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?

HAPPY EARTH DAY

 

The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it,
the world, and all who live in it;
for He founded it on the seas
and established it on the waters.  Psalm 24:1-2

Easter Blessings

I pray your Easter is filled with the Hope and Joy found only in His Resurrection.

He is risen!
He is risen indeed!

Have a lovely holiday, and don't forget to enter the giveaway for the great My Memories software- we are having lots of fun with ours!

Blessings,
Catherine

May Day Musings

Ask of Her, the mighty Mother.
Her reply puts this other
Question: What is Spring?-
Growth in every thing -

Flesh and fleece, fur and feather,
Grass and green world all together,
Star-eyed strawberry breasted
Throstle above Her nested

Cluster of bugle blue eggs thin
Forms and warms the life within,
And bird and blossom swell
In sod or sheath or shell.
~  Gerard Manly Hopkins, The May Magnificant, 1888 

Remembering this herb jar I made one May Day and thinking I'll recreate one to celebrate today.  I have lavender, roses, and rue in bloom. Those along with a few pretty wildlings growing beyond the fence and a few sprigs of lemon balm and mint will make a pretty May Day bouquet.  

I find it interesting that May 1 was once considered the first day of summer.  I like that, summer it is!  We should celebrate with a picnic and some summery treats-  Lavender Lemonade and Lemon Thyme Cupcakes, I think.  

How about you, what do you do to celebrate May Day?

Sweet May hath come to love us,
Flowers, trees, their blossoms don;
And through the blue heavens above us
The very clouds move on.
~  Heinrich Heine, Book of Songs

Easter Blessings

I pray your Easter is filled with the joy and hope of New Life!

He is risen!

Easter Wishes

I pray your Easter is filled with love, joy, peace, and the blessed hope of new life!
He is risen!

Happy New Year

A happy New Year! Grant that I

May bring no tear to any eye
When this New Year in time shall end
Let it be said I've played the friend,
Have lived and loved and labored here,
And made of it a happy year.
~Edgar Guest

Brightest Blessings to you and yours this New Year's Day!  

New Year's Blessings

HAPPY NEW YEAR!


I pray that 2012 is filled with bountiful blessings for you and yours!




We will open the book.  Its pages are blank.  We are going to put words on them ourselves.  The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day. 
 ~Edith Lovejoy Pierce

Simple Holidays

It is time for holiday crafting and baking at our house. 
I've marked lots and lots of goodies at Pinterest that I'd like to make.  Obviously, time and energy won't allow for all these, but I hope to create a few of them this year, if not there's always next Christmas!  I am determined to keep it simple this year.

Here is a link to  my favorite simple Christmas cookie recipe:
Simple Christmas Cookies (Scotch Shortbread)

Also on the To Bake list are:

Ginger Cookies
Sugar Cookies
Fudge Crinkles

What is your favorite Christmas cookie?  (I'm always looking for new recipes for the Recipe Pile!)

And now ... back to Pinterest to add more goodies to my Christmas board! 

Blessings,
Catherine :)

Herbal Holidays

The holiday season is in full force at my house. We go from Thanksgiving right into the Christmas season around here. Herbs play a part in all of our holidays, just as they do in daily life. Spices such as cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, cloves, allspice, bay … all associated with Christmas whether in delicious baked goods, pomanders to scent and decorate the house, or fashioned into ornaments for the tree or gift giving, herbs are definitely front and center in our holidays and I hope will be in yours too.
read more at The Renegade Farmer

Please tell me which herbs are your favorites at this time of year!

Blessings,

Catherine ... off to bake an Espresso Gingerbread Cake! 

Happy Mother's Day

For my Mommy Friends-

I pray your day is filled with love and laughter, joy and peace ... and a nice treat or two!

Blessings,
Catherine


p.s. I found this Mother's Day Proclamation very thought provoking ... funny I don't remember learning about this one in school ..... ;) .

Remember Mom

with a gift of rosemary this Mother's Day, more on Rosemary for Remembrance at The Renegade Farmer! 

Happy Mother's Day!

May Day Herbal Fun!

Sunday is May Day, the halfway marker between spring and summer.  My children are counting down the days until summer, anticipating swimming weather mostly!  May Day is a holiday filled with lore and legend as well as fun. 
I like to celebrate by planting an herb or three on this day, and sometimes make up a few May baskets or small gifts such as this herb jar for friends and family. 

Herb jars are fun, frugal if you have a few herbs growing nearby, and are always received with joy. 

To make one for a friend, or even for yourself-
 find a suitable jar such as a pint size canning jar
and
 a bit if wire.
Twist the wire into a handle and secure it around the neck of the jar.
Fill the jar with water,
then go out to the garden and snip a few of your favorite herbs and flowers and add them to the jar. 

You can embellish this herbal gift further by tying on a bow or pretty gift tag.  A small packet of seeds or a lavender sachet make a nice addition as well. 

