My Father in Law Blows...

...the driveway!!!

My father in law gets a lovely reminder of how much fun it is to be a resident of Western NY and getting those lovely lake affect snows :)
This is how his day starts..usually most mornings...accessing the damage..cursing mother nature....grumblings ..puffing on his pipe..and then bundling up and trudging off to get the snowblower out to start his daily chores lol Poor Pa :(

(Notice the christmas trees across the road? That where we used to get our yearly christmas tree from.."Pete's"! ) The Tradition of going to Pete's each year to cut down our own tree was one of the highlites of Christmas time :) After spending an hour walking thru snow up to your knees to pick out the perfect tree...cutting it down..dragging it back to the cashier.. Pete's offered a nice cozy cabin to step inside and warm your bones next to their nice, hot woodstove. They even offered hot cocoa..and wreaths and various other little gifts to purchase. The kids and I usually stepped inside to warm up ..while Tim chit-chatted with the guys..and they 'baled' up our tree and secured it to the roof of our car.

Thennnnn..the Bestest part...was running back down the road to our In-laws to feast on yummy homemade rasperry tarts.. real, made-from-scratch old fashioned hot cocoa..and replaying to them how the events of the tree cutting tradition unfolded at Petes.

Traditions that we now keep alive in our hearts and minds.

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Lookie what arrived!! My ornanments from the PFATT Ornie Swap that our Ebay group does!!
Each year..we have a Pfatt Ornament swap..and participants each make 4 ornies. We ship them all to our 'Pfatt Swap Queen"..and she collects all of them and then divies them up and send back each participant 4 different ornaments!

This was the first year that I participated...and am so glad that Crusty kicked me in the butt and signed me up to do it! hhehehe

Pictured above are Candy Canes from Jody of Star Spangled Pretties, a little Girl in a box by Sarah of Paintbox Primitives, a candy cane, cubby dolly by Brenda of MyBackYardGarden, and a sheep with sweet embroidery around his neck by Joanne of Disgusted Cats. And the Thomas Nast Santa Tag is from Lori of VintagePallet!

I love them all..and will treasure them forever and remember my fun Pfatt sisters as I display them each year. Heck..I might just have to display them all year..as they are just so adorable!!

Thank you Pfatties :)