At Home in Wyoming

Decking The Halls

Due to icy roads and blowing snow between Cody and Laramie, I don't often get to spend Christmas with my sister.  Consequently, we seldom get to see each others Christmas decorations, or tree.  So pardon me while I use this post to send a few photos to my sister of this year's attempt at 'decking the halls'.  

If you are into this kind of thing, take a peep.  For the rest of you that want more pictures of Wyoming...a photo of buffalo in the wild will be winging your way tomorrow!   DLB

The Christmas tree in the parlor...

Santa and the clock in our bedroom...

 

Christmas village perched on top of the piano in the library...

Nativity on top of the parlor fireplace...

This rather blurry picture is of the Old Santa propped up at the base of our tree.  Every year when I get him out, I hear hoots of derision from my family...but I think that he is so ugly he is cute!
 
  

And on Earth, Peace

"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." (Luke 2:14)

From our house to yours...Merry Christmas!   DLB 

    

 

Ho! Ho! Ho!

I have been too busy wrapping gifts and making a last minute list to accomplish tomorrow to think of anything to say, so I will leave you with this picture of part of my Christmas village perched on top of the piano...Ho! Ho! Ho!   DLB 

The Christmas Club

Speaking of Christmas (yep, I was...a few blogs back) my garage sale loot from last week included some free little Christmas trees and a 25 cent basket.  What riches!

A week or so ago I blogged about starting NOW to prepare for Christmas.  The reason that I am thinking about Christmas when it is 90 degrees outside is that I want to enjoy the time with friends and family without being frazzled to the point of a meltdown...and I want the Christmas season to be a spiritually rich time where God is my focus, and not my 'to do' list. 

My sister and I were drinking coffee and discussing this over the phone last week, and we decided to start a Christmas Club.  Knowing that we both have good intentions but tend to get a little sidetracked, we decided that we would each make weekly goals on Christmas preparations, and tell each other what those goals are.  Then we would call each other the following Monday to make sure that we followed through.  In other words, we are making each other accountable!

We both went out and got a special little notebook, and made the following headings:  Christmas and Thanksgiving Menu, Christmas and Thanksgiving Grocery List, Christmas Gift List, Christmas Card List and a To Do list. 

Each week we make goals.  Last week my goal was to buy one  present, scout out another present, and make a tentative menu for Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  This week I am going to make a Christmas grocery list, get a laundry basket and put it in my pantry.  As I do my weekly grocery shopping, I can start getting that can of pumpkin for pumpkin pie, or the pudding for my husband's favorite coconut creme pie, and throw it in the basket.  Hopefully this will prevent those last minute trips to Walmart looking for things like poultry seasoning!  Another goal for this week was to set up a wrapping center...making sure I have enough Christmas wrapping paper, tape, tags, etc. I also want to check out the Susan Branch books from the library for any new holiday recipes I might want to try. 

Our goal (hope) is to be done with Christmas preparations by Veteran's Day.  Time will tell if we do this, but being accountable to someone does help keep me on track.  I am going to do the shopping and wrapping anyway, so I may as well do it a little at a time...while I have the time.  This way I will actually be able to focus on Jesus at the Christmas Eve service, instead of praying that Walmart will be open when the service is over...because I forgot to buy batteries for the camera!

Would a Christmas Club work for you?  Grab a friend and start planning...the only thing you have to lose is that panicky feeling come December when your pantry is bare, you missed the Post Office deadline for mailing packages out of state...and you know you have got to go out in the cold and ice to brave the crowds of cranky people at Walmart!  DLB

Ho! Ho! Ho!

 I didn't get the masses of blooms off of my rose bush this year that I did last year, so divided up the few that I did get into tiny vases and tucked them here and there around the house.  Not as dramatic as a big bouquet, but still quite cheery...

I was talking with my sister on the phone a few days ago, and she mentioned that she had already started her Christmas shopping.  I dimly remembered that last year we had decided to start our shopping 6 months before December (making us already a month late!) but it is hard to get into the mood when the birds are singing outside and the garden is finally just starting to cough up produce.

