Maybe I do love the holidays!

I wrote this as a reply over on Equestrian Ink and realized that I enjoyed Christmas this year - go figure!

As my kids have aged I have felt the stress of Christmas and the need to try to ignore it completely. We have a large family, I have 15 nieces and nephews on my husbands side alone! When my children were little we rushed around trying to make it to all the family get togethers so they could spend time with their cousins, grandparents, aunts and uncles. We had tons of meaningless gifts to buy and wrap and it became overwhelming. My kids have now aged past 18 and things have slowed down.

Last year I didn't put up a tree, boycotted the family Christmas Eve party, and just wanted to stay at home in front of the fire and veg out. This year alot of the family was coming home, at Christmas Eve the "family talent show" was brought back by the great nieces and nephews - there are 13 greats now! It was so much fun watching them sing, do somersaults, etc. It was like things had come full circle. I was watching the parents and they were beaming watching their little ones follow in the family tradition. I could also see a little weariness and stress on their faces. I have to imagine that is what my husband and I looked like years before. We decided no gifts, just family, friends and good food. It felt right. There were 33 people at Christmas Eve in a fairly small old style farm house. It was loud, warm, familiar, strange, easy, unusual, relaxed, exciting, all rolled up into one!

I cooked prime rib for dinner for my husband and kids Christmas day. Everyone chipped in and helped cook, set the table etc. We had a quiet dinner, talked about the night before, family, the gifts Santa had brought us and the things we were planning for the new year. It was the perfect end to Christmas.

If you had asked me about Christmas for the last 5 or 6 years I would have said BUH HUMBUG! As we age things change and go in cycles. This year was an up cycle and kind of renewed my desire to participate in Christmas. Hang in there and look for your up cycle. It is worth it.

I love the holidays! NOT.

It has been a crazy couple of weeks. We went to Las Vegas so I could go to the Cowboy Christmas shopping extravaganza. We flew in on a Friday and stayed to Monday. I have never been to Vegas so it was a great trip. I am not much of a gambler so I spent time people watching. Cowboy Christmas was kind of a let down. They had tons of blingy belts, purses and the new style of tattoo like shirts. Not really my thing. I wanted to look for a cowhorse legal bit with the cactus flower design and a medium priced set of romel reins. Didn't find either.

We had two company Christmas parties to attend. Both were very nice, great food, good company - except for the woman who kept referring to my "grandchildren" of which I have NONE. I told her once politely that I didn't have grand kids, but she just kept bringing it up. I just ignored her but what I really wanted to do was smack her up the back side of her head! I am so not ready to have grandchildren in my life. First off... none of my kids are married. That definitely has to come first. Got one daughter that is getting pretty serious with her boyfriend. So maybe some day.

I made a milestone with my weight loss. I have officially lost 91 lbs. 11 lbs to go to goal.

I haven't been riding much. I think that Semper is enjoying his time off. I got to get back to it in January. Cold weather or not. I have been giving him some turn out time and he runs around like a fool. The weather has warmed up somewhat but now we have rain. Rain equals mud. I hate mud. It is gross. The horses I have at home have made a muddy mess at their feeding area. Every year I say that I am going to gravel that entire area and every summer I forget or get side tracked. Maybe keeping this blog will help me remember all the things that I think I need to do before the winter when summer gets here.

I paid my membership dues for several groups so I can start showing. I am getting kind of nervous. I did buy a nice show shirt at Cowboy Christmas so all was not lost.

We have a new trainer coming to the boarding facility that I board at. His name is Deon Locke and he is a pro reining trainer from Australia. He has been in OK for the last few years.

Cold Weather

It has been out of the ordinary cold here in northern CA. I went out to ride on Monday and Wednesday nights and it was 31 degrees at 6pm. I know some of you are thinking that is nothing, but for me, that is cold! I am a California native and anything below about 50 is too cold. I decided to ride bareback so my butt wouldn't freeze. I got in about 30 minutes before I couldn't feel my fingers. It was just ridiculous. I kept thinking that it might not be good for horses to have to deep breath that cold air. Anyone have any opinions on that? I know Semper was glad to get out and move around and he was an extremely good boy, meaning he didn't dump me in the dark, on the way to the indoor arena!

I am going to Las Vegas on Friday to do some shopping at Cowboy Christmas. I have been looking forward to this trip for some time. This is my first trip to Vegas so I guess you could say I am a "Vegas Virgin". I hope I can remember to do all the things that friends and family have suggested that we do while we are there.

We have not been doing our Wednesday night lessons because everyone has been busy over the holidays and it has been "colder than a witches tit" as my brother would say. I am going to go ride my filly that is up at the trainers the week between Christmas and New Years. She will have had 3 months of training and the trainer is happy with her progress. I also have to make an appointment to have my two stud colts "brain surgery" (gelded) done.