Christmas is a time of year for family and friends, eating and drinking, laughing, giving and remembering. When you live on a ranch you have the added excitement of calving, emergency rescues and muck and mayhem.

Here are 8 things that make Christmas on a ranch so interesting and special.

1. Most kids have an early start on Christmas Day but for children living on a ranch there’ll always be somebody up at the crack of dawn to feed the cattle. In most cases, the cows are fed before anyone can tear into their stocking. 
2. Another important morning job is checking the water pipes and troughs. No one needs the rigmarole of kettles of boiling water and ice bashing if they freeze up. Getting water to the livestock is even more important than getting sherry to grandma.
3. In the country, you get to turn the pasture with the steep slopes into the ultimate sledding experience. Let’s hope for some Christmas flurries so there can be holiday sledding parties this year.
4. While most people dress up in festive knitted numbers, aunts and uncles will turn their noses up because you’re sat at the table stinking of cow muck because you didn’t have time to change. What’s the point anyway? You’ll have to go back outside after.
5. A large proportion of lunch on the big day will be from the farm to fork and it all tastes so much better that way.

1. You are sure to be near a Christmas tree farm when you’re out in the countryside which means you can get together with family and friends to pick out your favourite and cut it down yourself!
2. Another wonderful thing about Christmas and winter on a ranch is the way the world around you forces you to slow down. During those shorter days you are forced to slow down in so many ways; as you drive slowly you notice the world around you, there is no hustle and bustle. You have to take coffee breaks at the shop to warm up.
3. Everyone is in reminiscing mode. Who used to farm those 10 acres on the edge of the village? No, not him, before him. I knew his grandfather. A good shepherd. Had a limp. Stories like this will continue long into the evening.

If you have any questions or queries about ranch real estate in Northern California or any of our ranch property listings, do not hesitate to contact us here.