Moving Slowly into the Christmas Season

photo credit: Elena Ferrer

It's taken a while for me to slowly move into the Christmas season this year. Some seasons are like that, it just takes time for it to feel right.

After a busy Thanksgiving followed by some pretty nasty colds/viruses/bacterial infections that ran the gamut through the family, we are slowly recovering and getting into the Christmas spirit.  The tree is up and finally decorated.  One daughter is ordering gifts online, one is crafting away, and one is baking Christmas cookies.   'Tis the season at last.

I love the photo above, with the simplicity of the fresh greenery and the gingerbread cookie reindeer ... Won't work for chairs in my home since we have a big, furry, white dog that would surely eat the cookies as quickly as they were tied on, but I'm thinking maybe cinnamon applesauce ornaments instead and used as a window garland ... or maybe along the mantel

I've got a ton of ideas all tucked away neatly on my Pinterest Christmas board.  I thought you might like to take a look, there might be just the thing you are looking for pinned there.  I'll never make or do all I have collected, but I do love to have lots of options and ideas to choose from.  

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I've also got a whole list of simple, herbal gifts to make.  I will share a few of those with you very soon.

What is your favorite gift to make and give at Christmas?

Gifts of Grace

Okra blossom, one of the few things that thrives in the heat of our Texas summers.

I'm giving thanks today that indeed, the hardest part is over.   

Thank you Ann, for that bit of grace that I needed to be reiminded of today! 

More Gifts of Grace I'm grateful for today:

Change- an answer to prayer, a new job for my husband after so many years of asking ...

Trust- the new job requires that we step out in faith and trust the Lord to provide for us

Freedom- to worship, to live Free in Him, who purchased our freedom with His own blood

little gifts this week:

Being considered "family" by those who really aren't our family ... but who really are the best kind of family, ours because we are all His!

A cool breeze blowing through the garden as I watered parched plants and gathered the fruits of our labor.

Swimming with friends

Iced tea

Lemon Verbena

A quiet hour in the library

I'm giving thanks today with the Gratitude Community.  Care to join in?  Visit Holy Experience today.

May Day Fun

Happy May Day!

The photos are of a little gift I created for someone last spring from simple things around the house- a canning jar, a bit of wire, and an assortment of herbs and flowers growing outside like mint, rosemary, sweet marjoram, yarrow, lemon balm, runner bean blossoms, and Mexican petunia.  With a bit of ribbon and a little dressing up, it would make a lovely May Day gift.  I think I'll make one or more today for some sweet friends ... maybe I'll send the girls next door to leave one for my neighbor as a May Day Surprise!  

 

Herbal Treats for Your Valentine (or for You)

Some very nice herbal recipes for Valentines Day @ Mountain Rose Herbs
I think I'll whip up a batch of the Rose & Geranium Bath Bombs for myself.

I love rose geranium scent, it's my own personal "happy fragrance"! When things are going "not so well" with me, I grab the bottle of Rose Geranium essential oil and sprinkle a few drops nearby ... very nice!