I am up early and getting a few things done before work. In between the tasks, I'm watching someone in Helsinki make a coffee-banana bread and am experiencing early morning salivating.
After today, I am on a work break for 17 days in a row. I get this break every year, but this is truly the first year where I won't have to still put in a billion work hours over the break in order to stay above water. I have one big house project planned, and I'm hoping to complete it, start to finish, minus the painting. Painting has to be done in warmer weather when windows can be opened so that fumes can escape and move on to wherever fumes go.
Pictured below are a couple of my Christmas presents, ha ha. No, I'm not using them yet, I'll wait til Christmas day when my husband gives them to me (yes, he was with me when I pointed them out). The top picture is a cork-board coaster. I picked out three of these, this one is my favorite, all three are bee and flower themed. I'm actually going to hot glue magnets on the back and put these on our refrigerator to hold notes and appointment cards.
The second is the front of a shirt we found for a steal. For nearly two decades, my favorite sky has always been the night sky, followed by my love of the October blue sky in this region. Nothing beats those two skies. Now, I just need a coffee cup with a night sky to go with my shirt, and I'm all set for the summer months when the night sky is brilliant and you can go out with the border collie (she's a hot, beautiful mess) to run and play a little bit in the wee early morning hours under stars and moon and feel like the most blessed person in the world. The shirt even has a shooting star! I can make wishes galore when I wear it!
Until summer, we have some fun holidays coming up. I've got quite the handy chocolate stash for that February holiday of love that is generally defined by chocolate and flowers. I like both things, and in my opinion, no matter who or what you love, chocolate and flowers matter. You don't have to "be in love" or "have someone in your life" to celebrate Valentine's Day. When I was single, I was always happy to embrace the commercialism of that particular holiday and usually bought myself a box of chocolate candies and an inexpensive grocery-store bouquet of flowers. In an old, weathered vase with a bow on the outside, the flowers usually lasted a couple weeks and gave me a lot of joy.
I have a whole mixed thing about New Year's. I'm not a night owl. I don't stay up and ring in the new year. I hate starting January 1st exhausted. I've done that a few times in the past and, frankly, if you start the near year feeling wiped out, how is that a fresh new year? That's just a soggy-muddy brain fry right there, and no thank you. I don't toast the new year, and I don't make resolutions. I do, however, transition the house to winter rather than Christmas. The colored lights and Christmas decorations get put to bed, and the white and clear twinkly lights and greenery come out to play with the green and white trees and silver stars and snowflakes that make up my winter decorations. It makes the house feel clean and inviting and sparkly all over again during the setting-in of the gloomy months.
Love to you on this 17th day of December, 2021. I won't be waiting eight days to celebrate Jesus, I'll just go ahead and do that every day. I look forward to Christmas day with family and friends, but in the end, give me Jesus, my everything.
No comments:
Post a Comment