Outside my window...

I've been otherwise occupied this week and found it nearly impossible to sit down and write.  But today we had our first snow....and since I was snapping pictures, I guess it's time to get back in the groove.  I LOVE the first snow of the season...love the view outside my windows...love the glittery snow-capped trees.  It's magical...at least for a few hours, until it all starts to melt and my piles of brown leaves start peeking through.

Through my bedroom window...

Through the kitchen window....

Out the back...

From the front... 

(notice Nick's orange hunting-gear on the porch looking like a beacon)

I guess that's a good segue into the other news of the day...

He is a proud murderer of one of these...

and I will soon have a freezer full of gamey meat to disguise in a gillion pots of chili. Emma and I are not lovers of Bambi meat....I gag everytime I pull a package out of the freezer, and have to quickly hide the evidence of the butcher paper so that she does not ask if I'm hiding deer somewhere.  The boys...manly as they are, prefer Bambi to be served up in multiple ways.  First choice would be beef jerky (aka Bambi-jerky), second would be bologna, third choice is sausage links (which are a very odd dark brown color and carry a strong gag-reflex-provoking scent when cooked) and lastly, the ground up version mixed w/REAL beef.  I am holding back vomit in my mouth as I type...

Dear Lord, you have such a sense of humor giving me these boys! 

(*DISCLAIMER:  I am truly trying to understand why it's not enough to shoot one deer per lifetime.  Seems to me that once you've done it, that should carry you through...but apparently that's not the case.  I guess it's the need to provide for their family...to be a hero...to bring home the bacon so the family can survive the harsh winter that provokes men to keep going back for more.  I'm starting to get it....but I'd be more excited if it were swine season.)

The Christmas season is upon us...again.  Did it really come 12 months after last Christmas???  Seems like we were just lugging a tree in the door and sweeping up needles.  I'm sure it was last week that we were fighting with the treestand, trying to convince it to keep the tree straight.  I love it when it's all done...but the process...it makes me feel a little Scroogey.  We were mighty close to buying a tree in a box this year.  I shopped all day while the kids were in school, looking for the best deal....I sent pictures from Target to Alex, hoping he would help me make a long-distance decision.  He laughed at me.

In the end, I just couldn't do it.  It was the price-tag dangling from the branches.  I thought I could be happy with the $99 deal at Target...until I went to Lowes and saw one for twice that that looked like the REAL DEAL.  I just couldn't make do with the nylon one when I saw the mother of all trees at the big L.  So we left it there, hoping it will wait for us til the after-Christmas Clearance Sale....and drug an already cut number home with us in the back of the FIT.....leaving a trail of dropping needles in our wake.  The kitty thanks us daily for bringing home a bright, shiny, ball-filled playtoy for her endless pleasure...

Emma sorting the piles of ornaments...putting Alex's aside til next week

Adding the tinsel

The Stable centerpiece...

The angel said, "Don't be afraid. I'm here to announce a great and joyful event that is meant for everybody, worldwide: A Savior has just been born in David's town, a Savior who is Messiah and Master. This is what you're to look for: a baby wrapped in a blanket and lying in a manger."

Luke 2:12