I managed to mess it up… Thankfully I didn’t burn the oats, or ruin the batch beyond edibility. I just created mush. That’s what happens when you don’t add quite enough oats for the amount of water you put in. Just sayin’.

Anyway, the whole time I was making that, I had this song stuck in my head. I can only suppose the word “ginger” in the above description caused my brain to connect it to this random song. I certainly haven’t seen or heard or thought of this in a long time!

Now I shall return to my oatmeal, after which I will probably work on some cough tea –  which also has ginger in it (though it doesn’t really taste like it).

Claire and Kyle caught up the couple of Angus calves that have been “free ranging” for the past couple of months! They were beginning to really roam, and were becoming a danger not only to themselves, but also to the surrounding community. They very nearly got run over several times! So, we’re glad they’re caught up, but, judging from the racket they’re still making, I don’t think they’re too happy about it.

Clarabelle finally calved last night!!! We’re really excited, and incredibly thankful that she calved before the storms hit.

Also, during the pretty major storms that came through last night, as far as we know, we sustained no damage! Praise the Lord! It’s been a great week!

When you have a portrait session, you end up with pictures like this.

You realize that your favorite group picture from said portrait session is this.

Nope, this was not the one chosen…

With ice on the roads, snow in the air, and me only wanting to curl up with a latte and good book or movie.

Only a couple days later it’s this:

Still a bit cool for my taste, but I ventured out without a coat to capture this scene. Though I still wanted to curl up with a latte and a good book…

I’ve been re-reading my Sherlock Holmes book. Frankly, the more I read it the less satisfied I am with the Robert Downey, Jr. movie. I’ve not yet seen the “Game of Shadows”, so that could very well change my opinion for the better. Don’t get me wrong, I still really, really liked the movie. I just don’t think RDJr was the best choice to play Sherlock. And I wish they had chosen one of the actual stories to do, instead of making something up and throwing in allusions, which were never completely satisfactorily explained in my opinion (the opening scene? Where’s the science behind that girl?), to black magic. Okay, that was NOT what I came on here to write about. Well, now you know, if you didn’t already, that I’m something of a Sherlock Holmes fan. Those stories are among my all-time favorites.

One of Mama’s stocking items was a bundle of dark chocolate bars. One night, shortly after Christmas, we did a blind taste test. The options were Ghirardelli, Godiva, Green and Black, and Lindt. The Ghirardelli won because it was the most truly chocolate-y of the bunch. The Lindt lost. Godiva got second, Green and Black third. Had I chosen, I probably would have put Godiva first. It was a very interesting chocolate, spice-y, nutty, and a tad bit fruity. I thought it was the most special chocolate-eating experience of them all. True, Ghirardelli was definitely the best if you’re going to pure chocolate. Green and Black would have lost had I been the judge. It was WAY too fruity for my taste.

We got a new piece of furniture! It’s a secretary from the Centerville Marketplace. It hides our TV and accessories quite nicely, I think. We’re all pleased with it.

And, if it wasn’t obvious already, my Lightroom free trial ran out yesterday. Someday maybe I’ll have a spare $100 waiting to be used. *uncontrollable laughter* Yeah, right. Oh, well. I’m saving for a new lens right now; maybe after that…

To sum up the gathering of randomness, here’s a Chesterton quote for you:

Don’t ever take a fence down until you know the reason it was put up.

February: Two new Jersey heifer calves! – Testing, testing, testing

March: Testing, testing, testing (including my fav. test: Environment and Humanity!) – Guests! – Ice Skating!

April: Enrolled at TESC – Took an ECE – Flood! - Started TESC course!

May: Study, study, study – Culminating in the final for my TESC course!

June: Swimming hole!!! – Susie calved (a 1/2 Dexter, rather to our surprise) – Passed the final!

July: We got a milk machine! – Confirmation letters arrived!

August: Pantry organization!

September: New camera and living room renovation begins! - Luke had swimming lessons! – Awesome surprise birthday! - Diplomas arrived!

October: Bell Buckle Craft Fair – Missionary Ridge in Granville, TN

November: Cheekwood! – Reformation celebration! – Living room renovation finished and a taffy pull! - Most sanity-helpful organization project EVER!

December: First “real” snow of the season - Followed by a week of temps in the 60s and 70s! – Christmas!

This year has been truly amazing. I cannot believe everything that’s gone on! These are just the highlights that I remembered from skimming though my blog; there were so many more amazing moments throughout the year that I didn’t record here. There are far too many to even mention! I am so blessed! I am so thankful to be where I am right now! Do you know that feeling of utter contentment? Well, this year I’ve felt that more than I ever have before, and it’s been … oh, my goodness, so wonderful! And guess what? You don’t have to read anything about college this coming year! Thank you all for supporting me with your prayers throughout that journey this year and last year. 2 years ago, I would have never guessed I would be a college graduate, being hounded on every side to take a look at Masters programs… Yeeeaaah, I don’t think so.  (TESC even said I wouldn’t have to pay the $75 application fee. Gee, thanks, guys. It wasn’t really the $75 I was worried about; more the $4000-$6000+ courses. That and the fact that I just don’t really want to do courses. Give me an option where I can test out 100%, and I might just consider it. Maybe.)

