Adventures in Christmasing, 2019

| Allison

Hello, dears!

My, it feels like a while since my last post. I like the new schedule. 😛 I’m also quite happy to be back and showing you guys some of the MANY photos I took over the past holidays.

We’re gonna cover weird cats, cute dogs, cute little humans, a pretty moon… actually most of these photos don’t look Christmasy at all; I just happened to take them at one of our four Christmas celebrations. 😉 Enjoy this collection of random bits of joy!

featured image 154

Our first celebration was at home – our family Christmas. The view from the loft on Christmas morning:

1

We had an absolutely scrumptious breakfast of grapefruit, fresh fruit, sausage, homemade cinnamon rolls, and quiche. Oh my, it was tasty. And yay for the Christmas china you only use approximately two meals a year!

2

We exchanged gifts after dishes – it was rather nice not having/being little kids who were frantic to start the gifts as soon as possible. Although we were still all excited, of course. 😉 Anyway, that was so much fun! I decided not to do a Christmas gifts post this year, but I hope everyone knows how much I appreciated their lovely packages and presents anyway. ❤ Sometime in the courses of opening gifts, Tom became a phone holder… :’D He’s so WEIRD.

3

That’s it for our Christmas, since I already posted about our preparations earlier. Moving onto Christmas with grandparents and cousins from Dad’s side. First, I thought you guys might like to see how much Pebbles has grown since this post. GAHHH, isn’t she HUGE? She’s huge. And enthusiastic with her greetings. 😉

4

For some reason I rather like this picture. No one’s looking at me; they’re all doing random, normal things, but you can still tell it’s Christmas from the lights and stockings and gifts on the floor.

5

After stockings, we took turns exchanging gifts again. The cousins gave the grandparents a custom-drawn/made calendar, a tradition which is now I think in it’s fifth or sixth year? I forget. Everyone was quite pleased at how it turned out. 🙂

15

Here’s a little collage in case you’re curious what the calendar looked like inside. (Guess which three are mine? Also, don’t I have such artistic cousins and siblings?)

42

I’m not going to bore you with many gift-opening pictures, but I had to do this, one, at least. I love how Leisha’s smiling in the background too.

16

Gram has this amazing tiny village she sets up at Christmas on a large sheet of white batting, for snow. We’re always pleased when she puts it out – sometimes she can’t, due to other, more rambunctious Christmas gatherings she hosts.

13

Jeff and my uncle fixing the little model train…

12

The village looks so magical up close. I love the charming details and the glow from the candle inside.

9

We also had an amazing lunch at Gram and Granddaddy’s, too. (Hint: good food was a common theme throughout.) My cousin Jianna, who is an excellent artist even though she doesn’t always think so, doodled adorable place cards for everyone. My Dad’s cracked me up every time I saw it – it’s a hay stack with a Santa hat! :’D Perfect for a farmer with a hay business.

6

And that’s all the photos I have for you from that celebration! Next up, the Christmass with Mom’s side of the family. (We also had another one with Dad’s extended family, but no pictures there. 😉 ) Here, the boys are setting up a huge toy rocket my uncle had for an unknown reason. (Note Graham’s color-coordinating gift bow. XD)

28

You pumped the pressure up and then released it in a spray of water and inflatable power. It actually went pretty high and provided great kid entertainment.

21

One of the best parts of this Christmas was seeing our cousins from Canada! This was the first Christmas they’d spent down here in YEARS, so that was super fun. We had to take pictures of the occasion, to mark our growth and such, heh heh. Megan stood in with Sadie the adorable pup (more on her later) for height reference. 😉 They will appear again soon in the adventures we had with them on New Year’s.

30

I also took many pictures of another cousin’s adorable little girl, Brianna. She may be one of the cutest small humans ever. *grins*

Brianna (1)

HELP, THE CUTENESS.

Brianna (4)

After supper (which, surprise! was delicious, and featured my favorite scrumptious clam/seafood chowder), several of the cousins took a walk because it was weirdly warm for December. Our Canadian cousins were confused. 😛 Anyway, the views were just breathtaking, even in winter. I always remember how much I miss the mountains and rolling farmland when I go back to where we used to live…

31

Gahh, I love this one! This, right here, is (partly) what childhood should look like. ❤ Isn’t it great when cousins are built-in friends?

