What a year!

Twenty-twelve...a year of many milestones for Tom & I! 

Most family and friends' first question for us is "how is the house?" - a question that will carry us through 2013, too.  The answer all year has progressed so much, though for some the answers may have repeated themselves, too.  Were we to drop everything and just work on building our home, the house would look very different.  We started the year with a footer and end it with walls and a roof, doors and floors, windows and stairs.  (Truly we went from footer to walls and a roof, floors and stairs in about four months.)

In late April we began laying the first course of ICF blocks on our footer.

Now in late December, the hole, as it was affectionately called for a year, has become a hill with a home on top.

We have quite a lot of work to do in 2013, but we've made great progress: four pours of concrete, plus some small batches; framed three basement walls, the main floor south wall, and the west corner wall; hung floor joists and decked them; hung roof trusses and decked them; prepped and hung the roof panels; filled in walls and gables; installed almost all the windows; built stairs in side and to the cellar; installed front door and cellar door; hung insulation and sheeting for cellar walls; and numerous details in between.  We've worked through the sun and wind and rain and hail and wind and cold and hot and wind.  Plus we've done a lot of other things.

I thought about listing all those other things, but really I already wrote about them, so just use the side bar to scroll through.  We did have such a great year and enjoyed all the visitors who came to help or just to hang out.  We look forward to many more next year, too, I hope. 

And now it is almost Christmas.  For the first time we really did it up because we won't be traveling.  Tom's put up lights before, and he did a great job again this year, but we also have out a Christmas creche we received for our wedding and another I received as a little girl.  Tom chopped our first Christmas tree, which was fun trimming together.  I have been baking a bunch of Christmas goodies to share with friends and co-workers, including three batches of Mom's chocolate noodle-y things.  And as we light our Advent wreath in the evenings, the lights get brighter and the candles get shorter the closer we get.  As magical as Christmas is, I really love these days of preparation and anticipation.  Wishing all a Merry Christmas filled with love, especially my family back in Oregon, who I am missing this first Christmas away from home.  loveyoumeanit

Our first Christmas Tree, laden with ornaments;

a pair of stockings I'd sewn a decade ago,

presents for our family

(and last year's Ford Christmas picture in the top left corner)