That woman!

Is NOTHING sacred? Posting a picture of a tired old Santa getting a little rest before meeting the onslaught of his eager young fans! That woman!

On the other hand, we had such a good snow day yesterday! A little trip into Mancos to run some errands and get some supplies, then staying inside at home, watching it snow outside as Sandy put up her beautiful Christmas village and I attacked the annual peppernut production process. With Christmas music on the stereo and the aroma of a wonderful pot of soup coming from the stove, it was a great day together at home ... love that woman!

The peppernuts (pfeffernusse) are a two-step process ... first is making about 15 pounds of dough and converting it to ropes/sausages/whatever image you wish to use. Then, usually after freezing them, the ropes are sliced into little discs and baked, resulting in hard little cookies that are dangerous to dentition. They're to be sucked on, not chewed. The old Germans, when I was growing up, would put one in the mouth and suck coffee through it, like they sometimes did with a sugar cube. Not much difference, either; peppernuts are basically flour and sweetness in the form of Karo syrup, molasses and brown sugar! I had to test this batch, so cut up two ropes and baked them last night. They'll do!

Though we were busy with downtown holiday stuff Friday night, we really enjoyed our visit with the McKims, Servas visitors from Oxford, England. The kids, 10 and 8, enjoyed the tree-lighting in town and our tour of the shops; Kai got to try on a cowboy hat at Nate's and they both loved the cats in the hat shop. I realized later how thoroughly enjoyable the children were (the parents were fun and interesting, too!) ... they were not lost in their earbuds, Game Boys or cell phones. They read, drew pictures, created dramas with toy animals and sat with us and intelligently discussed what they'd seen on their round-the-world trip and asked intelligent questions about what they were seeing here. Neat!

The picture of the Mancos Valley Visitor Center was taken Friday. I'll take another one this morning, after I get the walk shoveled. It will look a LOT different!

The top picture was taken on our Friday night gallery tour. It's in the Goodnight Trail Gallery and that's Veryl Goodnight on the left in the foreground, talking with one of the Camp's Town Ladies who dressed up in Victorian finery and came to Mancos for the Friday night events. Veryl's husband, Roger Brooks, goes by on an errand in the background.

Okay, it's light. Can't put it off any longer. Got to bundle up and move snow. tv