The second favourite time of the year for me are the 'holidays' which encompass Thanksgiving and obviously Christmas. Of course my favourite time of the year is the rest of it, when it's not cold and there are competitions galore! For 5 weeks I eat, drink and socialise as much as possible (which is a lot) and endure many cold days of dressage, jumping, dressage and some more dressage. All of my horses are back in work and in various stages of preparing for Winter 2015. Even tho our first show isn't until the second week of January (dressage and sj) and first event not until the beginning of February, I'm eager to get our scores down rain/hail/snow.
Typically I stick to riding 6-8 horses thru December which allows me to spend the afternoons inside catching up on paperwork, planning the new year and watching Modern Family. For the first year since I've been in the US I've decorated my house for Christmas, which is clearly a skill within it's own. Normally I choose to enjoy the decorations of the neighbouring houses and leave mine in peace, mostly because I'm generally absent for most of December.
This year I couldn't resist as I'm holding my Christmas party at home, at least 40 people expect to see festivities!!! So real live tree and fancy lights it is! My house consists of my assistant Rhiannon and groom Albin plus Sabrina who rides at the track. All of whom have been enlisted in Christmas spirit! In short, we've had our Thanksgiving turkey and are ready for everything Christmas brings!
Hopefully I'll be home in a couple of weeks to enjoy a few days of Queensland summer, until then Merry Christmas everyone!
