January Scenes -- E.

This post is not about snow.  I already wrote one about snow.  (It's also not about Malaysia, so try again later if you're here for that kind of material.)

This post is about rural Western New York.  It's about fishing, the small forest my family planted, the house I grew up in, the joys of a tire swing, my son's invincible fingers, and my daughter's very vincible ones.

Not Wistful, and Definitely Not Mushy -- E.

I'm starting to notice things that I won't be seeing in Malaysia.  This past week, I've been thinking about . . .
 

. . . mourning doves . . .

. . . sugar maple trees . . . my good friend Steve . . .

. . . Dad . . . snow blowers . . .

. . . snow.

Ah, yes.  Snow.  They say you can buy just about anything you want in Malaysia, but I have my doubts about snow.  I will miss times like this up in Western New York.

Oh the Sticky Glory--QM

We've arrived in Western New York for Christmas!

It's Christmas Cookie time! James loved the animal cookie cutters...

He also enjoyed his first attempt at painting with frosting...

...but guess what was his favorite part?

Finished product. Who can pick out the two my son did?

To celebrate a job (well?) done, a game of Wits and Wagers was called for. The most dramatic face won.

PS Thank you for all the votes encouraging our little camel to come with us to Malaysia. I think it can come, and I intend to make it a yearly tradition of crafting ornaments as a Mast family. Maybe next year we'll do three wise men to go with Mr. Camel.  

Downsizing For The Big Trip -- E.

God willing, we leave for Malaysia in a matter of months.  The reality is starting to sink in, and we're starting to prepare for moving stuff overseas.
Project number one is our game collection.  Board games are our hobby, you know, and we own a few.  They rank very high on our list of Items That Will Come With Us, just a few places behind our children.
Thing is, they can take up a lot of space.  Here are some of them, for example:

That's almost enough to fill a suitcase right there.  But inside those boxes is mostly air.  The original game storage designs are pretty but wasteful of space.
Our solution?  Baseball card boxes.  Here are the same twenty-two games packed into twelve small boxes:

We like it a lot!  Congratulations are welcome.

In other news, you may remember Queena writing a post about a paper camel that we made last year about this time.

Now it's my turn to say a few words.  The animal was a pain to make and I think it's ugly.  As we unpacked our Christmas decorations earlier this month, I was dismayed to find that we had brought it home from Dallas instead of throwing it away . . . and now it is hanging up in our living room.  If this makes it to Malaysia with us, it won't be because I asked it to.

A Few Reasons Why I Have Been Happy -- E.

Children, cousins, Christmas, and a visit from a brother.  Life is good.