BUT...I have had two kinds of Christmases.  One is the Christmas where I wait until the last minute, scramble to get the presents bought  (some mailed out of state), the groceries brought in, house decorated, presents wrapped, cards sent and ended up cross, tired and weepy.  I have also had Christmases (not many) where I prepared early, had all the presents bought and wrapped by Halloween, the pantry stocked before Thanksgiving, and I was able to focus on the miracle of the nativity and enjoy the fellowship of family and friends. I definately preferred the latter type of Christmas...much less exhausting, so I am going to follow my sister's lead and get cracking on Christmas!

I have been doing a lot of reading this summer, and I found that the pioneer woman prepared early for Christmas too.  Most of their gifts were handmade, so waiting until the last minute was not an option.  They also began to prepare during harvest for the Christmas season...canning things, making preserves and tucking away spices for gifts.  I think of them now, and when I am cutting lemon slices for my ice tea, I cut a few and dry them for my homemade potpourri.  I am also gathering every flower petal I can find, to dry and add to the mixture.  I won't be making fruit cakes or hard pudding like the pioneer women, but this is a good time to enlarge photos at the machine in Walmart, and look around for some picture frames that don't cost the earth.  Once you get into it, Christmas preparation in the latter days of summer can be fun and creative because you still have time to think. 

And come Christmas, when the stores are packed and everyone else is singing the song that all they want for Christmas is not to have to make ANOTHER trip to Walmart, you will be tucked in at home...drinking hot lemon tea, listening to a Bing Crosby CD and watching the snowflakes drift past your window.  You will have time to go to every church service and concert...read your Bible...and marvel anew at the mercy and love of God...who sent his Son for our Saviour.  DLB

 

 

 

A Heartfelt Thanks

The road to church...you can see a glimpse of the log church on the right of this picture.

I was listening to the message in church yesterday when it struck me that in many countries this would be an unimaginable right...to congregate, pray and worship God without fear of reprisal from the government.  I was ashamed at how often I take this right, this privilege, for granted.

As I type this, there are soldiers laying their lives on the line to guarantee that I have the right to attend the church of my choosing.  Cemeteries across the country are filled with men and women that died to keep this country, and our lives, free.

On this Memorial Day, please let us remember that freedom isn't free, and be grateful to all of those...past and present...that have paid the price to keep America the land of the free and the home of the brave.  To them I offer my heartfelt thanks.

Happy Memorial Day...DLB

Hopping Along the Bunny Trail!

I finally got a bloom out of one of the daffodil plants that I bought at Walmart last week...a cheery sight on a snowy day!

I wanted to share with you one of my family's Easter traditions that has brought a lot of joy, a lot of laughs, and a lot of good pictures over the years...and that is the tradition of the Bunny Trail!

Ever since my son was young (again, a long time ago) I made up Easter baskets for him, and whoever happened to be visiting at the time.  Easter morning would arrive, but instead of an Easter basket there would be a carrot, lying on the floor.  We said that the Easter bunny hid the baskets, and the way to find them was to follow the carrots along the bunny trail.

If the children living or visiting Easter morning were young, we would hide the baskets somewhere in the house, and they would follow the carrots that would lead them to their baskets.  As the children got older, or if I had the grandparents visiting, I would hide the baskets out in the yard.  I would make the trail winding...going out the front door, twisting around the side of the house to the back yard.  I used a lot of carrots!  Sometimes I even hid them at the neighbor's house, and they would follow the trail down the block and through the alley!  Kids, and grownups, love a hunt!

The bunny trail became a family tradition, and I still enjoy getting out the photo albums and seeing the excitement on the faces of family members, young and old alike.  One of my favorite pictures is of my father-in-law holding the basket that he had just fished out of the bushes, with my mother-in-law in her long flannel nightgown trying to grab it.  My father-in-law recently passed away...so these memories are very precious to us.  I have another picture of my old golden retriever Gus who, unbeknownst to me, had gathered up all of the carrots that I had so carefully planted around the yard. Instead of a bunny trail that Easter, we had a guilty looking dog with a carrot in his mouth, sitting amidst a pile of carrots! 

