Winter Solstice Woods Walk, and a Birthday

 Crisp, cold sunny.  A perfect day for a walk in the woods with my Granddaughter.
The Chicago Botanic Garden is all decked out for a light show, but we were there for the Woods Walk.  We started our walk by visiting the greenhouses.  Our glasses fogged up immediately and our layers of clothes seemed overdone.  Soon we would be happy to be over bundled.

 Not too many people at the Garden in winter, until the lights come on at night.

 We didn't mind at all having the place to ourselves/

 We passed the wood many times on our visits but never ventured into them.

 Tyke and I always wondered what it would be like to enjoy at roaring fire at the shelter on a day much like this day.

 It did not disappoint.  A lovely woman, layered that fire, a commercial fire starter, crumpled paper (beautifully crumpled by my Penny) bundles of twigs and branches, cardboard egg cartons.  Just a match was all it took.  Soon she was putting on multiple pieces of firewood until it was a picture perfect fire. I wish my love could have been there to see it.  I was wearing his Rocky Mountain National Park sweatshirt, and his hat and gloves.  A comforting and cozy reminder of a man who loved a good fire. 

Just because...When we were youngsters, and I was pregnant with daughter Kristen, my brother Jeff went to Boy Scout Camp up north at Owassippi, in Michigan.  Jeff sent me a letter that broke my heart.  He was cold, hungry and having a miserable time. Me, being in the motherly way, talked my dearest into driving up there with snacks and a comforter.  We got there late and found out it was parent's weekend, so there was no room available in the town.  A good friend arranged for us to sleep in a cabin.  We had no bedding, put on all our clothes we had, and were still freezing.  There was a wood stove and my guy tried to light a fire by putting a match to a log.  A city boy, who was never a scout and had never even sat beside a fire before. (I started the fire, having had grown up with a fireplace in our apartment.) Well you can imagine we joked about that for years.  My baby brother slept well that night, all cozy in my comforter and later sold the snacks to other campers to make some extra cash.

 The walk was fun but a little too much "bark" talk and less adventure ice walking and jumping off of things than my girl likes.

"The woods are lovely, dark and deep,

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep."

-Robert Frost

We headed out a little early to host a birthday party for my original

girl, and darling daughter, Kristen.

Here is a little montage I posted today for

Kristenmas. 

A one day celebration could not be contained with all the happiness, joy and love we all feel for this beautiful woman, thus, unto us was born Kristenmas.

Kristen, you are loved and cherished by the small and the tall, by us all.  

Happy Birthday to the best Christmas gift I ever received, you.

We celebrated with dinner and a beautiful cake decorated by Penny.

Irene, Penny and Stevie

My heart is full.

Mark Twain said. "The best way to cheer yourself up is to cheer someone else up". I find that to be very true.  We are here for each other.  Not one of us could get through our grief without the others. 

We are a tight, solid and strong family.  The babies are clapping and crawling!  Penny is writing in cursive!  We will be together, getting through this, just like Tyke said we would.

If I don't get the chance next week I would like to wish all of you a peaceful and happy Christmas.

Thank you so much for stopping by and for your kind comments.  They have touched my heart.

Enjoy this beautiful day.

Love, Penny