Post 130 Happy Holiday Season
Draw up the tea, the hot choco or the coffee, a warm and snuggly throw and curl up on the couch, those of you in Cold Country. I dug this picture I call Snow on Prairie that I took last January in the plains of Illinois and saved it.
As it happens, I went to the beach yesterday under a balmy 80 degree sun, even put a little sunblock on my knees. While it is too cold to swim, it was a delightful day with book in hand and as always, shelling. What a wonderful thing.
The holiday season is upon us, I have done some baking and I did brave some crowds at the local mall on Saturday, though by 2pm I was "crowded out"...too many people, too small of spaces. I don't understand how some people like that!
It is a little incongruous to me to hear holiday music and seeing the bright, bright sunlight and be wearing a sweater. Frasier firs down at the grocery store from work are 60 to 80 dollars each, so I will pass on those. I don't have any of the holiday things I have spent a life time collecting, still all back in storage in Kentucky. It may be the first year ever that I resort to a fake tree, borrowed from a friend who is going to spend the day with me on Christmas. He's gone a lot, dinner will be here so we figured, the tree can live here also.
It is a time where we can take a step back and try not to get caught in the frenzy. I also noticed this year, that though I really miss being part of the music in the church I was in the last several years and playing my horn in a concert, because I am in a new place and not a part of any of that, I am not a part of the frenzy that invariably creeps in when there are too many commitments and not enough time to do them in.
I bought a pretty Lenox china cup with a bright red cardinal on it, which you do not see here and that I miss, some colored blown glass ornaments at a yard sale and some hand-painted blocks that spell out "Blessed!" at a church jumble sale. These are my decorations and I will make a pretty table with a nice meal for me and my friend.
It's all in the heart. I am remembering all the Christmases of when I was the child, and then when my children were at home with much thanksgiving and tenderness. Last year at cousin's house in the tree tops with the dogs and the lovely meal we shared together was special also.
Thankfulness lives mostly inside of us, thankfulness every day for that relationship with something bigger and greater than ourselves.
For abundance, good health, jobs, homes, cars and our health, for good friends and for family.
Let us carry on with joy in the holiday season.
I'll be posting some pictures of holidays past in the snow country in the coming days.
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la. Don we now our gay apparel...
