A Christmas Tradition

Even though it was cold and damp outside Mark and I had outdoor jobs planned and were able to accomplish them. Mark drove in to Peoria and picked up Nick who was looking for work. They went first to Meister's and took apart pallets then loading the wood up in Mark's van. When they got here we unloaded it onto the porch as kindlin for our wood burner. We find pallet wood is the best for starting fires then once it is going well we throw in a log or two.
Mark and Nick took both the truck and the car into the indoor arena and changed the tires, taking off the summer set and putting the snow tires on both the van and the car. I worked on the garage moving things out of the way so the car and golf cart could be pulled all the way in. Karin arrived to work horses just as I was ready to move the parts cart into the front of the garage and gave me a hand with that then stayed for lunch. After lunch Mark and Nick worked on fire wood while Karin and I went up to the barn to start working horses. Marika was round penned first.

 She was feeling good and was glad to get out of the mud to run. The rest of her pictures were placed on the Horsemeister Facebook page. If you would like to see them click HERE. She put on quite a show. Jenis was brought out next and given a good groom while Karin tacked up Marika for the trail ride. Hannah and Faith rode double on Jenis while Karin took Marika on the 'death trails'.

Evan saw them coming down the lane and took off running and bucking just trying to show off to the girls. Too bad he was muddy, They were not that impressed.

The rest of Evan's pictures from today were also placed on the Horsemeister Inc Facebook page. Click HERE to see them. He had fun bucking and galloping around swinging his braids.
These trails really were dangerous today. Jenis started sliding getting ready to jump the creek, fell then slid right into the water. Both girls were able to slide off her before she hit the water. Jenis laid there shocked so Karin got off Marika and started taking pictures and videos.

 Above Jenis is down and below she is struggling to stand in the slippery mud. 

 Above Faith looks on while Hannah tries to help Jenis. The picture below shows how deep the creek bed is. Usually the horses jump it but Jenis lost her footing before the jump.

In the video clip below Hannah is asking Jenis to jump up out of the creek bed.

Karin decided there was no way she was going to make Marika try to jump it with her so dismounted and asked Marika to cross on her own.

I took Nick home to Pekin then came back to make a light supper of  asparagus only. You see tonight was the night Rachel and David put up their manger scene and when they do that they invite the neighborhood to come celebrate by singing then feasting.

She made 2 big pans of hot ham and cheese sliders and a crock pot of bacon wrapped wienies

 and served that with whole table full of goodies.

Faith is checking out the home made buckeyes and candies and no, she does not have 3 hands. That other hand is Spark's and we caught that hand swiping a buckeye before the prayer. After the Christmas carols were sung and the prayer said the living room filled up fast with hungry singers.

This tradition gets us all in the Christmas spirit. Our parents did this at the Baer House and our family has been continuing this tradition (Thanks to Rachel and David) for as long as I can remember and I'm OLD!