It must be nice in Vermont this time of year, all that snow!

So I had a bit of a lag on blogging this month, as we have dedicated most of our time to working on the house.   It was just soooooo dirty!  My mom and sister came out for several days to work with me, and my mom did some major cleaning.  While one expects that an old house has some dirty corners and cubbies, we found reletively new doors, blinds, and appliances that were filthy!  I just don't understand.  My mom had to clean the inside of the washing machine and nice dishwasher!  My sister and I tackled some big projects, like ripping up all the ugly, brown, dog-polluted carpet and the pink carpet from the dining room.  Again, we were suprised by the age of the carpet, as the back was stamped 2005, but it had the appearance of 10 years wear.  We installed shelves and organized, too.  The most frustrating job was taking off the wallpaper in the future office.  It was thick and textured, so we had to pull off multiple layers, and the glue was so tough it needed several scrapings and scrubbings.  The biggest hinderance was the odd order that someone had put together the room; the wallpaper was hung before the window frames, baseboards, and heating boards.  This means the paper continues behind all these peices!  We did buy a spilt box-spring and sold our old one, so we finally have our bed put together!  We are getting carpet today, so hopefully we can finally place our furniture on the right places.
My mom was in town for her birthday, so we drove to Stowe to see the Von Trapp Family Lodge.  We took a tour with Maria and the Captain's youngest grand-daughter (also named Maria).  Her father runs the Inn, and none of them sing, but they celebrate their family storey.  Michelle and I enjoyed comparing our Austria tour of movie sites to the true story of the Von Trapps.  It is a beautiful spot, and we can see why it reminded the family of Salzburg.  The Inn was also responsible for bring cross country skiing to the US, and the sport remains the focus of the resort.  My sister found her Christmas present, a singing goat, and we stopped at the Ben & Jerry's Factory on the way home for dessert
We have only been able to watch a few Christmas movies this advent.  Brian and I used movie passes that I won on the radio to see Disney's A Christmas Carol.  It was pretty frightening, so do not bring children!  It was pretty good, but we are so used the the Muppet's version that is it hard to watch any other.
We had really warm weather at the end of November, including 68 and wet when my mom and sister arrived.  When it changed to snow, we watched White Christmas.  It was just like we were living out the movie, celebrating the first big snow of the season in Vermont! 
We have participated in several small-town Christmas celebrations.  Brian, Michelle, and my mom enjoyed free food and drink in Norwich at the little shops having sales (my mom really enjoyed King Arthur Flour).  Hanover had horse-drawn carriages, Santa, a model railroad exhibit, accapella groups and more.  Brian and I braved the snow with a friend to join in a Messiah sing in Woodstock, where half of the people sing part 1, then everyone sings the well-known Hallelujah chorus.  We had not decorated our house, as we have been busy working on it and awaiting the carpet.  We also realized that our low ceilings prohibit our using our fake tree!  Hopefully, we will get some festive decor up before our little holiday party and Christmas travels.