at long last, a white christmas

... and I can't wait for it to melt so that I can go out and see the horses again. Breakfast eaten, stockings opened, wrapping paper torn and living-room cleaned, I took a bag of carrots out to the barn and wished all the horses a very merry Christmas. Although, to be honest, they were more interested in checking my pockets for more treats. They've all learned that I am the bearer of good things, and thus it never hurts to look. The savvy ones figure that if sniffing around doesn't garner more goodies, then being cute will. And alas, it usually does - when I'm with my favorites, I find myself surrounded by three pairs of pleading brown eyes and I'm sunk. And they are happy.

Christmas photos are a must. We all line up in some semblance of order and have our picture took. And retook. And tooken again, until our teeth hurt from smiling so much. But there is always one more camera and someone blinked the last go-round.

Our house is small, and it shows. With everyone home, plus my uncle, aunt and cousin over, the (rather cold) basement is total chaos - sleeping bags, extra blankets, more quilts, books, suitcases and another pile of blankets in the corner. Rachel is sleeping directly in a draft from the back door, thus the extra pile.

But hey, Christmas was yesterday. Who says that Christmas has to be neat and orderly?