So Long, You

Dear 2014,

Last night I was by myself for a few hours while the kids were with their dad.

I went for a run and got home just as it was almost dark.

I turned on some music and cleaned up my house.

I sat down on the floor in the front room, trimming strings of yarn from these pom pom balls I had made over the previous 24 hours (102 of them, to be precise!).

Fireworks were going off from a neighborhood across my street.

I felt really quiet inside, and a little sad.

My, what a year you were.

I'm not gonna lie...I am not feeling at all bad to kiss you goodbye.

Except that...

my baby is growing up, and there was a lot of beautiful there this year.

My list of things-I'm-grateful-for is about a million miles long.

During your twelve months, I've learned lessons I can't put a price tag on.

I have loved and been loved, have four walls around me to keep the cold out, friends, and things that make me laugh every day.

And even tho I have cried more tears than I care to count, I've also found joy, peace, goodness, light and hope.

And I've learned that God keeps His promises.

So yeah.

If I make a reckoning this way, you weren't bad.

I might not wish you back again, but I'd never give up what you've taught me or how you've changed me.

I stayed up into the middle of the night finishing the wreath and then taking Christmas down, which always makes me feel a bit nostalgic.  

Here it is, on the mantle this morning.

I am enjoying the freak out of color.

I'm kind of hoping that 

it's a shout out in advance for 

how awesome 2015 is gonna be.

xoxo

Scarf Wreath

My goal for my Christmas mantle 

this year was simple.

Not flashy.

Not a lot of stuff.

Toned down.

(Actually, it was my goal for my fall mantle, too.)

So I fell in love with this wreath that I saw in this month's Better Homes & Gardens magazine.

Super, super easy to make.

Literally took maybe 10 minutes, and only because I rewrapped the scarf a couple of times to get it how I wanted it.

You could make it with any color scarf, and add any embellishments.

Just buy a straw wreath form, grab a scarf, some pins, and some ribbon to hang it with and you're good to go.

Wrap the scarf around the wreath form, pinning it as you go to hold it in place.

Once you get all the way around, you'll have something like this.

(with a flourish of ribbon, of course)

 Last night, as I was decorating the mantle, it looked like this.

 And this morning, in better light.

So easy, and it fit my goal perfectly.

Toned down, simple, calming.

(Tomorrow I'm going to post a last fall treat to make with kids (or without!) that I think is genius, and post a favorite recipe that could be included in your Thanksgiving feast.)
Happy Thanksgiving week!

Christmas Wreathing

What is it about a wreath that seems to say home?

And warmth? 

And care?

I made this little number right before Thanksgiving.

I love red berries and silvery glitter for Christmas.

Red and sparkly against the white of the snow and the dark of the night.

Fall Gathering

As I'm typing this, Benji tells me, "We're playing a game when Jesus was born and King Herod's soldiers are coming but we're already traveling."
And then he says, "What town are we in, Isaiah? Are we in Bethlehem?"
"Yes, we're in Bethlehem."
I am hearing Joseph and Jesus' name in the background.
I love their imaginative play.
............

Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.
--Albert Camus

The past month, I feel like the children and I have been squirrels.
It has been so fun.
We've been up the canyon gathering leaves.
Gleaned hazelnuts from a neighbor's trees. (Treasure!!)Picked up chestnuts from another neighbor's lawn that they were glad to share with us.Acorns on a nearby campus.That, combined with all the food preserving, has made me feel
alive with autumn.

The leaves were to make this (see the cornstalks from my garden?).
And yesterday we were up at a different family cabin with my sister and mother and a slew of cousins. I was working on the chestnut wreath, which turned into a family affair. It was so fun doing this together.
This wreath made me feel challenged (it was kind of hard!), but I like the finished product.It is a simple fall grace, a small piece of autumn given flair with simplicity. And I love all the golden.

Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.
--George Eliot
............

Leaf Hunting

Yesterday the boys and I drove up the canyon to gather fall leaves...

...so that I could make this last night to decorate our front door.

Cooler weather, beautiful colors, canning, fresh fall fruit, the garden's harvest, long, pleasant walks in pants with a nice breeze and leaves whistling down the street.

Mmmmmmm...

I love this time of year.