Thursday, January 20, 2011

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Luminaries (a Pebble Lane memory)

One very special Pebble Lane tradition was luminary night.

The entire Prairie Meadows subdivision would go to the neighborhood church the Saturday before Christmas, pay their homeowners dues and pick up white paper bags and sand. The following night everyone would assemble their luminaries and line the streets and sidewalks with them. When participation was high it was a beautiful sight. And sometimes when I'd leave for work the next morning there would still be a few candles burning.

Also, on luminary night the church would host a living nativity, and serve hot chocolate and invite everyone to join in singing Christmas carols.

It was a great way to get into the Christmas spirit.

After a few years, Pebble Lane started a new tradition by adding Santa Claus to the festivities. Traffic really increased when folks heard Santa was there handing out candy canes. After the first year Frosty and Rudolph joined Santa in the fun too!
Sara and Santa 2000 (this one made the newspaper)






Luminary night was another reason for the Pebble Lane neighbors to gather and catch up on all the news.





Saturday, January 15, 2011

Bird Watching

A great way to spend a laid back (a.k.a. lazy) Saturday morning.
There's a fire in the fireplace, the laptops are in place, sports talk shows on tv, it's nice and cozy inside this house and there's nothing that absolutely has to be done today.
Just outside the window the birds come and go from the feeders.
The early birds are the chickadees and once they've eaten and spilled some seed the morning doves come and eat the seed that's fallen on the ground. Later, once the sun is really shining, the crows come out and also eat seed off the ground and then work in pairs to chase the hawk away. And the bird parade continues all day.