A Peaceful Week

Never have I been on vacation anywhere that was as relaxing as this trip.  (And never have I needed to relax as much as now.)

Some of my favorite memories of this time away are:

The sound of the surf through the open back door 

The beautiful ocean view, just yards from our beach house

Walking on the beach

Sitting on the back deck, feeling the sea-breeze and the gentle December afternoon sun

Decorating a small tree in traditional colors of red and green

Reading every night in a big overstuffed chair

Burning scented candles every evening

Simple, quick delicious meals that always tasted great

Snuggling warmly under the covers, on cold nights

Kissing to “Blue Christmas”

Listening to Anne Murray’s wonderful Christmas CD while we opened our presents

Playing “Christmas In Dixie”  by Alabama at midnight on Chritmas Eve (while in my husband’s arms)

Eating at Lambert’s (Home of The Throwed Rolls) (Yes, they actually throw the rolls to you.)

Eating Christmas Dinner in the Marriott Ballroom, and drinking egg nog

Riding the tram to the restaurant

Seeing a horse drawn sleigh with red velvet seats and a coachman with a top hat

Hearing the bells on the sleigh, and the clip clop of the horse’s feet

Riding around the beautiful little town of Fairhope

Shopping at Olde Time Pottery and Tuesday Morning

The sound of the ocean as I fell asleep every night

It was the most lovely Christmas I’ve ever had, and I could feel the stress of the previous days just melt away, day by day. It’s the only Christmas in a long time, that I haven’t been sick from exhaustion, from preparing for our family Christmas party-cooking, cleaning, shopping, wrapping presents, etc.

This is the way Christmas should be. A time to love, to reflect, to relax, to appreciate God’s goodness, and to remember the true meaning of the season. (It’s been a special time of healing for me.) We may do this every year.

Did I say how happy I’ve been? LOL! Now if I can just take this feeling home with me, and never let it go…

Busy, Busy, Busy

I guess the main thing that’s on our minds (if we are women anyway) is finishing getting everything ready for Christmas. So much preparation to have everything quickly ripped into or eaten up. It takes us a month or more to prepare, and then it’s all over in the blink of an eye, right? But still we do it. Yeah…

So at least I’ve made progress upstairs. I’ve gotten half of my bathroom clean. LOL! But wow, what an improvement! My kitchen is looking good again, my living room, and my upstairs bedroom. Tomorrow I’m working on the dining room, and then I’ll move to the bottom floor. (Quite a bit down there also. That’s where the “great flood” occurred a few months ago, and where the bulk of the Christmas celebration will be.) But hey, I’ve still got…what?….4 or 5 days?

I have wrapping, grocery shopping, and some other things to do. Think I’ll make it? Christmas will come and go whether I do or not, so I’m pretty determined to get it all done. No, let me change that…all that I can. (Ladies, we know we never get it all done. There is always more to do, and redo!) That’s the thankless part of housecleaning. You just have to do it all over again. And once the family has all their fun at Christmas, guess what? You have a dirty house again. (Sigh)

I think there must be something to that saying, “A woman’s work is never done.”

But you know what? Lately, I’ve decided that I have to have time to write, so if that means something is left undone on any given day, then so be it. Life is too short to clean house continuously. Sporadically…okay. 🙂

I still have to get the money in the money cards, and get the door prizes and games organized. (It’s not just Santa and his elves that stay up all night in the month of December.) And whoever decided to put Thanksgiving and Christmas so close together???? (You know I’m kidding about that, right?) But I bet the Pilgrims and Indians didn’t have to shop and decorate a tree right after that big feast.

Well, wherever you are in your holiday preparations, I wish you joy, love and a sound mind. And if you should be alone, remember that very few people (if any) have a Hallmark card Christmas. More often there are crazy disagreements and feuds going on, or at the least some incompatibilities. From the outside looking in, it can all look grand, but usually it’s less than perfect. So if you are with extended family, enjoy them as best you can. (Fish and company start to stink after 3 days. LOL) Remember it won’t go on forever. And with your immediate family, treasure the moments, if not the days. Happiness really occurs in moments anyway, rarely entire days. But joy abides-you just can’t steal it from a heart that won’t quit singing, no matter the trials.

Try it if you’re down-just start singing and you will feel at least a little better.

Okay, let’s all catch our breath, and believe in our power to do the slightly impossible, and the highly improbable.  Hey, I am woman, hear me roar…

But you know what’s really important and the greatest gift of all? That a baby was born so that we could have peace in our our hearts, our homes, and our world. Someday… That’s what I’m dreaming of…

The Lure Of Nature

Nature does draw us, doesn’t it? I think it is because this world is so busy, so frenetic, so bustling. When we go and look at creation, we are reminded that there is a Creator, and we find peace in the things that are natural, and not man made. (Not artificial.)
I have often thought this is why God put Adam and Eve in a garden. (It was peaceful and beautiful.) And it was romantic, no doubt. They were so fortunate not to have to live in the city, next to a busy highway. (They paved Paradise to put up a parking lot.) Remember that song?
I love to look at the mountains most of all. Even though I live in Florida, and I’m very near the ocean, I find my greatest solitude in the North Carolina mountains, in a house on top of the world, where I can reach out and almost touch God. At night, the lights below look like a million Christmas trees in the valley. But in the daytime, the majestic mountains really are purple and smoky, and eagles fly in the sky, just above the porch. I sit in my rocker there, and never want to leave.
Here in Florida, I like the water quite a bit also, and sometimes take a picnic to a nearby bayou. I live on a small lake, and when we used to have a deck (still in disrepair), we would sit on the screened-in porch and look at the water, and not come in till very late. It had a hypnotizing effect on us, and I miss that.
I am reminded of a beautiful song called, “I Know How The River Feels” (Diamond Rio, Clay Aiken, and also Garth Brooks, I think.  As a friend of mine noted, there are so many riversongs, and water songs.) But this one says:

Now I know how the river feels
When it reaches the sea
And finally finds the place
It was always meant to be
Holding fast, home at last
Knowing the journey’s through
Lying here with you
I know how the river feels 

This one’s for Owen….