December 1, 2012: Christmas Gifts for Chicken Wranglers

Merry Christmas Everyone.  December 1st means several things to me:  1) get the decorations up and put up the tree; 2) start planning Christmas Brunch (my assignment for the family); 3) decide whether to send Christmas Cards; 4) try to stay calm. 

Christmas can be such a stressful time, but it does not have to be!  What's with all the gift giving mania.  My friends, there is no perfect gift.  Give that up.  Adopt a different plan.  Look for mediocre gifts, stuff you would like, or give money. 

Our family generally does not exchange gifts on Christmas, other than my sister who almost always breaks that agreement. We only have our grandchildren in London to buy gifts for and their Dad always asks us to send American children's books.  So that's easy enough. I don't need anything, but...... the Chicken Wrangler might. 

This year I am going to ask Santa for things for the chickens:  feed, scratch, cracked corn, etc.  Oh yeah and how about a bale of pine shavings?  Sexy, huh?

The girls tell me they want more grapes.  They go crazy over them.  So grapes it is for them.  They ask so little and give so much.  Example:  Yesterday my Sis and Brother in Law came over for  Cal's homemade biscuits and an omelet made from Barbara's eggs.  After breakfast, we sat in the living room in front of the fire.  The girls were at the dining room sliding glass door.  I watched John as he watched them, and he was smiling.  He calls them the girls too now and seems to like seeing them.
They are joyful little things.  Making their little joyful noises like cococococo, not coo coo, cocococo.  Or Brrrrrrrrrrrrr.  Chickens bring out the best is us.

Just now they were pecking at the dining room slider. It is still raining out so while free from the coop, they are staying under the patio roof, and are clearly bored.  Barbara is raising a fuss so she must have laid an egg.  She loves to announce her productions.  You Go Girl.  Here's Cal with her just laid egg.



I will turn on the dining room light so they can see in better.  Cal and I will do our version of  Reality TV:  walk around, read on the couch, watch TV, drink another cup of coffee.  They seem satisfied with watching us do that. 

Hey, you know what, I'm going to go hobble (hurt my back) into the dining room and sing Old MacDonald Had A Farm and see how they react.  Maybe a verse of I left My Heart In San Francisco.  I'll let you know later if they enjoy that.