Tradition

At this point I am sure that there are a few people out there who might have a song other than a Christmas tune in their head now, I know I do. lol

Tradition is a very important part of our family. In one way or another we all stick to it. Some of us are a little loser when it comes to tradition, thinking that maybe a twist here or a twist there is lots of fun and what we need to keep the tradition going in our family this year. While some of us stick to the old way and don't want it changed at all.

Some traditions we have had since before I was born, while others have been made a tradition in the past few years, and then there are those traditions that been around forever but changed to fit our family.

While there are some traditions I can't wait to do, such as playing Christmas music first thing bright and early to wake everyone up the day after thanks giving. There are those that are hard to wait for, like waiting until the day after Thanksgiving to listen to, play, and sing Christmas music (esp. when now a days they are playing Christmas music days before thanksgiving!!).

Then there are others that I enjoy but wouldn't mind if well...If there wasn't so much work in it, such as bring mom and dad breakfast in bed while trying to get every child involved in the whole process on St. Lucia day.

The reason I am talking about tradition is because December is a month in which we do many different traditions. Starting from the day after Thanksgiving, (yes, I know that day does not fall in December) and lasting until New Year's Day (again, yes I do know that New Year's is not in December).

With traditions from Christmas music, to cooking, from decorating, to lighting candles, watching movies, to listen to Messiah. And as each and everything is something that is important to us, hardly a day will pass by this month in which we do not do a tradition of some sort.

As more times than I care to count I have been accused of being a traditionalist, I talk about the traditions we do all the time, and I am hoping to share some of our traditions here, but only as they happen. :D

Wednesday--I'm Thankful For.....

As I am busy cooking and directing people in cooking, cleaning, and child watching (the parents have gone to get animal feed), I don't have the time to upload pictures. So, today it's just a list of the things I am grateful for...

Stove and oven, even if they are are electric and not gas.

Running water and electricity, both of which I don't even think about until the power is out or the well is off.

Pre-made clothes

Sewing machines

Computers and Internet,

MP3 players and radio

Cars

Tuesday--I'm Thankful For.....

I'm thankful for God's many blessing to our family, starting with...

The goats, the girls that give us milk, both for our family and anyone in Houston who is interested.

The Dairy...In which it is made possible for us to pasteurize milk, make yogurt, chocolate milk, capracino, kefire and cheese.

Our small vet pasteurizer, that made it possible for us to make all the products mentioned above. And so that dad can now work from home and spend more time with us all!!

Monday--I'm Thankful For.....

My parents--Tim and LeeAnne

My Siblings.....

Christin and her sewing abilities




Grace and willingness to teach about horses

Sara and her corny sense of humor

Linnea and her flare for dramatics




Emma and her ever ready smile and helping hand

Timothy and his enjoyment of everything




Liberty and her sweet attitude




Noah and his dare devilish ways (Don't let this picture deceive you!!)




Judah and his every ready smile and hug




Seth and his laugh

Thanks.....I Think

As I'm sitting down for dinner, I notice that I don't have a roll. I look at Sara who was serving the rolls and asked her where mine was.

She was sure that she had given me one, but it wasn't there on my plate. Oh, wait yes it was, with a little hand on it as well. :D

Judah looks up at me with that impish grin of his and says, "There was sauce on it, so I licked it off for you, here's your clean roll". (Mind you that was three year old talk, with a little lisping here and there, and a laugh at the end.)

Sure enough, there was a little sauce left, after he had "cleaned" it for me. I feel so loved, to have a little brother who cares enough about me to make sure I have a clean roll. lol

Baseball

Right about now is when I start going into Baseball withdrawals. This is the time of year when after a long hard day of farm or house work I would love to curl up on the couch with a nice cup of extra strong, dark hot chocolate and watch the Astros play.

But, I don't get to. This is the time of year where I either curl up with a cup of hot chocolate and a good book or curl up on the couch and watch TV with my sisters.

The only problem is all my sisters are growing up and they all know how to handle a remote control or what they want to watch. So, if I don't get the remote first then I am stuck watching ranch life on RFDTV, or What Not To Wear on TLC, when I would rather be watching the History channel, Food Network, or sometimes when I can catch it Mythbusters.

But, more often than not the girls are a lot faster than I am and I am stuck watching women dress up or large families. (As if we needed to know how it feels to live in a large family. lol) So, this year when ever the baseball withdrawal hits (which it has been a lot lately, it's like when a good friend moves away!!) I am normally found in my messy room with a book, whishing that there was a game I could watch and counting the days until the winter Olympics.

Missouri

Next on the list is Missouri, I love this state. There are very few states (two that I can think of right now) that would tempt me to leave Texas of my own choosing and Missouri is one of them

Kansas City

The Missouri/Kansas border.

Some of the many fields of some sort of crop
(in this picture, it's corn. :D ).

Some of the landscape that we saw.

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