33

I like this one too, even though it’s a bit strangely composed. And HELP, Sadie the golden retriever puppy was probably the sweetest dog I’ve met. So much so that I had to save the pictures of her for another post because I have too many good ones to squeeze in here.

37

Brianna toddled behind the cousins who kept melting over her cuteness and asking if she wanted to be picked up, to which she shook her head determinedly and trotted on. Gotta keep up with the big girls, right?

34

And just one more because I couldn’t resist. GAHHH. Okay, okay, I’m done now.

38

I shall end this post with a few pretty nature-y photos I took along the way. This is one of my favorite stages of the moon because it’s just so photogenic! Especially with cows silhouetted against a fading sunset.

36

I’m quite happy with the composition of this one: a single star poised like a marble about to drop into the moon, hanging over the top of a barn with a cow smack in the middle of it. Satisfying.

39

And lastly, the moon through some dramatic, twisty branches, probably from a walnut tree. (Can you spot the star again?)

41

Well, that was a fun post to make! I hope you enjoyed reading it too, whether you’re familiar with the people and places from my other posts or this is your first time reading about these random strangers. 🙂 Stick around so we can be friends instead, ‘kay? ❤

Which photo was your favorite? How was YOUR holiday??

Thanks so much for reading, dears, and have a lovely day!

***Allison***

P. S. Photos taken with my Nikon D3400 and a 35mm lens. Edited with picmonkey.com.

66 thoughts on “Adventures in Christmasing, 2019”

  1. I love all the colorful candid shots at the beginning! The calendar is such a fun idea, it looks great! Oh my goodness, I love Graham’s trendy bow 😂 How on earth did he manage the perfect color-coordination? Awwwe, Brianna is absolutely adorable ❤ So sweeeet 😍The last few photos are so pretty!!

    Like

    Reply

    1. Thanks so much, Isabel! Those were fun. 🙂 Yeah, I think so too! It’s a lot of work, but our grandparents always love it and we do too! HAHA, I know, isn’t it great? :’D SHE IISSSSS. And thanks again!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  3. I love everything about this!! Everything looked like so much fun. 🙂 Oh my goodness, the scenery!!! 😍 And Brianna is simply ADORABLE. ❤ Lovely photography, Allison!

    Like

    Reply

  4. random bits of joy ❤ i am here for this
    also my cousins waited in corners to scare the salts outta me and made me model for art references, so rockets sound tame in comparison XD

    Like

    Reply

  5. Oh my word!! Brianna is so cute!!! The last four pictures are my favorite! I just love nature photography and cute little cousins! Oh my gosh! The puppy was soo cute!! Can’t wait for the puppy post!! The pp!
    Have a great day!
    ~Claire

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  9. I really love how smiley and genuinely interested your family is! My favourite photo from this blog is the very first one, it looks so cozy with the tree and the woodblocks on the side, yet it is so tidy! ❤ I also love the way your family gathered around your granny, looking through her newest of calendars 🙂

    Like

    Reply

  10. I’m guessing May, February, and August are yours! All of the calendar ones are so pretty! Your photos are always amazing, and I’m so glad you had an awesome Christmas! *sighs* Now I wish it was Christmas again already. XD

    Like

    Reply

    1. You got one right! I did May, September, and December. Megan did a fantabulous job on February and August. 😀 Aww, well thank you, Emmie! Heh heh, well take heart – it’s not even a year away! XD 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  11. It sounds like you had a lot of fun for Christmas and your family looks so sweet. I can just imagine our families being friends if we lived near each other. Also, cousins! I get only a little jealous when people talk about their cousins because I only have one cousin and he is quite a bit younger than I. We still enjoy seeing him, but it is definitely different then having cousins closer to your own age. Oh, well! At least I had lots of siblings, so I was never in want of a friend growing up. 🙂 Also, that calendar is such a great idea and ya’ll did an amazing job on it! You’re all artists!! Love it!

