December
2025

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It was a beautiful month! 
 
   
 Buddy positions himself for optimum relaxation One of the mules would let himself out and then put himself back in the field quite often
   
When it's too nasty to play outside, we have fetch sessions in the basement!  Anytime we see the sun in December, even a little bit like this, it's worth taking a picture.   
   
Buddy is wondering how long I'm going to faff about clearing a path across the bridge, let's walk!  Lots of coyote tracks on the ice 
   
We found this random small fish on the snow, I guess an eagle dropped it.  You can see a suggestion of blue in the sky, we'll take it!  
   
We always have to check this spot out very carefully, it smells of coyote!   The local play group did a Country musical at The Timbers Lodge, it was a hoot!  
   
A look down on the coffee shop floor while it is so beautifully decorated for Christmas.  Buddy and I had a nice surprise of seeing this herd of elk during our walk one day.   
   
I asked him to be quiet and he did!  Once they noticed us, we quietly backed away & went home.   We had dinner at our house before the Downtown Christmas Stroll.  Here Larry
poses with a glass of whiskey and a churro, pretending to be a fancy pants.  
   
Now we wanted to see Lisa be the fancy pants, she can't keep a straight face!   Now we've made it to the Christmas Stroll in town, lots of people came out to enjoy it!  
   
The horse-drawn carriage rides were a hit.  The next activity was wreath-making at our church, including beautiful charcuterie offerings.  
   
My friend Jolene and I made beautiful wreaths!  Thank you Jolene for making my bow!   Group photo of all the ladies with our wreaths.   
   
Here we are checking out the deepest part of the hillbilly hot tub, inactive right now.    Absolutely gorgeous sunset one evening.  Just perfect!  
   
Less perfect, but still, we'll take any sunset over gray skies in December.  A winter-themed quilt I made that I was especially proud of.  I'm showing it at guild.  
   
   
Our next activity was a group trip to Fairmont, BC in Canada. 
When we got near the border, we saw a huge herd of big horn sheep.  
You can see all the white butts in this dark picture.  		 Here are a few close-up, and a bunch in the background.  
 
   
On the lovely drive way up into British Columbia.  The Canadian Rockies were beautiful despite the gray skies.  
   
 The beautiful, and huge, Columbia Lake is just south of the resort.  This is the view from both the parking lot of the resort, and from the hot springs pools. Gorgeous!  
   
We got to see the Barenaked Ladies do a free concert on the
Christmas train, it was awesome!  		 I took some of these photos off of Facebook, as mine didn't turn out very well.   
   
I didn't take any pictures of the hot springs because we were always wet!  It was beautiful though.  Here is my one photo of the BNL concert.  It was short but great!  
   
   
We got home the next day to find that our recent plague of high winds had continued, knocking out
the power for the 3rd time in 4 days.  The winds were so strong they broke our giant barn doors and
blew these 65 pound pipes around like they were made of straw.  Sadly, it ruined a bunch of them.		 This power outage lasted about 5 hours.  Luckily I had just bought some 
gourmet soup from a local chef lady,so I was able to heat it on the fireplace 
for a lovely dinner.  Meanwhile Eric and Mark moved pipe out in the cold wind. 
  

 

  
 
This is a trail cam photo of two woodpeckers fighting over the squirrel's winter stash.   
 		 A beautiful evening where the mountains were visible, we always treasure these moments in winter.    
A herd of elk came to feed at brother Dan's horse feeder one day. They stayed for many hours. Here, one baby sneaks up on one of Dan's sheds.  He kept looking back to see if his Mom noticed.  
    
The elk grazed around this area for so long, it was really fun watching them.    
   
While taking Christmas gifts to Dan & Rose, Eric took time out to torture Mark a bit.     I didn't know it at the time, but this would be my last time to see Grandpa Dan. 
We had a very nice goodbye, and he now rests in peace with Jesus.  
 

 
My next activity (solo) was a trip to Westville, OK for Christmas.  This is the lobby of the 
super-beautiful Glacier International Lodge, our favorite hotel in the Flathead Valley.  		         
 
Because we live so far from the airport, we often stay in Kalispell on the night before a flight.  
 		  
Here I arrive at Tulsa International Airport, and enjoy a greeting from my sweet nephew Brodie.  We were immediately off to indulge in a favorite family pastime, lure hunting.  
   
