finally...snow

It is so nice to finally have some white stuff on the ground. Hooray for snow!

lately

baking

painting

stringing

snacking

trees

This year we decided to cut a tree from a local tree farm. Usually we just meander into our back woods but we never came across a sweet pine and seemed to long for that woodsy, holiday smell. Our local police officer boils sap into syrup in the spring and grows trees to sell in the winter. We headed over in our truck, saw in hand. It always takes awhile to find just the tree. We walked the rows many times before coming upon a short, plump one. It is our Botero tree and I am quite smitten with it. 

My heart always skips a beat when we actually cut it down. I feel a bit badly. But then I remember what my Dad says which is that to sacrifice something means to make it holy. So we cut the tree with gratefulness and intention and care for it while it is in our home. We water it each morning and I find myself staring at it many times though out the day. It's branches are covered in small white lights. It is a light that I am so happy to have as our days get darker towards solstice. Thank you little, fat, beautiful, holy tree.

snow & ice & rosy cheeks

Finally, it really feels like winter is here. I had begun to worry a bit when we could still see fall's grass in the middle of December. We are supposed to have snow here in New England after all! And then it came! Big, white snow flakes adding up inch by inch on the frozen ground below. It felt like my childhood again when the snow would be so clean and white and abundant that we would fill pie plates with it and pour maple syrup on top.  Anyway, the snow came, and then the rain which turned to a thick layer of ice on the newly fallen snow. It looked like our town had been covered in creme brulee. Before the ice came we made this fat, jolly snowman. I had some extra beet powder which I like to use to give a bit of color to some lip balm I make. I mixed a pinch with some water and put it in a spray bottle. It worked well, even though I got a little carried away and forgot that the color would spread out in the snow.  I think it adds a nice, lively touch. It is, after all, the little things that matter.

Wishing you all the loveliest of weekends.

TUMBLR 

lingering.

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One spends so much time planning for the holidays. What stews to simmer on the stove, what cakes to bake, what gifts to make and discover for the little ones.  We wait for family to arrive at the door. And then, so quickly, it is over and we slowly fall back into our daily rhythm. 

I love how we still have these lovely sweets still lingering in our home, reminding us of days spent decorating a tree, of lounging by a fire, of gathering around a table with family.  

P.s. The last photo is of peppermint bark which was gifted to us.  It is the first time I had ever had it and it really is quite a treat! I think next year I will try to make some too.

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happy holidays.

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We Took To The Tropics.

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As much as I like winter in New England, I must admit that in the past few days I have caught myself day dreaming about some warm tropical island just a wee bit.  It has been cold, cold, cold here and the idea of being sticky with sweat, smearing on sunscreen and having sand in the toes has felt rather inviting. Alas, we are here to stay! So, yesterday we got as close to going to a tropical island as we could.  We put on our winter coats and boots, jumped in the car and crossed the river to the lovely college greenhouse!

We saw purple flowers that were so full that they weighted down their stems, smelled the scent of blossoming jasmine, delighted in the colors of growing oranges, lemons and bananas, resisting the urge to pick one right then and there and devour it, saw swimming carp that were so large that their long whiskers tickled our finger tips and, perhaps most importantly, we felt warm.

Then, we put back on our constant hat and coat companions and headed back out into the winter of New England.  

The air felt cool, fresh, alive and yes, quite wonderful.

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Little Felt Garland.

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On Saturday we headed into the forest once again!  This time in search of a little Christmas tree.  The newly fallen snow was covered with a thin layer of shimmering ice and the wind was blowing cold.  We bundled up from head to toe, picked up our saw and ventured out.  It was not too long until we came upon our tree.  A wispy, etherial hemlock!  We carried it home with bright red cheeks and set it into its holder.  Its branches were too delicate to hold any ornaments (and we don't have any either!) so I quickly made this felt garland.  I simply cut little square pieces from my beloved felt stash and strung them on embroidery thread.  I made four different lengths and tied each end together.  We draped it over our trees branches and it looked quite happy with its new felt jewels!

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First Snow.

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First snow.  I do love it so.

Moss Garden.

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Every year, at the start of December, we make a moss garden.  For each of the four weeks of the month we add some little treasure to it representing the mineral kingdom, the plant kingdom, the animal kingdom and then, human kind.  It is so nice, as the days get more and more blustery, and we spend more and more time indoors, to have some time to think of these grand kingdoms of nature.  Like forcing bulbs, it is another wonderful way of bringing a lush, green, living thing into the home. It is also nice to know, that at the end of the month, the moss can be brought back outside and planted once again onto a rock, even under the cool snow.  We are just borrowing it for a time.

So, a few days ago, after a heavy night of wind and rain, my son and I slid into our rain boots and headed into the forest in search of our moss.

Before we left, I readied a container to hold the moss once we got it back home.  This year, I decided to make a smaller garden than I have in the past, and used a lovely, blue pie plate gifted to me by a dear family friend.  I put a thin layer of sand on the bottom to help a bit with drainage and then covered it with some moist garden soil.

Then we picked up our big, red bucket and headed into the forest.

Soon, we came upon this magical, mossy rock.  Amongst the muted color of fallen leaves and gray branches, it shone the most brilliant green.

I gathered some moss and put it in our bucket as my son splashed in rain puddles and investigated some mushrooms.

With a bucket full of moss, muddy boots and pant hems, we walked back home silently, stopping only to throw pebbles into the brook.  We held our dirty hands with one another and I felt quite blissful as they stuck together with sweet-smelling pine cone sap.

When we arrived home, I pressed the moss into the soil and gave it a good misting of water.  We put in two stones to celebrate the mineral kingdom.  One, a pebble from our land and the other a special, healing crystal that had been gifted to me.

Then, my son fell asleep.

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A Child's Christmas In Wales.

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A few years ago, when my sister gifted me with, 'A Child's Christmas In Wales' by Dylan Thomas, I fell instantly in love with it. Although I had read the prose before, there was something about this version, with it's lovely woodcuts by Ellen Raskin and bound in a little, square, blue book that was particularly charming. My belly was big with baby too, and I found the words to be so comforting, good and true.

As the back of this little book says so perfectly, 'A Child's Christmas In Wales', "captures a child's-eye view, and an adult's fond remembrance, of a magical time of presents, good things to eat, aunts and uncles, the frozen sea, and, in the best of circumstances, newly-fallen snow-its wonder, silence and snowball mischief".

It really is such a wonderful book to read during this month of December, curled up on the couch, wool throw on the lap and a cup of hot chocolate kept warm by a blanket of marshmallows.

Dylan Thomas, with his infamous voice, recorded the story as well.  I am eager to find a copy of the record and listen to it this winter...with hot coco in hand, of course!

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