Christmas

Favourites on Christmas Eve

Posted on by Joy / 2 Comments

Christmas is a together sort of holiday.

Winnie the Pooh

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Hello Friend,

I wonder if you are spending this evening with friends and family. If you are, how blessed are you! If you’re alone this evening, you’re welcome by my fire. Please, come in!

Leave your snowy boots by the door and let’s hang your coat right here. Here’s a basket of cozy slippers, please help yourself to whatever suits your fancy. Would you like the easy chair by the Christmas tree or the wing chair by the fireplace? Feel free to wrap up in the cozy Christmas quilt too.

Now, I’ve got hot apple cider, or the punch I make every Christmas; either one in a festive cup. Which would you prefer with your Christmas cookies?

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The tree is lit and decorated with my favourite ornaments, gifts wrapped and arranged under it. Flameless candles and twinkle lights flicker here and there, and soft music plays.

I thought I’d share a few of my Christmas favourites this evening, things I love or keep returning to.

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Favourite Punch Recipe …

THE BEST PUNCH
2-1/2 cups pineapple juice
1 qt. lime sherbet (I can't seem to find lime anymore, so I just use whatever flavour available)
1 qt. softened vanilla ice cream

Put in punch bowl and fill with 1 large bottle gingerale or 7-up
Makes 20 8-oz. servings.

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Favourite Ornaments …

I have six pairs of booties on my tree, one to represent each grandchild. Every year when I hang them on the tree, my mind goes back to each of their births, and the years that have followed. Little Man, our eldest, is now eleven. How time flies!

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Grandchildren are living reminders of what we’re really here for.

Janet Lanese

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Favourite Christmas Books …

The fact that I’ve read each of these before, and am now reading them again, is testament to how much I love them, especially at Christmas time.

Shepherds Abiding is from Jan Karon’s Mitford series. If you’re familiar with Father Tim and the delightful, quirky citizens of Mitford you’ll understand why this is such a cozy Christmassy read.

Christmas Bells jumps between two eras: present-day Boston where a dedicated music teacher faces struggles with her music program, and 1860’s Cambridge, Massachusetts, where Henry Wadsworth Longfellow faces his own deeply personal grief during the civil war. The two stories become entwined around Longfellow’s poem, I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day. The novel reminds us why “we must continue to hear glad tidings even as we are tested by strife.”

Once Upon a Wardrobe tells the fictional story of Megs, a brilliant Oxford physics student who becomes acquainted with C.S. Lewis because her young dying brother is enamoured with the new book, The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, and has questions for the author. In the end, “the gift she thought she was giving to her brother–the story behind Narnia–turns out to be his gift to her, instead: hope.”

I recommend any and all of them.

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… humanity’s most precious commodity [is] time–Not love, … not because it’s less important, but because you can run out of time, while love can be endlessly replenished.

Jennifer Chiaverini, Christmas Bells

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Favourite Christmas Puzzle:

We have done this puzzle every Christmas for almost thirty years. Amazingly, it’s not missing any pieces, although one piece was once glued together but now isn’t anymore, and another piece bears the teeth marks of one of our cats from years ago. In our house, A Charlie Brown Christmas was a staple Christmas show, and we waited every year with anticipation for a night when everyone was home to watch it. It didn’t quite feel like Christmas until Charlie Brown and his friends had sung Hark the Herald Angels Sing.

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And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, ‘Fear not: for behold, I bring unto you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the City of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.’ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.’

[Luke 2:8-14]

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That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.

[A Charlie Brown Christmas]

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Favourite Christmas Carol …

Most Christmas Carols are my favourites, but this year I keep returning to this one. It has become my favourite rendition of Away in a Manger.

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Thank you for this special Christmas Eve visit. It’s been wonderful to have your company. Merry Christmas! Stay safe out there, and see you next time.

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Featured Image and all images not tagged scrapsofjoy.com by Jill Wellington from Pixabay

Daybook/Living the Moment

November Day Book

Posted on by Joy / 4 Comments

I wonder if the snow loves the trees and fields, that it kisses them so gently? And then it covers them up snug, you know, with a white quilt; and perhaps it says, ‘go to sleep, darlings, till summer comes again.’

