12 Days of Maine Christmas

The box is back again this year, our nieces and nephews saved it so we could refill it this year. Each day for 12 days they receive a Maine centric gift. There are clues on the container and they have to guess what’s inside.

Every day they video chat with us and try to guess what’s inside each bag/box. Then they get to enjoy what’s inside. It’s a great way to connect with family that lives far away during the holiday season. It also teaches them a little about the place we live.

Last year some of the included items were: Moxie, toothpicks, gummy lobsters and more. I won’t share what’s inside this year, I don’t want to spoil the fun.

Do you have any creative ways to celebrate holidays with family from far away?

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A Longggggg Weekend

Thanksgiving is a long weekend for most, a very long weekend for us. The best laid plans of mice and men never seem to work out, that’s very true with us. It all started when they started calling for a nor’easter to come through on Wednesday night, the night before we planned on traveling to Ohio.

We awoke to 12 inches of snow on Thursday morning, not exactly what you want to see when you have a 15 hour drive planned. The driveway needed plowed and our plow truck is in the shop. Mr Chiots set to work clearing the snow off the driveway with the tractor, not easy or quick, but it works. I dug out the cars, chicken coop and duck coops.

Three hours later we started digging out the pig fences, which is quite a chore. If we weren’t leaving I would have just left them, but we wanted our house sitter to have the peace of mind that the pigs wouldn’t escape.

We finally managed to set off on our journey at 2 pm – which is way.too.late. The roads were clear and traffic was light, travel was great. At about midnight we decided it was safer to stop and get a few hours of sleep then continue on with the last five hours of our journey the next morning. We grabbed a hotel room, slept for four hours and were back on the road at 4:15 am.

We arrived in Ohio around nine then next morning. After a cup of coffee I immediately started cooking our Thanksgiving dinner. It ended up being delicious, all around, from the smoked local turkey to the cranberry relish I brought from Maine.

There was of course another Thanksgiving celebration with Brian’s family and then many more things. This week Mr Chiots is down hunting deer with my dad and I’m visiting with friends and trying to catch up on some work while visiting in Ohio. Long weekends are great, but they can be LONG when things don’t go quite as planned. Hopefully the rest of our visit is less exciting than the first two days.

Do you have t travel for holiday weekend?

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Evening Chores

Sometimes we need some beauty in our day to make things better. Evening chores are cold this time of year. I often wish the birds would coop up earlier than they do so I don’t have to be outside at dusk when the wind is cold.


But then there are nights like this past Tuesday when the sunset made me linger outdoors long after my chores were finished.

What things are you finding that make life a little more bearable during the not so lovely seasons?

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Thankful

Today is the day we celebrate Thanksgiving here in the US, or at least the day many people celebrate it. It’s actually not uncommon to celebrate this holiday on the days leading up to or the days after. For us, we’re driving today — all the way back to Ohio.

There was snow last night, so the roads are not dry. Thankfully we live in the age of highways, salt, and road crews.


We’re looking forward to lots of delicious food and lots of great time with family. Here’s hoping you have a wonderful weekend filled with delicious things and family/friends!

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Leafless Trees

This time of year I’m always on the lookout for bird nests. With the leaves off the trees they’re easy to spot. I walked by this spot a million times in the summer and had no idea there was a nest here. It’s only about 2.5 feet off the ground.

I also loved seeing that the little bird used shredded paper from my compost pile along with birch bark. I have not idea what kind of bird built this beautiful nest, I’ll have to do some research to see if I can figure it out. Or perhaps one of you can give us the answer.

Bird nests are truly amazing to me. I could never build something so intricate with 10 fingers and birds manage to build them with their beaks. You can be I’ll be keeping a keen eye out for more of these little beauties. This one might be cut from it’s perch to put on a shelf in my office.

What do you like most about the trees being leafless?

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