Christmas is ongoing here at the cottage. The magical tree will be with as long as it stays fresh, the outdoor lights will most likely be with us into January and February. We need it, so we’ll have it.
If you missed Wednesday’s post, we had a white Christmas. It snowed overnight on Christmas Eve, giving us just enough extra snow to prevent any melting. It’s still snowy out there, but it’s going to be warmer today, so I expect the melt to begin. We had a lovely day; very relaxed and full of music and peace. I made French toast for breakfast, lots of it, per Don’s request. Don made the dinner, which we ate earlier than usual (so we could digest it before we went to bed!) and topped it off with pumpkin pie. We switched the order of movies, so we watched The Bishop’s Wife on Monday, and A Christmas Carol on Christmas Eve. I had some FaceTime with Z and my sister, which was lovely. All in all, a lovely and stress-free day, which is just the way we wanted it.
I hope all of you had a lovely holiday – whatever you celebrate – and that you were able to do it just the way you wanted. I think it’s easier for Don and me to do that these days because we are far from family members and our parents are no longer with us, and after years of working long hours, often away from home, we crave and want quiet and peace and joy. So we do our best to create that here by shutting out the external stress and concentrating on what really matters.
Don has 3 gigs this weekend; tonight, tomorrow night, and Sunday afternoon. I’ll miss him!
Blessings to you and yours.
Stay safe.
Happy Friday.
Happy to hear you had the Christmas you wanted…we did too. And, that is the most important thing. I make the main meal far in advance and freeze it, so all I have to do is make a couple of side dishes to go with, and my DILs and I make cookies…so dinner is easy. There was music and laughter , and a FaceTime call with my eldest which ended our day.
Our snow is melting, and rain is on the way. But we may get more snow before New Years Day? Hope Don’s gigs go smoothly…enjoy your day! ;)
Sounds like a perfect day, Donnamae. We’re to get freezing rain overnight, so I hope Don gets on the road back home in time to avoid it.
Stay safe.
It’s nice you’re keeping Christmas around for a bit longer. All the decorations are beautiful. It’s much nicer to be staying in a warm, cozy cottage and not bustling through a chilly, crowded airport or on the road. I’ve also been enjoying the classic movies…love them!
Oh, I agree. Traveling at Christmas time is not on my list of things I want to do!
Stay safe, Barrie.
That sounds lovely, Claudia. I’ve had lots of visitors and lots of activities and will have a quiet day today as the gang will head to downtown Chicago today to visit friends. I’m looking forward to doing laundry while I relax and read!
Peace and Joy to you and Don!
Enjoy some time to yourself, Ellen.
Stay safe.
Sounds like you had a lovely peaceful Christmas.
I am starting to put Christmas away and the tree will be put away by the weekend. I think I may have gotten the idea to start the new year with a clean house from Meredith. I have read her blog for a long time.
Take care
Yes, Meredith does that.
I do not.
Stay safe, Marilyn.
Glad you and Don had such a nice relaxed Christmas Claudia,I am sure you have earned it. We spent it at my daughters’ with them doing all the work…the baton has passed on! Now we are home and preparing to spend our 56th wedding anniversary just the way you spent Christmas…on our enjoying each others company and doing what we feel like and eating what we want. But romantic film viewing may be in there. A happy and peaceful New Year to you both. Although we live now in Wales we are of Scots/Irish descent and of course New Year is a big celebration there. Take care. X
New Year’s usually involves a sleepy “Happy New Year” and early to bed for us!
Happy Anniversary! What an accomplishment, Megan! Bravo.
Stay safe.
Your peaceful day sounds wonderful. When I think how many years I hosted the extended family in the area I don’t know how I did it. Just our two kids and their pets were enough. I did have lots of kitchen help over the 6 days one or both were with us. Chris, our oldest, made Christmas Day breakfast and was always offering to do more which makes me feel we did something right raising them :-)
They left yesterday and we get Charlie dog back tomorrow until January 9 when Nick gets home from visiting his sweetie in Florida. So today much of Christmas is coming down. I want the tree gone before Charlie’s return. Everything Santa and blatant Christmas-related too. Candles and greens can stay. Snow is swiftly melting just as I wanted after Christmas and it can stay away.
The holidays are bittersweet for me. At a vet visit last week, our fragile Kezia weighed in under 6 pounds. She sleeps all the time but still enjoys her food. She just doesn’t eat much of it. My wish she would go in her sleep may not happen so I’ll talk to the vet next week. Anyway, sorry to be so maudlin. I think I need to get out of the house.
Your fresh tree still looks great and I hope you both enjoy a wonderful rest of the holiday season.
