Life on Regal-Hill by Gail Hillriegel

Today was such a beautiful sunny winter’s day here at Regal-Hill. I don’t think it got above 30 degrees but there was little wind so the sun was really warm, especially in the car. It is hard to believe that approximately six inches of snow is forecast for tomorrow.

During Presidents’ Week it is fun to see how well we know our presidents by doing some exercises. Try these and see if you don’t know more than you think you do.

It is snowing huge flakes here at Regal-Hill. I love to watch these beautiful snowflakes fall as I stand in the big window of the house. They seem to draw me, where I don’t know, and to think every snowflake is different. According to the Farm Service Agency Newsletter of Delaware County, the size of the biggest snowflake ever recorded was 15 inches in diameter and fell in Montana. It sure wouldn’t take many snowflakes to cover everything white. I have never seen any that size.

So far here at Regal-Hill the most recent snowstorm hasn’t been that bad. I didn’t have to go out in the snow anyway, but we certainly didn’t get as much so far as predicted. It didn’t snow that hard and stopped for an hour, then it rained. I believe it is snowing a little again.

What do you do on Saturday? Here at Regal-Hill I try to do some baking and finish any projects that I started during the week. Saturday before last I was busy trying to finish up some cleaning projects, so I asked Allegra to do some baking for me. She likes to bake and she is very good at it.

Our granddaughter Allegra has been staying with us for a few days here at Regal-Hill. Of course where she is Yellow, her big orange cat, also is. During the day he would spend many hours sleeping down the cellar. Whenever anyone tried to get him to go outside he would stop at the door, turn around and go back inside or back downstairs.

It is already 2009. My how quickly 2008 went by here at Regal-Hill. It was a good year in many ways. When the fuel price was high we tried to stay home as much as possible and do all our errands in one trip. When the stock market fell we tried to become more self-sufficient since we weren’t depending on investments for day-to-day existence.

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas. We sure did. It is always fun to get-together with family, no matter how often. We even had a Christmas tree at the last minute. With all the snow making it difficult to get a tree, I thought that we wouldn’t have one this year.
Now that 2008 is over it is nice to look back over the year and see what the high points were.

Assuming that most of our Christmas shopping is completed, it is time to begin preparing meals in earnest. Breads are in the freezer, cookies are in airtight containers, and eggnog confections are being made, so now it is time to begin planning a party or Christmas breakfast or dinner. Ideally any food preparations should be made ahead of time as much as possible so you can enjoy your family and guests. Planning and shopping a week ahead for these rather than waiting until the last minute helps as well.

As we continue preparations for the Christmas season it makes it more enjoyable to play Christmas music as one works here at Regal-Hill.
Special music gets one in the Christmas spirit and makes working hard at preparations so much easier to do. It is like when you are shopping and there is Christmas music playing, it puts you in the mood for shopping for Christmas gifts. So listening to music as you work at home continues to put one in the holiday spirit even if you are doing the usual household chores around the house.