Christmas 2022: December 23

I have decided that I will go ahead and write about this past  Christmas - while James' passing was incredibly sad for us, we did have many moments of joy. If you don't care to read about it, just come back in a few days and the blog will be back to usual.

December 23 - time was moving slowly and quickly at the same time. Lisa was on the phone a lot with James' extended family in Washington state sharing information, answering questions, and doing the million tasks that happen when someone dies.

The winter storm was right on top of us and it was so cold outside!

 

The air temperature was -11, the wind chill was -38, and that curtailed any plans we had had to go to the barn, ice skating, or sledding. It was simply too cold to be outside.

 

Plus, we had six dogs in the house, and while they were very well behaved, they still took up space and liked to romp with each other. (They were also very good to cuddle up to when you wanted a nap.)

Gus is obsessed with balls and we always end up having to hide them from him after an hour or so of play. After everyone went home, I was still finding hidden balls around the house!

Titan and Blue enjoying being together on the couch.

Here Pepper is staking a claim on Craig, telling Rhett (snoozing under his arm) that he is HER dad, not his.

So we stayed inside and played games in the kitchen and in the dining room (I had a really good Skyjo round!),

we wrapped the gifts that were in the spa tub and then began filling it up with food for Christmas dinner,

and we began loading up the counters with snacks and sides for lunch and dinner.

Despite using paper cups and plates most of the time, the dishwasher ran constantly while the dish drainer was always full of freshly washed dishes.

Our garage doubled as a place to put food since the fridge and spa tub were full (even when the temps get very low outside, rarely does the temperature drop below freezing in our garage.)

The garage almost got to the "no room at the inn" point, but we made it through.

Lisa was hanging in there, and while at times she went back to our bedroom for some solitude, we were glad that she was with her family.