If you choose herbs that root easily in water such as mint, basil or rosemary, add a little tag giving instructions for potting up the herb plants once they have rooted.  This can be a gift that keeps on giving! 

What are your May Day traditions?

Herbal Blessings,
Catherine

Easter Wishes

May the Joy of Easter fill your heart and home with good things this weekend! 

Today I'm baking Hot Cross Buns (just as soon as I locate the recipe in my Recipe Pile) and planting seeds.  We have a family tradition of planting something- a tree, flowers, seeds, on Easter weekend to celebrate the gift of Life.  I'm planting seeds for hyssop this year. 
What are your Easter traditions?  Whatever they are, I pray you have a blessed holiday! 



(Beautiful Easter graphic can be found at Vintage Catnip)

Easter Blessings

May the joy of the resurrection fill your heart and home this weekend!

And now I must find that recipe for Hot Cross Buns and get busy baking ... 

What are your family's Easter traditions? 

(The lovely Easter graphic can be found at Vintage Catnip.)

Christmas Blessings

May your heart and be filled with the gifts of
Hope, Peace, Joy & Love
this Christmas!

Things may be rather quiet here at LOVE Living Simply for a bit.  We're in a flurry of baking and finishing up a few homemade gifts this week. After Christmas I'll be taking a little end of the year inventory- just some quiet time spent with the Lord and my journal, noting where I've been and where the Lord is leading me over the coming days ... as one year ends and another begins.  The new year here always starts with a party- a birthday party for my oldest daughter, who "officially" becomes a teen this January 1 (I think prayers are in order for mama) ! 

I want to thank those of you who have blessed me by your kind thoughts and words here, I appreciate you and have learned much and been so very blessed by my bloggy friends! 

I have a few things in mind for this blog in the coming days ... but more about that later, I have 200+ cookies to bake and have determined not to be finishing up my last homemade gifts at midnight on Christmas eve this year! 

The LORD bless you, and keep you;



The LORD make His face shine on you,


And be gracious to you;


The LORD lift up His countenance on you,


And give you peace.


Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.





Catherine

A Bit of Green

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Hope you have a lovely green day today, and just in case you don't already know ... those little green "shamrocks" that grow wild are edible.  Click here to read about Wood Sorrel (scroll way down to the bottom) and all sorts of other wonderful wild edible herbs!  Please don't eat too many and get a tummy ache ... but a few tossed into your tea would be lovely and quite alright, I do believe.  (Of course, I'm not a doctor or the FDA, so what do I know... research it for yourself and use your own judgement). 

If you have children, they probably already know that the "clover" tastes slightly sour and has little "pickles" on it. :)


An Olde Irish Wish for you:


May the raindrops fall lightly on your brow


May the soft winds freshen your spirit


May the sunshine brighten your heart


May the burdens of the day rest lightly upon you


And may God enfold you in the mantle of His love.

Enjoy a bit of green today! 

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!

Garden and Christmas Ramblings

I loved this article on the benefits of small space gardening: Grow $700 of Food in 100 Square Feet .
The author's website has much to offer as well- gorgeous photos, articles, recipes, and more: Rosalind Creasy .
I'm ready to spend an afternoon curled up with a cup of tea, a few seed catalogs, and my Garden Wish List! I'm also thinking about starting seeds indoors ... very, very soon.

And now back to my simple Christmas plans ... I think we'll bake sugar cookies today, since it is f-r-e-e-z-i-n-g outside, and I'll certainly not be going anywhere until the thermometer rises another 25 degrees or so. Perhaps we will roll the dough, cut out shapes and decorate them with icing and/or sprinkles; or maybe we'll just make balls of dough, roll them in sugar and smash them down with a glass (or our fingers). They'll taste delicious and be eaten with joy, no matter what they look like!

My motto this season is one I try to live by throughout the year: Simplify, Simplify!

Christmas sometimes doesn't feel so simple to me (I hate the crowds, shopping malls, and all of the hype that comes with the season these days). I've determined not to let it become a burden this year; but rather keep it the joy-filled time to remember the birth of the Joy Giver that it should be.

I'll be attempting to spread a bit of joy myself, but in simple ways that don't stress me or our family budget!

Cookies - simple or fancy, tasty just the same and when made with love ... a blessing!
Cards - simple child (and mommy) crafted ones made with great love ... and lots of glitter(!)
Caring- simply taking time to listen, really listen, to those lonely souls who just need a listening ear, and perhaps a silent prayer. (If you pay attention, you will find them most everywhere. Amazing what joy this brings, to the listener as well as the speaker, and I know you'll learn some very interesting things, as well. Try this with a child ... oh the things they think!)

May your hearts and homes be filled with Hope, Peace, Joy and Love this season!

Recipe Fun!

Make a Smilebox recipe