Lewis Carroll

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Hello Friend,

How wonderful to see you! Thank you for making the trek through the snow. Leave your boots here by the door, and I’ll take your coat as you cozy up by the fireplace. There’s the burgundy wing chair with a footstool, if you like, or the big grey leather chair that’s made for curling up in. Slippers? These knitted ones are the best to warm up your toes.

Now, what will you have today? Coffee or tea? Or perhaps hot chocolate will satisfy your craving. Any of those can be had in a moment. And all of them will go perfectly with the apple coffee cake just out of the oven. Did you smell the cinnamon when you came in?

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Photo by Jill Wellington from Pixabay

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It’s our first big snow of the year, and I think it’s here to stay this time. I know some people cringe to see winter’s arrival, but I love to watch the snow come down. Especially the way it did this time … in gentle big flakes that descended without effort or resistance before landing softly on the ground. As if time wasn’t a thing.

Days are shorter, which only means indoors is cozier and we surround ourselves with quiet activities and people we love.

Looking out my window …

The boughs of the wise old evergreens are heavy with snow. Even the deciduous trees are adorned with delicate lace, as though fashioned for an exquisite wedding veil.

The Cowboy has been busy outside stringing lights and garland on railings and trees, and on the darkest evenings they glow and glitter. Apparently, we’ve run out of lights and need to go for more! Right now he’s shovelling the walks outside my window … a very wintery chore.

One of my favourite things …

In October, The Cowboy and I hosted three of our grandsons for two weeks while their parents took a much needed vacation. It was a hectic, joyous time. Daily schoolwork (a rushed affair as, according to them, there were much more important things to do), lots of outdoor time, cuddles with pets, lessons in loom knitting, cozy bedtime chats, and many other things filled our days.

One afternoon The Cowboy and I were unusually all alone in the house. I looked out the kitchen window to discover a teepee being built out of tall dead branches that the boys had dragged from the woods. It gave me a thrill to see three boys, left to their own devices–and not the digital kind–working together to build something. It’s still standing six weeks later. (The Cowboy has strung lights on it.) Every time I look at it I’m reminded that the world may have changed a lot recently, but the essentials are still there.

Might be hard to see because the trees are so big, but some of the branches on the teepee are 10 feet tall.

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Where is there a boy to whom the call of the wild and the open road does not appeal?

Robert Baden-Powell

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I am creating …

A couple of quilts. One is called Cottage Romance: lots of soft pinks, greens, yellows, and whites. Hoping to get it finished by Spring, when it will go on one of the guest beds. The other is a scrappy quilt in vintage Christmas colours. It will be finished this week.

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Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.

Vincent Van Gogh

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I am wearing …

Yoga pants, long-sleeved pink ribbed shirt with gold-coloured buttons, cozy socks.

I am listening to …

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I am learning …

To keep on the alert for wildlife out here in lake country. As often as a sighting occurs, I’m still surprised and thrilled to witness it. This morning I looked up from my desk to see two moose skimming over the snow covered field across the road. I was going to say ‘lumbering,’ because that’s how you’d expect a moose to run. But, for all their bulky bodies and spindly legs, this mother and grown calf looked like they were skimming effortlessly across the snow.

In my garden …

Everything is put to bed for the winter. The blackened wooden garden boxes stand out distinctly against the snow-laced trees behind them. A few determined larkspur leaves peek out from their blanket of snow.

Closing Notes …

Technically it’s not winter, but it sure feels like it out there. Which is why I so appreciate you stopping in for a visit today. Stay safe out there, and see you next time.

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My old grandmother always used to say, Summer friends will melt away like summer snows, but winter friends are friends forever.

George R. R. Martin

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Feature Image by Nicky ❤️🌿🐞🌿❤️ from Pixabay

Thanks to Peggy for the Daybook inspiration.

Living the Moment/Sanctuarium

Summering

Posted on by Joy / 14 Comments

… I learnt the sheer luxury of daydreaming … perhaps it isn’t lost time at all, but the most valuable thing I could have done.

Roger Deakin [Notes from Walnut Tree Farm]

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Hello Friend,

It’s so good to have you back for a visit. Have you had an eventful summer?

Come, have a seat in one of these big rockers on the veranda. We’ve had a wonderful, cleansing rain and the air is fresh with it. I’ve been learning to make London Fogs, and Mom just brought up a freshly baked zucchini loaf. Would you like to try a London Fog with your slice? Butter is there on the side table if you want it.

