day after Christmas and all you insane friends of mine are out fighting the crowds for another bargain or two. My hat is off to you for having the courage to fight your way through it. I personally don't need anything that badly. In fact, I had a lovely Christmas. It started with sunrise over the mountains while I sat deep in the Bosque watching the sandhill cranes fly out to other fields to feed all day. Shortly after that I watched as the snow geese covered the surface of a large pond on the north side. They are so loud coming in that I could close my eyes and imagine myself back home at the Hickerson family gathering (actually this fly in was so loud they could have been my Ogg family gathering). 
Lots of people from all around the state and well beyond come here to see the sandhill cranes but the cranes are far outnumbered by the "light" geese most of which are snow geese, but about one third of them are Ross' geese and if you look closely you will even see the fabled blue goose. If turkey is more to your liking for the Christmas feast just head to the woods in the northern reaches of the Bosque where I found about 100 of them in a corn field. They tend to stay hidden from the visitors here although they are certainly protected like all the other birds.
So I sat and watched the geese for a while thinking about the traditional Christmas goose in Dickens' Christmas Carol. A hunter out looking for a fat goose for the table would have his pick here - as long as he avoids Ben the Bosque game warden.
After a few hours in the refuge it was time to head back to my little home and check on the crockpot chicken and dressing I was cooking for our covered dish Christmas dinner. Late in the afternoon we all gathered together in the lounge and followed the Christmas tradition of stuffing our bellies one more time. Lots to eat but no goose!
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