    Like

    Reply

    1. I DID have a lovely Christmas. ❤ Aww, that's great – I bet we could! Wow… that would be different to only have one cousin. Yes, I am blessed to have cousins close in age. ❤ Siblings are a pretty great feature too. 😉 Ahh, thank you! And thanks for the comment, Hannah! I've really enjoyed hearing from you. 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. Aw! Thanks! I am glad you enjoy my comments! I am really enjoying reading your blog! Also, growing up, I always liked the idea of living on a farm, but since that dream is probably never going to actually happen, I just have to live that dream by hearing about that life through others, such as yourself, or through reading and writing books about it. 😉

        Like

        Reply

  12. Great pictures! I liked how you started from the morning and finished with sunset, felt like we were able to enjoy a short journey … 🙈 and i ask your forgiveness, i downloaded the 2nd picture of sunset and made it my Lockscreen’s wallpaper because i loved the colours so much 🙈💖

    Like

    Reply

    1. Thanks so much! Whoa, you know – I didn’t even think about that but I love it! XD You’re right! HAHA, be my guest! I’m honored to have helped decorate your fun. 😀

      Like

      Reply

  16. What a lovely Christmas you all had! Pebbles has gotten so big!! My younger brothers would love to have a rocket like that. They both enjoy making rockets out of paper towel tubes and such, but especially my 6 year old brother Joel. He’s the inventor of my family. XD

    You are so good at capturing moments with your camera! I especially like the one where no one is looking and they’re just going about their business. 🙂 I love the calendar you guys made! Let’s see… I’m going to guess that you made February, November, and August?? 😀

    Thank you for sharing, Allison!

    Like

    Reply

    1. I really, really enjoyed it. 🙂 SHE HAS. Heh heh, I think all boys would love a rocket like that. :’D Even adults, apparently. Hee hee, that’s great!
      Aww, thank you! I like that one too. ❤ Aha, good guesses! But nope, I made May, September, and December. 😀 My cousin Jianna + Megan made the ones you guessed – they did SUCH a good job. *heart eyes*

      Thank you for reading, my dear! ❤

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. I was a bit off on my guesses, whoops. *face palm* But you have to admit, they’re all so good that it was really hard to see where each artist differed. 😉

        Like

        Reply

  17. Loved the photos Allison The favorite photos were the ones of the beautiful moon,of course Brianna is a show stopper too. HAPPY 2020
    Marilyn,Joan and Marion

    Like

    Reply

  18. AHHH!! This post made me so happy!! 😀 Oh MY! Tom the phone holder made me laugh very hard. XD And PEBBLES! She is so big!! *squishes her* Woah! Y’all had a lot of Christmas’s! XD And sounds like a lot of yummy food! 😛 To answer your questions: My favorite photo’s were all the ones with Brianna in them. XD She is SO CUTE. *dies* But all of your pictures just made me wonder how a picture could be that good. XDD This was a wonderful post! 😀

    -Laura ❤ 🙂

    Like

    Reply

    1. Aww, YAYYY. HAHA I KNOW, HE IS JUST HILARIOUS. And eeeep I knoow! Ha, we really did, although not as many as usual. XD Indeed it was! HAHA, excellent choice. I KNOW. Aww, you’re so sweet, Laura! And I feel like I keep repeating the same sentences in this comment so I’ll stop now… XD But I’m so happy you enjoyed the post!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  19. So nice to meet you and your family, Allison! This is my first time reading about these “random strangers” (as you so nicely put it. XD ). I will definitely be sticking around! The moon pictures are awesome. And that place card is SO hilarious.

    Like

    Reply

  23. AWH, y’all seemed to have had a wonderfull & cosy looking christmas 😊 i absolutely loved seeing these pics. brianna is adorable… plus, EEP, what a gorgeous sunset 😍😍

    Like

    Reply
  30. Pingback: Sketchbook Tour February 2020 – A Farm Girl's Life

Your comments make my day! Please keep them clean and respectful so everyone can enjoy this blog. :) Thank you!