Easing into…

I, for one, don’t always think that the month of December is all that easy. I love the holidays, very much, but adding anything to my already full days seem to make my shoulders ache. They were getting increasingly tight and achey as the month wore on. But then I hit a turning point, I think we all hit a turning point the other week when we were reminded that as long as you were still able to pick your children up at the end of day from school that your life was a sweet one indeed.

We did one final shopping trip. And I had a massage. My massage therapist said, ‘the holidays aren’t kind to your back! Mind if we spend the whole hour on your neck and back?’ She ended the hour on her hands and knees on my back getting the final knots out. I came home and decided right then that whatever was done was done. And whatever wasn’t…well, it wasn’t going to happen. I eased up on laundry and my home cleaning routine. We eased from stress into cookie baking.

And holiday movie watching and Christmas crafting and making brunch for friends.

And plenty of hours spent knitting in this very spot. My only stress now, will I finish that hat in time?

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!

welcome holidays

Though we held off for a bit, we now have all the holiday decorations out. This weekend was filled with an invitation to an ornament decorating party, a holiday ballet performance, hot chocolate and ornament making and hanging. I hung my little collection of Swarovski snowflakes across my south facing kitchen window this year. My uncle gave these to us each year for Christmas. He passed away quite young and unexpectedly this past spring. It is a beautiful thing to walk in and see hundreds of tiny rainbows all over our kitchen each morning.

I did a little holiday making today too (from the book of course!). As we’ve increased our children count over the years and they in turn have grown older and busier, my handmade Christmas gifts have decreased. As much as I love the idea of making my loved ones all handmade gifts, time is so limited, I try and keep it as simple as possible. There will be many years ahead of me for hand making. These years are about simplifying and enjoying amidst the December madness. Yesterday as we finished decorating the tree, I sat on the couch reading my new issue of Taproot and sipping my hot chocolate while the three kids danced like crazy to Dr. Demento’s Christmas album. It was loud and chaotic, yet cozy and Christmasy at the very same time. Welcome Holidays!

rain + sun

We’ve had quite the rain around here since I last wrote. This year I’ve had a hard time getting into decorating for Christmas. I guess because doing that means you are moving full speed into winter and I’m not ready to give up autumn yet. Seems like fall just began around here.

This last storm seems to have blown all the colorful leaves off the trees and with that we did start decorating a bit.

During our indoor time the boys exhausted all the yarn they could use, so in desperation I showed our 8 year old how to cut up one of dad’s old t-shirts into a continuous ‘string’. They were all fascinated. So was I honestly, I’d never done that before!

The bees seem to still be finding pollen out there somewhere! Resourceful gals, I tell you!

The rain and sun brought up hundreds of these mushrooms in our mulch. Any idea what they are? They look like they belong under the sea.

The sun shines bright & beautiful now! Have a great weekend!