Getting ready and thinking about The Word of The Year…

Monday and today have been bitterly cold in NH.

The sun was out yesterday though, and the light was spectacular.

Today’s high is only 13 degrees Fahrenheit.

The clouds have moved in as of noon today, and the snow has started again.

Another 4 to 8 inches.

It is really feeling wintery and Christmasy now.

I am surprisingly feeling quite at peace with it all.

I am cozy in my house, with twinkle lights and a gorgeous poinsettia serving as Christmas décor.

David is working from home and

tomorrow, we will be babysitting our 1 month old great nephew,

Baby Jayden, for the day !!!

Yay !

I am happily making some handmade Christmas gifties and

with a sweet reminder from my friend Laura Svencner,

I found some time to update and renew my Etsy listing for

The Word of the Year Rock in a Box.

For those of you who choose a Word of the Year to work with instead of resolutions that are never kept, I can custom paint a small beach stone with your chosen word and custom decorate your little white porcelain box in your favorite colors. You can have a sweet keepsake to keep your word in focus all year long !

These little boxes will be available for order in my Etsy shop through the end of January.

I am still waiting to come up with my Word of the Year 2014.

My word for 2013 was “Live”, as in “Live in the moment”, and I am working really hard on doing just that. The right word will be waiting for me when the new calendar year starts !

Off to enjoy a cup of chai tea with maple syrup and milk, and watch the snow fall.

Stay cozy, Beautiful Ones !

Haiku My Heart–Solstice 2012

Solstice, darkest day.

Celebrate the light inside.

Let your Soul light shine.

 

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The winter solstice comes in with lots of wind and heavy rains here in New Hampshire.

I will get my white Christmas up north in La Conception, Quebec, where they have a snow day today and are expecting about a foot of of the white stuff. So far, our travel time to head up there is looking clear, so that is a relief.

I have been describing the whole vibe around this holiday time as tender. Hearts feel tender, and the balance of light and dark feels tender and tenuous. Tender isn’t bad. It just means staying as present as possible and paying attention to actions and words, I think. I am working on it !

Today is for gift wrapping – making it simple with lots of reusable gift bags.

Between packages, I am baking cookies to give as gifts to the in-laws. Again, a simple recipe that is festive and works for everyone except my sister-in-law, Sue, who has celiac disease, and who will receive a special batch of gluten free chocolate chocolate brownies just for her !

All in all, I feel satisfied with my Christmas preparation this year. I have limited the stress and the expectations really well, I think. And a few of my gifts have that special Kim-touch that means so much to me. (Like that little embroidered wool pouch pictured above that will hold eco-dyed silk “Sweet Dream” herb and dried flower sachets that I have made for some special ladies !) That has worked to keep my heart light and my joy front and center.

So, I and my tender heart, wish you and yours a beautiful and bright solstice ! Keep those Soul lights burning !

Big love !

 

For more haiku and more solstice celebrating, join me at recuerda mi corazon.

Share the Joy Thursday–Cozy At Home Joy

From this week’s Joy List :

Little porcelain boxes that I have decorated and filled with a tiny “shh…” rock and left as anonymous gifts as I went about my errands around town.

Twinkle lights that shine above Little Happy in the studio.

Naps.

An early prezzie from Santa ! Momma got new red Ariat Cowgirl Boots !!! (50 % Off !!!)

Stitching little gifties for loved ones.

New hair do that frames my face and the sweet time I had with my hairdresser, Deb as we made me pretty.

Christmas shopping done. And one gift in particular that I am thrilled with giving to a certain 21 year old niece of mine.

A day for stitching and card writing today.

A day for baking tomorrow.

The anticipation of some sweet family holiday time and Christmas morning with some of my favorite kiddos.

Life definitely has its fair share of joy, even in the face of many sorrows. It is our work here to focus on it and celebrate it !

Enjoy your day, Beautiful Ones !

For more joyous celebrating, visit Meri at Meri’s Musings !

Haiku My Heart–Tender Spirit

Our hearts in our hands

Ready to give or receive

The sweet gift of Love.

 

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I am starting to feel it just a little.

That Christmas spirit.

It is very different this year.

It is a tender, soft, maybe even fragile thing.

At least until I choose to infuse it with the spirit of LOVE.

Working on that here as I put up a few simple but special decorations for David and I to enjoy,

and as I go out early in the day to purchase the few store-bought gifts that I am buying this year (mostly for the kiddos).

It is feeling good, like I am ready.

Keeping the LOVE in focus is making my spirit bright !

Sending out the gifts of love and light to you and yours, Beautiful Ones.

 

More love, light and haiku at recuerda mi corazon.

Share the Joy of Christmas !

My Christmas visit back home to Canada was full of incredible moments of joy !

I received a beautiful gift from my friend Suzanne who gave the Chica-dog a cozy and fun place to stay over the weekend.

I sat in an old wooden church lit with candles and sang along with Christmas hymns and carols with all the joy in my heart.

I got to watch the joy of the kiddos opening gifts from Santa, and others who love them to bits !

I got to see my beautiful 20 year old niece, Jessica, shine so brightly with the glow of her first real love.

I witnessed a family come together in action, patience and kindness when the amazingly beautiful 13 pound rib roast almost hit the floor and the cooking juices spilled all over the kitchen.

I, as always when I go home, felt the joy of how beautiful my family is and how we love each other so well, in spite of our differences and our imperfections.

I felt the peace of having my life partner, my best friend and my Love beside me through it all, appreciating and soaking in the joy himself.

I even witnessed a little Christmas miracle when my frozen windshield washer fluid that had been stuck for two days, started to flow just after I had silently prayed it would, and exactly when I so needed it to on the slush-filled highway!

And the sweetest of all the joy-filled moments and my most memorable gift of Christmas 2011 was given to me my this little guy who eats from my sister Kristina’s bird feeder in the gorgeous cedar in her front yard :

This precious little creature trusted me enough to land in my hand and eat sunflower seeds from my finger tips!

I cannot tell you how thrilled, touched and awed I was by this simple moment.

It is going to live in my heart forever, I think.

This joyous Christmas time reminded me once more that when you start to notice and celebrate the small moments of joy in your life, they increase exponentially ! They really do !

And what could be sweeter than a life full of JOY to share ?

I wish you beautiful moments of joy and celebration, my Friends.

Big, big love !

 

More joy at Meri’s Musings…

Choosing JOY !

When you walk up to my door

you will find the same thing as if you looked into my heart.

You will find

the joy that I have created.

My holiday mantra has been “Do it with joy, or don’t do it.”

That has been a challenge every single day.

But I am arriving at the end of the holiday prep. time so much more joyful for having made that choice over and over again.

I am over-joyed with the idea of spending time with my family and friends during the holidays.

I am joyful about the gifts and the giving that I have done wherever, and however I can.

I am filled with joy and gratitude at the abundance of all that David and I have.

We really need for nothing.

Most of all, the joy that comes from the amazing amount of Love that I have in my life is filling my heart, and I know it is shining outwards to be shared.

In Joy, I wish you Love, Light and Peace

in all seasons,

and for all time, Beautiful Ones.

 

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Share more joy at Meri’s Musings.

Share the Joy Thursday : Making a List…

This week was a real mixture of joy and sorrow, easy and hard.

A dear friend lost her Mom.

Another loved one’s husband got laid off.

December is so very dark, and many I know, including myself, find that adjustment very difficult.

The holidays often bring up lots of bitter sweet emotions that we have to feel,  and then let go of.

I was also feeling low physically for most of the week.

But making a list of what brought me joy truly does help to comfort achy spots.

So here goes:

A JOY list for the week on December 12, 2011 :

Art Journal time taken. Yay !

Christmas cactus blooming right on time !

Christmas shopping underway, and going relatively stress-free.

Even included a few little gifties for myself !

(A puzzle for the deep, dark, January evenings. Thanks to my friends, Kim and Riley, who reminded me of my love of puzzles this past summer !)

A couple’s dinner at my friends, Lois and Mike’s, house that included great conversation, laughter and an exchange of handmade goodies. I love my owl, Lo !

My pets never fail to bring me moments of sweet joy, just by being around.

How’s this for a silly portrait portrait of my 8 year old puppy, Chica  ?

(Leave me a caption for what you think she might be saying if you are inspired to add to the joy to the week !)

It was also a joy to see the Christmas decorations that have been stored away for a year come out of their boxes.

Certain ones made me feel really nostalgic this year. Many have been around for 11 years or so, since David and I celebrated our first Christmas together.

Like this one, that is a favorite of my friend, Suzanne, who is celebrating her birthday today !

