It was a blast posting Christmas stories from so many storytelling friends, but now it's back to what passes for normal around here. I had hoped to have stories from West Virginia writers to post for New Years, but so far I've had no submissions, so that idea might not fly.
So, what's been going on around here while the storytellers were telling their tales? All the usual getting-ready-for-Christmas activities, of course! Baking, cleaning, wrapping gifts, and even completing a few projects.
My third son and his three children were here for Christmas dinner, and we had a great time.
I love getting out all the pretty dishes and putting them to use, and these three really enjoy a pretty table too. It makes a meal feel like an occasion, like something special, and my mother always said food tastes better fro a pretty dish. I think she was right.
The weather has made it easier to do the outside things that needed to be done. It has been a strange winter so far, very warm--apparently the warmest winter since records began being kept in the 1880's. It is so warm, in fact, that my flowering quince bush is blooming.
I went out to cut a few blooms for the Christmas table and had quite a set-to with the honeybees who were working the flowers like crazy.
The quince is not the only thing blooming. Heal-All, periwinkle, and forsythia are all sporting a few flowers. And the bees are after all of them. We've been putting out honey water for the bees too, to give them something to work.
A small but satisfying project was making a few changes in the bathroom. We plan to paint it within the month but I wanted to get something done in there so we put up the vintage medicine cabinet and another cabinet that we really needed, along with a new light fixture.
I added some glass in there too--a mix of Blenko, Bischoff and other makers, all in greens and blues, and some lights behind them. I love it. It will all have to come down again when we paint, of course--cart before the horse, as my mother would say, but I needed to get the glass put somewhere, and this is as good as any place else to keep it. And it looks so pretty.
I have lots more to tell you in the coming days. For now, enjoy your
Boxing Day!
Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.
