Mom and the girls (mostly Sarah) have done a beautiful job of decorating our house. Sarah uses a lot of lights; I like that. It's lovely to sit by the Christmas tree with a cup of tea, reading. Later I'm going to get some oranges and chocolate and dig into my books...
CYS had a concert in the mountains a week and a half ago. A group of us rode together--6 musicians, 2 cellos, 3 violins, and a viola in a 7-passenger van. 'Twas delightful--a good time with friends and beautiful music. It was snowing up there; there were huge windows in the sanctuary of the church where we played, and we could look outside and see the snow falling. It took us nearly twice as long to get home as it did to get there, but we kept ourselves occupied with cheese, chocolate, tea, and a George MacDonald fairy tale (The Shadows) read aloud as we slowly made our way down the mountain.
I've been doing more reading lately (about 5 books at once), and I have a whopping list of what I want to read before Christmas break is over. Finish Angel in the Whirlwind, The Lantern Bearers, Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World, Weight of Glory. Read The White Company, Sir Nigel, Keeper of the Bees, The Napoleon of Notting Hill, some Sherlock Holmes... I have Nicholas Nickleby out from the library, but I'm not sure I'll have the time for an 800-page Dickens. :)
Our final Christmas performance was last night. I counted up, and I had about 12 performances over the past 21 days, between CYS, Sonshine Girls, GNO, and singing with friends. I enjoyed it all, but it's nice to have some quiet time now.
It's snowing, so we'll likely have a white though sunny Christmas. I'm glad it's cold and snowy again. It's lovely outdoors, and cozy indoors.
I've done my share of puttering around in the kitchen over the past few weeks. Gingerbread, whole-wheat honey cut-out cookies, peppernuts in three varieties, double chocolate cookies with chocolate and white chocolate chips and crushed candy cane... I might make more peppernuts today. Tomorrow I'm going to have to start thinking about that cherry-cream-cheese braided bread I want to make for Christmas morning.
May God bless you this Christmas with joy, and an increasing understanding of what Christmas really is. Have a beautiful and happy Christmas!
In the bleak mid-winter
Frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron,
Water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow,
Snow on snow,
In the bleak mid-winter
Long ago.
Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him
Nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away
When He comes to reign:
In the bleak mid-winter
A stable-place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty,
Jesus Christ.
What can I give Him,
Poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd
I would bring a lamb,
If I were a wise man
I would do my part,
Yet what I can I give Him,
Give my heart.
Christina Rossetti
2 comments:
Sounds beautiful. Our Christmas promises to be a wet brown and green one. :( But we're all together again. Just now I'm thinking how quickly this December has gone, how little time I've spent really thinking about the importance of Christmas, and what a mess I have on the corner of the sewing table... make that half of the table and downstairs too. But for once I've been able to leave the mess and enjoy time with people. I think that's far more important. I'm glad you're enjoying recreational and profitable reading. And thanks for sending some of those peppernuts my direction. :) I'll see if my patience is sufficient to keep the remainder of the package wrapped until Christmas day.
Have a very merry Christmas, Rachel!
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