Oh the Weather Outside is Frightful!

So I am sitting in my basement right now unbelievably grateful for my house and heat!  It is all of about 3 degrees at present with an expected plummet to -6 by morning.  O my word is it cold!  You would never guess that just yesterday I went running outside in a racerback tee and capri running pants.  Lordy.  It shouldn't surprise me so much after, all we do live in Colorado, but goodness!  We even have about 4 inches of fresh snow coating the ground.  Outside really is a winter wonderland even if it is treacherous driving!

The Merry season is upon us and the snowfall today just makes me smile, Christmas is coming.  Sure its hectic and busy, but I just love this time of year.  Our tree has been up since before Thanksgiving (yeah, we're that family), and our stockings have been hung on our hearth with care.  My freezer is stocked with all things cranberry and pumpkin and there is a cinnamon scented Scentsy in my living room.  My home dances with lights and coziness, ahhhh, I love it.


We just finished our supper group last night with our friends from church.  We did an ornament exchange and gathered together for a picture.  I love holidays, it brings everyone together.

Evie has discovered how wonderfully entertaining hanging beneath the Christmas tree can be.  With all the multi colored lights and ornaments she stays in a state of wonder for a good long while.  Lily is simply in awe with all of the ornaments and has made it her mission to take off and show Evie all of them.  I know when Lily has been doing show and tell because the ornaments get put back on the tree in the same spot.  So there is a line of 3 to 5 ornaments back to back weighing down one wee branch of our tree.  How cute is that?

I had this brief sorrowful moment today recognizing that one year ago this coming weekend was the last time I saw my Grandma Fran.  Don't know why it hit me, but I let the memory wash over me; that memory of her hug as she left for Arizona.  Something small told me it might be my last earthly hug so I made sure it counted.  I miss her.  One year without her has been long, thank heavens in the grand scheme of eternity its nothing.

Although much has happened in the past year to bring tears to my eyes, this holiday season I am joyful.  But with little girls like this under my tree, how could I not be?

Thanksgiving of Change

Thanksgiving this year can definitely be summed up in a great big bittersweet weekend.  Bob and I took the girls out to Chicago to spend the time with Gramma Jill and Grampa Steve and the entire Iowa Family.  We had a wonderful opportunity to spend a few precious hours with Bob's Aunt Debbie and Uncle John right when we arrived.  Lily and Aunt Debbie made a little rocking horse ornament and we had a wonderful time catching up and letting them meet little Evie!

Now that Grandpa Vern is gone, things across the Mississippi are beginning to look a little bit different and the winds of change could be felt strongly.

Grandma Joyce has decided to move out and on from the farmhouse on top of the Farmersbug hill and into a smaller more manageable condo in the next town over.  It is a perfect space for her and this new chapter of her life, but it was all too clear that this year was going to mark the last time that we were going to have Thanksgiving on the farm.  It was ever clear when we arrived at the farmhouse to find it emptied of all but a few left over items and a few beds.  My did it look different.  Even to me who has only known it for 10 years.  Life has changed.  There were tears shed and a few sorrowful moments spent in the reality that this really was going to be a time of goodbye.  Grandma and Grandpa raised 5 kids there, saw their grandkids grow up inside of the walls and got to see their great grandbabies cross over its hearth.  The house, the space, the coziness will be missed.

We were able to fully enjoy our time inside of its walls and relished the opportunity to have one final Thanksgiving at its table.  I was able to make Grandma Fran's famous Dutch Apple Pie and we all thoroughly enjoyed eating and snuggling babies!

While it was hard to say our goodbyes, it was awesome to say hello to Grandma's new space.  What a FANTASTIC place for her.  I walked through her new front door and instantly felt that I was home.

I think its because Grandma Joyce carries all the love of a Mother, Grandmother and Great Grandma wherever she goes that it felt so cozy and warm.  Between running through our new stomping grounds in Monona and enjoying the much needed downtime (I read and entire book cover to cover!) we had a wonderful trip.   Starting a new chapter in life can be hard and scary, but as we headed down Grandpas bumpy road for the last time I truly could feel nothing less than hopeful.  God is good and the future out here in Iowa?  .....its very bright.