
Happy Halloween!
I hope it’s filled with lots of treats! 🎃

Happy Chinese New Year!
I hope this year brings you good luck and many fortunes!
{Image FOUND // Year of the Pig HERE}

I took down our Christmas decorations today. I don’t think I’m ever ready to do that. But, it was high time to do it! Now, the cottage feels sparse, but not in a bad way. I don’t mind the clean bleakness of it all. There is something refreshing about the inside of the cottage mimicking the winter environment beyond its walls.
A mini “spring cleaning” session took place this afternoon, with every surface being wiped and scrubbed down, dusted and mopped and vacuumed too. The candles are lit, there are still twinkle lights glowing from little spots here and there and dinner is simmering away on the stove. So, life is good!

✸ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ✸
May this new year bring you peace, love and an abundant amount of blessings! ❤️
{Rhonda Fleming // Pinned HERE}

Reading through various blogs and scrolling through Instagram, oohing and aaahing at people’s photos of snow, which I’m still keeping my fingers crossed for, I’ve seen many people who have discussed their dislike for this time between Christmas and New Year’s. The general feeling is that we are in a holding pattern, just circling, waiting for the next year to begin. That these are the wasted days before the next big hoorah.
I don’t feel that way at all during this “in-between” time. I think this is the chance to truly relax, to enjoy the season. For the world is quieter around you and you can take it all in. There is a natural slowness to our rhythms at this time and I savour that pace.
Unlike others I’ve seen who took down their decorations on the 26th, ours are still going strong and they will continue to do so until Epiphany (January 6th) and to be honest, maybe a little longer than that. Then the twinkle lights shall be replaced by more candles and a handful of spring blooms. But we are still in winter and I don’t wish away these days. I like to revel and appreciate the season that I’m within.
These “in-between” days also hold another kind of magic for us, as today one of the inhabitants of this little cottage celebrates a birthday. So there is a cake cooling on the counter, dough rising on the stove and a birthday meal soon to be prepared as per the birthday boy’s wishes.
But, everything is still being done at a languid pace as we continue to enjoy the last drops that this year has to offer. And I think that is how it should be.
{Linocut Vanessa Lubach // Pinned HERE}