Sam wrote his annual letter to Santa tonight.
Sometimes, the specific subjects Sam writes about will surprise me - but never the amount of his concern, empathy and compassion.
I won't say much about the letter as it speaks for itself. The only thing I will say is, I hope that by sharing his thoughts, Sam sleeps peacefully tonight - as I hope he does every night.
It snowed last night and it was still coming down when Sam and I made a 'quick' run to the orchard to pick up pies and cider for tomorrow's Christmas meal.
The road was slick but we took it slow and played Christmas music on the ride up and on the ride back.
I love sharing moments like this with Sam (or any of my "kids").
In preparation of our traditional Christmas Eve cookie decorating extravaganza, today, Sam and I pre-made the cookie dough.
(Note to whoever takes over cooking chores from me sometime in the hopefully far, far future - I always have Sam crack eggs one at a time into a separate measuring cup before adding them to the mixture. That way, if an egg shell gets in there, it's a lot easier to fish them out.)
Evening walks can be a little challenging this time of year. Sunset is around 4:30 with dusk arriving by 5:00. Even though Sam and I wear reflectors when we go out, we do our best to avoid areas with a lot of traffic - sometimes more successfully than others.
Here are a few photos from a couple of the quieter spots...
Does anybody reasonably expect that if they drag an old, used toilet out to the side of the road, someone will grab it?
At least finish the job and put a "Free" sign on it.
Speaking of decorating (as I was here and here), Sam did even more decorating today, this time at Aunt Karen's house (after taking her on an exciting trip to the diner, the comic store and the co-op).
