Christmas in the Country

We had a lovely day at my sister's house in the country. One of my favorite scenes was little cousin feeding the horses. He started with a few stems of hay, then went to handfuls of hay, then graduated to armfuls of hay, leaving a trail from the barn to then fence every time. It was so cute.

The older cousins had a great time wrestling on the sofa, laughing and just generally being teenagers.

And look, a special treat! Santa was there and I got my girls to pose with him. I've tried to get a picture of them with Santa from the time they were tiny, but lately they have been a little uncooperative about it. Maybe they are embarrassed to stand in line at the Mall with all the little kids? Anyway, with this Santa there was no complaining. They happily hopped on his chair and I got a great photo to add to my collection.

We are going up to the hills tomorrow to spend Christmas in a rustic cabin in the snow. This is the special new tradition that the Lord of the Manor arranged and I'm delighted! I'm looking forward to peace and quiet and the special magic that snow creates. It looks like Christmas Day will be stormy, so we'll snuggle up inside, play games, drink cocoa, listen to music, cook dinner, and enjoy each other's company. Happy Christmas to all of you from Amongst The Oaks, temporarily amongst the snow.