December 7, 2010 / 2 Comments

A Gift from St. Nicholas

Yesterday, was St. Nicholas Day. Some of my most cherished childhood memories come from this day. We headed out into a very frosty wintery wonderlandy Monday morning to catch our bus to school. It was just too cold to be out, it was a morning to be snuggled in bed with hot chocolate and Christmas music, but off to work we went.

I headed up to my cupboard and once I dumped my stuff on my desk, I began to start taking down signs that were posted on Friday about classroom changes. As I walked out onto the landing of the back stairwell to remove my last sign, something flew up out of nowhere and perched on the ledge that leads out to the conservatory.

It was a fat little robin red breast. We chatted to each other for a few moments and with a little turn of his head he hopped along the ledge and disappeared through the elfin sized gap, where the new building meets the old and flew away.

Thank you, St. Nicholas, for you know how much I love British robins and how much more I wanted to be cozy in bed yesterday morning, that little present made me smile all day!

December 5, 2010 / 0 Comments

A Little Frosting

What could be better than real frosting piped high on a cupcake or swirled around the edges of your Nana’s famous Marble Cake?

I think the next best thing could be this adorable set of frosting brushes from the lovely Sugar & Meringue! These would be perfect to decorate homemade labels for the Christmas cookies or other sweet treats you might be giving away to friends and family. Enjoy!

(Click on the image to go to her site, where you can download this set. Tag used in first image is a Pugly Pixel Freebie)

December 2, 2010 / 0 Comments

The Little Things

I opened my e-mail yesterday and a note from my adorable sister popped up. She had seen something and said to me that this looked like the kind of thing I put on my blog.

Well, I clicked on “The Little Things” and watched it and watched it again and she was right! I just love the polar bear! But, even more, I love her thoughtfulness! What did she send me? Just watch below:

I wish that polar bear would visit this week and tip a little box of snow on us, I could really use a comfy, cozy, hot chocolate drinking snow day!

December 1, 2010 / 1 Comment

On the 1st day of December…

Oh, the lovely, lovely postman put this, through my racing green door this morning and I have never been so happy to get something in all of my life.

I have a terrible sinus infection and have come home a bit earlier from work and am now cozied up in bed listening to Christmas music, drinking hot tea and pouring over this:

HEAVEN! My fingers and toes are crossed for snow tomorrow, then I can stay in bed and look at it all over again!

November 28, 2010 / 1 Comment

The First Day of Advent

Where has the year gone? I cannot believe that as I woke up this morning, we entered into one of my most favorite times of the year; the season of Advent. The 24 day build-up to Christmas! It is time to get out my Christmas Pixie, Eglantine. Alas, we are going to be having some work done at the cottage and I won’t be able to decorate as normal.

I have looked and looked at old-fashioned paper and chocolate Advent calendars, but non were beautifully decorated and were not anything I wanted in my house for the next 24 days. Since most things will have to be packed up for the moment, I wanted something small, maybe even transportable.

In looking at “One Pretty Thing”, I happened upon this:

What a fabulous idea I think this is! This is the perfect Advent calendar for grown-ups, or to mail to a college student or a friend. What a cute idea!

Read the whole post here. Happy First day of Advent!

(All images copyright My Little Mochi)

November 26, 2010 / 0 Comments

The Day After Turkey Day

All the preparing, stressing, family gathering and it is over in a flash, a snap of your fingers. That brings us to “The day after Turkey Day ” and there is nothing better than the glorious leftovers on “The day after Turkey Day”.

After you have stuffed yourself to the gills and you swear you will never eat again, somewhere around midnight you are famished and so you raid the fridge! That first leftover turkey sandwich of the season, is somehow, the best one of all!

(Image found here)

November 25, 2010 / 0 Comments

Turkey Day

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

November 16, 2010 / 0 Comments

Gather Here

We are just a little over a week away from Thanksgiving. Not a holiday here in England, but we still celebrate it in our little cottage. There is something to this time of year, as we approach Christmas, there is just so much more hustle and bustle and everything takes on a more frantic pace. There also seems to be something in the air lately, everyone seems to just be fed up!

Maybe, it is because evening crawls in sooner and with less hours of daylight we feel pressured to complete more tasks than usual. Maybe, it is simply the pressure the media puts on us, there is not one store I have entered lately that is not stock piling their Christmas displays or has already decorated to the nines. It seems that as we approach Thanksgiving there is more pressure than ever.

Thanksgiving, can be a stressful time for many, you are possibly dealing with family that you would prefer not to see, you are anxious that your turkey will turn it out just so; the new bride cooking for everyone for the very first time. All this pressure, seen and unseen, seems to mount for everyone and comes to a head.

I think, of all the Christmas gifts, I have to buy and what seems like no time to do it in. I think of all the things I have to do at home and only the weekend to complete everything. I feel the pressure, that Thanksgiving seems to be the “hurdle” we have to get through on our way to Christmas, and once Christmas comes we can all sit back and take a breath.

I refuse to look at holidays like that. I want to enjoy them for all that they are, I want to soak up every drop of time I spend with my family. I want to simply take a breath and be open to just being, not be pressured by society to have everything just so and by a certain date, I am willing to just take it as it comes and drink in the moments as they present themselves. Because, I believe that I am where I’m supposed to be right now and I will come to it with not only an open heart but a grateful one!

(Image by Craftily-Ever-After)

November 4, 2010 / 2 Comments

A Farm Chicks Christmas

The lovely Serena of The Farm Chicks has published another beautiful book, this time a Christmas one. I love books, the feel of them, the delight in turning the page and feeling the paper on your fingertips, the smell of them; old and new.

This was a book that was delivered to my racing green door, now decorated with Indian Corn for Autumn, that I wasn’t sure I wanted to open. The vibrant colors were so charming set against my crisp white tablecloth, I wanted it to stay that way, but my fingers got the better of me and as I peeled back the covers I was not disappointed.

Each page holds a treasure of delights, from stories, to recipes, to decorating ideas. It is filled with mouthwatering images so gorgeously displayed. There was, amongst it all, one section that caught my eye as I thumbed through the pages and that was an image of a tag poised over a page with the words, “It’s the Thought that Counts” held within its round frame.

When giving or receiving a gift, that is a statement that I truly believe in. Anything given with love and from the heart is a gift worth receiving and I’m telling you this book, which is beyond enchanting and filled with all the coziness of Christmas, could only be given with love. If you don’t have it already, I hope you are lucky enough to have Santa leave this under the tree for you!

Serena is having a virtual book signing party tomorrow, Friday November 5th, so be sure to take a peek, it is a great opportunity to do a little Christmas shopping and give someone a gift there is no way they wouldn’t be smitten with that in their little mittens!

October 31, 2010 / 1 Comment

Happy Halloween

In the run-up to Halloween you had to make the toughest decisions you had made all year, it was like the practice test that got you ready to start working on your list for Santa that would become your focus not long after Thanksgiving. What was the toughest decision you made? It was: what would I be for Halloween?

I was so many things over the years, a pumpkin, a witch, a pink bunny, a little leopard. One year I was St. Lucia, I dressed up just like my American Girl Doll, Kirsten Larson, with my hair in braided loops and a wreath around my head that my Mom lit with battery operated candles. Knowing my love for all things Christmas, this was one of my favorite costumes.

As I was growing up, on the other side of the pond, so was Mr. Michie. Being British he never had the full American Halloween dressing-up, trick-or-treating experience. But, I know if he had and we had been friends when we were little, as I know we would have been, then knowing his love for all things Star Wars, he would have made us go out trick-or-treating like this:

Category: The Holidays (page 33 of 38)