A Tribute

I want to pay tribute to a special lady who was the BIGGEST FAN of my blog! Fay Bruaw (my friend Karen's mom) delighted in following our adventures here at the Snow Goose. In fact, she was such a devoted fan that she actually printed out each one of my blog entries and compiled them in a book that she showed to whomever she could capture long enough!


Fay was a creative, spunky, generous, independant, determined, stylish lady who loved gourmet cooking and entertaining friends and family. She especially loved anything and everything to do with cats. After our move to NY, many inquired about our children's transition ... but Fay wrote to me on several occasions wondering how our two cats were adjusting!


Fay passed away this past Monday. She will be deeply missed by her family and friends. I am blessed to have known her and I will miss knowing that she's reading my adventures. But in heaven, who knows... maybe she'll be watching from a whole different perspective!

And the Christmas was Merry...

On the first weekend in December, we headed out to cut our first Adirondack Christmas tree. It was 9 degrees ... brrr! We were excited because there was snow on the ground - a first for a Stoner tree cutting.

Wayne measuring to make sure the tree will fit in the house. In a twist of irony ... we have moved to a house that is 3 times the size of our old one, but our tree had to be 4-5 feet shorter!

Girl Power! We dragged our "little" 8 foot tree up to the bundling guys who immediately said, "WOW - that's a big one!" (It really is all perspective isn't it?!) The tree was a Balsam ... the only choice available. It appears to be the official Christmas tree of the Adirondacks. And it sure makes the house smell good!

On December 21, we picked Katie up at the airport in Burlington, VT. She spent 4 days with us and we enjoyed talking, cooking and ... being really lazy!

We attended the Christmas Eve service at the little church in town. The church was packed and the service was beautiful and meaningful. We were especially impressed with the choir which did a fantastic job for such a small church. The highlight of the service was the ending with everyone standing in a circle around the sanctuary with candles while we sang "Silent Night." This was a favorite tradition of ours at New Cumberland Alliance Church and we were going to miss it ... so this helped us to feel more "at home!"

Just had to show you this picture:
Only Katie would attempt stilettos on the ice in the Adirondacks!

Another tradition is the annual Christmas Eve family photo. This year's picture was taken in front of the fireplace in the Keene Valley Church. We've done this every year since 1999 ...

Christmas morning .... and it was a white one!

We opened our presents by the crackling fire in the livingroom.

Happy Christmas smiles ... the girls each got a small digital camera. Maybe someday I'll teach them to blog ... or maybe NOT!
Presents were followed by Christmas brunch ... which is never complete without a batch of the wonderful Mishler Christmas muffins!

Wayne and the girls enjoyed sledding down the lane in the late afternoon. It had rained the night before so the snow was coated with a glaze of ice which made for some wild rides!

The morning after Christmas, we piled in the truck and headed for Pennsylvania to visit Wayne's family. Katie was less than thrilled to learn that she would be spending 7-8 hours in the "cozy" backseat with the girls, but they all survived and even had some fun!

While in PA, we enjoyed seeing Wayne's family and meeting our new nephew, 4-month-old Benjamin (Joe & Christa's). We also had a great time visiting our old church family at NCAC and sharing lots of Christmas hugs.

Unfortunately, we weren't able to get together with my family this year ... but the kids had fun spending the WalMart giftcards that Grandma and Grandpa sent. Sodie found the perfect thing to spend hers on...

So - that's our Christmas in a nutshell. We hope you had a wonderful Christmas too! We love and miss you all ... May you have a blessed and happy New Year!!!