Christmas, like most things in life, is what you make it. Our Christmas Day was wonderful! A day that, even more than on regular days, was devoted to family togetherness and love.
Christmas morning, a cozy cabin, lamp, tree and candlelight! (Photo: Mark Zeiger.)
We were mostly alone, but a few neighbors did stop by, briefly.
On Christmas Eve, as we sat down to dinner, we heard roars echoing against the beach rocks. A sea lion or two were having some sort of celebration or disagreement in the dark. On Christmas day, a sea lion loitered off our beach, seeming to watch the house and our movements around the grounds.
The next morning, we found moose tracks in the yard, deep imprints in the light snow that started Christmas Eve and persisted through the day. Luckily, we’d seen them in the area earlier this week, and had refreshed the strips of dryer sheets on the cherry tree and lilac bushes. They browsed our currant bushes, and snacked on the kale that remains in the garden instead.
In another life, when I worked in radio, I often ended up working on Christmas day. My preferred music format wasn’t a big one for Christmas music, and inevitably I had to take a few calls from listeners who grew impatient. A common complaint: “It’s after noon on Christmas Day—why are you still playing Christmas music?” If you sympathize with this attitude, I feel compelled to warn you that we celebrate Christmas until Twelfth Night. That means that this blog will continue to refer to Christmas for another two weeks. If you’re interested in the day-to-day of our homestead, that’s what we’re doing these days! Just so you know . . . .