Merry Christmas 2015, and Winter Break too.

We hope that everyone had a wonderful winter break! It’s been cold and hibernate-y here at the Reed house. I managed to get sick for most of the break (boo!) but we had planned a quiet, stay-at-home, type vacation anyway so no major plans were disrupted, thankfully!
Us long time desert dwellers are having to adapt to this cold weather nonsense. We really do not like being cold! At least we’ve had some pretty days to enjoy… even if our teeth chatter.

Waiting for the bus on cold dark mornings! Welcome to Maryland!

Fog is pretty nifty though.


When cold, snuggle.

Brad helping Honor with her homework. Math is dad’s favorite!

When we moved into this house, we were warned by the neighbors to not drive on the lawn because the low bits were known for eating vehicles. Our little ditch froze up with interesting crystals one morning.

Pixie and I enjoy using the computer… in our own different ways.

Winter is tough on the animals though. This little one, who we caught sleeping in our backyard one morning, looks hungry already. Its mom was sleeping nearby too.

I decided to dye my hair a little bit red for the holidays.

Cats totally rule at relaxing.

Santa found us! Good thing we put in a change of address   The tree looks nice down in the basement by the fireplace!

Ninja was confused about these particular gifts.

First time we’ve ever lived some place where we could get the kids some bikes! Oh yea… they’ve been looking forward to these!

Yes.. the cats did eventually knock them down…

The stockings were stuffed with sweet goodies and silly junk.

Ninja found the first kitty present and opened it by herself.

Honor got the tee that she’d specifically asked for, plus some more that fit her personality!

Actually, everybody got a lot of warm clothes! We needed them.

Brian got some Magic the Gathering cards (so did his Dad).

Pixie checks out the present stash… looking for whatever it is that smelled like nip.


The day after Christmas, we were blessed with a visit with good friends! We were posted together in Jordan and haven't has a chance to see each other since. We spent their entire visit chatting, playing, walking, eating, chatting some more and had such a great time catching up, that we totally forgot to take any photos together! Ah well... I guess this gives us a great reason to get together again some time.

Another winter break accomplishment – new glasses!

We hope that everyone had a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Getting Ready For Christmas

First Christmas in a new house. Again. I’m not sure how many of those ornaments that we actually own, the new house ones, with the year, etc.. I’ve missed many ‘new home’ occasions to add to our collection, but this year I managed to get another one for us. A pretty house shaped picture frame, covered in festive crystals with the year printed on it. First holidays in a new place are always tricky. Where to put the tree? What decorations to hang and where?  What fits and what doesn’t? Do the lights still work? How and where to celebrate? This year’s decoration theme (as if I ever have one!) was “Stuff is Out of Boxes!… Ta-daa!” Which was good enough for us.

We set up the tree when the grandparents where here for Thanksgiving. This is not something that the kids have ever shared with extended family before and I think they really enjoyed it. I did a lot of unpacking and handing of things this year, leaving the actual decorating to the others. I fell down the stairs a while ago and really did a number on my ankle. It’s getting better, but getting up and down off of the floor is tough! I can move quite well on flat ground, have to be careful on stairs, but once I am sitting way down on the floor where I can reach stuff, I tend to stay until I am done. Anyway, it gave me an unusual opportunity to just sit back, take photos, and watch the kids run the show.

The kids did a lot of the work. Good teamwork!

But Grandma Susan and Brad chipped in too.

The cats helped too, but it was really hard work!

Grandpa George was also there to help. Honor whistles a merry tune.

Inspector Ninja checks the wiring. (Or, is eating the branches, again…)

Christmas decorations with cats. Pumpkin demonstrates:

“Nom nom nom!”                                      “Busted!”

“I’m sorry.”                                             “Nom nom nom!”

It was Brian’s turn to put the angel topper on the tree. He’s 6’1”+ now. Long gone are the days we have to lift him up to reach.

Another fun thing we did with our visitors was to grill out one night… despite it being cold and rainy! We simply moved the BBQ grill under the carport and went ahead with our dinner plans. Honor and I set up an unnecessary but totally cool warning system for Brad, who was returning home late from work. If you have blinking flashlights, it’s good to find uses for them.

We also thought it would be a good night to roast marshmallows.

And because we have so much of this sort of mess on the new property…

George got us a chainsaw, which, of course, we had to take out for a test drive right away, despite it being really cold and wet outside! New toys and all…

There is still a lot of brush to clean out, but two dead trees are down, plus tons of twisted and thick vines removed, and it is much more tame!

We also had major repair work done on the old, crumbling chimney and rusted out fire-‘slammer’- box. It was thoroughly inspected by firecat Pixie before we laid our first fire.

Brad’s dad also helped in the rebuild of our workbench in the shed. This is MUCH nicer than the old, beat-up and warped bench that was in there!