Awaking to a soft, gorgeous, thick coating of snow...
Bundling up for a quiet walk to a hot breakfast treat...
Enjoying the last day of our "weekend" together with a family nap and hot supper. Waiting for my honey to come home from school so we can have spicy hot cocoa and spoon on the couch...
And tomorrow I'll be 24.
Which feels so much more grown up than 23.
+Chelsea
Starting the project three hours before it is supposed to be given as a gift -- no longer how long you have been visualizing it in your head -- is never a good idea.
+Chelsea
Sebastian, poor fella, ended up spending pretty much all of the day home sick. The guy gets sick a lot, and just never really has the time to let his body rest and heal (what with working two jobs AND going to school). We never get the whole day and whole night together, so it was a real sweet treat -- factoring out his wicked cough, sore throat and achey-ness (which are getting the royal treatment of custom-blended teas, steamer bowls with essential oils, hot soup, pulpy orange juice and full-on, pajamas-all-day resting).
And the best medicine for a sick daddy?
Having lunch with a cutie mc-cuterson, of course.
+Chelsea
My honey brings me flowers...
Snuggling up with some knitting and John Cheever
A trimmed tree...
Seeing him push his own small version of mine across the floor...
He still prefers the small tub. I hope he does for a while yet.
+Chelsea
December is such a full, full month. There has been a whole lot of celebrating, and its such a good thing. This weekend we celebrated the birthdays of two of the sweetest sisters I know. They were the first friends to really welcome us to town, and I will be forever thankful for the times their Mama picked Pan and I up in their minivan and drove us to our local mindful mamas meetings last winter when we didn't have a way of getting around on our own, and didn't really have any young family friends. Those gatherings were soul energy for some very difficult early months in my mama-hood and they probably wouldn't have happened for us without Ivory.
I didn't have to think very long or hard about what to make for these little ladies. I remember making play clay myself, as a young girl. Although I added a bit to the basic recipe to make it birthday-special, kneading the dye into the hot dough, that heady salt smell -- none of the simple magic of this stuff has changed in twenty years.
A little bit of glitter-dust sprinkled in, and some drops of lavender (in the purple) and geranium (in the pink) essential oils...
I used some recycled containers for the packaging (these used to hold nuts; I scrubbed them out and peeled off the labels and now they are rather aesthetically pleasing, I think).
Some cookie cutters for precise shaping, if they so choose (this is one of my favorite recycled packaging tricks -- yogi tea boxes turned inside out. They have the prettiest designs on the insides of their packages. I always save the empty boxes for gift wrapping).
There has been a lot more making and not much showing around here, what with holiday secrets and all. That is one reason why the December birthdays are so fun -- the sharing can be done a bit sooner...
+Chelsea
This is a small victory for me. In the past I have, without out fail, never finished my Christmas gifting on time. And there is just a little bit less joy in telling someone they must wait for their gift rather than having it for them on the special day itself. And so, this year I was determined to not only have all of my gifts made and wrapped on time (these are almost entirely handmade!), but also shipped to my Kansas family by a date that would ensure the package's arrival before Christmas.
I'm celebrating this little triumph with some knitting for a gift that doesn't need to ship out weeks in advance, a bit of chocolate from St. Nick, and a beautiful sense of peace...
+Chelsea
The spirituality of Advent is about carrying tension without prematurely resolving it... To give birth to what's divine requires the slow process of gestation.
--Ron Rolheiser, "The Holy Longing"
*** Its been a good couple of days. Full, tired-making days, but they have been good ones. I've been reading through your comments and emails, thinking on all the warmth and support that is there. I'm working through replying to your good words through email. Its always a bit difficult for me to re-visit a low once I feel I've come out of it. The fear that I'll get sucked back in, going over those thoughts, but I am able to return with clarity and a new hope.
+Chelsea
I have strong memories of leaving out my shoes for Saint Nicholas on December 5th each year as a young girl, my shoes joining the line of my six siblings own pairs placed neatly along the fireplace. Our evening prayer around the advent wreath would include the story of St. Nicholas' generous (and sly) late night visits to families in need. And we would wake the next morning to a new book and a sweet and some coins placed in our shoes. St. Nicholas day always eased a bit the anticipation and waiting for Christmas.
And now I get to continue this little early-December tradition and celebration with my own family.
Just a few small treats, but they certainly do warm up a blustery and grey morning.
For a little more on Saint Nicholas Day:
