The Very Best Of Times....

....this Christmas. I had tried to find time to do a pre-holiday post, and like everyone else, life got crazy with little things that needed finishing up, plus our area has been preparing for a blizzard, which may or may not hit today. We're right on the demarcation line, so I'm holding my breath, but the snow blower is ready as is the operator. (Moi)

It was a good, GOOD Christmas here. I could not have asked for better. I learned that hanging around half the day in Jammies and hand knit socks is QUITE GOOD, but sticking a bow to one's fuzzy head is QUITE BAD, as removal of said bow removed hair too. OWIE!!! (live and learn...lol!)

Even the Miser Brothers decided on a few minutes of Peace On Earth to send out happy wishes! Hey, if they can, can't the rest of US??? The posts on Face Book of late have just been beyond my ken. Mean. Fear-mongering. Things are split in a season that we should all be coming together.

A little KINDNESS please.

We did our usual non-traditional meal of New Orleans influence and I can honestly say I am so stuffed from crawfish and shrimp, I don't care to see either for......oh, a day or two??? ;-D Things were definitely YUMMY as we rolled quietly into the evening.

Another learning experience:

While these little guys smell like HEAVEN cooking, leaving the empty shells till the following morning is a BAAAAAAAAAD IDEA! Oh my. Yeah, I was having a Vieux Carre moment.....walking down Bourbon Street in the morning with the smell of, well, NOT GOOD wafting through the air.

I tended to the chores quickly.

And to cap off a lovely evening, as the sun dipped, with clouds rolling in, there was color for a brief moment.

Winter makes you run to catch those bits of amazing atmospheric change. Wait too long and it's all gone.....like a dream, wondering if you saw it.

And so Christmas 2012 is wrapped up, today, Boxing Day, should prove interesting too. I await 2013 eagerly.

Sometimes the very best times you have are the ones you think may never be seen.

I know that well.

Here's hoping you and yours were given sweet moments to remember and that you'll have many more to come!


Pax....

The remains of the day.........

 (yes, there is a Grinch ornament in the tree........!)

.....a lovely day spent with DH and the quiet of the country; no snow but pretty red lights on our table-top tree that was plenty and a delight to do! (would you expect anything else but red from me??? Really???)

Exchanging gifts, recalling holidays past, good times, lounging, napping......I can't remember a Christmas that was this low key and lovely! Delivered treats to the Budgie Boyz from *Santa-Budgie* which was pretty much like taking ten pounds of sugar and giving it to a couple of kids and encouraging them to eat it straight! Oh my...we laughed at their antics and squawks all day! Seriously, all day......they were pretty happy and wired! And LOUD......

We noshed on tidbits I had tucked away in the pantry and fridge, a day of no cooking! Watched movies---"A Christmas Story" being one of my favorites because it reminds me for some reason of my early days and it is just too funny, especially the bunny suit. (remember, I own and wear bunny slippers...) Plus, Darrin McGavin is perfect as *The Old Man*.......reminds me somewhat of my Dad, the facial expressions!

Closed the evening with a drive around in town to look at Christmas lights and enjoy the nightfall out in the car. Then back for some more time snuggled in the warm house with the red tree aglow until finally I had to call it a night. Still need a bit more stamina and getting up at 5:30 every morning is not helping! LOL! I would say I'm too old for these early hours but I'll blame it on the surgery instead.  ;-)

This was a great Christmas for all the reasons we never see promoted---small, simple, time for sharing talk, a drive, being with someone you love, having enough which is plenty, no pressure. Could you ask for a better day?

I couldn't.

Being home.....on my couch, with DH......the best Christmas ever!!!

I wish the same warm feelings for all of you. Sometimes we have to slow down to see what we really need, or want, or are thankful for.

Pax.

The end of vacation, not the end of Holiday

This is DH's last day of vacation; tomorrow it is back to the grind for both him and me come to think of it. I leave the decorations up through Epiphany, so I have one more week of joyous light in the house, then back to the usual Winter hum-drum. It always seems so bare and sparse (even with all my JUNK!) when everything is down and tucked away till next year. That is when the real sense of the dark of the year sets in.

Oh yes, they have all this stuff to decorate with for the in-between "non-seasons" but it has little appeal to me. Maybe it was because I grew up in the military--Army-- and spent Christmas and the extended holidays in Germany. Europe's celebration, at least at that time, was a gentler, less commercialized one, with the season starting at the beginning of December and lasting through, hmmmmmmm, was it Epiphany? It was long, with no hurry to move on to the next holiday. There was a sense of tradition that centered and grounded the holiday.

I remember being at the apartment on one of our German friends and who should appear as we were leaving but St. Nicholas! Armed with switches for the bad in one hand (Dad got chased into the car with those) and iced Lebkuchen for good children in the other (which I got) was absolutely magical. As an adult, I realize it was a kind old man, who grew a snowy white beard, donned a beautiful red robe over his slim frame---remember, this is Europe and not America--- and went into the neighborhood and made children truly BELIEVE.

The streets were so dark that night, dotted with the soft glow of the streetlamps and seeing the silhouette of St. Nick coming toward me was breathtaking. It was an experience hard to put to words. But it still lives in the Christmas lights each year; when the tree is up and covered with glass ornaments from about the world, from my Dad and Mom's travels via Uncle Sam, when I am cozy and content as the storms howl outside, as I sit and contemplate what Christmas is supposed to be about. Belief like a child; responsibility of doing for others.


Carry the light from this season in your heart all year; it doesn't have to go away.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

May your day be peaceful and not start out with the *bang* mine did of chasing my little blue budgie, Johnny, all over the studio, as he gleefully dive-bombed DH and me! Seems he thought his Christmas present was making *Momma-Keet* do the "swoop and cuss" as I chased him with the piece of fabric I use to catch the little stinker. And he is getting smarter by the day, because now it is a game of how long he can stay OUT. Geez.........I have learned birds are faster than humans. Waaaaaay faster!

So here is a nice peaceful picture, to inspire a bit of warmth for the day!

And yes, Santa-Budgie came to visit.......that's how little demon bird got out, while his new toys were going in the cage....... >:(

Have a great one everybody! HO! HO! HO!

The Boys say it all.......

May you have safe warm days filled with joy and light
in this dark time of the year.
May you have friends and family to be close to bring cheer.
May you have enough, and if you have more than enough,
may you share with those who don't.
May the Christmas Star shine within your heart
not only today, but through out this coming year.

May you know love.