Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.
~Norman Vincent Peale
Santa tracker
They've been keeping a very close eye on Santa's progress and just discovered he has reached the Netherlands. Abbie Rose came running downstairs to say she saw a red light in the sky. It was decided that was most likely Rudolph and small people had best hurry to bed. So off we go. : )
"Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time."
~Laura Ingalls Wilder
Wishing you a wondrous, magical Christmas.
Market at Christmas
Some shots from Norwich at Christmas
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Giving the Gift Your Family Really Needs
If you are a mom in the throes of days-before-Christmas anxiety, please stop a moment and read the words I read this morning. Remind yourself that no matter what the to do lists and the Santa lists and the grocery lists say, there is only one thing our family's really, really need from us….
"All mother's – those employed outside the home and those who are full-time homemakers – worry about whether they are giving enough of themselves to their children. At Christmastime this concern is emotionally heightened and produces great anxiety.
If we work responsibly outside our homes we feel guilty because we are not at home with the children during the days preceding Christmas baking a gingerbread house to rival a magazine cover. So we assuage that guilt by suspending common sense in the department store until our extravagance for the children's sake is culpable.
If on the other hand we are at home with the children full time, the family is possibly on a tighter budget and so the money question looms over our holidays. However instead of making the most of being with the children, such as reveling in the fact that we do have the time to bake, we fret over the fact that we can't give them the overpriced trinkets advertised on television.
May Mrs. Sharp make a gentle suggestion? Instead of fretting over things we cannot do, let us concentrate on the most priceless gift we can give to our families for the holidays. It is the gift you long to give them each year, dear Reader, and feel frustrated when your holiday reality does not live up to your expectations.
It is the gift of yourself.
But you say, "Mrs. Sharp, I gve myself to my family. In fact that's all I do, which is why I'm dreading the holidays: gift buying, card mailing, present wrapping, present sending, tree trimming, cookie baking, holiday entertaining, carol singing, organizing the carol singing. What are you asking of me? to do more?"
No my dear. Mrs. Sharp is not asking you to do more. In fact she is asking you to do less, in order that you may give more – to enter fully into this joyous holiday celebration with your children by giving them the gift of Christmas Past. For now, while they are young, you are planting seeds of Christmas memory.
When your children are grown the holidays – their Christmas Past – can come to mean memories of… a loving family smiling in the glow of holiday light. Or their Christmas memories can be of Mother racing around out of breath, our of energy, out of love, out of patience because she is so exhausted trying to do everything for everybody.
It's your choice.
You can decide this year to be happy, loving, fulfilled, generous, peaceful, joyous, calm, festive and emotionally connectd to the important people in your life from Thanksgiving til the first week in January.
Or you can choose to be a wreck.
The secret is…. you can't do everything. You are going to have to make choices so that you are not so overxtended and worn out that you can't give your precious family the important intangibles that make the real difference in their lives."
almost time
Counting down to Christmas and she's trying out every combination of red and sparkly and shiny in the closet.
activity not anxiety
"I will never do anything with haste or agitation."
"This was the constant prayer of St. Teresa Margaret who in the midst of a surprising amount of activity, always maintained 'a peaceful, calm attitude, which showed her perfect self-control in each one of her actions.'"
Jesus chided Martha, not because she gave herself to activity but because she was anxious about it. God wants activity, but not anxiety, for even in necessary activity the soul should attend to the one thing necessary, that is, union with Him. Therefore as soon as a soul perceives that it is beginning to lose its interior calm, it should interrupt its work, if possible, at least for an instant, and retire into its interior with God. These brief moments of pause, frequently repeated, will accustom it, little by little, to keep calm and recollected in God, even in the most absorbing activity."
– taken from Divine Intimacy
Did you hear that? That was my life changing. It happened with so little transition it was like Forrest Gump running, running, running, across the country and then he just decides to be done. That's what happened with me and my phone. First I took social media off of it. And I knew that meant social media wasn't happening much thereafter because it would mean being holed up in another room or not sleeping. Then when moving my phone it slipped from my hand. After all of 20in to the floor it gave up the ghost. And I was… fine. I am not replacing it here and my only draw to replacing it later is the camera aspect. Time will tell.
One thing that had been bothering me before this was a transition from reading whole books to reading articles and essays. Both have their place but the latter was taking up all the precious reading time I had and leaving me with harried bits and bobs of news and exhortations keeping my mind aflutter. I have been carving out time to read and think and am happily 2/3 through Sense and Sensibility. Alannah and I watched the BBC version. Moira finished the novel for British lit a while back but I am rewatching the movie with her because it is becoming a metaphor in my discussions with young women lately. My even younger woman, Tess, is meantime happily making her way through Dancing Shoes. She has lots of time before dealing with Willoughby's. Instead she is bringing me her book daily asking what a plait is and arguing with her brother that Vera is too a real name for a girl even if she hasn't heard it before.
