Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Happy Holidays 2013

Another Christmas is upon us! As I get older I find that this holiday tends to sneak up on me each year. When we are children we are intimately aware of when Santa is coming to town. Reponsibilities, jobs and just life-in-general divert our attention to other "more important" things as we grow into adulthood. Around here, the horses and dogs still need feeding; firewood still needs splitting; solar modules need to have the snow cleared off them; fences need mending; driveways need plowing; etc. etc. etc.
It's good to take a day or two and put things back into perspective. The Christmas holiday gives us a chance to take a breath and appreciate the important things.
I am so lucky to have an awesome, healthy son, a beautiful daughter-in-law and two amazing grand daughters, all living in Alberta. Carol's two wonderful kids are both happy and healthy and doing well in Ontario. It is difficult being apart from them at this "family" time of year but we think about them often and love them always. If we had a wish, it would be that they could all come and share a Christmas with us. Until then I guess we will have to make do with texting, Facebook, email and Skype!
The short days mean that we don't make much power, even on sunny days, so we end up running the generator quite regularly to keep the batteries charged up. All systems in the house are working great, though. It's nice to see our planning paying off. We have the house decorated for the holidays and it makes everything seem so warm and friendly. We are very lucky!
A first for us this year is that we will be joining our friends (and neighbours) Brian and Louise, for Christmas dinner on the 25th! Brian has recently had back surgery and is recovering nicely. He had been waiting for a while for the operation so we're optimistic it will make him much more comfortable in the future.
The logging company has recently been up burning all the enormous slash piles in the Crown Land they logged off last summer. It was very creepy when we drove home last night. The entire landscape along the bottom of our driveway was on fire or smouldering. Even from our house, you could see the trees starkly silhouetted against the orange flames and embers of the burning piles! It was all very un-Christmaslike!
I find I'm rambling a bit so I'll take the opportunity to end here.
Carol and I want to wish all of our friends and family, a Very Merry Christmas and the Happiest New Year! We'll post up a few pictures over the holidays.

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