Santa's Workshop

Santa Claus may have finished his work on Christmas Eve, but Ukranian Santa is still hard at it, making Christmas gifts for the ones he loves!

What is he up to?

When we took a peak into his North Pole workshop we saw piles of sawdust and heard saws, drills, sanders and hammers.

His experienced hand guided the wood as he shaped it into something new and wonderful.

What is it?

I guess you'll have to wait until the Braun Ukranian Christmas to find out!

Our church has bells!

When we left the Christmas Eve service we saw a young guy in the foyer pulling on a rope. As we stepped through the doors to go outside we could hear the bell ringing. It was a special touch to our Christmas Eve service to hear a real Christmas bell ringing!

Chicadees Have Come!

I'm so pleased! I planted sunflowers and put out suet in hopes of drawing chicadees to our yard. I just about gave up and brought the suet in when the snow and cold hit and the chicadees arrived. We have no big trees in our subdivision so the chances were slim, but they've been coming steadily for about week. They've been eating the dried out sunflower seeds, plus regular seed and the suet.

They are so cute to watch. They move constantly, flitting from feeder to feeder to sunflowers, but aren't as easily frightened away as sparrows.

Since the cold, the sparrows have been coming in flocks of 30 to 40. They scare off easily at any movement in the windows, but just retire to the neighbor's tree until they deem it safe again.

This is a price we thought we might never see again! What a difference it makes! What is the price in your area?

Visit to Parents

Dad's as great as ever!

Mom is frail but cheerful.

It was nice to see sisters and sister-in-laws, cousins and aunts.

Happy Birthday Juanita!

What a sweetheart!

Have a great day!

Which look is best?

So I've been trying to recapture my youth...

I'm getting tired of my hair, but the question is, what color should I go for?

I colored my hair yesterday. I used medium brown, but it goes red on me.
Is it too red, should I try a different color, or let my hair go grey?
How long should one avoid going grey? Until 55? 60? 65? 70?
I sure don't like the idea of a 70 year-old redhead!

We're Making Progress!

Jon, Magan and Jack were with us for a couple of days last week. Jack and I had fun playing lego. Mal and I had gotten a laundry basket size tub of lego at a garage sale, and it kept Jack happy and busy for a long time. He concentrates long and hard at playing and doesn't get into stuff at all. Amazing for a two-year-old!

Jon helped Mal drywall his office-to-be. That was a big relief to me, because otherwise it would have been me helping. I'd rather play with Jack! Our plan is to finish Mal's office so he can move his desk and bookcases in there, and then close it off and finish the rest of the basement. Any way you look at it, we're going to live in a mess this winter!

Last piece of drywall in the office.

Let the mudding begin!