Winter Solstice in Fairbanks...

So, I am sitting up late.  I will be heading to Fairbanks International Airport (sounds impressive, right??  6 gates, a parking lot, and a place to wait until your guest gets out of baggage claim) to pick up my son Brian as he flies in to spend Christmas with me.

I know, with a pandemic raging, maybe not the smartest thing, but we will be as careful as we can be. We have celebrated just about every Christmas together, except for last year when he went to see his Dad.  It has been well over a year since I have seen him and I am suffering from Pandemic Fatigue so he will be here for 5 days and then I will not see Rob and Kate until after January 2nd when I will have been 14 days out from my first contact with Brian.  Rob is very careful with Kate, and I do not blame them in the least.  Whatever it takes.

Brian flew into Seattle from Minneapolis.  He was to arrive, have about 45 minutes to get to his connection and then land here around 11:45 PM tonight.  I was watching his flights on a Flight Tracker app and noticed that he landed on time but then his connecting flight began to report a delay.  So I texted him that I was aware of the delays and he texted back that after about an hour, he was still in the first plane and thought he might miss his next flight.  But he made it and then waited and waited.  The second plane was reported to be overweight.  But after whatever needed to be done, he finally took to the air and is on his way, some 2 1/2 hours late, so I will be at the airport at 2:30-ish in the AM to pick him up.

Well, I have time on my hands as I am prepared for his arrival, so I have been looking at Facebook, watching the West Wing on Netflix as it will be disappearing on December 25th, and checking the Flight Tracker so I know what time I need to head to the airport.

Today was the Winter Solstice.  We celebrate this day in Fairbanks as our days, which have been getting darker and longer each day will finally be turning around and the days will be getting lighter and lighter from here on out.

I have tried to explain to those who have asked about how the sun is during this odd time.  I have tried to explain to those who have asked that the sun rises and sets in the south and it struggles to get very high in the sky during the winter. In my flipping through Facebook, I came across the perfect picture to explain what I have tried to describe.

This photo was taken all day on the Winter Solstice in 2012.  It was a time-lapse photo and in one picture you are seeing the sunrise and sunset on the longest, darkest day of the year in Fairbanks.  It was taken from a vantage point near the University of Alaska, Fairbanks.  My house is down in the valley in the area in front of where the picture was taken.  It clearly shows the sun peeking over the horizon, scooting along the horizon before setting again.

I was asked today if I had gotten used to the darkness.  I have, I even like this time of the year.  It is great for a retired person to sleep in and not be wakened by the light shining into the window.  In fact, I had a harder time with the long, light-filled days in the summer.  Somehow, taking Miles out for his final walk at 11:30 PM and having daylight all around and then trying to go to bed was really very difficult for me.  Perhaps I will find it easier in 2021.

Enjoy the picture.

Christmas decorations...

 Little by little, I have gotten my Christmas decorations up in the house.  They are nothing special but I really like what I have done.

These are 4 little houses, a few little trees, and some kids building a snowman that now grace the top of the oak secretary that moved from PA to Alaska.  It was in the living room in Parkesburg after Rudy refinished it.  He had purchased it at auction.  It is one of my favorite pieces.  It is in the living room here in Fairbanks, as well.

I do not know where the little houses came from.  They appeared in a "Christmas" box that arrived in the move.  They were inside a small plastic tub and each one was in a box.  They came from the Ames Department Store but I do not remember buying them or even displaying them.  But I know they are mine because in that tub were two shoe boxes.  One held very old ornaments that had been on my parent's Christmas trees and are quite fragile.  The other box held my first Nativity scene.  I had not seen it in years and I had thought that Rudy, during some of his attic purge days, had inadvertently thrown them out.  There was also a crocheted angel tree topper and a few other odds and ends.

I love how cute the little village is on top of the secretary.

This is the coffee table.  I placed a gold-colored charger plate on the table then placed a battery-operated candle lantern that runs for several hours in the evening in the center of the plate.  I added some small red and gold ornaments, finally surrounding the plate with red and gold garland.  Can you guess my color theme???

This is the area that divides the living room from the steps.  We have heard tell that one of the previous owners had a large fish tank in this area where they had Piranha.  Along the top, there are three little Christmas Gnomes, a couple of LED candles, and an angel musical decoration.

Attached to the front-top is the Poinsettia garland that I had used in Parkesburg around all of the doors.  The doorways here are a tad different, so this year, I am only using one of the three garlands.

On either side of the TV are two Christmas Gnomes made from socks.  I made four of them (thus far) to add to my Christmas decor.

This is my front window.  Last year I used the big Poinsettias, the lighted garland, and the 4 large red and gold ornaments.  This year I added 4 smaller ornaments.  I got a tube of 6, but I hung the two extra ones over by the TV.

If you look carefully, under the little china cabinet having on the wall you can see the hanging Christmas tree made from folded fabric.  It was made at Sew Much Love at the Parkesburg Mennonite Church.  I am sure missing my sewing ladies and time at the sewing machine making pillowcases, little dresses, and the occasional craft.  I pray that they will get back to the fellowship, fun, and sewing that they have done before COVID!

