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…
When my husband’s mother was alive, she came from Iowa every year to have christmas with us. She was BIG on christmas. I never got much into it (besides being Jewish, i just never got caught up in the frenzy) but my daughter of course was SUPER into making a big deal of it! We always hung stockings over the fireplace, purchased a big scented fir tree, and over the years collected many ornaments that still have nostalgic value. The very angel that used to be on the top of my husband;s tree when he was growing up, is the last thing we put up. It’s a special feeling. The fact that our daughter Alana was born 3 days before Christmas adds to the festivity. Although we swear each year to limit the presents under the tree, we never do. So, even though i was always a grinch, i’ve gotten over it, and we listen to lots of x-mas CD’s (even Elvis!)
We also light the menorah every night for eight nights for Chanukah, and sometimes we even spin the dreidel. We make potato latkes just like my dad used to in the good old days. We still have his recipe in our dining room drawer.
xo
ka
Oh Katya I loved reading all of this and that you have the angel for your tree from Tom’s childhood, how special is that? And how lovely that you have the resources to fill the tree with presents, what fun that must be! And I love that you celebrate both traditions, Christmas and Hanukkah, what a rich cultural heritage you have given Alana. I hope you have a blessed holiday season honey. I am sending you all so much love…
M. xoxox
I remember the days when the kids were young and I loved looking through magazines for ideas. I would make treats and decorations from those earmarked pages. I have downsized my subscriptions to zero now. I have a difficult time getting rid of ones I enjoy.
My home too has always been a mixture of cultures and religions. When my kids were growing up we had both a Christmas tree and multiple menorahs. Anyone who came in to our home lit candles with us on each night of Hanukkah. I refused to do the “Santa” thing and held firm. But I adore Xmas music. I have a huge collection of artists in many genres. I like to listen to Hanukkah music as well. There are not as many CDs that I adore for Hanukkah so I just listen to both.
Now that we are empty-nesters we no longer put up a Christmas tree. I have given away almost all of my ornaments and Christmas decorations to those who can enjoy them. I have kept my collection of Christmas Salt and Pepper shakers as I love them so.
I do decorate for Hanukkah exclusively now. Blue and silver adorn my walls, stairs, and most any flat surface. I am fortunate to also have some very special mementos from my mother’s home. This year Hanukkah begins in about a week. It is time to go to the attic and look through what I didn’t purge last summer. Time for the holiday spirit.
I hope you have a lovely holiday with your little fur-baby, your family, and friends. May this season bring you peace and joy and a calm existence.
Gentle hugs,
Lauren
Oh Lauren I loved reading all of this. And I am fascinated by Hanukkah, I think it is so lovely. I didn’t grow up with that tradition and don’t really understand the whole thing but I would love to know more as I have a number of Jewish friends. I once bought a menora in a thrift shop because I thought it was just so beautiful and felt holy to me. I lost it in the fire, but I loved it.
I hope you have a beautiful holiday season filled with love and joy in abundance. Much love to you dear Lauren…
Hugs,
Maitri
I love decorating for Christmas but I don’t do it on a big scale. I also looove to see other folks’ decorations and trees. I don’t bake cookies or anything (except ideas). But I sure do love trying out other’s results, ha, ha. Have a blessed day tomorrow! We are supposed to get a real bugger of a snowstorm later tonight and tomorrow. I’ll enjoy it as long as it’s warm and cosy inside. Hugs, Memarge:)
Hi Marge, I too love to see other’s Christmas decorations, and magazines with the latest Christmas decorations especially in country living kind of magazines make my heart happy. I do envy you snow, I miss snow, but I know for those who do get it it can be all too much. I hope you enjoy yours, and stay nice and warm and cozy…
The holidays are such a glorious time. For me it is a time of remembrance, spiritually and emotionally. We decorate inside and out. I have a beautiful nativity set with scripture on each piece — a gift from our daughters. I still hang every ornament that my children made growing up. They bring me such joy. As you know we put the tree up early because that is our joy! Decorating the tree is hard for me as I wrote about in my blog, but I would not trade it for the world. When the kids were little, they were able to open one gift on Christmas Eve — usually pajamas or slippers. My Dad always liked to open gifts on Christmas Eve but I never liked that. That is one tradition I did not keep. We are also NOT a rip and tear family. We each take turns opening gifts. It takes most of Christmas morning — or it did when the kids were little. There is usually a break in there for a breakfast of sausage balls. Now it is just the two us and we do less and less every year as far as gifts are concerned. Going out to see the Christmas lights is another family favorite. It is about love, our faith, our family and friends.
Ah Maggie it sounds like you have lovely Christmases and sweet traditions. You know something has made me sad the last few years. Fewer and fewer people seem to put up lights. 3 years ago a friend and I made a special plan for a Saturday night. Neither one of us went out much but we really wanted to see the Christmas lights. We made a plan, I would pick her up, we would drive through Starbucks and get big hot chocolates topped with plenty of whipped cream, and drive around those neighborhoods famous for lights. Wilmington has a stunning downtown historic district with many blocks of big old Victorian homes that had always had light shows to beat all. We drove through and got our hot chocolates and then headed downtown. We were shocked to go to street after street and find that they had very few Christmas lights up anywhere. We drove around town to other places that usually had streets where everyone had decorated where there used to be lines of cars waiting to drive through. Nothing. We were so shocked, we couldn’t believe it, and sad, and disappointed. What has happened to people? It kind of broke my spirit. So I don’t have much money for big decorations but Rachel was here today helping me put blue lights up on my front porch. I am doing what I can to keep Christmas alive here in my own small way. Have a lovely Christmas dear friend. And enjoy your tree, it is simply stunning…
Maitri,
Since we’ve been able to be at home through the holiday season in the last few years, it’s been interesting to engage in musical events, still put out a few minimal decorations, and enjoy the festivities at the Biltmore Estate and Grove Park Inn — both amazing places — as well as doing various other group-related things — all nice, but sometimes overwhelming, too.
I’ve been a volunteer cookie baker for the last few years for our historic neighborhood’s Holiday Tour of Homes — it’s fun to revisit cookie baking after a very long hiatus, but basically we don’t need to eat extra cookies, so I try to be moderate (ditto, with the darn cookie swap a good friend hosts — why on earth would I want to bake (or swap) 4-5 dozen cookies? I’ll be bringing a dozen, to swap for a dozen…..
Oh Lisa I’m sorry I’m just getting here now, this came after another blog post had been done and I missed it! And I know there are so many beautiful things in and around Asheville, I know you will enjoy your beautiful holiday season.
And cookie baking. Well of course I’m keto and don’t eat regular cookies now but I haven’t baked for years, and I really miss it because I/we used to bake dozens of all different kinds of cookies and pack a nice assortment up in pretty tins and take them to family and friends and neighbors. It was a lovely tradition and one I miss. I think it’s so lovely that you still do this. I always loved Christmas cookies, my most favorite ones were the ones cut in shapes with cookie cutters and iced with colored icing and decorated with little sprinkles and such. It almost makes me teary to think about them, such memories!
Enjoy your holidays dearheart, and I am sending you so much love!
Hugs,
Maitri