Oh, heavens, it’s cold. From the comments I’ve been receiving on Instagram, many of us are locked in this deep freeze. Seems a bit early for that sort of thing, doesn’t it? On Friday and Saturday, the temperature is not going to go above 7° – What the ????
I start my car every day – thank goodness I just had the battery replaced!
All of the paperwhite blossoms have opened and the scent is so heady!
I just finished reading the Person of the Year edition of Time. If you haven’t read it, I recommend it highly. The cover story is an in-depth look at The Silence Breakers – women who are standing up and speaking out about sexual harassment. It’s long past time for it to stop. We all have stories. I’ve certainly had to deal with my share of this crap, but none of it comes close to some of the horror stories I’ve read since the Weinstein scandal broke. Equal pay, equal rights, and no more sexual harassment and objectification – starting with ousting the predator in the Oval Office. There’s no justification for it. None.
Two new leaves on the monstera (split-leaf philodendron) have opened. I love that spring green color of the new growth. This one was a rescue, if you remember, from Terrain. I found it in the Sale area and it was extremely root bound. Scarily so. It seems to be thriving now, which makes me very happy.
Here are the flowers on the sansevieria. There are two more on the side of the plant facing the window. Don was putting trays away last night and he exclaimed, “The scent is amazing! Is it coming from the flowers?” Yep.
Thanks, Mom and Dad.
Also from Don this morning: “I’m not ready for the tree to be taken down yet.”
Good. Because I’m not either. I love coming downstairs in the morning and seeing the glow of the lights. (Don usually gets up before me.) So we’re going to let it stay until we feel it’s time to take it down. There aren’t any rules about this sort of thing and if there were, I’d break them.
Happy Tuesday.
Hi Claudia,
I say don’t take that tree down until you’re good and ready! I leave ours up until I’m sick of seeing it and sometimes that’s not until the end of January! I think once it went into February. I know that sounds like we’re lazy, but truly, I love looking at the lights and the many ornaments, and the scent is great, and as long as it’s pleasing, why not enjoy it?
Enjoy.
I feel the same. It varies every year, but this year, especially, with all the subzero temps, it feels right to keep it going.
I don’t take the trees down until maybe January 6, sometimes even later. I miss them when they go away in their little boxes, waiting for the next December. I never tire of them.
Oh this cold!!! At around 2 AM, it was -11, with -30 wind chill!! It is a tad better now on the wind chill side, just -28, but the temp is -15! When Anchorage, Alaska is 30-40 degrees warmer, there is something wrong 😵
Stay in and stay warm!
Oh, but Debbie, according to our administration there isn’t any climate change! You stay warm, too!
I love that selfie of you on IG! I think I laughed out loud when it rolled up on my phone. The look says it all. And you just keep those lovely trees up, you rebel, you! We’ll be huddled around the fireplace for a few more days. This little beach shack has no central heat and it’s pretty chilly here, with a cold wind blowing and rattling all of the windows. It’s supposed to stick around for the next week, too. So much for shorts weather.
I bet it’s chilly! Stay warm – this cold has taken over the country!
Stay Warm! It’s frosty here in Georgia! I have a Dr’s appt today to see if the surgeon recommends surgery on my hiatial hernia. I pray not and that I can put the last few months behind me and just live with what is. Hugs!
I hope you can just move on, Linda! No surgery prayers going out for you!
We all need some beautiful colored lights this time of year. The white lights are beautiful too. I have a Himalayan salt candle in my bathroom for a nightlight. I love it. I also have a few more around that stay on all day, and two in two bathrooms that stay on all night. I love the soft glow. And your plants are amazing. They make your home very cosy. Happy New Year!
I love the soft glow, too. So needed when it gets dark so early!
As it turns out, whether or not to keep one’s Christmas tree up is quite a controversial subject. I was quite surprised by comments I was reading on some website, yesterday…suggesting people were committing some kind of sin, if they took down their Christmas tree too early…or left it up too long. Who knew? I think the glow of a Christmas tree, psychologically warms us up. So, go ahead…be a rebel! (my tree is still up, too.). Your paperwhites are delightful! Stay warm! ;)
The only time I am shocked by someone taking down a tree is when I see they’re taking it down on Christmas afternoon or evening, which seems to run counter to what the day is about!! Otherwise, to each his own!
