And just like that … another Christmas has come and gone .. how I wish time would slow down a bit!
We had no plans to go anywhere or do anything and spent the whole day just relaxing, lounging around in the cozy RV, eating too much and watching some sappy TV.

                                     

The RV always looks so festive, cozy and peaceful around this time, especially at night, with all the soft twinkling lights ... I just love our little home.

I simplified the food, and especially the making of it, even more so than last year and went for easy, ready-made (store-bought) stuff like a fudge chocolate cake for coffee (to which I added some cherries and cream), some easy snacks like smoked lox, deviled eggs (a must in this household) olives, dates and nuts, than pizza for dinner followed by chocolate mousse for dessert. 
It was perfect!

 

And now we're in that strange limbo, the 'Twixmas' period between Christmas and the New Year's, that time that is mostly a quiet, relaxing period in which pretty much nothing is being accomplished, before Old/New Year's comes around.
We usually spent it going over some paperwork like taxes and/or finances, cleaning up some stuff in cabinets or cupboards that has piled up or can be thrown out, and thinking about the next year and what we want to do or see, change or achieve ..

It finally stopped raining the day after Christmas, although we still have some short showers occasionally, but at least I was able to get some walks in.

On my walk yesterday I found this clump of Snowdrops, still dripping water from all the rain we've had.

                                                     

Two days before Christmas we had a storm going through the area as well, which downed down quite some trees in the county, blocking roads and bringing down power-lines, but fortunately only a few smaller trees closest to us, like these on the logging path where I take my walks .. 

                        

Yesterday evening we drove around Willamina to see the Christmas lights. The town had put up a contest:

And a map toured you by the houses that had entered ..

This was the winner, with Santa in a sleigh on the roof, the Abominable Snowman, quite amiable, next to Rudolf and lots of other reindeer and elves in the yard (they had Christmas music going as well):

       

Besides the 14 on the map there were many more houses decorated .. here's a few:




We liked this one, very festive all in green and red:

Of course the town put up some lights as well:

                                


Well, that was about it for this Christmas-week I think. I'm going to watch some speed-skating .. 
I know, it's not something you hear a lot about here in the States but in Holland we take our skating very serious and at the moment the qualifications for the winter Olympics are being held so ... lots of anticipation and excitement!

We don't have any sports channels in our TV-package but I finally found a way to see it live on my computer, without having to sign up for anything. Cool!

And hey, apparently the official Christmas season (Christmastide) actually runs until January 6th (Epiphany), so the festivities aren't technically over yet! 
I guess the focus shifts towards ringing in the new year .. during which we're usually in our warm bed, snoring the night away. 

OK, here's some fun cartoons that I came across, just for fun ...