Derick and I have been blessed this year not only being able to put away money for our potential new house this coming fall, but also having been able to treat ourselves throughout the year as well - including sporadic dinners out, or buying things we want here and there just because we could if we wanted. That did become more challenging apparent once Black Friday and Christmas came closer and we were wondering what we would get for each other. In the end, we decided that since both of us had more recently bought ourselves shiny new things, that we would forgo the Christmas gift exchange between the two of us. We did end up getting one gift for each other, however.
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Christmas was nice this year in Medford, WI. I had been looking forward to it, baking for almost two days straight through beforehand! We stayed with Derick's aunt Dawn, uncle Brian and cousin Josh at their house this year. It was nice to be able to "force" myself to sit and relax for the first couple of days when both of them had to work and Josh went to school! Between Christmas movies on TV, episodes of Gilmore Girls on Netflix, Deer hunting observation, outdoor photography day, board games and prepping Christmas Eve food, it was easy to stay just busy enough to not go too crazy.
I experienced my first ever deer hunting experience from beginning to end - sitting watching the woods for a few hours, seeing nothing but a small yearling the first night.
The second night - watching a red squirrel run up to the corn pile, grabbing a kernel, running to one spot then to another and stashing his prize there, seeing a doe, her fawn and another deer come into range. It was crazy to watch them up close - mere feet away. One of the deer seemed so smart - almost looking right up at us in the deer stand when it heard a noise coming from where we sat. The swiftness that Derick's cousin, Joe had, while pulling back his bow, aiming out the little window and shooting the deer - it happened so fast! So fast that I almost missed it! Joe and I tracked the deer to where it had died - lying in the woods. Joe started gutting the deer. I couldn't watch right away, but watched after the initial incision, even holding the front leg to assist the gutting process. I watched Joe haul it through the woods to the 4-wheeler and bring it back to his grandma's house - where he met up with his uncle and his pick-up truck. They loaded the deer into the back of the truck and he went into town to get the deer registered, tagged and back to his uncle's house to skin and cut apart the meat. I witnessed most of that process as well - and helped wrap and package the cuts of meat from the deer. The event was capped off by grilling some of the deer that had been standing, alive, in front of me mere hours before. That was crazy to think about - and I found that I could not fixate on that too much as I ate the venison...but overall, it was quite the experience. If you would have asked me a few years ago if I would have observed/participated in a deer hunt - I probably would have said no, if it were not for working where I work now and how many more "worlds" have opened up to me!
Christmas Eve with Derick's family was great this year as well - we got to see almost all of his relatives on the day or night. I played with his youngest cousin, Alex, who in years past, had been too shy to even talk or sit next to anyone, but this year, he was almost in my LAP playing games with me on his tablet! What a difference a year can make!
The food was great as well - plenty, of course, and good all-around. Dawn and I had come to the realization that she needed to prepare some candied sweet-potatoes for her husband since he liked them so much at Christmas, but neither of us had ever done them before. I found a recipe online and took a crack at it. They turned out pretty decent - very very sweet though!
The White Elephant gift exchange was a hit again this year - I think with the most presents we have ever had! I got one of the middle turns in the swap and ended up stealing a tin man cookie jar from his uncle Brian and keeping it for the duration for the game! Derick got the last pick, so he was able to select from any of our choices. He ended up with a box of chocolates!
Tucker did really well this year - even getting to meet Dante (his cousin Sami's dog) who came for a visit Christmas Eve-day. Tucker even ate all the food we brought with us for him, being that things at Brian and Dawn's house are a little slower paced than other places we have stayed in the past. That, and he was the only dog in the house other than the visit from Dante! Full attention on him! And boy, did it tucker him out! He went into coma mode on the ride home and once we got home, he demanded that we cuddle on the couch, where he proceeded to snore and puppy-dream the rest of the evening.
But, as is the case with all good things - they must come to an end - it was time to leave (Christmas Day). It was nice to go visit, but as I got back home, I realized, as well, that there really is no place like home - and sometimes just coming back home feels really nice in and of itself.
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Once we returned home, there was more relaxing, followed by an urgent need to start purging the house of things that I didn't need anymore!
I started with my closet and had four bags of clothes, belts, etc that I didn't want in there anymore! Then i went through a bookshelf in the bedroom and got a few books from there. Next I tackled my big bookshelf in the office...I cleared off two complete shelves worth of books, old school and internship projects and other things I didn't need or want anymore. Man, that really felt good to get rid of all of that stuff!
It will be nice when we are hopefully able to get a bigger house - so we can spread out what we do have into a bigger space! Right now, everything feels so close together and on-top of each other, sometimes it gets a little crazy. The good news is that we will have to go through everything before we pack it to move, so I am sure that this process will repeat itself again soon enough! And storage totes were just on sale at Target, so Derick went and picked up a bunch of them to use for packing! A little early, but getting those on sale is a big win for sure!
I hope you had a very Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year later this week!
LD
