Post-Holiday Recovery Mode!

Happy Boxing Day for those continuing their Christmas celebrations into aftermath of yesterday - however you spent it!

Ours began with a lovely, leisurely Christmas morning - though to be honest, I spent time reminiscing over those Christmas mornings with young children clamoring to open presents and see what Santa brought as early as 5:30am.  Oh, the joyous chaos those mornings brought.

And then into their teen years when they couldn't be bothered to get up, and couldn't they "sleep in just a bit longer?!"

And now...just the two of us, and it's the dogs begging to get up and be let out to take care of morning business as if it's just any other normal day's routine.

It was nice to sleep in, but what I wouldn't give to have those raucous Christmas rude awakenings of excited children once again.  Just once.

Christmas Eve on the Appalachian Trail -

It was 60 degrees at home - we took this opportunity to harness up the dogs and head up to the park.

I watched the temperature drop steadily with every turn we took on the road up to Grayson Highlands.

It dropped a steady 10 degrees between here, partway up - and our arrival.

But the sun was shining at 50 degrees and there wasn't much breeze.  Our body heat would warm us up as we began to hike uphill to see if we could see the ponies.

And yes - we did!

This one curious enough to come toward me for a sniff.

There was still snow on the ground in some spots - but it was melting fairly quickly.  

In the winter time they do put out hay bales to feed them, and since the bails were placed closer to the trail, we didn't have to search hard to find the ponies.

I love the gnarly trees in wintertime up here.

The sun was making its way toward the west, which meant taking photos without my shadow in them as a challenge.

I'm sure the sun on those winter coats felt warm!

Christmas Eve and movies -

Being as it was just the two of us (and the dogs and Lola) for Christmas Eve, we made an easy dinner of "make your own pizza" and settled in with some Christmas favorites.

Holiday Inn was first up, followed by Christmas Vacation which I hadn't seen in years - and the best part was when Zoey went nuts over the Squirrel in the Tree scene, being chased by the Rottweiler -  A truly stupid movie, but fun none-the-less.

And perfect watching while sorting through a couple of scrap boxes that had been gifted by quilty friends.

There is some great stuff in these little piles! It will be fun to see where these pieces wind up in the future.

Pouring like nobody's business today.

We need the moisture.  It's not as pretty as snow, but at least it doesn't make the drive difficult to navigate.

Yesterday afternoon we drove down to Jonesville to Jeff and Ashlyn's.  We were presented a beautiful Christmas dinner - Ashlyn went all out, and she is an amazing chef.

Ham with pineapple (the presentation was beautiful!) Roast beef, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, green been casserole made with fresh green beans and she even made the French fried onions from scratch! baked acorn squash. sweet corn, and because this is a North Carolina tradition, 2 kinds of mac n' cheese - one gluten free for the Hubster. And dessert.  And I know I'm missing something.

It was a FEAST!

We were joined by Ashlyn's Grandpa 'Poppy" her two sisters and one sister's boyfriend and of course Casden.

We all made much merry, and got home way late.

Today? Flip back up to the top photo of this post.  Pieced geese units  - not for the mystery.  These are going on my cardinal inspired quilt which I hope will reach top status over the next few days.

I'm paper-piecing these because it's kind of a tricky unit to do with traditional rotary cutting.  I just get better results.

This is where you'll find me today - in my basement studio at home, putting myself fully into relax and quilt mode.

No matter how you feel about Christmas - whether it's hard for you, or full of joy for you - pat yourself on the back with the knowledge that you MADE IT THROUGH and came out shining on the other side.

Let's enjoy this last week of 2023 together and look forward to all of the good things ahead of us in 2024.

Quiltville Quote of the Day -

Exactly!

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And don't you love the way things turned out for this very fun album block quilt and the abundantly varied scrap bag it came from?

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Such a great example - None of these blocks are perfect, or the same.

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But the whole couldn't be more perfect!⁣

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Have a wonderful Boxing Day everyone - It's pouring rain here and will continue through the day.