I’m terribly excited to see what 2012 will hold for me and my family. I know whatever it is it will be part of the amazing adventure that is my life, and yes, my life, no matter how boring or dull small parts seem to be at the time, is a truly amazing adventure. I love it! I am totally in awe of where God has brought me, personally, and my family, this year and the past years. Watching what He is doing with us is unbelievably awesome, exciting, and terrifying all at the same time. Like I said, it’s amazing.

Chocolate. Mint. Frozen. Perfection.

Yes!

One of our traditions is to make an ornament every year. This is this year’s ornament. We made them from old Christmas cards!

Lucky us, we got to have Christmas 3 times this year! We did Christmas in Dickson with Mama’s family on Friday. BTW, we’re still LOVING Bananagrams! Thank you, Aunt Carol!!!

Saturday morning we did stockings. This year Mama and Daddy’s stockings were the major ones!

Not sure if I’ve mentioned anything about our first plum pudding experience on this blog. Anyway, we made plum pudding by George Grant’s recipe in his book Christmas Spirit. It was a very interesting experience, and we’ve learned a bit more for when we try it again next year. Much to our surprise, it was actually pretty good! We’ve still got a good bit left, along with a bunch of other stuff, if any of y’all want to come over…

After witnessing TEN baptisms at church, we headed to Nashville for Christmas with Daddy’s side of the family. Grammy Evelyn always has such a beautiful tree!

Claire and Kyle played some of their songs, as well as some Christmas songs. They even did an impromptu performance of “Silent Night.”

My favorite kind of ornament ever! The beautiful, glass icicles!

Hope y’all had a great Christmas; we sure did!

I’ll start with one of my favorite G.K. Chesterton quotes:

Most sensible people say that adults cannot be expected to appreciate Christmas as much as children appreciate it. But I am not sure that even sensible people are always right; and this has been my principle reason for deciding to be silly – a decision that is now irrevocable. It may be because I am silly, but I rather think that, relatively to the rest of the year, I enjoy Christmas more than I did when I was a child. My faith demands that such be the case. The more mature I become the more I need to embrace the joys of the incarnation. The more mature I become, the more I need to be a child.

I love that.

Here’s a worldview section from the book that I also love (I apologize about the length. I tried to split it up and/or cut it off, but it was all just too good!):

Through the centuries, the traditions associated with Nicholas have proven to be an inducement to steer clear of the twin pitfalls and pratfalls of materialism and asceticism. In the midst of the whirling change of the modern world, we need those traditions more than ever. The efficacy of tradition to offer stability, continuity, and guidance is indubitable. Connections to the past are the only sure leads to the future. Thus the realm of the tradition is not just the concern of historians and social scientists. It is not the lonely domain of political prognosticators and ivory tower academics. It is the very stuff of life. And, in fact, it is the very stiff of faith. Indeed, the Bible put a heavy emphasis on historical awareness – not at all surprising considering the fact that the vast proportion of its own contents record the dealings of God with men and nations throughout the ages. …

Indeed, He believed that remembrance and forgetfulness were the measuring rods of faithfulness throughout the entire canon of Scripture – that is why the Bible makes it plain that there are only two kinds of people in the world: effectual doers and forgetful hearers.

We are enamored of progress. We are living [in] a time when things shiny and new are prized far above things old and timeworn. For most of us, tradition is little more than a quirky and nostalgic sentimentalism. It is hardly more than the droning, monotonous succession of obsolete notions, anachronistic ideals, and antiquarian habits, sound and fury, signifying nothing. Henry Ford called an awareness of history and an appreciation for the past mere “bunk.” Augustine Birrell called it “a dust heap.” Guy de Maupassant dubbed it “that excitable and lying old lady.” But many of the wisest of men and women through the ages have recognized that tradition is a foundation upon which all true advancement must be built – that it is in fact, the prerequisite to all genuine progress.

Stable societies must be eternally vigilant in the task of handing on their great legacy – to remember and then to inculcate that remembrance in the hearts and minds of their children. Alas, any people who did not know their own history, would simply have to endure all the same mistakes, sacrifices, and absurdities all over again.

Sadly, such lessons are very nearly lost on us in the odd to-whom-it-may-concern, instant-everything day of microwavable meals, prefab buildings, bottom-rung bureaucracy, fit-for-the-market education, knee-jerk public misinformation, and predigested formula entertainment. Thus temporary expediencies supersede permanent exigencies.

Christmas traditions, like those that revolve around the character of Nicholas of Myra, may well be abused by modern marketers and commercial concerns. But they can also be powerful inducements to remember the things which matter most. They can be the means by which beauty, goodness, and truth come to prevail in our homes, our communities, and our land.

And so, with that, I will decorate. I will celebrate. I will remember.

I didn’t edit this one. I tried, but nothing I seemed to do improved it all that much, except maybe to de-saturate the background a bit.

Well, I was just astounded by the loveliness of even the grays and browns of our Tennessee winter.