The Bunch are Christmas Ready......Almost

Merry Christmas!

It is unbelievable that Christmas is less than one week away.  Today we started the two days of baking that we do each year in order to make yummy treats for our families, friends, co-workers, and neighbors. Now that the children are older and active participants in baking day, it goes by a lot quicker and happier. I was in charge of all the breads this year. I made 6 pumpkin and 6 banana breads. It took all day and now I think I may never want to see sugar or butter ever again, or at least until tomorrow. I mean how could I possibly resist that yummy goodness for more than a day? We have enjoyed our time off school this week and not only baked some wonderful treats, but watched several holiday movies/shows. We have yet to go drive around and look at Christmas lights, but we have a couple of days planned this weekend to do that.

The girls have kept their word and Cookie has acted out a Greatest Showman scene on all of their nights to do Cookie. This scene is near the end when P.T. Barnum rides an elephant to meet his family at the recital.

They really put too much into this.

This scene was when Barnum opens his museum of curiosities.

A even made stations that included the curiosities.

D had Cookie go fishing.

So I had Cookie fry up his catch!

This was the bar scene where Barnum gets his business partner.

Every year goes by faster than the last and I realize that one day, most likely before I am ready, all my kids will be on their own and our big Christmas's all together will just be wonderful memories. We already have one child who has long since left the nest and now just as quickly the next one is approaching the end of her childhood. We, of course, still see our eldest son at holidays and other times throughout the year, but it is never quite the same as having them live under your roof and be part of your everyday life. I wouldn't want things to stay the same forever because each new season brings new adventures and treasured memories, but change can be hard. My 2 daughters have decided they are never moving and literally fight about who gets the house (my husband and I plan on rving through retirement). My youngest, on the other hand, has decided he will live in North Dakota and be a cowboy with 3 huskies and 4 boys (John, Luke, Matthew, & Paul-yes he has named them-he thinks he is funny). I am not sure why he has picked North Dakota since we haven't ever visited the state, but he really wants huskies and thinks that is where they should live.  I told him that we'll visit him in the summer in that case.

For A's Home Ec final she had to plan and execute a dinner party all by herself.

She did a great job and everyone enjoyed their meal.

It finally happened. After living in the country for over three years-most of which a cute somewhat large black and white striped smelly cat has lived under the shed- our crazy antisocial dog was sprayed in the face. Of course, this happened at four o'clock in the morning on what was suppose to have been a quick bathroom break. What ended up happening was two bleary eyed, incoherent, half asleep, stumbling adults had to: first, get the dog from the patio to the shower to immediately try to remove said smell from the dog-who at this point was vomiting from her own smell- and secondly try to wash and clean everything she touched. Since the dog at a distance made you want to throw up, holding her close while running to the shower was overwhelming to say the least.  I let D do that part. It only made sense that since he was the one to carry her and ruin his clothes that he would be the one to give the dog a bath while I put the clothing in the wash and gathered the needed bathing materials. Luckily we had some VERY strong dandruff shampoo that worked amazingly on getting the smell out. Well, the skunk smell out, the shampoo is its own kind of stink, but it was better than skunk. The only smell we couldn't eliminate was on her face and in her ear because we couldn't really put soap there.  It has been almost two weeks now and she ALMOST doesn't stink. She still hasn't learned her lesson yet and still goes over to the shed to try and "play" with the equally antisocial black and white striped cat. I expect a repeat experience any day now.

She just wanted to feel better after her ordeal. I immediately washed the blanket when she got up.

Not only have we contended with a skunk, but twice this week predators have made it into the chicken coop.  The largest raccoon I have ever seen was first. My daughter woke me up just before dawn one morning because the chickens, who are right next to her window, were squawking like crazy.  She went out there and had to chase off a 30 lb obese raccoon, who wasn't bothered by people at all. I had to actually hit him with chunks of wood before he left. I wish I had my camera because this really was a Godzilla sized raccoon, but at the time I was just saving the chickens. A has taken it upon herself to be the chicken saver now since no one else can hear them. She now sleeps with her blinds open and gets up to look at them every couple of hours. It has become an obsession with her. However, a couple of nights ago she did get us to go chase off a hawk that had perched on top of the chicken coop. We have since changed all the chips in the coop out to hopefully not make the chickens so enticing. We have also heard a large pack of coyotes very close the last few nights, but so far our girls have been okay. We have kept them locked up more lately though.

Guess what? The fluffy butts are starting to lay again! Finally!