Tico Tuesday, December 28th

Ode To Cranberry

Oh Cranberry, thy taste to my tongue brings great delight

Dried, fresh, baked or otherwise prepared

Mixed with orange, apple, rolls or squash

Oh Cranberry, native to my beloved New England thou art

Oh Cranberry, thou bringest joy to my heart!!

Ok, so I’m a real fan of cranberries! On Christmas Day my Ode to Cranberry was even longer and sillier. And I’ll openly admit, I’m not the best off-the-top-of-my-head poet. But, the apple-cranberry pie I helped Mommy make for dessert Christmas Day was good enough to inspire anyone to try to be

Frost or Longfellow for at least a few minutes… jijiji.

It was a wonderful Christmas full of love, fresh Arizona air, Scripture and talking and sharing with those I love most. I hope yours was just as good, if not better! (more about mine on the blog!)

Much love,

Carrie

I had a wonderful week in Arizona! Mommy and I put on the miles as we did the Bisbee stairs route one morning (the new, longer versión, but we still did it faster than we did in August!), hiked almost 14 miles in the Chiricahua Nat’l Monument on

Christmas Eve, biked about 10 miles on Christmas morning, hiked through a gorgeous place called the Narrows, and walked around the Sonoran Desert Museum and swam in our hotel’s pool for a good 30-40min.

Christmas Day was not the most traditional. NO more acting out the Christmas story- it would be a bit difficult as a one man show for me to put on (if you didn’t know, my brothers and I used to always act it out every year as Daddy read it out loud for us on Christmas morning). We still read the Christmas story though. After stockings and breakfast in the morning Mommy and I biked over to a nearby park where they have a collection of Santas –they are all hand painted (on big wooden slabs) and each Santa has a different theme. We saw German, Norwegian, British, Australian, New England, and dwarf-like Santas. It was a very fun, cultural experience. When we got home we finished making and then thoroughly enjoyed our tur

key FEAST!!!! YES it is worth making a turkey for 3 people! Oh it was so delicious! And over the course of the day, I got to talk to, my brother Dan, his wife, and his 3 kids who are old enough to talk, my brother Zach, my Grandma and one of my cousins. Oh yeah, and my boyfriend. J

The next day after Mommy went to hike for church I got to play cribbage for the first time in AGES with Daddy (and then Mommy). He beat me, but then I beat Mommy. It was great fun! Daddy whooped Mommy and me at 10-9-8 (up and down the river) that night too. So mean of him to pick on us girls!!!

Other highlights of the trip were dinner with Marty & Jack, good friends of Mommy and Daddy. We actually had a little birthday party for me and MOMMY MADE ME A CAKE!!!! I am SO SPOILED!!! I LOVE IT!!! The other highlight was lunch with abuelito Jack & Mary Anne, retired missionaries of the LAM and true lovers of God. I want to be like them when I grow up!

Thanks be to God for the wonderful people He places in our lives and the wonderful ways He blesses us and cares for us-from cranberries to family, and of course, the best Gift ever-JESUS!!!