Christmas 2016

Christmas has come and gone once again.  And you know, it's only another 360 days until the next Christmas!!  Bet you can't wait!

We had a nice time with our immediate family.  We had to do a bit of sharing, so all of us weren't together until after mid afternoon.  Just in time to squeeze our Christmas photo shoot in before we lost all the light.  We definitely had a white Christmas, but snow levels were quite variable in Abbotsford, so for many people it would have been a bit of a stretch to use the adjective 'white'.  I think things evened out on Boxing Day though.  We sat in our neighbour's living room, in front of the fireplace, and watched the most beautiful snow come down all afternoon.  Unfortunately it turned to rain later in the evening, and once again became a soggy mess.  Meredith got her car stuck in our driveway, but didn't want to drive home on the snowy roads anyway, so ended up spending the night.

So here's the Brandsons, the 2016 version.

We are down one doggy member this Christmas, but have gained a couple more.  Left to right.

Meredith, David and his girlfriend Melissa, Larry, and your's truly.

 Four-footed members are Shy on the left (Melissa's dog),  puppy Tucker (David's Christmas present from Melissa), Jake and Luna.

David has been in England the last six months, doing an internship with Rolls Royce in Chichester.  He has decided not to return to England after Christmas.  He left Rolls Royce on good terms, being told he was the best intern ever in his department. He will be back at university for his last semester in January. 

    

Jake found Christmas exhausting.  Some new toys and they all had SQUEAKERS!! 

Little Tucker found Christmas exhausting too!

On Christmas Eve he arrived in Santa's sleigh an airplane from the North Pole the cold Cariboo. Melissa got David to the airport, totally unsuspecting.  At the last minute she handed him a little package that contained a collar and a leash!  The rest is history as they say. Tucker is mostly Australian Shepherd, with a little Border Collie thrown in for variety. He is three months old.

(Just in case you are wondering, David has been wanting a dog for quite a while)

And Tucker is a little cutie!  Nothing phases him, or at least no more than a second or two.

B*itchy Luna gets after him sometimes, but he bounces right back and tells her what he thinks, yap yap yap!

He offered to help her out and uncover her soccer ball

Shy is the only one to play with him so far, and she is very good with him.

Tucker and gang are visiting Oliver for a few days. 

It's so peaceful here again ;-)

Larry and I got all the chicken coops cleaned out this afternoon.  Between the snow, wet slush and short days and long nights, the chicken coops get messy really quickly.  It's an ongoing job.  I'm really looking forward to some snow melting so that they can get out and about more.  Looking at the forecast, that doesn't seem like it's going to happen in a hurry.