A sincere, near smile from Brodie.  It's an accomplishment to 
catch this when he isn't holding a fish! 		 Hi ho, hi ho, exploring Lake Weddington we go.   
   
   
   
Duck butts!    There's a good smile from that handsome boy!   
 
  
Us girls posing on a random rock wall.   Dad, showing us the way out of there.   
   
   
   

Afterward, enjoying some great BBQ near Fayetteville (the town where I attended college.)   
  
    
The next day we did some shopping in Siloam Springs, AR and got our toes 
done. Mom opted out, but she entertained us by extracting our helper's life story.		 This might have been the best pedicure I ever received, it has lasted forever!   
   
Birthday time!  Here I'm proudly sporting some new PJs near a giant box 
of gifts from Mom & Dad. 		 I don't know what I'm doing here, but it was funny!  
   
Opening my second pile o' presents - this one is from Desirae.   We were blessed by a visit from our cousin Caitlyn.  Her son really loved Keith! 
 

I didn't take a single picture of our Christmas opening.  
I guess I was distracted by all the lovely gifts we shared. 

 

  
Here's a super sweet picture of my Mom trying to snuggle her "little grandbaby" Brodie!  On a Bloomer adventure in NW Arkansas, checking out a neat old bridge.  
   
   
   
Desirae & I being posers under the bridge.   Treating Brodie just like Mom taught us to do with cats, you have to hold on to them REAL tight!   
   
The bridge was built in 1923.  It's very near the Prairie Grove Civil War battlefield.   Desirae having deep thoughts on the bridge.  She might break into, "My Heart Will Go On" anytime now.   
   
   
Our next adventure was a girls' trip to Branson, MO.  A favorite hangout of ours.   We started the trip with an amazing drive-through Christmas light display. 
   
  Scenes of a beautiful mural painted on some buildings in downtown Branson.  
   
We enjoyed a long and leisurely visit to the wonderful quilt store in Branson, Quilts & Quilts. 
We also enjoyed a nice visit to the outlet mall, a magic store, and a bead store.  
Another shot of that same mural.  I don't know why one photo looks brown and one gray.     
   
   
   
Enjoying a lovely lunch al fresco in the very warm (80 degree!) weather.   There was an orange wall behind us, we aren't actually this color.   
   
   
   
This is a photo of Brodie with his Shieldnight cousins, taken  at the Bloomer Christmas. 
He loves having his picture taken. 		  
   
These are photos of Brodie in his happy place - fishing!    He really took advantage of the warm temperatures while he was off school.  
   
These are two photos Mom enhanced using ChatGPT.  They are cute!    
   
   
This was the car temp on the day before I left Oklahoma.  This was the temp in my car as I drove home from the airport.  Sixty degrees difference!   
   
   
Scenes from my drive home.  There was a touch of sky, which made it beautiful.    
   
When I was almost home, I was fortunate to see this herd of elk grazing beside the road.  
   
Eric enjoying opening his Christmas gifts from the Morton clan.   Buddy especially enjoyed his new Christmas toy.  It was a Scrabble word!  
   
Lily and Buddy were VERY happy to have me home.  I didn't know then that this would be one 
of my last times to snuggle with my dear Lily.   She died 3 days after this photo was taken.  		 Here I am showing off my new PJs that I got for my birthday.   
 
On a walk with Buddy, we found this neat rock with a bunch of quartz in it.  My toe is for size.   Buddy & I found this cute little rodent near our garbage cans.  He didn't hurt it!  
   
   
   
One sunny day in late December.  
 		 Watching Aubrey play basketball.  That girl guarding her was TOUGH.  Aubrey is a senior this year.   
 
Lovely sunset one evening.   My quilting friends, admiring Christine's handmade sweatshirt that her daughter made her for Christmas.  
   
Our New Year's Eve celebrations were subdued this year, due to Dan Sr.'s failing health.   I was fortunate to see Dillon, I usually miss his Christmas visits while I'm in Oklahoma.  
   
Carter played Five Crowns with the grown ups this year instead of hanging with the kids. 
He was a lot of fun!   		 Young Erik and Jeb give each other tons of crap. It's their love language.  
   
   
   
   
 

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