Tag: holidays (page 4 of 27)

The In-Between Days

I love these in-between days. The space between the holidays. It isn’t wasted time to me as so many people feel, I think they are vital days. It is the time to relish in what has been, to reflect, to be and to prepare for the New Year to come in as much as you can prepare for the unknown. 

There are no expectations on these days. We’re not scurrying around wrapping, baking, delivering gifts, doing pre-Christmas cooking and baking prep. We’re just being. 

Watching movies, listening to Christmas music, basking in the glow of the twinkle lights. Going on long walks, reading, writing, working on puzzles, playing board games, visiting with loved ones and being still. These days have a rhythm all of their own. They are sacred days. We walk on almost hollowed ground. Where we watch time slip away from one year as we get ready to move into the next.

{Image FOUND Via Steven Singer | Inscribed on the back by my grandmother: “Bev & Chuck Merritt Dec 22, 1962” (Although she meant 1961) | Pinned HERE}

Merry Christmas

🎄 Merry Christmas! 🎄

{Original Caption: Pretty Columbia Pictures’ actress Beverly Adams is wishing everyone a Merry Christmas from the film capital, where she is presently starring in Birds Do It. The curvacious brunette, a former secretary to a judge before turning to acting, is under a long term contract to the studio. | Beverly Adams Posing for a Christmas Portrait | 1965 | Bettmann Archive}

Happy St. Nicholas Day

I hope you awoke to a small surprise in your shoe this morning left by St. Nicholas. ✨

{Image | St. Nikolaus (Print) | Elsa Schnell-Dittmann | F. A. Ackermanns Kunstverlag | Munich, Germany | 4 5/8 × 5 7/8 inches | Found HERE}

HELLO, December

Hello, December! We’re ready for the frosty air that you bring that bites at our cheeks and the smell of woodsmoke circulating on the evening breeze. We’re ready for the streets to be lit by the glow of Christmas lights while we stroll with hot chocolates in hand to “ooooh” and “aaaah” at Christmas window displays and house bedecked for the festive period.

We’re ready for the arrival of the numerous sacred days to this most spectacular season and month. In particular Santa Lucia, for she brought light into the darkest of corners and so should we all follow her lead and ensure that we are the bearers of light wherever we may tread.

We’re ready for Christmas music to be spinning while we sit on the couch bathed in the warmth of the twinkling tree. We’re ready for our pace to slow as the sun goes to bed and to play endless games of scrabble or cards while sitting at the kitchen table where all the best conversations always happen.

We’re ready for the house to smell of gingerbread and peppermint and fresh pine. We’re ready to watch Christmas movies by the glow of candlelight and snack on buttery popcorn. We’re ready to simply drink in this season and all that it has to offer.

{Vogue, Christmas Photoshoot, 1956, photographer unknown, found HERE | Pinned HERE}

HELLO, November

Hello, November. We’re ready for our Indian Summer to finally give way to chillier days and nights. We’re ready for hot apple cider packed in a flask to take with us on walks in the nature reserve. We’re ready to smell woodsmoke in the air and the taste of a freshly toasted marshmallow on our lips.

We’re ready for the day to draw to a close sooner and the evenings to be filled with games of Scrabble or cards while records spin and conversation keeps us lingering at the table longer than usual. 

We’re ready for bonfire night with crispy sausages and gingerbread cake with homemade toffee sauce and lashings of whipped cream. We’re ready for Thanksgiving because the next day you will be bringing us a heavenly leftover turkey sandwich and cold slice of pumpkin pie, which brings me endless amounts of joy.

We’re ready to continue to soak up this season and this year, for it is going far too quickly. Welcome, November, we’re ready for you. 

{Autumn Palette by Mary Charles, 2015}