This is next to the TV.  It sits on top of the Symphonian, covered with batting.  This is one of two Nativities that I have used in the past few years.  This one was to replace the one I thought I had lost but just found in a box!  So now I have three and they will be rotated out each year.  This one is made by Lenox and I paid $25.00 for it at a local thrift shop in Cochranville.

This is the little secretary with the village on top.  Next to it is my printer.  On top is one of the four Christmas Gnomes I made sitting in a nest of red and gold garland.

This year I got another tree.  Over time, in Parkesburg, I had gotten rid of all of my regular sized Christmas Trees.  So I went searching for a little tree.  I could not find any, but very good friends had been out shopping in the local Commissary where they spied this perfect little tree.  It came pre-lit and I added red and gold ornaments as well as bead garland.  Note, the printer is now adorned with another Christmas Lantern.  The Gnome now resides on the opening between the living room and the kitchen with its brother...

This is the dining room table.  A lovely red tablecloth, embossed with satin Poinsettias, a white table runner with embroidered red Poinsettias, round Poinsettia placemats go around the table.  In the center, you will see "Nutcracker" nutcrackers and on the turntable a tall vase of Poinsettias with two round containers of red and gold ornaments with battery-operated fairy lights woven through the ornaments.  The table is really stunning in person.

I had help.  Normally Miles spends his time stretched out on the floor at the top of the stairs.  At one point this is where I found him.  He had snuggled down on top of the leftover garland.  The red really shows off his sandy-colored fur.

Prepping for Christmas

 After a week of turkey comas,,, I love cold turkey sandwiches on toast with butter, mayo, and lettuce... my favorite part of Thanksgiving... I have begun the task of preparing for Christmas.

I no longer want to do the big tree in the front window, decorated with tons of ornaments that have sentimental meanings, lots of brightly colored lights, and in older times, covered with tinsel.  My children are either in or near their 50's and there are no grandchildren.  All of the trees and decorations, cookies coming out of your ears, baking for days, and shopping, shopping, shopping is best done when there are eager children or grandchildren to giggle and have eyes wide in the wonder of this special Holiday Season.  But I do like to have s few festive decorations to bring the feeling of the season into the house to lighten my spirits at this time of the year.

The last few years in Parkesburg I had a 2-foot tree that remained decorated after the holidays, covered with a plastic bag until the next year.  I had found a garland that was made up of small poinsettia blooms for the three door openings, with glittery poinsettias that got clipped to the corners and bright red velvet bows tied to the ends.  I toyed with the idea of lights and decided against that idea.  They look pretty just the way they are.  Add some poinsettia placemats and either red or green tablecloths.  Easy peasy up... easy peasy down.

Last year, after moving to Fairbanks, I had to find other easy, peasy decorations as I had yet to unearth my Christmas decorations that moved from Parkesburg.  I had found some large, glittery, blingy plastic ornaments at Home Depot.  I had gotten red and gold ones, then located some red and gold glittery garland at Walmart, some LED flashing lights that had a twinkle mode, and some tall poinsettias which all fit in the front window.  We had just purchased the living room furniture for the house and it sits all along the front window, so it was the best type of decoration for this house.

I did not remove the hangers when I took them down, so this year it will be even easier to hang them up.  I will be adding a few hangers as I found smaller ornaments, similar to the ones from last year, at Costco.  I also have all of the things I remembered from Parkesburg and a few things that I uncovered that I either have not seen in years or do not remember getting at all.

I took some "before" pictures of the living room and dining room.  I will share the after pictures... well after I am done!

This is the living room from the corner of the dining room.  The plastic tub has the big ornaments that are ready to hang and the garland and lights are layered in the bottom of the tub.  Note the middle pillows.  They are newly added to the sectional.  I saw them on Facebook Marketplace.  I thought they would match but did not purchase them right away.  When they did not sell for several weeks I contacted the seller and picked them up one evening.  They are perfect and I love the look.

This is turning towards the dining room.  I had brought up a couple of items that had been found in boxes not marked 'Christmas' and not yet in another box. The poinsettias I had picked up in an order that I got from Joann's.

This is the second Holiday jigsaw puzzle.  Kate usually heads there when she is not working, or on her computer for a meeting during the days when they come to spend time with me.  This one is all Ugly Christmas Sweaters.  If she finishes it before Christmas, I have another one waiting.

This is what the puzzle will look like when it is done!

These are the decorations from last year.  They hang in the window using a fishing line, so it is almost invisible.  The garland with the lights attached is hung on the edge of the window glass so it can be seen inside and outside.

These two boxes are special Nativity sets.  One was a gift from a couple at Parkesburg Mennonite Church on the occasion of my joining the church.  Parmalle and Noah have been special friends of mine during my time as a member of that church and I cherish it.  The other was a replacement for a set that I had for many years and haven't seen in many years.  I found the new one at a thrift shop for $20.00.  I am not sure if they will all be set up.  I may end up rotating them year to year.

These are the rest of the decorations that have been unearthed.  There is still a box or two in the garage labeled 'Christmas'.There are two tubs, the long one on top is all of the Parkersburg stuff.  The one you can barely see on the bottom is a new...old... box with things I do not remember at all.  The clear tube has ornaments, the new ones, that I bought at Costco last week.  It is going to be an interesting time seeing what I still have.