Category Archives: Holidays

After the decorations come down…

I started this post a few days ago, and then decided my first priority was a post for my church’s website. Its title ended up being the same as the one I’ve used here, although the content is totally different. It’s prompted here by the current mess that surrounds me. This is just one smallContinue reading “After the decorations come down…”

And so it begins…

December 1st. It’s not even 4:30 p.m. and already it’s pitch black outside. At least, it is until the outside Christmas lights, recently strung along the roofline around our back deck, suddenly blink on and shine through the windows to illuminate the family room. Advent arrives this weekend and we’ve begun some of the annualContinue reading “And so it begins…”

The Stillness of a Snowy Christmas

Wishing you a blessed and peace-filled Christmas! (You) could’ve swept in like a tidal wave or an ocean to ravish our hearts You could have come through like a roaring flood to wipe away the things we’ve scarred .  But you came like a winter snow quiet and soft and slow Falling from the skyContinue reading “The Stillness of a Snowy Christmas”

Is it December? (Er, I mean “It’s December!”)

It IS December! It’s been December for almost two weeks and I’ve been doing December things, just not blogging about it. I’ve been “M.I.A.” while rejoicing in the arrival of Advent, accompanying hubby on a tree-finding outing, digging through storage boxes for Christmas decorations, beginning the traditional baking spree, writing notes and addressing envelopes — allContinue reading “Is it December? (Er, I mean “It’s December!”)”

Written and Photographic Snapshots

During my blogging absence over the past month I’ve taken an uncountable number of snapshots — hundreds of them — with my camera and iPhone. It makes me smile to remember a trip our family took in 1980 when, despite feeling significant guilt, I clicked through nineteen rolls of 35 mm film over the nine weeks’Continue reading “Written and Photographic Snapshots”

Writing in Summer Solitude

Last spring author Debra Purdy Kong blogged about her need for solitude. She said, “scientific research has shown that creative people need solitude. An article in Quartz revealed what many of us writers have known for some time. Solitude has nothing to do with being bored or being lonely. In fact, it’s an essential component for any typeContinue reading “Writing in Summer Solitude”

It’s NOT Christmastime yet!

Thanks to those merchants who begin their Christmas marketing before Hallowe’en is over, it’s easy to be duped into thinking we need to keep in step with them and start our own preparations earlier every year. I love everything about Christmas — celebrations of holiday and holiness along with the preparations, family festivities and traditions. What IContinue reading “It’s NOT Christmastime yet!”

A Season of Changes

Just a musing today… The first fall after we planted our Burning Bush shrub in the front yard, its leaves turned a brilliant scarlet. Most other years since then a few leaves partially changed, but the majority remained mottled green until they eventually ended up on the ground. This fall’s changes have been somewhere in between — someContinue reading “A Season of Changes”