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Photo by Tadas Mikuckis on Unsplash

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You may remember from our last visit that The Cowboy and I were two provinces away, where our grandson had gone through three emergency brain surgeries. It was shocking, traumatic, miraculous. That’s how our summer began. After he got home from hospital and his family began the long journey of healing, we were able to come home and begin our own journey to healing. It required rest, stillness, the comfort of home and ordinariness.

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It struck me that we don’t mark time by the hours, days, and years of the calendar; rather, we mark the times of our lives by the significance of the events we experience.

Glenn P. Booth [Them Days]

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Part of my ordinary days back at home has been to care for my gardens – flowers and vegetables alike. I’ve grown vegetables for many years, but now I’m trying to become a flower gardener as well. It’s all rather trial and error, research and learning, and we may still be in our experimental years. This is only our second year of gardening out here at The Cleft after all. But it does give me a thrill every time I pass by a flowering pot or flower bed and see the results of planning and work. The pink dahlias!! Exquisite.

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I have two little wildflower gardens too, and their delicate petals waving in soft breezes have been a restful delight this unpredictable summer.

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Speaking of breezes … they have become a part of my stillest moments. Before my words came back to me, I would sit in this rocking chair on the veranda, or at my desk in the library between the long window to my right and the smaller one behind me, and savour the gentle breeze wafting over me, past me, picking up and carrying away the heaviness of recent months little by little. What a gift a breeze is.

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He who is ready to believe the goodness of God shall always see fresh goodness to believe in.

Charles Spurgeon

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My summer reading has been varied and unusual. Unusual in that at least five of them were books I would not normally choose to read. But they arrived in once-a-month gift boxes from a favourite bookstore, and so I read them. Two of them I would not recommend – The Heart in Winter and All Fours, not because of the writing, but because of the content, which I didn’t enjoy. The fact that I finished them is a testament to the excellent skills of the authors. I love to read beautiful words put together uniquely and engagingly.

One of the books – This Earthly Globe: a Venetian Geographer and the Quest to Map the World, by Andrea di Robilant – completely surprised me, because though I wouldn’t have chosen it for myself ever, I’ve found it so interesting. It’s the true story of how one man in 1500’s Venice managed to gather and compile a collection of travelogues, journals, and classified government reports in three volumes and release them into the public domain. It was “the biggest Wikileak of the Renaissance,” and changed humanity’s geographical view of the world. It’s a book of history, but reads like a novel.

Favourite read? The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery. I return to this book every so often for the delightful hope-filled story of a young woman who steps away from the preconceived ideas of who she should be into who she really is. And also for the beautiful descriptions of nature. It’s L.M. Montgomery at her best.

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The faint laughter of winds was always about them and the colours of Mistawis, imperial and spiritual, under the changing clouds were something that cannot be expressed in mere words. Shadows, too. Clustering in the pines until a wind shook them out and pursued them over Mistawis.

L.M. Montgomery [The Blue Castle]

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Sewing has been another healer for me. It is my sanity in the best of times, but this spring I had a goal that was finally realized by the end of July: to turn three beautiful dresses, made by my mom for our three girls, into quilts for them. I painstakingly, and sometimes tearfully, took out the stitches Mom spent hours putting into these dresses and refashioned them into something Sweetie, Peaches, and Babe could continue to love. I was pleased with the results, and I think they were too.

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Nothing is ever really lost to us as long as we remember it.

L.M. Montgomery

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We ended the last weeks of August with a visit from all the grandkids and their moms. Yes, ALL the grandkids. Little Man is well, though sometimes fearful of traumatic events returning. He needs to be careful about intense activity for a while yet, but otherwise he’s healthy and strong. And that is a miracle. If you have been praying for him, thank you.

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While they were here we kept busy, and it made me chuckle to see them driving the golf cart around the yard, carrots fresh from the garden dangling from their mouths, the greens getting tossed anywhere and everywhere.

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Teach the children … Give them the fields and the woods and the possibility of the world salvaged from the lords of profit … rejoice as they learn to love this green space they live in, its sticks and leaves and then the silent, beautiful blossoms. Attention is the beginning of devotion.

Mary Oliver [Upstream]

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And here we are in September! Truth be told, I began this visit before today, but it seems appropriate to share my Summering on this very last day of summer (though not officially, of course). And what have I learned?

Life is hard.

God is good.

