A Few Favourite Christmas Things

Whether it is the touches placed about a home, the Merry Christmas from a stranger, or the look in the eyes of the people you hold most dear...

Christmas has a way of making even the simplest of things special and treasured.
                               

Sharing a few Christmasy glimpses around my home with you...
                                    please come in..                               

The reason for the season...
                                                  

These happy snowman are the closest thing to snow we'll be having this year..Very mild temperatures are setting new records..

Don't you love cards?

 Especially the ones that arrive in the mail a few weeks early..so special.

We have the tree beside our steps in our rec room..
                                            

It's not fancy, but is filled with sentimental treasures..

A simple display on an end table...

My kitchen window. I added a string of lights after I took this photo:)

A display behind my couch. The Christmas Box Collection by Richard Paul Evans is a favourite book of mine..

                                                               

Baking...Every year I bake cinnamon buns for Christmas morning...

My spontaneous nature seems to go into over drive at Christmas time...I love to prepare little impromptu gifts for whoever comes to my mind..
                                                 

  This is ginger honey chex mix  nice to give for gifts in a jar or tin.                            

I must wrap this up...no really I have some wrapping still left to do..shhhh!
It's okay I'll make a nice cup of tea and listen to some Josh Groban I think...


                                     Please listen to this song...It echoes my heart...

       


                                          Merry Christmas, Good night!                                                            

In Between and Starting

 Some rooms stories come round full circle...a little like this one...

                                                     
I haven't really been by my blog much lately. There always seems to be something else just a bit more urgent. 
We have tackled a few little 'spruce me ups' around here....

                                  

                                               a spot to write..
                         

It always starts somewhere, and this one began with freshly painted walls...

                      waiting for its first visit from daughter..
I have been wanting to try an all white room for some time. There is so many lovely ones here in blogland...

  the before; originally it had four colours when my youngest two shared it.   While it was cute for a while, they were happy to leave it and head to a bedroom in our basement..It waited like this for a while before it's walls were transformed into a more elegant mood..                                          

                                                   
 another lifetime's...

story..
                                                     

                                                           
    Simplicity and solitude..                                                       

                                         a quiet corner..

Then we decided we would also rip up the old carpet in the bedrooms here on the main floor, and put in laminate. It is a refreshing change, and I am quite pleased with hubby's hard work.

                     (had fun painting this desk for in here...)


Sometimes it's a scary thought that I have a spare bedroom. When all five children lived here, space was a premium, but time passes all too quickly with one daughter married, and suddenly there is a room to redo for second  daughter when she comes 'home -home' as she calls it. 
                                            

                                                            sweet dreams...


 I have also started working part time at a restaurant. I've enjoyed the change that it brings to my life without compromising too much of my valued time at home.
                                          

                         found the art work at a thrift store, I thought it was perfect..

So there in between life's coming and going. The having and holding, the silence and songs, I stumble than soar and start over again.

                                                                 

                                      
                             coming together with a few final touches..

            
                       Thank you for visiting my new white room!

View Points

                                                

At that five o clock time of day, there is nothing sweeter than turning on some music and begin chopping up some vegetables for supper.  The carrots, onions and potatoes all come from my store in my root cellar. The sky out side my window to the world is a hundred shades of pink. I marvel  at fall skies and I am thankful that I can see them from this vantage point. I find it intriguing the way the sun moves at different times of the year. In May and June when it is at it's peak and days are the longest, it throws long shadows into what we call the piano room.
                                                    

But here in November when evening arrives before hubby makes it home from work, or even most days before the girls that come here after school are picked up, the skies kiss day goodnight early. I watch this from my window to the world, while yellow lights  in succession seem to urge passengers homeward. 
                                                       

This place, this spot is where I want to be at this time of day. I see certain situations with astute clarity while I run the days events through my mind. Other things are more abstract,and cloudy, but somehow when I'm making supper and my loved ones are either here or there, I feel a certain sureness for what I don't know.
                           

                 

 recently we were spectators at a parade. I found it fascinating as people scrambled for a view. Some people even brought ladders, for their children..
perhaps more pics in a future post...

                                                 

Joy lives in little things. Children laughing having fun, a good song on the radio,the sound of the motor cycle in the driveway as hubby returns home.
Clear and bright I see these gems, grounding me to what matters. Keeping my focus prudent and filled with faith. 


                                      

youngest daughter who turns 13 tomorrow!! (yikes:) is soon to have her view enhanced. This week we ordered her these glasses...

Brighter In The Dark

                                                  

With all the tragic things that keep happening in the news, it is hard at times to stay strong and remember that good will win, and that ultimately God will win.

It's on nights like these where we must light a candle. This one on my table is from a friend who passed away three years ago.

                                                    

                       my kitchen at night. daughter plays piano in the shadows..

I lit it and thought of her fondly last evening. Tonight I light it and pray for Paris.

 I feel at times like this candle , flickering away in a world growing increasingly darker. 

But when I stop lighting my candle, when I stop praying for peace, when I stop believing that good will win. 
Then darkness has accomplished it's task. 
So bravely we must flicker even with the smallest flame, holding out Light bigger than the darkest dark.

