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We had another unseasonably warm weekend, but some of us still chose to pursue the pleasures found indoors.

We spent a lazy Sunday morning reading.  Jen is getting ahead of Sarah by reading Harry Potter IV, while Sarah is working her way through a series she got at the Starr Library book sale.

We made ravioli Saturday night.  It’s a team effort: Jen makes the pasta, I make the sauce, and we collaborate on fillings.  In this way we can have thirds, all the while complimenting each other’s cooking skill.

Chuck Kelsoe used part (a small part!) of one of our fallen oaks to make this bench for us.  It weighs a ton.

Sarah went skiing for the first time today, at Catamount.  She was great at it!

Our living room is becoming a simulacrum of the farm.  We got the barn last weekend at George Cole’s auction house, and added six Breyer horses from eBay as an early birthday present for Sarah.

Here’s the real thing.

Spare parts arrived for the remote-controlled helicopter (my x-mas gift from Jen’s mother), so we put it back together and took it for a spin.  Sarah was skeptical that it would fly — but it did.  Although, once again, I sent it into a tree.  No harm done.

On Saturday it was 61 degrees, which would be very pleasant if it didn’t make you wonder whether the earth is hurtling toward the sun.

We arrived at the farm for our Christmas vacation and found a deranged squirrel in the family room, hopping from bookshelf to bookshelf.  In the process, he knocked my ukulele to the ground, destroying it.  The squirrel had gotten in through the chimney in the mud room.  We chased him out the front door.

Other than that, we had a lovely holiday.  Sarah’s stocking was full.  She left a note for Santa and the reindeer letting them know that they could find hay in the barn and water in the pond.

Sarah received lots of great books and other presents, including Blitzen (pictured).

She and her mom made popovers.

My in-laws laughed as I flew my new remote-controlled helicopter into a maple tree.  It looked no better than the ukulele.

Our friends the Scherrs came to visit for New Year’s.  Jason’s birthday is January 1, and for that reason it’s often overlooked.  This year Jen and Sarah organized a cake, served at midnight.  The kids, fuelled by root beer, stayed up to ring in the new year.

Saturday evening, Sarah played with her Legos by the hearth as we had our first fire of the season.

Later, she duplicated the scene – in Lego!

Here is our new hay wagon.  It is not in pristine condition, but it lends a lot of farm cred at a low price.

Maybe at some point we can have hayrides if I can figure out how to make sides for it.