Monday, December 26, 2011

A High Desert Christmas

Before: This is our hay shelter after the wind storm that burned and devastated much of Reno.
After: Fred has been working on it a little at a time and Christmas Eve day he came over, got our teenage neighbors to help him hoist up the roof, and we're back in business. It's beautimus and anchored with two bags of cement and Jimmy Hoffa.
Princess Alexia.
Neighbors Carol, Myrna, Carl and Angela.
I'm glad I wasn't near that discussion, between a liberal and a conservative. I think that's what I love about our friends out here. Respect is still practiced.
Christmas Eve is our open house for family, friends and neighbors. Wait, that sounds bad - our neighbors *are* our friends. The two boys in this shot are mine - my youngest son Matt and my SIL Mikeal - who was celebrating his 20th anniversary of marriage to my daughter. Sadly I'm not a photographer and don't think like one so missed getting a shot of them together.

Christmas morning Ian and I exchanged our gifts and I slipped off to Mass. I know it sounds silly to drive that far for a church service, but this is the first time I've gotten to attend Mass on Christmas and I had my heart set on it. As soon as I got home, we lit off for Carol and Harry's to celebrate Christmas day.
They had their own open house and celebration and the absolute star was six-week-old Delia. She wasn't the grinch that stole Christmas - she was the doll that stole Christmas!! I love this photo and the look on her daddy's face. As I share my holiday with you, my wish is that you loved yours just as much as I loved mine.

However, mine did end with a bang. That would be the dryer blowing up this morning. It was cheap when we bought ten years ago, so I have to acknowledge that we got our money's worth. However, we're leaving in two days for SoCal and I will complain about the timing. We have an online subscription to Consumer Reports so I spent a couple hours researching replacements. The winner is Kenmore. I'll go to Sears tomorrow after I go to the laundromat and I'll get a Sear's credit card - that card provides about $200 in discounts. Then I'll come home and order the machines - we've decided to replace both - and have them delivered and installed when we get home. Bah humbug!

8 comments:

re'New said...

and Jimmy Hoffa... you crack me up.
Don't ya just hate having to replace machines? I would rather spend my funds on something fun! Christmas here was quiet. So much so it didn't feel like Christmas.

Michelle said...

An "ah, shucks" about the dryer, but the rest of your Christmas looks heavenly!

Theresa said...

Have you contacted the Feds about the Hoffa burial site? ;) Yeah for completed shelters. Oh what an adorable baby! I'm glad you two had a wonderful time and the open house sure looked like fun. I thought of popping into town for Midnight Mass but honestly, I was tired, the drive long and it wouldn't be practical to go to sleep once I got back and no one wants a grumpy cook.
Bummer on the dryer. We have a Kenmore set, low cost, scratch and dent HD (heavy duty) models. My bet is the washer is going to crap out before the dryer, but man have they taken a LOT of abuse. We joke that when it goes maybe we should just buy a commercial one...

LA said...

So sorry about the dryer! But, it sounds like you got your money's worth on the old one! I'm so glad your Christmas was merry!

Benita said...

Having the washer or dry quit is never good timing, but at least you'll have new ones so won't have to go through that for many a year.

Have a safe trip!!!

Hilary said...

Baby is sweet, and your house party looks lovely.
That's what it's all about. People that we love, no matter how old they are.

Two Guys and a Loom said...

Bummer about the dryer.... hate spending money on appliances almost as much as I hate spending it on vehicles!!!!

Happy New Year!!!!

Wool Enough said...

Looks like an absolutely wonderful Christmas. The dryer, of course, has probably been planning this little upset all year. Appliances will do that.