In other news we are working on my poor sleep habits of late. (no pun intended) Going to bed earlier, tired or not, and getting up and staying up earlier. It's working. Especially since British prose is much more condusive to even keels and deep sleep than CNN or its ilk.
Alannah got started on Christmas treats this afternoon since her boxes are almost ready to ship. She had some help…
This one subtitled "How we do Candy Crush…"
We have pretzel turtles and eggnog snickerdoodles now. There was a little drama with the darn chocolate chips seizing up. We saved them by adding melted butter and making peppermint brownies like these except it's more like peppermint sprinkles than chunks thanks to our zealous crusher. See above. : )
And now there is that bedtime thing again. It's worth it.
stopping to see
"Blessed are they that see beautiful things in humble places…"
Camille Pisarro
pressing matters
This vintage ironing board was a long-ago find which has lingered some time in the "has potential" bin due to a split in one of the legs. Abbie caught sight of it a couple weeks ago and begged and begged to have it. We took a few minutes yesterday to bind up the board's wounds. Today was her test run. Happy to report the dollies' dresses are all pressed and they can hold their heads high once more.
Ish.
It was a play iron after all.
Ironing isn't a cool thing to discuss these days. It was a staple of my childhood and I assumed everyone did it. Turns out just mentioning ironing stirs up some intense feelings among modern moms. In fact it's likely to be met with snickering or outright aintnobodygottimeforthat scorn. I'm making the case for it anyway and here is why. If you buy clothes from consignment and press them nicely they automatically look 100 times newer and nicer. Ditto for lower end fabrics. So much so that the posh consignment stores will starch and press the life outta their stock and it looks oh so much more appealing just for that.
A little starch goes a long way. If you or your husband or a child in your home works in an office or is applying for a job, personal presentation still goes a long way towards projecting professionalism. If you are regularly out with a gaggle of children, you are far more likely to make a good impression and dash people's assumptions that one cannot adequately care for more than a single child or two. We've got to represent, ladies.
It doesn't take a fortune. Just a little elbow grease and a few minutes to run an iron over a skirt hem or church sleeves. By the time they are in middle school children can do it themselves. Our sons iron more or less capably. We do not press every item by a long stretch but for church and other outings and with woven cotton items, yes.
My husband was active duty military for 20 yrs. Another military wife asked me recently if I ever brought uniforms from the cleaners that you had to peel apart they were so stuck together stiff? Oh yes, and his dress shirts for work are not much less starched these days. Mind you when we have had super busy seasons of life he has taken them out for laundering – not going to mislead here. Professional pressing really does take special care, equipment and time though doing it yourself – like simple home haircuts and other similar tasks wise folks learn to do – can be a great way to save a chunk of money annually. Actually, adding up all the miscellaneous services typically farmed out in a family is a great way to discover the value of the mom who "doesn't work." Another post for another day.
So anyway, yes – we press. In fact it's a job that hasn't been done enough this fall and I am actually missing it.
Ok I'm done. Let the tomatoes fly. : )
how to iron a shirt here
But I far prefer the lovely binder-worthy tute sent free from here
All aboard
It has been a productive couple days thanks to my family. My husband took off yesterday so I could do some shopping. Alannah rode along and we made a day of it. We found some lovely clothes for Tess which have inspired me finally. (Ready made wardrobe items for the school aged girl are generally UNinspiring, if not downright discouraging.) While shopping locally we found some lovely pieces in shell pinks and champagne colors. Soft and elegant and sweet.
After clothes shopping we managed to find many of the gifts on my list. As we drove home Alannah said I hear the bell ringing. I said what are you talking about? She said, "The bells, on that thing you bought." Still nothing for me. "What? Am I the only one who believes?" she laughed. Which of course meant Polar Express for the next bedtime book. Yes, that was a change of topic. Husband usually asks me to preface these with "break, break" To which I usually say, " Keep UP people!"
Today she and I helped the little girls put ornaments on the trees the guys set up this weekend. We didn't use all the decorations this year because that move date keeps creeping closer – literally, it's creeping closer. Still we are doing a little bit every day. I told you, Austin Family Christmas. (Have you read it? You must read it. Take my word ok? : ))
And that's it. Am blogging like I am decorating, a little bit each day. And am going to reload that winter reading list back onto the sidebar on that note.
Starry Sky Journal 