Quiet was the Night,,,

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Merry Christmas Eve and Day, Family and Friends. We'd like to take this time to thank you for stopping by and visiting our little place here in the Heartland of NC.

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The kitchen remodeling is done, and we've actually taken some 'time off' from painting and trimming to decorate for the holidays. Since the house is sort of 'under construction', Lynne thought it best to limit the decorating to the rooms we use most often (besides, most the other rooms are storing the 'stuff' moved out to allow the renovations). Still, the house looks plenty warm and inviting, both outside and in. So... pardon the mess, while we share our Christmas with you.

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Skittles, the new kitten, has adapted to her new surroundings quite well. Sometimes TOO well :) She had to test out the Christmas tree when we first set it up, and as Lynne decorated it more, the kitten got more adventurous. For a little while, it was cute, as the pictures show. Then she became content to nestle among the decorations we weren't using.







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Of course, the old guy, Simba, had to get into the act before Lynne could get her villages finished...


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Scenes around the outside...











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This year's trees and villages...
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Last week, our youngest grandson took part in his 1st grade's performance of "The Grinch". John is on the far right ;-)



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We had Celeste and her other grandparents over to visit last week as well. (Sorry Mary, you were out taking pictures at the same time I was) We had a week of really pleasant weather, and Celeste had a blast exploring the yard and woods.








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Of course, there's the obligatory Christmas cookies. School and travel schedules for the grandsons meant that Lynne and I had to undertake this task all alone, but we managed ;)



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Even though we've had one really hard freeze (a few nights in the teens), this butterfly showed up last week, and the bitter cold didn't seem to phase the Clematis on the front porch. Sometimes, things out of the ordinary are ordinary here in the Heartland.




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It's early Christmas morning now. We've baked, cooked, and wrapped, chatted and smelled the scent of burning pine logs in the firepit, shared some quality time with Mom this evening, and all is well and WONDERFUL this early Christmas morning.

We'd like wish all who stop by here all the joys and blessings of this Special season.

Peace and Love, and wishing you God's Blessings,

from the Heartland,
~Tom and Lynne~