holiday season

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Permalink Reply by Jackie Cochran on December 24, 2009 at 8:51pm

I'm coping fine. I concentrate on the days getting longer.

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Permalink Reply by Laura Coffey on December 26, 2009 at 3:14pm

We've past the solstice!

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Permalink Reply by Jan Jollymour on December 26, 2009 at 9:37pm

Hi, Laura:

I'm coping fine, thank you! My husband, however, finds the holidays stressful, and gets very tense about all the visiting etc. This year I put our tree up early, and took it down today. That made him feel much better, and our daughter and I still feel like it was up long enough. Actually, I'd have to say that getting it down and everything put away was a relief to me too.

Tomorrow I'm off to the Greenhawk Boxing Day Sale - it's a super sale with amazing prices, and well worth the drive to and from. The daytime temperature is only supposed to get up to -8, so I won't be doing anything with horses until after lunch at the earliest, so shopping for them takes precedence tomorrow!

At least tonight's only supposed to go to -12, last night was -15, and I have to say that the cold's about the only thing that gets me down. If I can't get my daily "fix" on a horse I get frustrated, and of course the chores are harder and more time-consuming. We have very little snow so far this year - it's really amazing, but the cold just keeps continuing. It's supposed to break on New Year's Day, which is lousy timing for me as I leave to teach a clinic that morning. Oh well, maybe by the time I get home things will have warmed up a little. Teaching right now is arduous, and usually it elevates my mood and makes me feel really good, but right now I feel and look (and move) like the Michelin man when I'm teaching, and I can't wait to get in and get the layers peeled off!

I think passing the winter solstice is fabulous, and I count every extra minute in the day! I love it when the horses can come in at 4:30 instead of 4, and at 5 instead of 4:30, etc..! Every extra minute of daylight is precious, and appreciated. At least our horses and our dogs like the cold (it's very dry), and they barrel around the pastures like maniacs, playing like fiends. That can't help but raise our spirits, as they're so much fun to watch.

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Permalink Reply by Laura Coffey on December 27, 2009 at 11:20am

Brrr and I thought I had it bad, our New York climate is practically Florida by comparison. We have yet to get down to the sub-zero weather. On the down side, the ring is frozen solid (our winters are not at all dry) so I have not been able to ride. I've been starting to bug the husband about a 2nd home in Florida, ( which I hate) but places down there are really cheap, it's warm in the winter and I can bring Dee along. Believe-it-or-not it would be cheaper for us to buy a place in Florida then to board Dee at a barn with an indoor,(cost in this area ranges about $600.00-$900.00 per month). In my younger days I put in time as a working student to cover those expenses but at my age...maybe there is someone out there who would like therapy in exchange for winter board.

I'm with your husband. I find holidays depressing. I was raised in an Irish family where holidays were a drunken full contact event. I've done my best to create a new meaning for the holidays as I've come into my own, but I don't think it's ever quite the same.

My trainer joined barn mice, her name is Denise David should you encounter her among the pages. She is a woman of few words but a wonderful horse woman.

It snowing, again. Two months and the weather should start to improve! Yes I'm already counting.

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