Christmas Prep

Tomorrow I will announce my Holiday Surprise! To make sure you see it, follow me on Twitter or like me on Facebook. 

Our holiday prep is underway. Yesterday I baked cookies and made cornbread. The cookie selection is peppermint truffle chocolate cookies, white chocolate chip cranberry cookies, and maple frosted maple sugar cookies. The youngest loves all the cookies while the other three have a favorite each: oldest loves the maple, oldest boy loves the peppermint truffle chocolate, and the youngest girl loves the white chocolate chip cranberry. I have yet to taste them because I don't really like cookies, but I love my family so I bake them.

We're all ready for Christmas minus the wrapping of the gifts, which we've put off so our adorable and lovely eight-month-old bengal kittens don't shred the wrappings. They really love to shred toilet paper and paper towels so I don't hold out hope they'd leave gifts alone. 

Aside from that, things are okay. I'm still making progress on Gravesend, and my toe (which I dropped a 35lbs container on and split open) seems to be healing fine. It only hurts sometimes. The house is decorated with festivity, and I am finally seeing our home as ours completely.

We've installed a dishwasher, new water heater, a gate for the front porch, a fenced yard for the dogs, and the paddock and round pen are complete for the horses. Next up on our ever growing list of projects is a farm sink in the bathroom so I don't kill yet another kitchen monster, a green house for becoming self-reliant on veggies and herbs, the pastures fenced, and my husband has about a thousand other things he keeps telling me he wants to do. This list is ever growing. 

We did manage to still spread cheer for others by having each of our children pick a gift for a foster-child locally. It's important to remind your children the reason for the season isn't about religion or lights and trees or even gifts. It's about spreading love and kindness, about remembering how we can help others even when things aren't sunshine for us. 

Tomorrow we are also bringing cookies to a few old vets in the care home locally. We found out one of the veteran's is 102 years old, has outlived his entire family. We decided this was something we could do something about. We don't have family locally, and as I am a military brat, born and raised, I consider all military veterans part of my extended family. Especially as there has been a member of my family serving in the military for generations in both Canada and the United States since the French and Indian war. I may not always like the wars we fight, but I will ALWAYS give what I can to my brothers and sisters, my uncles and aunts from the military. 

Welp. I better get to prepping for Santa's cookies. Traditionally, in our family this is the day we bake the sugar cookies for Santa. We use cookie cutters and make fun designs. Tomorrow, we will decorate them with sprinkles and homemade icing. It's something we do every year. It causes a huge mess but the joy on my children's faces is worth the cleanup. 

Anyways, don't forget to tune in tomorrow for my Holiday surprise!!! It's a good one! 

Lots of love,

​Leia Marie Gose