Day 8 of the CCCBH

It’s day 8 of the blog hop and that means it’s Terri’s day to share a fun Christmas project with you.  Terri is the talented designer and owner behind the Whimsicals pattern company.  Be sure to stop by her blog, see the project she has created for you, and leave her a comment.  Remember, you have to comment on each designer’s blog to be eligible for the grand prizes!

Today’s topic is our first Christmas on our own.

Hmm . .

This is a hard one.  Hard because . . .  well . . . I have to admit, I don’t remember my first Christmas on my own.

My mind is  _______________blank.

Not a single recollection.

I do however, have a couple memories from my first Christmases with Joel.  Does that count?

Our first Christmas was only 3 months after we moved into this house:

Not exactly our dream house.

Remember my stories about this house?  If you have a minute . .  or 30 . . . you should read some of my posts about this house (here, here, and here).

We were working on a major remodel on this house and spend many nights and weekends fixing it up – including, you guessed it – Christmas Eve morning.  That’s the day that Joel decided to venture into the attic to work on moving the lights in our living room ceiling.  Have you ever been in an old attic full of cellulose insulation?   They are Gross.

Ours was double gross because it was full of mouse droppings (you will know why if you read those old blog posts about the house).  In fact, while Joel was up there, a mouse stuck it’s head out of the insulation to wish him a Merry Christmas.  I screamed one back.  I hate attics.  Our is now much better as we ended up sucking out all the old insulation and reblowing in nice, new clean insulation!

Our second Christmas together we went ice skating early on Christmas Eve morning.  This fixer-upper we bought is on a lake, which is the reason we got tempted into buying it.

That Christmas, the lake froze over on a calm day, so the ice was smooth and perfect for ice skating.  We decided to dig up our old ice skates and give it a try.  The ice was clear (as the ice thickens, it’s no longer see-through) and it was so fascinating to see everything on the bottom of the lake.

I have to admit I was freaked out the whole time, because the ice was also clear enough to see all the cracks and looked to be about 4-5 inches thick.  Joel assured me it was 8-9 inches thick and was perfectly safe.  He grew up ice fishing and is much more used to being on a frozen lake.  I was also fascinated to watch my husband gracefully skate all over the lake.  He normally has a reputation for being a bull in a china shop.  Not so on ice skates!  He went forwards, backwards and in circles without falling once.  I won’t tell you how many times I fell.  It was so much fun.  We haven’t had the lake freeze smooth enough to try it again.  The last few years there has been too much snow on the lake to even try it.  But, I still remember that morning and the sound the skates made as they scraped across the ice.  Do you know the sound that I’m talking about?  I really don’t think there is anything else like it.

Don’t forget to continue on the hop by visiting the other designers:  Gudrun from GE Designs,  Sandy from Pieces from my Heart,  Terry from Atkinson Designs,  Pat from Pat Sloan and Co,  Pam from Pam Kitty Morning,  Kari from New Leaf Stitches,  Terri from Whimsicals,  Sherri from This and That Pattern Co,   Carrie from Miss Rosie’s Quilt Co,  Roseann from Rosebud’s Cottage and  Linda Lum DeBono