When A House Becomes a Home

If you ask my husband this was the best Christmas ever!  I am inclined to agree with him.  It was magical and will never be duplicated.  By now you've read many posts about our beloved farmhouse.  It has been the topic of many a blog post and the place we have made many wonderful summer memories.  One of our wishes has always been to spend Christmas at the farmhouse.  We took a huge leap of faith this summer and agreed, as a family, to spend this Christmas at the farmhouse.  

She sits and waits 

We arrived on a cold but not freezing rainy night.   We immediately felt the small town love that we seldom feel back in Houston.  Our neighbor picked us up at the airport and drove us home.  Another neighbor had been warming up our house for us by building fires and turning on the heat in our bedroom and bathroom.  We love our neighbors!  The house was exactly like I left it and the next morning as I sat in my usual spot and drank my tea it felt so familiar!  Even surrounded by a blanket of snow!

Mother Nature had been very generous this year with her snow!  From what we hear, two feet of snow before Christmas is not normal.  We just got lucky!  We did have an ugly day of sleet, rain and ice which postponed our Christmas tree procurement, grocery shopping and the arrival of our son and his wife.  All others arrived and departed in a timely manner.

 There was one Christmas miracle at the Halifax airport when our daughter, her husband and 3 sons arrived and were waiting for our youngest daughter to arrive.  Their rental car was too small for their family and one more and there were no larger cars available....what to do?  When what to their wondering eyes should appear but neighbor Bill and his sleigh with room for one more!  They sent a passenger away with neighbor Bill who arrived at the farmhouse to applause and dinner with 20!

It was the best we could do!  No, that is not toilet paper wrapped around it,
 it's burlap ribbon with gold flecks....just can't tell from here!

Young and old waiting for Santa arrive on Christmas Eve!

Christmas Day was very different.  No early waking to see if Santa came...no gift opening either.  We all loaded up and went to church.  We filled an entire row and made quite the statement when we entered.  I was a bit teary when they sang the first song,  we really did feel the true meaning of Christmas.  We even had a blue sky to light up the white landscape!

It was magical!

I was a happy camper!

Our last arrivals came Christmas night and they completed our family!  The following days were spent eating....a lot, playing with the grandchildren, baking, playing in the snow, hiking in the snow, doing dishes, visiting, and generally having nothing to do but be together and enjoy our surroundings.  One other Christmas miracle was that our internet went down on day 2 because of the ice and remained down until a day ago!  We were forced to go dark and therefore had to let our cell phones and computers have a much needed winter rest.  It was a major blessing in disguise!  Christmas unplugged.

We used every inch of our farmhouse and the place stayed warm and cozy and none of us felt crowded.  It was as if our house had been waiting to be utilized to it's fullest and performed perfectly.  With 12 of us living here, and all the laughter and activity the house went from feeling like a place we visit to a home...where all of our hearts will remember this most special week.

In no particular order here are some highlights of the BEST Christmas ever!

These two had fun sliding down the hills!

The neighbors came to visit!

John thinks this is a great place to be!

Looks like Grampy fell in the snow...

The grandsons loved rolling in the snow!

We had more fun than humanly possible here!

On toys like this....

Jehnna was in her element in the many feet of snow!

We did a little snowga!