Happy New Year

It's a sad fact but true:  long gone are the days we could get away with celebrating New Year's Eve on East Coast time (i.e. 9pm for us).  *sigh*  No, the boys are wise to that.  So we "old folks" have to put our big girl panties on and stay up until midnight ;D  Good thing we had some friends to spend it with.  

But let me tell you, I was all too glad to head up to my cozy bed when the party wound down :D

We're having beautiful, cooooold, clear weather.

Even though morning doesn't come very early (short hours of daylight),

it sure is bright!

Our poor Christmas tree (which the boys - in their best Monty Python voices - dubbed "a shrubbery") was dry as a tumbleweed and I was quite relieved to get it moved outside.  I packed up all our Christmas decorations and the boys helped haul the tubs out to the garage.

It's winter outside - frost on the ground, and snow on all the hills,

and wintery inside the house, too...

but not so bitterly cold!

I've been busy sewing the last few days.

It's perfect weather to curl up with a hot cup of tea and hand-sew the binding.

A friend at church just had her second boy (woo-hoo!)

and I finished her quilt yesterday.

Hope she'll be in church tomorrow, so I can give it to her!

I'll post photos after I hand it off, though it's unlikely she'd see it here.

Kerry and the boys drove up to Mt. Baker and went snow-shoeing today (poor-man's skiing).

I was tempted to go and hang out in the lodge while they hiked around

but thought I'd rather enjoy a quiet house,

and start planning the next quilt.

Two more friends are expecting, this month and next.

Of course, the boys are fervently hoping for snow here,

and I wouldn't mind it myself -

I love the brightness it brings to this dark time of year.

My sweet, kind neighbor fell and broke her hip on Christmas Eve.

Isn't that just rotten?

It's especially awful because she's already had the other one replaced and had to have it re-done twice,

because her femur started cracking apart.

She has lots of good supportive family, so she's not in this alone,

but she's such a fixture in the neighborhood, a true friend -

always baking something to share,

or bringing us things from her garden,

or inviting me in for a cup of tea...

it just breaks my heart that she was in the hospital for Christmas,

and has to go through the whole hip-rehab thing again.

The last I heard is that she'll be coming home on Monday,

and we're looking for ways we can help.

Of course we're praying for her,

and if you would, I know she'd appreciate it.

Her name is Chickie :D

And now it's getting late.

I've washed my sheets and need to re-make the bed.

A tedious task,

but oh how I love fresh sheets!

I hope you're having a Happy New Year.

A fresh start is always a good thing,

don't you think?

And maybe, just maybe, it will snow...