Truckee

I haven't written anything here in a long time.  Mostly because it is winter, the B&B is closed, I am on a diet and nothing tasty is being prepared.  Also, we went out to California to visit our granddaughter.  We made it a late Christmas and all our grown children and their spouses came for the "holidays". 



It was like being in a tunnel.  The snow was piled higher than our heads!

Our daughter that lives in England was able to come so it was a family reunion, a bit of Christmas and lots of fun.

                     

The California drought has gone out with a bang.  This means scads of snow in the mountain areas.  We rented a house in Truckee from Airbnb and planned on lots of snowy fun.  It started off strange as our GPS said we were at our destination, but all we could see was brief gaps in the snow carved out for a garage. 

 

The adventurists went snowboarding and skiing. 

 

The baby went sledding for the first time and was lots of fun

Of course, this was the highlight.  Sorry to everyone else that took long flights to get here.  Rachel trumps all. 

                   

Wait.  Are we allowed to use Trump as a positive?

Two Stockings Finished

Last year I started work on a Christmas stocking for my son-in-law.  I waited until after the wedding in September, so I didn't have time to finish it before Christmas.  It looked about like this and I just propped it up under the mantle. 

 

I made stockings for my kids when they were little, and then when they started getting married, I had to make one for their spouses.

But this year I have a GRANDDAUGHTER.  So, of course, she gets a stocking, too.  She was born Christmas Eve, so I didn't have a stocking ready for her.  She was busy that day.

 

I waited until both were stitched to sew them together.  The kits include a felt backing.  That is all I used for the stockings for my kids, but when I started making them for the spouses, I started lining them.  I am no way a seamstress, so I just cut out around the felt backing with the lining folded over to have the satin on the inside of the stocking.  You want all the goodies to slide out easily, right?

 

After stitching around the outside of the stocking, I turned them right side out.  I folded the top into a cuff so there were no rough edges, the tacked the lining to the cuff.  Absolutely invisible perfect stitches.  You'll have to take my word for it.   

 

I braided the handle from the included yarn.  I always stitch the handle on tightly, as you never know how heavy the goodies Santa stuffs in there will be.

 

Ready for Christmas!

 

Now I can get back to making some baskets to sell at the next craft fair in Buchanan. 

Baby Visit

Our son and daughter-in-law were kind enough to present us with a granddaughter for Christmas.  I wanted to fly right out there, but I remembered my first baby and how hard those first few weeks were.

So I gave them a break and waited a three weeks.  Not too many.  I'm not a saint!

When I told my daughters that I was going, they decided they wanted to go, too!  Lee had responsibilities here, so we three girls flew out and invaded.  In our defense, I booked a hotel room so we gave them a few scant hours without us.  (Approaching sainthood)  Granted they still didn't get any rest, due to said baby. 

We had a lot of fun with Rachel and forced her to pose for lots of pictures.  It will be a few more years before she will forcibly resist all parental (and grandparental) photo taking.  So we took full advantage of it.

I even have a picture of Tara taking a picture.

 

Does Rachel look like her Aunties?  I wonder what they will be called.  My sister, Robin, ended up being called Auntie Rotten.  And she reveled in it!

 

They can't argue with you about picture taking when they are asleep!  So we have a bunch of those, too.

 

Fortunately, Rachel is a very good baby.  And doesn't seem to mind the constant picture taking.

 

"Alright, Mr. DeMille.  I'm ready for my close-up."

Christmas Eve

There are some things happening in our family that are very sad.  But we had some fabulous news that overshadowed everything.

 

Our son Travis and his wife Vanessa had our first grandchild on Christmas Eve.

 

 Her name is Rachel Alice. They are both prodigious readers so they picked literary names.  Rachel is the name of the boat that rescued Ishmael in Moby Dick.  Travis recently finished Teddy Roosevelt's biography and he had a daughter named Alice.  My Aunt Suzy is planning on singing Alice Blue Gown on a recording for them to play.

 

Best Christmas gift EVER.