Hello all,

Since it was rumored that the temps would drop to very cold weather for our traditional Christmas Eve caroling, we did that the day before Christmas eve, good thing too since we've had -40 weather ever since! A good time was had by all, Rob even got to ride the proverbial "jingle bell sleigh", complete with one horse. Thanks Amaris for getting him on the ride! And Thanks to Hannah Mason for staying in the Tab and getting all the hot choc and goodies ready for the cold carolers! :)
Sarah and Mark took some good night shots, which I was not able to capture very well with my humble set up. We've had a few days of between -40 and -50 degrees. Today there is a slight breeze which is steadily bringing the temperatures up.
The Buongiornes spent a quiet Christmas dinner evening with Floan at her cabin. A nice dinner and some simple gift giving at the end.
Pat and Bethany and the twins, came out for Thanksgiving and stayed for a week. It was a very nice visit. The girls are as cute as can be, sociable and very vocal. Such smart little poppets! They will say their name and also their color, Ella-Purple, Esssie-Pink. So sweet! Had a wonderful time with them.
Proud parents Pat and Beth are now home owners having closed on a nice house recently. Pat is getting it up to snuff before he leaves on his Prudoe Bay job on the slope. He will be gone for 2 weeks and back for 2, an arrangement which will enable them to plan family activities with more accuracy than when he was out on the fires. God speed Pat!
GrammaGri was able to visit Beth and the girls TWICE, this past summer/fall. Driving down to Palmer with Wenda Lawrence and Janice Blohm was a treat, such lovely scenery at that time of the year. Both times Pat was on a fire though.
Some farm news:
Some farm news:
Our last day of school was Tuesday. We will start school again on January 6th - because of how the weekends fell, we have more off time, sorta. I'm not complaining!
Wenda has been gone for a couple of weeks visiting Stacey and her family in Kansas. I can't say that I'm not a little jealous - I had such a good visit with them last March. Jarred and Jennifer have taken off for a couple of weeks to visit family in New York. Kevin and Kelly have gone to visit Kevin's family in Montana for a little bit of time. Jo has gone to Vegas to see her sister, Sarah; plus some other family members are there too. Jessy is spending some time in Canada, mainly at Headwaters or Evergreen.
We are sure happy that Steve and Judy returned home. It was like we were missing an arm or maybe even a leg.
Sis Millie is doing well. She only comes out on Sundays for service. She sure enjoys any mail that comes her way.
We spent three nights in the past couple of weeks putting up our beef meat. Thank you, Tommy, for that!
Bro Andy is looking into some second opinions concerning his condition. We are hopeful about that!
Val and George are spending some time in North Carolina with their children. I'm praying that in every way, this is a healing time for them.
Tony's horse calendar is ready to buy if anyone is interested. I also have a few more of mine, if anyone failed to get theirs.
Saturday May and Gri are leaving for 10 days with the Tesis, Karenza and Ani. Also will try and squeeze a farewell to our sis Alejandra, who is moving to Chile for work for a bit.
All in all, it has been a good year, very busy and many changes. The biggest for us as a family - The Buongiornes - is that our youngest daughter Annie - Anne Marie - Ani - has been living in TX for about 6 months already. A big adjustment for all of us but I think a good one, new opportunities and goals. God is good.
We thank each and every one of you for staying in touch and reaching out. Closing this short Christmas-news-blog-end-of-year, with the prayer and the wish that 2014 will be a good, peaceful and prosperous one for us all!
God bless you,
Gri