                                                         

                                

Capturing The Two Sides Of Life

  yesterday in the midst of a blazing afternoon sun, our 'old pick up truck' left to be hauled away to another home...the preceding thoughts are not necessarily  related to this event .. 
                                     

                                                                                              
November. The month that usually makes melancholic artists of us all.
Not this year! This November has gifted us with radiantly sunny days, painting the fields a rich, emerald green hue and turning the lingering leaves into russet gold.
Of course it has had some moody, windy moments;
Moments where the sun and rain are simultaneous.
                                               

This happened the other day. We had just departed from the Walmart doors when suddenly there was the most amazing rainbow I have ever seen. ( and I didn't have my camera on me!) 
It was a complete arch and as we stared at it in amazement, we saw the second paler one and then even a hint of a third. 
It was honestly the most breathtaking thing of nature that I have seen in a very long time...( and I didn't have my camera on me!)

We got into our truck and started for home, with the rainbow leading the way in front of us. The brilliant colours juxtaposed against a stark November landscape. (and I didn't have my camera on me!)
We witnessed this miraculous art in the sky for about 10 to 15 minutes exclaiming over the  places it landed it's mythical treasured pot of gold.
Suddenly just like that it vanished. Disappeared from our view as the rains spilled from the heavens obliterating any inkling of a rainbow. 
But it had been there. we saw it, and we were blessed by it's beauty.

Somehow the rain didn't seem so bad after the rainbow concerto.

                                                  

Later that evening after rainbow memories had been replaced with more urgent, pressing matters like laundry and what's for dinner, we sat together as a family to watch  Disney's animated movie Inside Out. 
                                                   
The girls and I had planned to watch it as soon as it was out on DVD ,  we had heard it was interesting and entertaining for young and old- ehmmmm!
We weren't disappointed as we laughed and cried (okay almost!) at the emotions conveyed so humorously yet  deeply none the less.
                                               
I was particularly drawn to the fact that throughout most of  the movie, the emotions Joy and Sadness were together. The two opposite emotions helped each other, and I wondered vaguely if this was intentional, or if perhaps I was reading too far into the script. I thought of the quote...

                                                 

Somehow this leads me back again to the rainbow. The rich tapestry flung across a tempestuous sky.
The joy and the sadness that must accompany one along life's highway.
Each so close like opposite sides of the same coin. Real and necessary for life to be full.
Like dazzling, unexpected rainbows...  one never knows when you'll need a camera.

                                                       

                                                   photo from archives, creds to daughter with ipod:)

                                            Wishing you a blessed November day!

Treading Lightly

                                            

I have had a phrase repeat its self in my head this week...
It is this Hold lightly your blessings...

                                                      

It was in my morning reading a few days ago, in a book of daily devotions by the inspirational Joni Eareckson. A secret sister from church gave me the book years ago, and recently I picked it up again and have thoroughly enjoyed it's wisdom.
                                    

Blessings are exactly that, they are gifts to us, and we value them by holding them lightly...not in a clenched hand, that could easily crush their intrinsic beauty,
                                                                   

 

rather in an open hand regarding their fleeting,precious worth.
                                                     

                                             

Delicate treasures are these blessings in my life....
numerous and fragile like the leaves scattered across my front lawn, able to be separated at any given moment.

photos show tangible blessings, hearts hold intangible ones...

                                               

"He who binds himself to joy, does the winged life destroy;but he who kisses the joy as it flies lives in eternity's sunrise. " (William Blake)

Breathless

Like a leaf that falls on lavender, some moments simply happen...
                                        

Last night my son came down stairs to where his Dad and I were watching the news and said with his mouth full of tooth paste, "I just don't know what I want to do with my life." 

I watch him for a minute and shudder a little as he swallows a mouthful of Crest, and say "Why do you need to decide right now?"  I am not ready for a statement like this at this time of night. I may never be ready for this declaration of decisions and duty, but somehow seventeen in the evening seems a little early and far too young. 

Why hurry into something that life can dictate on it's own, when we live life fully and courageously each and every day...
                                              

                                                   

Yes, I understand there are and always will be necessary measures to the path of success. But  I have learned life is way too short; and answers many times only conjure up more questions.

I realise also  my son suddenly felt the weight of the world on his growing, gangling frame shift?  Can you blame me for bluffing ? 

Life doesn't offer trite answers son. So please forgive me for not replying in black and white.  I was too busy noticing the question behind your statement, and trying to catch my breath. 

motherhood;the only job in which your skills become obsolete over night..

Adriana Trigiani- Milk Glass Moon

ThankFull

Saturdays are my favorite day of the week. They usually start off slow, and there's no lunches to pack. Yay..
This Saturday was a lovely one with just a perfect blend of things to accomplish and things to leave for another time.
We are celebrating Thanksgiving here this weekend, so there are many smells simmering in the kitchen as we prepare for a traditional  Thanksgiving turkey dinner to be enjoyed tomorrow after church.

        my fall table center piece made with things I had around, easy to move when necessary..

Yesterday upon visiting the library, I  ironically came across this book on there discard table.

                                                Is there anything better than warm apple dumplings?

Here is the recipe, found it in the bottom of my recipe drawer in my sister's hand writing

It was a treat to have 3 of my daughters in the kitchen with me..

I also took time to get outside and enjoy the beautiful fall  day...

 I find it fascinating to traipse through the fields around our place in every season, there is beauty.

and around the corner is home.

So while the stuffing works on perfecting it's stuffiness...

I pause to remember that everything I call mine is gifted and loaned to me from a Higher Power.

Nobody's life is perfect, but we are blessed and it is good

 to recognize the significance that the threads of gratitude are to life, and it is necessary to Give Thanks.

listen