Home for Christmas

🎶I'll Be Home for Christmas🎶 

Christmas is nearly upon us.  Is anyone else having a different sort of Christmas this year.....again?  I gave leave to my three sons several years ago to stay in their own homes now that they were married and two had children.  It was only right because after I left home I never went home at all at Christmas.  My parents lived a day's drive away as did Ken's parents, but even if they'd lived closer I wanted to make my own Christmas traditions.  

It was ten Christmases before we had a child to celebrate with us so our tradition was to go out to eat at a lovely restaurant in an old mansion that we only dined at on Christmas Day.  Then we'd drive into Washington, DC to view the National Christmas Tree and all the beautiful decorations.  Sometimes we'd go to see a heartwarming movie.

After we had children Santa Claus took center stage after all the church activities leading up to Christmas had taken place.  I'd be up late Christmas Eve writing a poem with clues for each child's presents that I'd hid about the house.  

With the boys celebrating in their own homes now, we're gathering as a family earlier in December to celebrate together.  Because of the Pandemic, we are once again celebrating individually with each son and his family.  It certainly is less hectic!  But there is something about being all together that makes Christmas for me. 

                      ❤️Home is where the Heart is❤️

Ultimately, Home IS where the heart is.  Today with FaceTime and Zoom we can not only hear but see our loved ones when we can't be with them.  And those that have gone on before us never leave our hearts, so they, too, are with us, only in a different way.

I'm wishing each of you a special time of your own making this year.  Whether it's being with family and friends, writing Christmas newsletters and cards, baking cookies, reading special Christmas stories (I'm enjoying Louisa May Alcott's Christmas Treasury), binging on holiday movies (Loved A Boy Called Christmas on Netflix), watching YouTube vloggers share how they prepare for Christmas (here's one I loved: Girl in Calico), participating in church activities or community get-togethers (hopefully, masked), or helping the less fortunate, may your endeavors bring Joy and Peace within and to all those you encounter.

If you have time to spare, I'd love to hear what you're doing this year to make Christmas special for you and your loved ones.

Take Joy!

Little Women Christmas Celebration

🎶Christmas Music🎶 

November 29th was Louisa May Alcott's birthday* and since she shares her birthday with me it was a perfect day for an overnight in Odessa, Delaware, to view Historic Odessa Foundation's recreation of Alcott's Little Women!  The last time we had been there was in 2011 when they recreated Tasha Tudor's Christmas.  You can read about it on this blog HERE.  The Wilson-Warner House each year is turned into a classic children's story Christmas celebration.  Other years have been Beatrix Potter, Madeline, Snow White, Secret Garden, Alice in Wonderland. I missed all of these!  So I'm signing up to receive their newsletters.

Elizabeth's Christmas

I wrote the first chapter of this story as an enclosure for our 2012 Christmas Card.  Then after Christmas I felt there was more to Elizabeth's story that had to be told.  I put "Carol of the Bells" on repeat and sat down at my computer keyboard.  Here is the song for you to listen to as you read....


                       

This & That - December 2016

December had us out and about more than usual.  Here are a few of them, including a few animal encounters.  Our first outing was to attend a retirement party for a friend on a restaurant boat as it floated up and down the Potomac River.  You can see the lights of Washington, DC here when we took a short, brisk walk around the deck.  Because it was dark outside and we were moving slowly you could hardly tell you were on a boat from inside.  This was empasized when putting on our coats to make this little jaunt around the deck--our hostess asked us if we were leaving already 😊. . . .

Bells Across the Snow

   

“The little cares that fretted me,

I lost them yesterday,

… Out in the fields with God.”

--Elizabeth Barrett Browning

                 

The Tailor of Gloucester

♫Sussex Carol♫

Out and About - December 2015

♫White Christmas♫

I didn't get my White Christmas but because December was unseasonably warm it was nice for our two evening outings.  The first outing was the Frederick Holiday House Tour.  It is held the First Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon in December.  I especially like going to the evening tour because of all the holiday lights. . . .

MERRY CHRISTMAS

WISHING YOU A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS

WITH THE MANY BLESSINGS OF THE SEASON

MAY PEACE, LOVE & JOY REIGN IN YOUR HEARTS

"Bringing Home the Tree". . . .

~ ~ 

"Night Travelers". . . .

.•*¨`*•. ☆ .•*¨`*•

Take Joy!

Old Bedford Village

The other evening we went with some friends to Old Bedford Village, PA's Candlelit Christmas.  Old Bedford Village is a living history village consisting of 40 log structures that, over the years, were salvaged and brought here. . . .

You can read more of the history of its making HERE.

View Outside My Window - December

♫It's Beginning to Look Like Christmas♫

This is the view outside the bay window in my living room. . . .

Tasha Tudor Potluck

♫We Three Kings♫

The Maryland Chapter of the Tasha Tudor Museum Society held a potluck dinner the other night to celebrate Twelfth Night (only it was Ninth Night in our case).  The receipts (Tasha's New England word for recipe) all came from her cookbook.  Those who were able to attend took home a recipe at our last gathering and prepared one of the following:

• Nancy's Hot Cheese Rounds
• Stuffed Eggs
• Salad with French Dressing
• Baking-Powder Biscuits
• Beef Stew
• Pineapple Upside-Down Cake
• Chocolate Cookies

Each member was to bring a guest.  Those who came brought their husband.  Unfortunately two couples had to bow out due to change of plans or illness, so I set the table for ten. . . .