And summering – rest, stillness, enjoyment, love – can exist even in the midst of the hard. But it must be a choice.

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To the historian, every battlefield is different; to the philosopher, every battlefield is the same.

Anne Michaels [Held]

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I’ve shared this music before, but it’s so perfect for our visit: daydreams, London Fogs, flowers, stillness, reading, sewing, breezes, fresh carrots on golf carts, journeys to healing. Summering.

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Thank you so much for visiting today. Stay safe out there, and see you next time.

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Feature Photo by Jill Wellington of Pixabay

Daybook

A June Lilac Daybook

Posted on by Joy / 5 Comments

Close your eyes and let the lilac’s scent transport you to a world of serenity.

Unknown

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Hello Friend,

I’m happy to see you today, especially as I’m two provinces away from home, looking after our seven-year-old grandsons, Bright and Sunny. Thanks for finding me!

The Cowboy brought ‘home’ Rhubarb Strawberry Pie, so we’ll have a slice of that with our tea. Whipped topping for you? Let’s take it out on the deck, it’s such a beautiful day.

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Making tea is a ritual that stops the world from falling in on you.

Jonathan Stroud

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I hope you won’t be too confused if I include a few Daybook entries, mixed in with my other thoughts. It’s the way my brain is working today.

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Observing from the deck …

I sit under a huge umbrella, on grey and white striped cushions which cover freshly varnished wooden couches. Sunny and Bright play in the neighbour’s pool; the water is a little cold, but the sun is warm. Poplar fluff floats around like lost snowflakes.

I am wearing …

Ankle length pants in hot pink, white V-neck T-shirt, and toenail polish called Strawberry Margarita

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Sweetie and I went to the lake the other day. As we walked along the path, we passed a lilac bush that towered over our heads, erupting with white blossoms. We thought it looked like they were getting to the end of their life, but when we got closer we realized that many tiny flowers were still in bud. It’s a bit unusual to find a lilac bush still budding at the end of June, and I received it as a gift, in what has been a traumatic and tumultuous month.

According to Better Homes and Gardens, “White lilacs represent purity and innocence …” How symbolic, as I thought of Little Man, the twins’ 10-year-old brother, innocently trusting doctors to cure what had been analyzed as migraines, but instead ending up in the Children’s Hospital for emergency brain surgery, then another one, and finally, a third surgery.

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The lilac branches are bowed under the weight of the flowers: blooming is hard, and the most important thing is—to bloom.

Yevgeny Zamyatin

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“… Purple lilacs symbolize spirituality, and if the blooms edge more on the blue side of the colour wheel, they symbolize happiness and tranquility.” Happiness and tranquility. Hmmm. I can’t say we’ve been happy through this whole ordeal, but joy is different from happiness, isn’t it?

Happiness says, “Look at me, basking in this pleasure.” Joy says, “Though life is hard, I trust in the One who knows all.”

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The very nature of Joy makes nonsense of our common distinction between having and wanting.”

C.S. Lewis

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I am thankful …

for the God-given instincts of a mother, who would not give up on advocating for her son, taking him to ER after ER after ER until someone listened to her. Without her courage, the outcome would have been devastatingly different. This is not an exaggeration.

I am learning … again …

Storms are best faced head on. Like the bison, who turns to run into an oncoming storm, I can get through it quicker head on, as opposed to a cow, whose instinct is to run away from it, thus being overtaken and spending a longer time in it.

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In my garden …

I had barely finished planting my flowers and vegetables before we left to care for the boys, but Mom & Dad, who are looking after pets and gardens while we’re away, say that everything is coming along nicely. And remember the little lilac bush we planted last year, a day before that destructive hail storm that I thought destroyed it?

It’s blooming.

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Thanks so much for taking the time for a visit today, it was lovely to have you here.

In case you were wondering … after a month in hospital, Little Man came home this week, and is planning his welcome home party. It’s been quite a remarkable, and sometimes miraculous, journey. He still has a whole summer of outpatient treatment to go through, but it’s wonderful that they can finally be together as a family again.

I should be back home next time you visit and you won’t have to travel so far to find me.

Stay safe out there, and see you next time.

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In the presence of lilacs, life’s simple moments become extraordinary.

Unknown

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Feature Image by Nicky ❤️🌿🐞🌿❤️ from Pixabay All other photos from Pixabay.

© Joylene Bailey 2024