Love you, Suzy !

Happy and joyful Holidays to you, Beautiful Ones !

Much love !

More joy at Meri’s Musings

Holiday Preparations…

Before :

After :

David and I opted for a table top tree this year.

A little less maintenance and a lot less cat adventures.

It, of course, had to have our favorite ornaments on it,

like this puppy we got the same year Chica came to live with us.

Or this fat angel cat, black, to remind me of my best cat ever, Georgie.

I love that the tree has my handmade touches too, like these paper love birds.

And that it is topped with something David and I created together; this stained glass star.

Little traditions that make the holiday decorating feel like home.

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I was a little awed this morning by the fact that it is only 11 days until Christmas Eve.

I haven’t really done any shopping yet.

But I have made a promise to myself that this year, I will do my very best to take the stress out of the holiday.

My Christmas 2012 mantra is “Do it with Joy, or don’t do it at all !”

It has helped a great deal when I have completely taken the focus off of trying to find the people I love “the best gift ever” which I used to do in the past. Instead, I am thinking of little things that will make them smile, and let them know I love them. This feels so much better !

So I know it will all get done however it gets done, and that will be okay.

The important thing for me this season is to have a chance to put my arms around those I love and squeeze them tight.

And to bask in the joy and gratitude that we have this time together.

Now that sounds like a perfect Christmas to me !

Happy holiday preparations to you, Beautiful Ones !

May you find sweet Joy in all you do.

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T’was the weekend before Christmas…

So it was a busy weekend before Christmas at the Queen’s palace.

It was Day 7 of the Canadian Chickie Christmas Swap and our Mother Hen, Hostess Extraordinaire, Dawn was the gift maker.

Brown paper packages recycling sewing patterns ! Ingenious !

Gorgeous attention to detail…

Sweet swap key…

and this beautiful, beautiful Hang Up, made just for me !!!

I love the quote – it so reflects how I feel about Winter too !

Thank you, Dawn. I have hung my Hang Up right in front of my computer so I can enjoy gazing at it every day !

Now, it wasn’t only about opening gifts. It was about making them too.

The Rock Fairy was almost as busy as Santa…

She doesn’t do the whole sleigh/reindeer delivery thing but has to rely on getting things to the post office and allowing the wonderful USPS Elves to get the gifts to the rock lovers on time !

Keeping up with orders and having enough rocks to decorate for the whole winter meant one last trip here :

to North Beach in Hampton Beach, NH before the snow comes and covers her supplier !

It was cold but not too bad. Only about 34 degrees F and not too windy ! A perfect December Rock Picking day for the Rock Fairy and her hunky Man.

These nutters seemed to think it was also a perfect day for surfing ! Me, not so much !

We also did a little hall decking…

Here is the tree. I went with colored lights this year. I usually always do white lights and most of my ornaments are traditional green, white and red or natural fiber tones.

I think I like the white lights better but I remember that our trees when I was a kid were always lit up on color so I thought I would try it.

It ended up looking very old fashioned to me, but pretty…

These fun little bubbling ornaments that shine blue look right at home!

The gorgeous stained glass star on the top that David and I made looks beautiful on any tree !

as does the gorgeous white doggie sitting the the twinkle light glow…

Today, Monday, is Day 8 of the swap and Heather’s beautifully wrapped gift was up.

The wonderful collaged book mark on the front gives a hint to the beauty inside…

This beautiful collaged writing journal ready to fill with doodles and words in the New Year !

Thanks so much for this lovely gifty, Heather ! You did such a beautiful job !

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So it is Monday, 5 days before Christmas Eve.

The week will be filled with baking, wrapping, last minute errands and a 7 hour trip way up North to share Christmas morning with my side of the family.

I am feeling like I have it under control, like I have set expectations low enough that I can get to everything, and that it will be filled with sweet moments of joy and gratitude along the way.

One thing though !

I miss my ART !!!

I am so looking forward to January and February where all I have scheduled is creative time for myself !!! Arty hibernation, here I come…

My beautiful Muse and my abundance of toys await me…

In the mean time, I have visions of silliness dancing in my head…

I just signed up for this fabulously silly class with Carla Sonheim that starts January 5th.

A gift for myself ! Merry Christmas to me !

Maybe I will see you there, Beautiful Silly Ones !

Happy Holiday Making !