Take care,
Kay
Don’t apologize, Kay. I completely understand. I always wished for the same thing – my pets passing peacefully in their sleep. That never happened. Sending prayers for sweet Kezia – and for you.
Stay safe.
Thank you so much, Claudia. That means everything.
K.
xoxo
Your tree is so pretty! Sounds like a lovely Christmas. I was totally delighted to have the blanket of snow for Christmas. Happy New Year!
It was very nice. Now it’s raining, so I imagine much of it will be gone by the end of today.
Stay safe, Lynda.
Hi Claudia! Merry Christmas! I have never understood the “throw the tree out the next day” style of celebration. Growing up we never put the tree up until Christmas Eve and it came down on Epiphany… the old Twelve Days of Christmas. The mornings don’t start to get lighter again until after Epiphany most years… so I try to wait that long. But since I do put the tree up earlier these days (I just need it desperately for the light and joy it brings) I am starting to take it down a bit sooner too. But I like to keep Christmas going too! I have really enjoyed seeing your mini decorations this year! Keep enjoying your tree as long as you can, it looks so beautiful!
I don’t either. Why wouldn’t you want to extend the magic? Especially now? I’m hoping our tree lasts until Ephiphany. So far, it’s still fresh.
Enjoy your beautiful tree, Betsy.
Stay safe.
Glad you had a nice quiet Christmas. We did too. Just my son his wife and myself. I am leaving my Christmas stuff up until Little Christmas also known as Epiphany Jan. 6th. I really think I will leave it up even longer. I just love how we decorated this year. Traditional green and red. Enjoy your lights too.
I’ll keep my tree up as long as it’s safe. Right now, it’s in great shape.
Stay safe, Olivia.
Oh Claudia I am glad you had a nice quiet holiday. I love the picture you posted of your stairs. Would love to see what it looks like looking up from the bottom of the stairs. It just looks so cozy. We had a nice quiet time too. Unfortunately I caught a cold so I am not feeling great right now. Hopefully it won’t last too long. We had temps in the sixties which was perfect. I wanted some snow but we would have had to go up north for that. Maybe next year.
Take care!
You won’t be seeing that view because it’s not at all attractive!
I hope your cold leaves very soon!
Stay safe, Deb.
We broke down and got an artificial tree last year. After Christmas I took off the colored lights and ornaments leaving the white lights that came on the tree and all the snowflake and snowman ornaments. We then had a winter tree not just for Christmas. We loved it until February . I’ll do the same this year for sure. Merry Christmas to you both. It sounds like you had a perfect day.
That transformation to a winter tree sounds lovely, Deb!
Stay safe.
I’m glad you had a perfect day. That’s just how we want it. Sometimes it can be so hectic it has the “What happened?” feeling! We had our early Christmas with the kids and came home Christmas Eve afternoon, so Christmas Day was JUST as I wanted it. Very quiet, nice dinner, “White Christmas,” phone calls and gentle times. We had a bit of white Christmas outside, too — though it’s gone now.
I’ll leave things as long as I can. The big tree will come down first (reclaim a little space!) but the others can hold on through the winter a bit longer — and will! I need the light!
The big tree is hanging in there and Ithink I’ll keep the artificial white tree up even longer. I’m with you.
Stay safe, Jeanie.
Merry late Christmas to everyone! Sadly, a close friend’s son passed away in his sleep Christmas Eve morning. Mike and I will go to his funeral on Friday, just into the BC mountains. This ‘young’ (43) man lived a really full life although he had a serious lung disease. I will miss him so much.
We had ham on Boxing Day as I was sleeping as usual on Christmas Day. I spent the better part of 2024 sleeping. I’m starting to see that something is really a-miss with my body. My symptoms kind of line up with Lymphoma. But of course I just Think I’m a doctor, having taken the dr googly course on self diagnosis.
Anyways… I finally got our tree up on Christmas Eve, so it’ll have to stay up for a while because it’s so much work – and it also looks pretty. I enjoyed walking around the block and giving some out some Christmas cards. I also loved giving 3 homeless people white mesh bags full of small incidentals they might find useful. They were super grateful. And a candlelight Christmas church service was lovely with my dad. We were asked to hold hands and I cannot remember holding my father’s hand. It used to be so strong! He was a carpenter.
It’s the middle of the night. Mike is snoring logs and I just woke up a couple hours ago. Going back to sleep in a few minutes.
Why am I writing so much, like, who really cares??
Revision
Sleep lots, tree up later this year. Handed out cards. Gave gifts to random strangers and held Dad’s hand. Ate ham.
End. Good night
Thanks so much, Irene!
Stay safe.