Our street used to be full of lit Christmas trees one can see through the window as well as lights and decorations outside. With so many families moving out or with empty nesters, there have been fewer decorations each year. We finally put up lights again in 2016 having not done so after my husband died. My daughter is now in charge of the lights and I’m happy they are up again. Two neighbors, across the street and across the bike path, took their lights and trees down after only 10-14 days of them being up. We were sad to see their houses enshrouded in darkness when we returned last night. Even the main residential thoroughfare into our neighborhood wasn’t as bright. We don’t take our lights down until Martin Luther King Jr weekend. I’ve never had to deal with very cold weather. It’s overcast today with a chance of rain mid-week, but in the 50’s. You and Don keep cozy with heady fragrances, twinkling lights and hot coffee!
I still have my outdoor lights on, as well. I usually leave them up through the winter! I think it makes a drive down a dark country road a bit more cheery!
Yeah! Keep that tree up if you want! My brother & SIL had Christmas this year at their house & only 3 days later, when we were all meeting at their house to go out to eat and then on a “lights tour” [driving around looking at the street decorations], my SIL already had their very pretty tree put away. It’s quite gorgeous, full of collected Lenox ornaments and hand-crocheted snowflakes and all the kids’ cute things [and they’re in the 20s now]. Twas disappointing. The tour was great however – definitely saw a few places that should have been featured on those TV shows of people who go whole hog with Christmas lights – the Las Vegas strip in upstate New York – LOL. Bundle up & batten down those hatches – they say this frigidness will last another 10 days or so. Oh and yes – it IS too early for it. Peace. ❄️
#Resist
#ProtectMueller
I like the season to last as long as possible!
We are taking our tree down this week. We have a live one and it is too dangerous to leave up too long. Your flowers are lovely.
Marilyn
We’ve had live ones in the past and they usually lasted until January 6th. I guess it all depends on when you buy it!
the beautiful glow of lights is my favorite part. I love that Don still wanted the tree up!
and the thought of the two of you enjoying it so is lovely.
and as to all the wonderful courageous women who have spoken and are speaking out …
yes! good courage! we all have instances of it. one of them I remember from my first ‘real job.’
when I was 18 and working at the University here … I was secretary (what we were called then!)
only later would it be re-named as administrative assistant. it was a new job to me.
I worked for the Director of Housing. and he was old enough to be my father.
he would come out of his office and not say anything. he would stop in front of my desk and looking down intently at me he would make snorting sounds in his throat like a bull and paw the carpet with his right foot. I had no idea how to respond to such a ridiculous thing. and I wanted to keep my job. he did that at my desk often. even in front of the other women in the office. nobody ever said a word about it to me. they were all older than I but I wonder if they even said anything about it to each other. one of them was the office manager!
I thought it was humiliating for him to do that and for me it was just totally embarrassing.
I understand, I’ve been there. So many years later it still makes one feel embarrassed and uncomfortable.
Your plants all look so beautiful. I love how they give life to a living space. Happy New Year.
Thank you, Sally! Happy New Year to you!
I agree with others who have noticed how nuts people get about personal choices…. jeepers!! Seriously, I LOVE to put my tree up & decorate for Christmas as soon as Thanksgiving is over. If we have a nice day when it is warm even earlier in November, we put our lights on the bushes and trees outside. We don’t want to “offend” others so we do wait to turn them on until after Thanksgiving. People go a bit looney about that, as well. So, we have a perv sitting in the White House, the news gets crazier every day, and people take THIS up as their cause…… wow! But, I guess, that is THEIR personal choice. I just don’t get it. I LOVE that people still have their trees up, and if they love it enough to still have it up for Memorial Day, I love that, too. It is so cold in most of the country, I think the lights add a bit of warmth to the view. We will take that warm in any form we can get it! I think the tree lights shining, a nice cup of coffee and one of those Linzer tarts sounds like a near perfect morning!! Enjoy!
