Sharing one more holiday tradition...

As mentioned last week, it’s the season for traditions. That’s why you get to see some photographs of critters again this week.

Before we get to the critters, a few words about a couple of other holiday traditions...

...yours truly made an annual Christmas Eve journey. The adventure did not involve going over a river, a horse that knew the way or a sleigh. I did, however, come back to a grandmother’s house, ‘cause that seemed like the sensible thing to do on Christmas Eve.

And the journey certainly did not involve any snow. It was way, way too warm for snow on Christmas Eve in Southern Illinois. As a matter of fact, on Christmas Day, it was 72 degrees on our front porch. 

My day-before-Christmas journey did, however, involve going through the woods on the way to a creek bed. We’ve been making the trip to the woods on Christmas Eve for a number of years, which, I suppose, makes it a tradition.

Generally, when we’ve gone in the past, the adventure had involved some very cold weather, and maybe even some ice in the creek bed. Not in 2021. I had expected to see mosquitoes flying around looking to make me their holiday dinner. Didn’t see any, though.

After spending about an hour enjoying the balmy late December weather, it was time to head back home...to get ready for one more Christmas Eve tradition...

For, lo, these many years, yours truly has cooked something on the grill on Christmas Eve. I do not remember when this tradition started. I have cooked in bitter cold, snow, sleet, rain and now, for a couple of years, in a pandemic. 

Seems like there have been a couple of times when it was so cold outside that I’m pretty sure the meat I was cooking refroze on the grill. And The Other Half insists that I tried to catch our front porch on fire one time. I do not recall that...

For Christmas Eve 2021, we had hamburgers cooked on the grill, along with homemade french fries (made with potatoes The Other Half grew this year in the garden), homemade applesauce and some other goodies. The tradition continued...

Now, let’s focus on the photographs...kind of a foto focus...or maybe a photo phocus...

They are some of my favorite photographs of squirrels from 2021. Just like the images of critters which appeared in last week’s paper, all of the squirrels you see this week were seen in Union County over the course of the past year. 

Squirrels make for good photographs. They’re cute. They have big eyes and big, fluffy tails. And, they are prone to the occasional silliness, which I really enjoy. 

I don’t know if squirrels celebrate the arrival of a new year. I guess I don’t even know if squirrels know that a new year is arriving. I’ll have to ask them...

Enough for now...stay safe...and have a very Happy New Year...