Christmas 2009

Christmas 2009 was another wonderful Christmas. We missed my younger sister Erin coming this year but she was in good hands with her boyfriend DJ. They went to New Orleans to visit his family. They had spent Thanksgiving with us, so I guess it is only fair to share her with others on Christmas. ;)

My parents came on Christmas day. John (Ians dad) and Christi (Johns wife) came on Christmas day. So it was a small gathering but having just the few made it more intimate and we were able to visit each other better. It seems sometimes the bigger the gathering the less time I am able to give to everyone to talk and visit. So this was actually just right and very nice.

John and Cristi brought their pups...I say pups, but well, you will see. ;) Darby, Johns dog, is an Irish Wolfhound and Cristis new puppy, five months old, is a deerhound. Her name is Cassie. My Mama, she loves Darby. She saw him when he was much smaller and was amazed at how large he is now. She wants one of those big dogs, but I don't know if Daddy would be able to stand it. They have the 'grand dog', our dog Tip, and right now that seems to be enough. They even keep her when Ian, Shelby and I go somewhere that is overnight or longer. She always comes with us when we go to visit. She is like a grandchild they can spoil and then give her back. ;)

So we had a very nice Christmas dinner and even though it was cold John and Cristi managed to see a little bit of the llamas, a glimpse of the pigs, chickens and so on. I think my Daddy was a big taken aback at the screened in porch arrangements. I do have many small chickens in cages in there stacked up. I made sure there was no smell though. Everyone was cleaned out the day before Christmas and it just smelled like pine shavings. It was very clean and orderly. I sometimes worry what everyone thinks, but Ian says...and its true, Ian says, we don't live like other folks, and thats whey we moved out to the country. We like the way we live, with our animals and our country life, and thats just fine. I agree, we have to be comfortable with ourselves and live like we love to live, and we do.

John and Cristi had to get back home that evening to the other dogs to let them out and feed them. As the evening wound down I was getting pretty sleepy and Ian was asleep by around 9 pm, and I was not far behind him. My parents spent the night with us, and I left them with the tv controller and was asleep not long after. Isnt it pitiful? Ian and I both sacked out before my parents. Whats this world coming to? LOL!

The next morning I cooked a nice breakfast for us all. Once it warmed up a bit, as warm as it could be this time of year, we went outside for a stroll around the back. The animals were all glad to see us and were very receptive. Daisy, one of our pot belly pigs, even let Mama pet her.

Here are some pictures from Christmas and the day after. We had a really nice Christmas!