Belated Five on Friday: Twinkle Light Season & A Giveaway

Image by Jill Wellington from Pixabay

I open the door. The gorgeous guest
from afar sweeps in. In her hands are
her gifts--the gifts of hours and far-seeing
moments, the gift of mornings and evenings,
the gift of spring and summer, the gift
of autumn and winter. She must have searched
the heavens for boons so rare.
ABBIE GRAHAM


Dear Beautiful You,

Another day, another week gone in a flash -- I hope that for all its swiftness it has been a good one for you. Let's see, since the last time I posted, we've had cold snow days. We've had sunny, melting days and a plethora of grey overcast days ... all typical November weather here in northerly Alberta.

If you were to ask what kinds of things have been keeping me busy of late, I'd be hard-pressed to give you any answer that would whelm you over. There are no big projects, but lots of little things filling my days: visits with family and friends; meals, laundry, dishes, errands and shopping. A wee bit of dusting in those too obvious sunny spots. I'm reading from my pile of books from the library and from my own bookshelves, which includes re-reading the ever comfort-rending novel Somewhere Safe with Somebody Good by Jan Karon and the ever-charming epistolary memoir 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff. I also re-watched for the dozen-th time the delightful movie by the same title starring Ann Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins. Oh, and I'm taking some French lessons on Duolingo.com (bonjour!), watching movies in the evenings on Netflix, and making lists for the upcoming holiday season. Just to name a few things...

Last weekend we met with friends and took in the local art society's Christmas Market, where we bought a wee stash of Christmas cookies like gingersnaps and shortbread. With the stash eaten over tea through the week, this morning we are off to another friend's church Christmas market, hoping to stock up on a few other seasonal treats. AND, we're making Christmas cake later today, using our favourite Light Christmas Cake, recipe found in this POST. It's always a joint effort, someone chopping and and stirring, someone getting the pans ready with flour dusting and wax paper forming. Taste testing done by one of us... can you guess who?

At our house, the weekend when mountain daylight time goes back to mountain standard time signals Twinkle Light Season! So I've been slowly gathering my LED candles and twinkle lights aiming to make the season bright and cheerful. Hubby frowns on candles with real flames, a carry over from when we had curious kitties with long furry tails and whiskers. 

To add to the building commotion of cheer, I'm excited to offer my seasonal ***GIVEAWAY*** for two copies of this year's Cotswold Advent e-Calendar created by Jacquie Lawson. Scroll down for details.

Wondering what else I could share with you today, I opted to show a small gathering of items I purchased over the last while. It's only November, but you'll see a theme unfolding. It's not hard to get in the mood when the weather has been so helpful in providing some cool temperatures, a few snowy days, and lots of grey skies. 

~ONE~

A new box of sparkly Christmas cards made by Papyrus

It's always been one of my favourite traditions to write out
and send Christmas cards and letters. These days I find

myself doing a mix of both snail mail and e-cards.

How about you? Do you still write Christmas cards?

~TWO~

Glass globe with candle and berry wreath

This little light of mine

I'm gonna let it shine.

Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

~THREE~

A new decoration for our tree
Found this cute stained glass tree ornament at
the Christmas Market last weekend.

~FOUR~

'Awww, aren't these cute' Seasonal Napkins
We found these at the local wildbird general store. I know
who's gonna find them in their Christmas stocking this year.

~FIVE~

Cotswold E-Advent Calendar
 jacquielawson.com

The 2019 Advent calendar arrived in my inbox a few days ago -- a
surprise gift from my lovely friend, Barbara, who knows
I love all things English and how much I enjoyed our visit to England
a few summers ago. The best treat of that trip was sharing a couple
of hours over tea with Barbara while we were in Cornwall.

To pay forward the joy, I'm having a GIVEAWAY for two of these
e-calendars just in time to begin opening
the daily treats on December 1st.

The draw will be held on
Wednesday, November 27th.

To enter the draw, leave a comment
in the comment box.  
  

* * *

"One kind word can warm three winter months."

JAPANESE PROVERB

* * *

On that note, I'm wishing you a beautiful weekend

and don't forget to leave a comment for the draw.

Hugs,

Brenda

xox