2021 Life Logs, Day 359: Christmas Day
Date: Saturday, December 25, 2021
Weather: Rain All Day; High Temp 35, Low Temp 32 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
It was a wonderful Christmas Day from beginning to end. When I arrived at Heather and Jed’s at 7:45 am, Sam was standing just outside the front door yelling, “She’s here, she’s here!” Even an almost 15-year-old still can’t wait to open presents. The boys had gotten up early and discovered their gift from Santa, dove into their stockings, and were waiting for me to open presents. So, we went right to it. Santa gave the boys a blacksmith’s hammer and blacksmithing classes.
Evidently Santa knows that all three boys have always been fascinated by the blacksmith at the County Fair and this past summer they experimented with a makeshift forge in the backyard. Next summer they will get some proper training for their interest thanks to Santa.
The highlights of the present opening frenzy were many. 
Jed got an array of garden gnomes to add to his indoor stuffed collection. Ollie attended pottery making classes last summer and gave each of us one of his beautiful bowls.
Heather was over the moon with hers as Ollie had added raised lettering to spell her name on the outside and added a handle making it a mug for her morning tea.
The boys were very excited about the soccer jerseys Jed gave them
and I was super excited with the afghan lap blanket Heather knitted for me. It is beautiful.
Sam was excited as Heather with the hydroponic grow kit I gave Heather. And I was truly amazed at the gift I got from Sam. He made a beautiful wooden steak knife holder for me in his wood class at school.
He also worked with Jed to make a Little Free Library for Heather. It is not quite done, but will be soon. My main gift to the boys was a Burton snowboard backpack for each of them that will hold their snowboard boots, helmet, googles, gloves, and few other accessories. And if you need to, you can even strap your snowboard on as Sam demonstrated this morning.
Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco gave me an absolutely gorgeous white marble and walnut mortar and pestle.
It was a big Christmas and there was so much more, We made sure that we gave thanks at dinner tonight for everyone’s generosity.
Heather made her annual monkey bread to snack on while opening presents and after all the presents were opened, we had a Skype video call with Justin. Jo, Ziggy, and Coco in Puerto Rico. I hope to talk to them again tomorrow to learn more about what they got for Christmas. We then had Jed’s special gravlax on bagels for lunch and took a break for the afternoon. I went home to walk in the rain with Shadow and spend time with him. The boys got him a special water mug from the Wired Puppy coffee shop in Provincetown we visited over Thanksgiving weekend and he loves it! I returned to Heather and Jed’s for dinner. Jed roasted a duck which was so good. And Ollie made this year’s chocolate Yule Log with a little instruction from Heather. So beautiful and so delicious.
When I left to come home, the Goldstones were scurrying about getting packed for their trip to Maine tomorrow. They will spend time with Grammy Marti and Uncle Toby who is visiting from Oregon, go snowboarding and skiing for a couple of days, and then return to Grammy Marti’s for New Year’s Eve before returning home. I plan to give myself a Christmas present of doing absolutely nothing for the next week. I am calling it a planning week for 2022 and am officially on vacation starting right now! However you chose to celebrate the holiday season, I do hope it was joyful. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.
