This year, Santa made an early stop at Cockamamy Farm. What did he bring, you ask? Well, a dump truck full of gravel, of course! Until the gravel arrived, our driveway has really been a pair of tire tracks through the yard (see above). As you might imagine, it was a muddy mess at every slightly damp opportunity.

But with the arrival of this guy, my Christmas renovation wish was fulfilled!

How cool is that gravel spreader? We thought we would likely be spreading out a couple of big piles of gravel by hand…but no! This thing is amazing!

The truck did a great job of getting the gravel on the ground pretty evenly as it made several passes of backing in and slowly driving out. And the gravel was compacted where the truck’s tires drove on it, but the middle section between the tires was pretty high.

So Ben and I grabbed our tools—a big scoop shovel for him, a metal rake for me—and spread out the high spots as best we could before the gravel “locked in.”

About an hour later, the driveway makeover was complete. Thank you, Santa! We promise to keep being good…or at least trying.