Walking with Ryan

What a marvelous morning it was..... I set the bread to rise and Ryan and I took off for a hike. It was cold, but it was the wind that kept us off the hills. We headed for the valleys and stayed on the snow covered paths. The only other tracks were deer, coyotes, and a few coon tracks down by the lake. Originally, we were going to trek through all of the trails, but the snow made it pretty difficult so we stayed on the western field paths.

We headed on down to the lake and 'doinked' some rocks on the ice..... ever heard the sound of a good sized rock hitting the ice? It makes a 'doink' sound when it hits the ice :-) The lake sits in a valley so the 'doink' becomes a 'DDOOIINKKKK' :-) Ryan spied something rather large swimming below the ice.... hmmm, maybey the Lochness monster? He trapped a mink last year, we think that's what it was.

Our final stop was up at the point..... we had to brave the winds just to get the view. We were both pretty winded by the time we reached the top but it was worth it. Right as we topped the hill, Ryan spotted a coyote !!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to everyone..... we hope the holidays find you well. It's been pretty rough around here with Grammy being sick, but I'm sure things will get better. We're praying continually for her health and Grampy's strength.

It's gonna be a busy one t'day...... Dinny & I will be COOK COOK COOKING all day :-) This will be her 2nd year preparing Vigilia---or as my family calls it: 'Valea'. I've researched that darn tradition FOREVER and have come to the conclusion that we say it wrong.... imagine that. I grew up thinking perogis were 'pidoggies' and ravioli were 'rabbiola'. I guess there's an old world pronunciation of Vigilia-----Vilia. That would make sense.

At any rate, Vilia is a European 7 course meatless meal eaten on Christmas Eve. Ours consists of perogi, gnochi, smoked herring, pickled herring, kapusta, potica (sounds like pa-teetsa), and creamed corn or fruit. My family has celebrated Vilia since they came to this country (100 years ago). I don't EVER remember a Christmas without it.

Here's our Christmas Eve:
1.) Put up Christmas Tree (we bought a LIVE one this year---rootball and all)
2.) Cook the Vilia
3.) Eat the Vilia
4.) Go to Mass
5.) Throw the kids in bed
6.) Walk down to the barn & give the sheep holy bread..... then let the girls out of the breeder pens
7.) Go to sleep and wait for St. Nich (hahahaha)

Keep watching..... I'll be uploading pics and videos through the holidays !!

!!!!!!WE LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!