Welcome to Fern Valley

Here in central Alberta prime farm country,my husband Martin and I work together raising beef cattle and Appaloosa horses. Fern valley appaloosas have long been known for their quality of temperament conformation and color.I have recently rediscovered a love of writing and have published 2 collections of poetry. "Telling Tails" and Tails Trails and Campfire stories" . I look forward to a future spreading my wings as an author and as a horse woman .

Sunday 25 December 2011

Wrapping it all up

Well! Christmas night is upon us! And what a Christmas it was!
Grab a cuppa ! its gonna be a long one!
Christmas eve was spent here at home , doing last minute preparations .My dear friend Linda was out for a visit and helped me roll cabbage rolls for today's dinner.(I soo appreciate this , as it is a tiring task, and all she ever charges me is a small pan for her and her mom to snack on)

Then while they were cooking we went out for a walk, watered the young horses and the Phoenix.
You get the benefit of her photos ,with me in them , jelly bean look intact( Note to self , winter wear especially puffy vest and coat  NOT SLIMMING!)

The since we were out there , the conversation wandered to The Phoenix , and Skeeter . Way back I had posted about doing some liberty training with him. But the dang dog has beat me to it !!!
Well I figured I would see if the big guy would dance for me ...

So into his pen I went
And I asked him


As you can see

The answer was a resounding YES!

"Awe Gee mom , that was fun ! Will there be a snack?"

Back into the house and the business at hand .

Wrapped a couple last minute gifts , then started the dough for Cinnamon buns. My plan was to get it to the stage it was rising in the pans then pop them into the fridge to stop them. The all I would have to do in the morning is put them in to bake, and viola ! fresh baked buns for breakfast!
And it worked just the way I planned! Yeah!!


Christmas elf!
My other helper elf
 The finished product

The gang for breakfast




A little down time then whipped up some mashed potato's , and took them and the cabbage rolls to my sisters house for dinner
She put on a wonderful spread , and we all ate , well  probably too well but ...




Yes we exchanged gifts , but the greatest gift I received today was the blessing of having my loved ones all close and being able to  celebrate a family Christmas again this year Mom was able to come home for a few days on a pass , and will hopefully be settled at home soon in the New Year . and if that wasn't all just as good as it gets , We got my dad to sing for us . took some talking and coercion , but he finally allowed us to film him singing . He won't give me permission to show that video here , as he says he is too rusty , but take it from me .He is not ! He has agreed to practice some , and maybe one day he will let me share it!
For now ,just know that it was lovely , a song he tells me he sang to mom when they were dating
here is a bit of the words

"I'm saving my money to buy you a rainbow A rainbow, to fit on your finger And after I've gone and bought you the rainbow I'll go out and I'll buy you the moon "

What  can I say?

A truly wonderful day .I am blessed .
Hope each and every one of you  were able to celebrate with loved ones , this special time .
Stay safe and warm



23 comments:

Ami said...

Oh wow what a great day! Love the paper crowns. And I would love to hear your dad sing. MY dad sings, too. Beautifully.

Tell your dad that I'd LOVE to hear it.

:)

NOTHING is better than being with people you love, holiday or not.

Jeni said...

What a perfect day!

Giggling at your winter attire comment. Looking at the pictures my hubby took of me and Rosie I look like I'm "in foal". HAHAHA guarantee I'm not- just so many layers.

Merry Christmas again =)

GoLightly said...

I dunno, girl, for a so-called jelly-bean, you have a pretty teensy butt and pretty perfect legs! I'm just critiquing your confo;)

So happy you had a wonderful time, and thrilled that Mom is looking so well!

Fix is going to be a movie star...
Don't let his fame go to his gonads:)

Merry Christmas!

Laughing Orca Ranch said...

Sounds like a wonderful day.

And the apple doesn't fall far from the day when it comes to beautiful, heartfelt words either.

~Lisa

Laughing Orca Ranch said...

tree...not day. sorry!

~L

Mikey said...

So beautiful! What a great holiday :) Love the pics, I'll have to leave your page up for Mercy to see and drool over all the Appys :)

Leah Fry said...

Sounds like a wonderful time was had by all. We also had a great time with family.

Sorry I missed those cinnamon buns. YUM.

BrownEyed Cowgirl said...

Sounds and looks like it was a wonderful couple of days. Thanks for sharing!

Shirley said...

Aw, what a lovely Christmas day!
Had to chuckle at Fix, looks just like Beamer at play. They do love to show off!
Beautiful table setting and nice to see all the happy smiling faces- including yours.

Reddunappy said...

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve and Christmas with family too!
I will share soon!! LOL

Looks like a wonderful time.
OK so pray tell about the crowns that everyone was wearing? LOL LOL

Sherry Sikstrom said...

The Christmas Crakers are a family traditon , and for a lot of families too , mostly an English tradition , not sure that I know all the history , but here is a Link

Prairie Ridge Performance Horses said...

What an awesome day you had, Christmas is always more meaningful when spent with family and good friends!!

sally said...

Oh I just love the new header photo. That is a great shot with all the horses coming at the camera. Your Xmas looked like lots of fun and how wonderful to spend it with your family.Merry Mery Christmas from a hot muggy NZ

Fantastyk Voyager said...

Looks like you had a wonderful Christmas. Thanks for sharing. I would love to taste one of your buns. They look delicious!

aurora said...

Great pics, you look perfect. Warm is what it's all about in the winter. Glad you were surrounded by family, and good harmony! Are the yule logs more then decorations? I too would like to hear your dad sing. Cute that he wants to practice before going famous :)

kden said...

Those are truly the best Chrismas's, the ones spent with family (and food). Thanks for sharing, love the dancing horse!

Anonymous said...

Love ya. Hope all your new year will be evey bit as good as your Christmas.

Nicole said...

Looks like a fabulous day to me!!!

Nicole said...

or I should say couple of days :)

Janice said...

Hey Sherry looks like a nice day was had by all. Family is the way to go at this time of the year. The boy is looking pretty sharp...he knows how to perform. The table setting was really pretty....by the way you look just fine....Happy New Year.

Rising Rainbow said...

Sounds like an awesome holiday with your family all together. Very cool.

The cinnamon buns look awesome. Did you let them raise to normal size and then refrigerate, or some place in between flat and fluffy?

Sherry Sikstrom said...

I let them rise to full size then stopped them in the fridge. I think they would rise more after chilling , but I didn't want to take a chance

Ranch Girl Diaries said...

Loved reading about your holiday, looks like a lot of good times with ponies, family, and food. What more could one want? ;-) A very Happy New Year to you and yours!!!