Family memories.  Made from simple things really, but oh, so priceless.  Whatever your family traditions are this Easter, practice them and hold them tight.  Memories that will warm your heart in later years are being made right now, today!  DLB

 

Get Those Peeps Now!

I have lived in Cody, Wyoming for many years.  While most things are Western and therefore unpredictable, there are two things about Cody that I know for sure.  One is that the wind is going to blow...usually when you least want it to.  The other is that by Easter Eve there won't be a Peep to be found in this town.

Do you know what Peeps are?  They are the little yellow chick looking sugar coated marshmallow treats, that without which no self respecting Easter basket would be complete!  The aisles are full of them right now at Walmart, Kmart, the Dollar Stores...but mark my word, come Easter Eve NOTHING!  I cannot count the Easters that I have braved crowds of last minute shoppers the night before Easter, searching for Peeps for my nephew John, my son, my daughter-in-law...only to be told that they are SOLD OUT!  This has been my Easter crisis for years!

So if you live in Cody, take note!  This Sunday is Palm Sunday folks, and Easter is just a week away.  So get on your mark, get set, go!  Get those Peeps while they're hot...or another Peepless Easter could  be in YOUR future.  Happy hunting!  DLB

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I am interrupting my thoughts on "Charting A New Course" (see previous post), in order to wish all of you a happy St. Patrick's Day!  

As far as I know, I don't have any Irish blood coursing through my veins, nor do I even know who St. Patrick was...but I am big on tradition.  And our tradition is to order corn beef and cabbage from a local deli (my tradition is not to cook) and a specially decorated cake (all good traditions involve a cake of some sort) and eat our supper off of trays watching "The Quiet Man" on DVD.

"The Quiet Man" is a movie about an American man (John Wayne...can't get more American than him!) pursuing an Irish woman (Maureen O'Hara) in Ireland.  It is a cheerful, lighthearted movie about Irish customs and people...we watch it every year and never get tired of it.

Even though it was in the upper 50's yesterday, it snowed last night and this morning...and I can't think of anything that I would rather do tonight then to curl up to a meal that I don't have to cook, and watch a movie that has become like an old friend.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!  DLB 

 

At George's House

 

In celebration of President's Day, I wanted to blog about my favorite President, George Washington.  While I have enormous respect for other Presidents of our great country, I feel more familiar with George Washington.  You see, I used to hang out at his house.

Many years ago, when I was in my 20's, I used to live in Alexandria Virginia, and Washington, DC.  Those weren't great years for me, and I often would escape the big city traffic, hustle and bustle and hide out at Mt. Vernon, George Washington's home.  I don't know what the cost of admission is these days, but back then it was cheap.  Armed with a backpack full of apples to munch on and good books, I would pay my admission ticket and spend the day at George's house.

There isn't anything that I don't like about Mt. Vernon.  I loved to tour the house...and look enviously at all the antiques.  I especially liked the sort of turquoise color of the large dining room, I could just imagine the entertaining and dances once held there.  I remember the key from Lafayette that hung in the entryway...and I remember how the back door from the entry hall opened to a view of the Potomac River.  What a lovely place to sit and catch the cool river breeze.

But my favorite thing about Mt. Vernon was the grounds.  In those days you could wander them at your leisure...the woods, the gardens, the outbuildings.  I would find a companionable tree and spend the day reading books and munching on apples...and I never went home without getting an ice cream cone at the gift shop.

Because I went so often, I kind of felt that I knew him.  I knew his love of home and family...of gardening and architecture and his sense of symmetry and order.  I think I would have liked him. You can tell a lot about a man from the home that he spent his life loving and caring for.

So, in honor of George Washington, I am enclosing a few quotes as we celebrate this great man.  DLB

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"It is impossible to rightly govern a nation without God and the Bible."

"The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained."

"If freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter."

"It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one."

"I hope that I shall always possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character on an Honest Man."

"I had rather be at Mt. Vernon with a friend or two about me, than to be attended at the seat of government by the officers of state and the representatives of every power in Europe."