Out and About - December 2014

♫Christmas Music♫

December is always filled with anticipation!  I love Christmas!  Even though I feel like the Grinch or Scrooge sometimes because I'm overly tired, overly busy, or overly anxious about what I hope to have happen I can't imagine a year without Christmas!  

This little bundle of joy has made leaps and bounds in her means of getting around.  She was rolling to a sit-up at the beginning of the month.  By the end she was crawling and able to push herself along on a little push car and wave goodbye!  This is a new feature I've discovered:  GIFs!  It stitches pictures together into an animation. . . .

Deck the Halls

 ♫Deck the Halls♫

I've been decking my rooms with garlands decorated with fruit and birds.  I usually do my dining room in all white, but this year I decided to use the traditional colors of green and red.  I started with the dining room. . . .

View Outside My Kitchen Window - December

♫It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas♫

With the wind howling last night and ice covering the branches earlier in the week it is beginning to feel a lot like winter. . . .

A Tasha Tudor Christmas Celebration

♫Joy to the World♫

In 2011 The Historic Odessa Foundation in Odessa, Delaware had a wonderful exhibit called A Joyful Tasha Tudor Christmas.  The curator did an excellent job of capturing the look and feel of a Tasha Tudor Christmas.  The exhibit was set up in the Wilson-Warner House (1769).  In several of the photos I will point out the items that are reminiscent of Tasha's home.

The creche in the bread oven, the tin oven, stockings hung from the mantel, the tea service, spinning wheel, loom-woven coverlet, lustreware tea set, and candles. . . .

MD Chapter TTMS Christmas Celebration

♫An Affair to Remember♫

The Maryland Chapter of the Tasha Tudor Museum Society's December Gathering was held at Dollie's Tea Room in Clear Spring, MD today.  Here I am getting ready to leave with my basket containing my handmade gift for the gift exchange and folders for the three new members joining us today. . . .

MD Chapter TTMS - November Gathering

♫The Spirit of Christmas♫

The Maryland Chapter of the Tasha Tudor Museum Society (TTMS) had their November Gathering today to make Tasha's gingerbread ornaments.  The table was set for lunch. . . .

Out and About - December

♫It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas♫

We did not go as far afield this December.   We got our tree from a nearby tree farm, as usual....

Getting Ready for Christmas

♫It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas♫

Getting ready for Christmas in our family starts with going to a Christmas Tree farm and cutting down our tree.   We started this tradition with our first Christmas in 1969 when it was just the two of us and continued it with our three boys.  Now we are back to just the two of us and I finally get to choose which one we get.   We found the only farm, I think, which offers Hemlocks.  I fell in love with them because they look so delicate....

A Christmas Story

♫Carol of the Bells♫

A Christmas Story

The church bells had just finished chiming the midnight hour across the valley.  It was Christmas.  Snow had been falling all evening and now as Elizabeth walked down the church steps she gripped the railing and carefully placed her foot on each step making sure not to slip.  Tomorrow was going to be a busy day and she could not afford to slip and bruise herself, or something worse. 

Pastor John’s homily kept running through her mind as she walked the few blocks to her home.  He’d said Christ came as a babe and lived among us so that we’d feel he was our friend as well as our Savior.  Elizabeth desperately needed a friend.  She was getting on in years and much of her family was gone now.  She’d never married.  It was just her and her dog and cat in the little cottage.  But tomorrow she’d have a house-full.  It was the day she opened her home to the people in the Shelter—those who were temporarily without a home for one reason or another.  The Shelter cared for them well enough, but Elizabeth couldn’t bear to think anyone might spend Christmas anywhere but in a real home and so offered hers for the day.

Turning the key in her front door she turned her face to the sky for a few moments to take in the night sky.  It was then she noticed the North Star.  It seemed brighter tonight and she thought about that night long ago in Bethlehem.  How Mary must have felt giving birth in such humble surroundings…away from home.  Elizabeth’s house was humble, but she’d made it into a home and hoped those who came tomorrow—no it was today now—would find comfort and hope to meet the challenges that lay ahead for them.

AS Elizabeth lay down in her bed to sleep the few remaining hours of the night she thought about her hopes and dreams.  As a little girl she’d looked forward to growing up and having a family of her own.  Marrying a good man and having as many children as she could were at the base of her dream.  From there she imagined how her life would go with her little family around her….grandchildren eventually as she grew into old age with her husband…..

She awoke with a start!  Elizabeth lay there waiting for her head to clear.  Had she heard a noise?  Is that what woke her?  The curtain was slightly parted and a stream of light found its way across her quilt.  She hadn’t noticed a full moon earlier, so she went to the window to see where the light was coming from.  It was the North Star.  It was much brighter now.  The snow that graced the landscape shimmered in the light.  Bare branches cast long shadows across the back garden.  Elizabeth’s eyes were drawn to an outline of a child standing there.  Who could be out at this time of night?! 

Before she could move from the window the small figure dissolved before her eyes.  Was she just dreaming?  Dreaming….dreams.  She was reminded of her childhood dream and tears welled up in her eyes.  She blinked causing them to spill out and as one lone tear landed on the sill Elizabeth began to feel a certain hope warm her heart.  She thought about the people who would be arriving in just a few hours.  Some would be children.  They wouldn’t be her children, but she could love them all the same, just as much.