Christmas Eve 2016

Merry Christmas!

We finally treated ourselves to real stockings this year. My Mom needlepointed stockings for Briar and Grant (and her other grand kids). Kristen needlepointed stockings for our 5 grand kids. Briar found that she could order a reasonable facsimile online for Gus  We did the same thing this year for Melissa and ourselves.

We've been having the kind of weather that we didn't get until later last season. Even the days when no snow is predicted usually have a flurry or two. It's supposed to rain all day today but we just had an unexpected hour or so of pretty heavy snow. The flakes were the largest that we've seen, some the size of maple leaves.

We had some "warmer" weather after the last snow but still have a layer of snow. If we do get that rain today (which just started, by the way), that may end our chances for a white Christmas.

Gus' folks are visiting them for the holidays so we've been staying out of their way. We will be going over tomorrow for Christmas dinner.

The town ice rink (visible from our kitchen window) is now in place. They put up the wood frame 2 Sundays ago. Last Sunday, they added the plastic liner and the Fire Department used their tank truck to fill the rink with pond water. It now appears to have frozen solid. People have been walking on the surface but we haven't seen any skaters yet. We'll have to get Niko and Maya over once their other Grandparents leave.

All of the local rivers and ponds have frozen over (if I haven't mentioned before, we have no lakes here - they are called ponds no matter what the size). I'm not sure how thick the ice is but we haven't noticed any ice fishermen yet. When it gets good and thick, they'll be setting up their huts and fires out on in the middle of the ponds.

Today, 12/26, was the first time that we've seen skaters. This kid's mom was playing goalie and he was slapping shots at her (brave Mom).

Ice fishing on Long Pond (our favorite kayaking spot in the summertime). Not a great picture (the sun was in my face and I couldn't see the display). A couple of ice fishing sites are back against the trees. Today, 12/26, was the first time that we've seen ice fishermen. I talked with one and was told that the ice is 4" thick (2" is the cut off)

-JC-