A Christmas Letter

You know how people send out letters with their Christmas cards every year? I sent out these rather thick multi folding cards and I thought that sending a letter would raise the postage. Seriously, I didn't make the time to write it before now and look it's Christmas eve.

So what has been happening here at Green Gates? Chickens have come and gone. We raised two turkeys to adulthood and Sir Henry has just starting to fluff up and it's driving the dogs nuts.

The horses are doing fine. Ariel, our momma llama, had her last baby in September. She finally had a boy, probably because the dad of her last three daughters went to a new home. We had a number of baby goats this spring. Sadly, Sage the beautiful matriarch of our herd had her back broken, we suspect by a horned boer, and had to be put down. But she left us with Sasha and Simon. The evil boer is gone.

We added two chihuahuas to the canine family, Chico and Princess. Katie, our old Keeshond, passed away this summer. And Cody, the mix, had to find a new home after he killed half of the chicken flock and pulled the boys' pet rabbits out of their cages and killed them.

So Andy, now 8 years old, is doing well in the 3rd grade. Still crazy for dinosaurs. He's become quite the artist and is really starting to read more. His favorite books are about dinosaurs and he really likes the series "the Magic Tree house". Since I got tired of two messy bedrooms Andy has to share his room with....

Alex, now 7, is technically in the 1st grade but he is in the 2nd grade classroom doing 2nd grade work. Alex scored in a national test in the 99% in math, reading and writing. Sometimes he's a little scary how smart he is. Alex loves computer games, card games, (bugging his brother) and he also likes the treehouse series.

Peter is keeping busy with work, being secretary of the HOA, and trying to keep sane from all my ideas of what projects we (meaning him) can do here at the farm. And I have a lot of ideas...

I want a new horse barn cause then I could put the goats in the old horse barn and use the entire goat barn to store feed. Hey, when I find a good price on grass I feel the need to stock up. You never know when we'll will get a bad storm. I've also been busy with the church's food pantry, serving on the school board and volunteering two days a week at our school's front desk.

I forgot to mention we added two parakeets, Bert and Ernie, and a canary, Teddy, to the menagerie. I just heard Teddy singing which reminded me.

For Christmas we are having brunch at daughter Melissa's home. She has two boys now, James is one and Derek is 3 1/2 months old. And then we go to the MIL's for Christmas dinner with Peter's family. Sunday we are going to my parents. And this is after Christmas Eve candlelight service. And sometime Santa has to find time to visit our house.

So from everyone and everything at Green Gates Farm, Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year.