Hand me the safetey googles - and Merry Christmas

It's been unseasonably warm, with temps up to the 50sF. Great for trailriding! Not so great for grooming... As soon as the clothes (winter blankets) came off the boys had nothing better to do then grinding themselves into the wet ground. Yuk!

I am keeping Remy's tail braided, it's so thick that otherwise it would be a tangled mess, requiring gallons of conditioner to brush it. But talk about grooming the rest: It required safety goggles, otherwise I would have had to ride 'blind' due to clouded and itchy contact lenses. After we transferred the dirt from the horses to us we were off to a lovely hack through the woods.

Entry into Kensington Park

Now we are preparing for a quiet Christmas Eve.  I have so many fond memories of Christmas' past, hiking the woods with Emil, with a stop for his home-brewed Schnapps ("here, try this, it's with Blood Root*") at the hunting lodge. And JP dreams of Mutti's wild boar roast in red wine sauce with home made Spaetzle (noodles) and mushrooms. I also met JP's family for the first time at Christmas, so many years ago, in Paris. Again, so many fond memories.

We are counting our blessings and toast to the memories with my favorite champagne (thank you, Stephanie!), and trade the wild boar for lobster tails (sorry, JP, I'm no Mutti - wild boar is not on my kitchen radar). And we do have a supply of Emil's Blutwurz-Schnapps!

Merry Christmas!

*Blutwurz is a brandy made from the root of the plant common tormentil (Potentilla erecta), which derives its German name (blood root) from the color of the juice that emerges when the root is cut. The root provided a traditional anti-inflammatory medicine.