & going strong!). Our anniversary
dinner was at Café Juanita in Kirkland; ranked in the top ten of Seattle
restaurants. Excellent but not sure
about top ten – definitely top 10 in price though!
Some of our preparations were assembling two of our gifts for
the grandkids. One was a standalone
swing that allows similar motion as a “rope swing” without having a suitable
tree. The other is a “ninja line”; but
for this one we needed to find two suitable trees?
Sunday early AM, 23DEC, because of “bad weather” on the ferry
run, & the expected xmas holiday ferry lines, we drove around Puget Sound
to the kids/grandkids house in Bremerton. Upon arrival we commenced some of our traditional
xmas family activities - making of xmas cookies w/grandkids; decorating ginger
bread men (w/opa’s help?); enjoying Grinch drink; etc.
Monday (Christmas eve) is spent making a
gingerbread house, jigsaw puzzles, preparing & enjoying an early xmas
dinner.
We had the xmas dinner early because on Tuesday morning (xmas) we
opened one set of presents here in Bremerton, & then everyone headed to our
house to open another set of presents.
After the last of the presents were opened it was outside to try out the swing & ninja line. The rest of the day was just relaxing; as Rebecca & Corrie prepared a delicious turkey & sausage gumbo from yesterday’s left overs, a big yule fire in the family fire pit, & the adults playing cribbage while grandkids played with their new toys.
Wednesday, 26DEC, was more cribbage, before Rebecca & Raymond
returned to their home & jobs; leaving the grandkids with us. Saturday back to the ferry terminal to return
grandkids to their parents.
A couple of other things accomplished during December were:
= we got a game camera to use around property; so far night
pictures of lots of deer, & family of four coyotes (2 adult, 2 juveniles).
= slowly working on garden shed extension – on three separate
days we build foundation footing forms, mix & pour concrete, & remove
forms. To be continued in the new year.
= contractor beginning fence installation. Why a fence?
Because of the dogs! Neither dog
is really trained; & as w/all Jack Russell terriers – if it moves, they
will chase it, maybe never to return! So
to make life easier for us, we are paying to install about 200 feet of cedar
fencing between the house & the shop/RV garage. 18DEC contractor starts post installation, 20DEC
completes post installation, 26-28DEC starts installing fence panels (almost done). To be continued in the new year.
= Dan finally gets to use his season pass twice at Stevens Pass
ski areaJ! To be continued in the new year.
To close out the month Seattle experiences numerous high wind
days (three times the normal number) causing lots of tree damage to the alder
trees on the property. And truly showing
our age, we did nothing to celebrate the arrival of the new year?
