Saturday, December 29, 2012

Season's Greetings






We are enjoying a very nice Christmas break.  We traveled back to our hometown to spend some time with our families--there was much eating, talking, laughing, and general laying about.  Also a bit of hiking, some reading, crocheting, and movie watching.  The weather was gray--ferocious winds on Friday night knocked down several trees in the area, and Jordan spent Saturday helping his dad saw up one that fell in the yard.  We got in our hike on Sunday while it was still fairly dry, though cloudy.  We meant to hike down into Linville Gorge, but started down the wrong trail and found ourselves in the Linville Falls park that we know so well.  We found the correct trail later, but it was already getting dark, so that will have to wait for another time.  The fog settled in on Christmas Eve, leading to many Rudolph references.

Jordan and I read some Grimm fairy tales on the way back home--2012 marks the bicentennial of the publication of their tales, and we recently heard a great NPR interview with Maria Tatar.  One of my favorite tales, one that I remember reading when I was little, was "The Six Swans"--sewing as a heroic act!

I have lots of plans for the New Year.  I get as excited about January 1 as any other holiday.  I have a new journal on order from Amazon, and new challenges I want to pursue. I completed my 2012 running goal in mid-December--366 miles in a year.  I still haven't decided for sure what I want to do for 2013, but I have just a few more days to figure it out!