“The Best Gift of All”

Moments like these make me feel like the luckiest woman in the world. Daddy split some wood & builds us a fire…Dog on the floor, kids all snuggled under blankets & watchin Dolly’s “The Coat of Many Colors”… I do love Christmas & I do love my family! ❤️🎄❤️

December is the special & fun time of the year… parades & Santa hats, lights & carols… it’s the feel cozy & good time of year! Even all the hustle & bustle is ok because it’s part of December & enjoying all of its meaning! Jensie had some fun friend time with games & we celebrated with our families & even had a baby goat born on Christmas Day. 

Along with Christmas during the twinkling month is my bday. It’s always special to me because the whole month is special. I am glad to have been born during the month we celebrate our Lord’s bday too! I know it’s a lot to celebrate someone in the same month as Christmas & year end & busy time of year. I have sometimes felt guilty anyone would have to stress over buying me a gift or figuring out how to find a date to celebrate me. 

Turning “44” was one for the books! I share this to remember & have a laugh & a reminder.  

I hadn’t nt really been feeling top notch for a good little bit with some little issues & then…I threw my neck out plugging in the Christmas tree lights. 🎄

Fa La La…Naw thank you! Needless to say,not feeling my usual ‘get things done’ kind of self & apologizing to Nate that I was gonna be young & fun again! 😂My sweet family celebrated me  & we had plans to go to a favorite little pizza place & maybe some family bowling… but the restaurant was closed on Mondays… 🙁 so we rain checked that for another day.  I Opened some gifts …bath stuff & candle & a coffee cup followed by… A long, flannel Little House on the Prairie nightgown. (I did say I wanted a long nightgown a while back) But for some reason this one was just Funny. The kids were roaring laughing. Noah said “it’s Peter Pan”… We were all laughing & kids were basically thinking their dad had lost it buying it for me. All we  could do was laugh. I opened the next one, which was a Heated Neck Wrap! Ummmm…Suddenly for the first time in my life… I felt O-L-D! I covered my face with the neck wrap 1/2 laughing but feeling some tears!😳

Pulled it together because Mama can’t do that on her bday! I opened the next one and it was houseshoes! We all just laughed & laughed! It was just too funny! I love that man with all my heart… especially because he must have heard me say “I would like one of those”… and well… he bought them ALL & they happened to make a theme I just wasn’t ready for! Ha!!! I really didn’t care about the gifts  & begged him not to get me anything at all b/c we are getting a new puppy in January 🐶 & that’s all I cared about! 💗 

But….The BEST part of the day was coming home from picking up food…He slowed down & we peek over to see the lights of our house. (In the wintertime you can barely see our house off the road through all the trees.) We are on a hill & I told him how neat it would be for anyone that could see it, to look over & see a Cross all lit with Christmas lights! Well there she was! Built by Nate with some cedar logs all lit in its glory! The BEST gift of ALL! ❤️ The one I get Every Day for all my life & in eternity! It doesn’t even have to be my bday to open it! Suddenly All those tears I had held back just flowed!  I kept crying when we came inside & Jensie said, “Daddy saved the day!” 😂 

But really…Jesus IS the only gift I need & I have him! I hope you do too! No matter what gifts we open up this season… I hope we remember that none of them compare to the Real Gift we have in Jesus & He IS the REASON For the Season & we celebrate Him! 🙏🏻🎄❤️🎄

Trophy Bucks

In all these years of hunting….we always hope for the big guy to walk out in front of one of these Orange boys! Nathan has definitely taken a back seat for years of hunting so he could hunt with one of the boys. He has always been just as excited & happy to see one of them be successful. It’s been a lot of cold mornings or evenings & lots of learning for completing the process after they get one. Lots of work goes into it & they have pride for it & we all get to enjoy yummy steak & deer jerky! Pretty amazing to hunt & cook your own food. What a neat way to provide for a family meal. 

Noah, even with football & working, managed to get in some huntin. Enough to get him a nice buck! A 8 point buck! I think he gets more into cooking it sometimes than hunting it! Ha! I love it though! So proud of him! The boy can skin a deer & knows more about guns & all things hunting & shooting than I ever thought possible at his age! My daddy would be so very proud… and that’s an understatement!

Gunner, had many of mornings that basketball just made it impossible to get out there on the weekends & evenings were hard during the week with practices. Finally on the break, he decided he was gonna get him a doe. Definitely needed to get rid of some & could use some meat. He also knows a lot about guns & hunting & that’s all thanks to their daddy starting at such a young age taking the time & giving them the opportunities to learn. Gunner is only 12 but a smart one! Totally capable of doing it on his own, but Nate always wants to be a part of the experience with him. As work would have it, he wasn’t able to be on a couple evening hunts with Gunner. When the break got here, Gunner was determined to get a doe. He actually had shot & missed a couple times when he hunted with Nate. Nathan asked him if he made him nervous… yes I think so. Gunner had his clothes & boots ready & got up at the crack of dawn to hunt. For 3 mornings in a row he rose early…. All by himself. No, Mama wasn’t in the kitchen in her nightgown cooking him biscuits. No, Daddy didn’t get up either. He only had one shot & was hunting with a muzzleloader. He had went out after the second day & made himself his own comfortable blind to sit in. It was Christmas Eve & his third hunt. Me & Nathan were awakened in bed at 8 am with Gunner gasping a little & repeatedly saying, “I got a buck, I got a buck!” He was beside himself & told us the story & how it all came to be! What a gift on Christmas Eve! 

A 10 point buck!!!!  So steak for supper it was! He skinned the deer with his PeePaw’s knife. Way to go Gunner!

Last but not least Daddy’s big buck! He actually got his after Noah’s, but let’s just save the best for last? Nate got the trophy buck so far in TN! An old 9 pointer with a very nice rack! A wall hanger for sure! What a great year for huntin! What a gift to have this land to hunt on! I wish so much PeePaw could get a glimpse from Heaven at his grandsons hunting & living the life he would have loved to have been a part of! 

Fire Away

Our 1st Annual Orange Valley Ranch Turkey Trot!!! Papa is the official starter! Run or walk? Get lost in the woods? It’s a possibility! A 5k in the country! My kind of running! Sweet time for all of us & so grateful for this land we get to live on & explore & make many memories together. Thanksgiving is a perfect time to say Thank You Lord for this Family & how you provide and your presence is always felt & we thank you for that!