Also it should be noted that some bloggers who blog about design have to put their trees up VERY early in order to post about Christmas decor. There are a lot of factors involved, not to mention family traditions. Mom always kept the tree up through the New Year and Mere and I have kept that tradition.
My best friend from the preteens and with whom I’m still in touch was the daughter of a Brit who celebrated Twelfth Night. On I think January 5 or 6? It’s something about the night before Epiphany in the Church of England. We’d sing carols, which seemed strange to me since Christmas Day had passed (at least in MY house!). And her mother would make a rich fruitcake with things hidden in it which had certain meanings. I remember a clove, a bean and a pea but there were other things, too. I enjoyed it; all of it; the English traditions. Their ‘real’ tree in the living room was a bit dried out by then but, to me, it was like having Christmas twice in less than two weeks. Anyway, ever since, to me, it’s perfectly fine to leave the tree decorated after January 1 in honor of my childhood with these good people I have loved and found so intriguing. Her mom was a nurse in WW2 in England who later joined the British Air Force and worked with secret maps. She was a really fascinating person; she had a lot of grit. Very intelligent. So refined and proper and a real lady, but also steely in the best possible way. Steely probably isn’t the right word; I just mean she was so strong in character and backbone and courage. And a lifetime of volunteerism, too. Just a selfless woman who packed a lot of life into her 98 years. I loved her accent/speech and I loved her stories. She was also just a lot of pure fun; had such a sense of adventure. Was almost age 40 when she bore her only child who was my friend. I always, always think of them at this time of year! Happy memories…the best kind…
She sounds like an amazing woman!
I put up my little tree really, really late so it’s gonna stay up for awhile; indeed is so pretty and soothing. And we left some mini lights around the front door so that when you walk up to the porch, it’s cheery. Maybe for another week or so.
Claudia, why do you go out every day to start up your car? I don’t know snow or that kind of cold. Husband isn’t here to ask at the moment. Something to do with ‘things’ getting frozen? I’m completely ignorant. (I guess that’s obvious!)
Best to run it a bit so that the battery isn’t neglected in very cold weather. If you don’t, the battery could die.
Oh. I guess I thought batteries only died over time, or like if you accidently left the dome light on or something. I’m clearly car-ignorant as well!
I bet that’s a cold ‘job’, having to go out there and get in a frozen car to start it up; yowie.
A battery can die when there is excessive cold and wind chills. It doesn’t usually happen, but in weather like this, we like to take precautions.
I love those plants and the picture of your kitchen. Stella really is a star. We have warmer weather than you do, but a lot less sunshine. Even so I am trying to keep plants alive and will repot them all in the spring. Looking forward to a new USA someday.
Oh, me too! Sooner rather than later would be a good thing!
I have a string of colored lights that I leave up all year outside…I’m really not worried what the neighbors think…they make me happy no matter what the season is!…I would never think to tell a neighbor that I don’t like what they do at their house!..How rude that would be!….I love seeing your blooming house plants and mine too…my Christmas cactus are still going strong…they are so pretty this year!..You two enjoy your trees as long as you want and so will we!
Good for you – I’ve been known to leave the outside lights up for a few months. I bet your Christmas Cactus is lovely!
I live close to Savannah, GA and we are expecting 2 to 4 inches of snow this morning!! I am at work (45 minute drive) with this horrible head cold I have picked up from someone and one of my co-workers is going to come in and work 4 hours of my shift so I can go home. Hoping that the snow doesn’t hit too hard before I get there. We are ill equipped to handle snow. They’ve told everyone to stay home and off the roads if at all possible. Of course the company I work for cannot just shut down, it takes 2 days to shut the machines down. I am originally from NY state but have lived in the south for way more years than up there. For many reasons. :o) Stay warm!
Stay safe, Kathy, I know you’re not used to snow down there in the South!