Some Wintry Favourites

"Oh the weather outside is frightful."

Today we're having a real snow day. It's stormy and blustery and cold. Brrrrr. But, wait, that means it's a perfect day to enjoy a few of my winter favourite things.

Doing things like....

Making homemade soup like Luscious Lemon Chicken Soup

Wrapping Christmas parcels with bright paper and ribbons

Letting a purring kitty cat curl up in my lap or play with the ribbons

Hunkering deep into my comfy chair by the fireplace

Reading something light and cozy

Shoveling some snow off the driveway

Experiencing that exhilarating tingle on my face, fingers, and toes

Keeping twinkle lights on ALL day ... and to heck with energy bills

Visiting my dear blogging friends

*****

All in all, it's a great day to thrill at being alive....

Wishing you some of your own winter-y favourites!

A warm hug,

Brenda

xox

It Smells Like Christmas

It's beginning to smell a lot like Christmas,
everywhere you go...

Peppermint candy canes
Sweet marshmallows melted into hot chocolate
Cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg

Wood smoke wafting in the air on a frosty evening
Crushed pine needles
Wet woolly mittens on the heat register

Sugar cookies baking in the oven
Fresh cranberries turning into to sauce
Apple cider on the stove  

Wishing you the pleasure of simple joys today!

 

Create Your Own Way

"Creativity is inventing, experimenting, taking risks,
breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun."
~ Mary Lou Cook

Joy often comes when we become so absorbed in creating something new that we forget about everything else. Children know how to do that well. In fact, I'm reminded of something author Brenda Ueland once said about the process of writing. The creative act of writing should not be like a mountain top experience, but rather like a child stringing beads in kindergarten -- happy, absorbed and quietly putting one bead on after another.

Is there anything in this list that captivates your imagination to do something new today? And become as happily absorbed in it as a child?

 

 

 

~ paint ~ putter ~ puzzle ~

~ glue ~ sprinkle ~ bead ~

~ waltz ~ strum ~ skate ~

~ sing ~ color ~ wrap ~

~ stitch ~ compose ~ play ~

~ eat ~ sip ~ bake ~

~ ponder ~ draw ~ design ~

~ craft ~ sculpt ~ write ~

~ decorate ~ read ~ dream ~ 

Today, I'm happily puttering, baking fruitcake,

and sipping hot apple cider! And you?

Brenda
xox


Photo: morguefile.com

Fun Christmas Questions

morguefile.com

Join me in the fun of deciding which you prefer when it comes to Christmas favourites.

1. Hot Chocolate or apple cider? Hot Chocolate topped with whipped cream and chocolate shavings!

2. Turkey or Ham? Turkey with Mom's stuffing (lots of it).

3. Do you get a fake or real-you-cut-it-yourself Christmas tree? It's a real fake one (ha ha).

4. Decorations on the outside of your house? Lights on the house, a wreath on the door, red bows on trellises.

5. Snowball fights or sleddin’? Sleddin' (although it's been a while since I've done that. Snowball fights were a menace to glasses).

6. Do you enjoy going downtown shopping? I used to enjoy downtown shopping -- loved the festive ambiance. Don't often go there now.

7. Favorite Christmas song? That's too hard to narrow down; it depends what grabs my heart and fancy on a particular year. Sacred: Joy to the World; Secular: Sleigh Ride would be right up there.

8. How do you feel about Christmas movies? I like them - love The Bishop's Wife, the old Bing Cosby ones (White Christmas, Going My Way, Bells of St. Mary), While You Were Sleeping, You've Got Mail. I also enjoy movies that add to the ambiance, but aren't necessarily Christmas, e.g. Anne of Green Gables.

9. When is it too early to start listening to Christmas music? I ask you, is it ever too early? Although I do tend to get in the mood more in the autumn, rarely in spring or summer.

10. Stockings before or after presents? After presents.

11. Go to someone else’s house or they come to you? My house this year.

12. Do you read the Christmas Story? If so when? I love the Christmas Story from Luke 2, King James Version (what I grew up on). I love to read and ponder, like Mary, throughout December.

13. What do you do after presents and dinner? Sit around and visit, snooze, play games, nibble.

14. What is your favorite holiday smell? The spicy smells of cinnamon and cloves; the turkey cooking on Christmas Day

15. Ice skating or walking around the mall? Walking, but I enjoy watching the skaters.

16. Do you open a present or presents on Christmas Eve, or wait until Christmas day? Our family tradition until siblings started getting married (needing to go to in-laws) was to open our presents on Christmas Eve, but now we wait until Christmas Day.

17. Favorite Christmas memory? As a young child, sitting in the darkened living room on a quiet evening watching the tree lights while my mom made supper in the kitchen. I felt cozy and safe.

18. Favorite part about winter? Snow, short days and early twilights, that Christmas is in the middle of it!

19. Ever been kissed under mistletoe? Haven't put any up lately, but I think so (unless it was in my dreams).

Isn't it fun to think about Christmas... I LOVE it!

Just Hear Those Sleigh Bells Jingling

Of all the fun things! You may recall a few days ago when I posted this Christmas-y banner on my blog page, I mentioned that it was from the photo cover of an old album (yes, an LP record) that has been in our family almost five decades.

Well loved and well used, you can only imagine how well scratched it was by now too! The well-scratched part probably wasn't a result of little sis and I playing it over and over, as we'd pull it up to the top of the stacking pole, put the arm in place, flick the little switch to get the turntable going. Plop... and that album would be spinning another round of carols and festive songs.

Our favorite was probably Sleigh Ride, where we'd gallop around the living room, singing lustily along with the choir as they belted out Just hear those sleigh bells jingling, ring ting, tingaling..... Giddyap, giddyap, let's go to the show, we're riding in a one-horse open sleigh....

So now you can understand my GREAT delight, when after a brief Google search, I found a place online where I can actually purchase a CD version of the album. What fun!

Alas, they didn't have any samples of the album's music available anywhere that I could find, but should you have an interest in looking further, here's the link to:

Christmas Chorale
Performed by the Edward Carrington Chorale
Grand Award Recipient

Just hear those sleigh bells jingling....