Merry Christmas!

We had a nice quiet Christmas Eve at home.  I'm not sure why, but Stu wasn't thrilled about the reindeer antlers...thank goodness for wine (otherwise, I probably wouldn't have gotten this picture)!

My folks came over for Christmas dinner and due to the weather ended up spending the night.  Here's a really poor shot of Dad and Stu enjoying a cigar on the front porch...let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

The great room all decked out.

One of Stu's signature "out the window from the couch" shots.

We went for another walk in the woods this morning to check out the snow.  I'd say we have at least 5 inches on the ground and it's still coming down pretty hard right now.

All bundled up for a nice Wintery walk.

More snowy waterfall pictures...

The hill going back to the house from the waterfall.

Going up the driveway.

The house heading up the driveway...

  It's snow angel time!  Stu's up first...

Nice!

My turn...

Not too shabby!

Hmmmm... it seems my wing span is much bigger than Stu's...(I'm on the left)

We hope everyone had a great Christmas!!

Winter Wonderland!

So we woke us this morning to a Winter Wonderland!  I'm not sure how many inches we've gotten today, at least 3-4 though!

I'm not sure if you can see it or not, cut the snowmen spell out "SNOW", how appropriate! 

We took a walk this morning to check out everything covered in the white stuff.

A couple of years ago we were in Spain just before Christmas and saw something like this (a branch sprayed white adorned with decorations)outside of a restaurant...we were inspired!

Stu's toro lantern from Japan.

And of course, the waterfall covered in snow and ice...

Stu, loving it!

Me, freezing!

The house from the top of the driveway.

Stu's garage...

Out the kitchen window, reminds me of a snow globe!

We finally have all of our Christmas decorations up.  The tree is trimmed...

 And our guys are merry!

I've heard it is supposed to be a really cold week, ick!  But it sure is pretty for now...

Wow! It's Been A While!!

It's been a really long time since I've posted anything!

We finally got to tear into our cheese!  Our 80 pounds of Parmigiano-Reggiano we sent back with us from Italy...a little melty, but it survived!

It was kind of like holding a greased pig! 

A couple of days ago we got a few snow flakes so we went for a walk to the waterfall and along the creek... Yes, it was as cold as it looks!

Since we haven't had a "day off" since we moved back here and started on the house, so off we went!  To a really cute little "Alpine Village" in Helen, GA about 2 1/2 hours from here.

The local wineries were hosting a "Wine Weekend", so we made the rounds to three of them.

Helen is nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains on the Chattahoochee River, this Northeast Georgia village has a rich history linked to the Cherokee Indians and Indian burial mounds as well as early settlers who arrived to mine for gold and cut virgin timber for a thriving lumber industry in the early 1900s. Helen is a re-creation of an alpine village complete with cobblestone alleys and old-world towers.

 

There are lots and lots of shops, very touristy.  It reminded us of Gatlinburg, TN, but really cute!

The Christmas tree in the middle of town.

By the time we got home this afternoon...It was snowing, and still is!

 We've been pretty busy in the last couple of weeks!  My folks came down just before Thanksgiving and are now in a cabin right down the road from us here until May.  We are trying to get into "Holiday Mode" and get the Christmas tree and decorations up, we'll see how we do this week!