It is paperwhite time! This is something I always look forward to as the holidays approach and I’m a little late this year but so much has been happening. Forcing paperwhites is just part of the winter holiday season. Another inexpensive tradition that brings the house alive. I love amaryllis too and looked longingly at them but they are just too expensive for me now. I did, however, find a great price on the paperwhites and ordered them today. Some people don’t care for the sweet smell but I think they produce one of the most heavenly smells in the universe!

I have always been a bulb planter. I used to order hundreds of bulbs in the fall and plant them everywhere, one of my greatest joys, but I am older now, and I have neither the money or the energy to plant as I once did. A few pots of paperwhite bulbs here and there around the house will be a lovely thing.

And I have been thinking about other things. Something in me, after so many hard months of so many hard things happening, wants to make this holiday season really special. I want to do a little something each day that makes it feel festive and alive and full of love. I want my home to feel like a cozy home that people like to come into. Grant it not many people come here, and it is not the charming little vintagey cottage it was before the fire, but for the people who do come and in as much as I’m able I want to do special things.

I have been wondering what kind of little handmade things I might be able to make. Small, simple things. And since I am on the ketogenic diet I will not be baking Christmas cookies as I once did. You can make keto baked desserts and they are really good but it is not good for me, needing to lose so much weight still, to indulge in them, although Rachel made a keto pumpkin cheesecake so I would have something for dessert on Thanksgiving and gracious it was good!

I would love to hear from all of you what little things you do to make the holidays special in your home. I’d love some ideas and I just really love to hear how other people celebrate the holidays. I like to watch Christmas movies and I will be watching a lot of them from here until Christmas. And I was wondering, do any of you have any favorite books you read at Christmas time? I was thinking back to when I was in my 20’s having my babies and things get so hectic with a house full of little ones through the holidays. One of the things I used to love to do was to get the magazines I used to love then, Woman’s Day, Family Circle, and read the Christmas stories in them. I would make a good cup of coffee or tea and hole up for the tiny breaks I got and read those stories and they made me so happy. I would love to find some heartwarming Christmas stories to read. Please leave your thoughts in the comments below. It would delight me no end to hear from you!

Blessings and joy to one and all…