Wishing All Joy at Christmas - From My Home To Yours 🎄✨

Happy, Peaceful and Joyful Christmas...

Hi everyone. I just wanted to pop in to wish you and your families a very happy, peaceful and joyful Christmas. 

It can be quite a hectic time of the year, but I hope that we can all take a moment to remember the true meaning of Christmas, and to honour it in our hearts.  Also, to be grateful for the family and friends that bring love and joy into our lives, and to remember loved ones that are no longer with us. 

For many, this can be a hard time of year to cope with. Many will be suffering with ill health, some may be alone at Christmas, whilst others may have lost loved ones this year, and many will be having financial worries, or even just struggling to cope with life in general. I'm sure we  all pray that these people may be given the strength they need. 

I shall be spending Christmas Day with my youngest daughter and her family. The two not so little ones are 11 and very nearly 10, so a lovely age to bring excitement to the day. I shall be thinking of my eldest daughter and her family who will be at their home in Ibiza. My eldest granddaughter was 22 a couple of weeks ago, so we will be missing them around our Christmas table, but with sunny skies and temperatures still in the high sixties, who can blame them for staying over there. Also, Christmas isn’t really a good time to be travelling, with the inevitable delays and perhaps the possibility of bad weather. 

“I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year” ~ Charles Dickens.

I thought I would post a couple of my favourite vintage Christmas images!

All images today courtesy of Pinterest.

So then, I will close again for now, sending you all my very best wishes for a very happy and peaceful Christmas. If you are travelling at this time of the year, or if loved ones are travelling to you, I hope for safe journeys and that the weather will be kind to you.  

Just One Word - Kindness

Just One Word - Kindness

Just a simple little post today, from me to you, and it features one of my favourite words .... KINDNESS.  

We need more kindness in the world today, and, yes, gentleness and respect. We need far less hate and aggression.  Less pulling people down, and more building people up. Especially at this time of the year, which can be very hard for a lot of people. So make that extra effort to give a smile to someone or to say hallo. Sometimes it really can make all the difference. 

The quotes today are all courtesy of Pinterest. I came across this Interview with Roald Dahl, and I couldn't agree with him more....

"I think kindness is my number one attribute in a human being.  I'll put it before any of the things like courage or bravery or generosity, or anything else."

Interviewer.. "or brains even?"

"Oh, gosh, yes.  Brains is one of the least. You can be a lovely person without brains, absolutely lovely. Kindness - that simple word.  To be kind - it covers everything, in my mind.  If you're kind, that's it."

Perhaps you might have your own favourite word as to how life should be lived ....but, to my mind, if you're kind, you care for others, you love, you have empathy, you have generosity of spirit, and you want the very best for that other person. 

May you be surrounded by kindness as you go through your week ❤️

How Are Your Christmas Preparations Coming Along? 🎄

Mince Pies & Sherry, Mistletoe, all Christmas Traditions 🎅🏻

When I first told my American friends about mince pies at Christmas, a few years ago, they thought i was talking about meat pies!  Although these delicacies used to be filled with meat, such as lamb, they are now a sweet dish and filled with an assortment of dried fruit, with perhaps a hint of brandy. They are best served warm, in my humble opinion, and here in Devon, we serve them with a dollop of clotted cream. Yummy scrummy! 

 

 

I usually partake of a glass of sherry with mine, to really get me into the Christmas spirit. This is ideal for when you're writing your Christmas Cards or wrapping the presents, with Christmas music playing in the background. 

 

 

The mince pie in the photo is a tiny bite-sized one, but they are usually larger than that. I have tried all sorts of shop bought ones, but I much prefer the ones I make, using my own pastry. Here in the United Kindom, in the Stuart and Georgian times, mince pies were very much a status symbol at Christmas. Hard for us to imagine that now. Rich people would serve them to their guests in all sorts of different shapes. Having pies like this meant that you were very rich and had truly made it in the world, as you were able to afford the most expensive pastry cooks. 

Sometimes, when watching Downton Abbey and period dramas like that, I often think that I would like to have lived in those days, when sherry was served out of decanters and your clothes were all laid out for you. In truth, I fear I would have been the poor little housemaid, getting out of bed at 3.30 in the morning and cleaning out the grates, before the Lord of the Manor  came down for his breakfast in the morning!  Oh well, a girl can dream. 

On Christmas Eve, little children over here usually leave out a mince pie and  a glass of brandy, for Santa when he calls, along with a carrot for his reindeer. 

Another tradition at Christmas time is the hanging of mistletoe. Believe it or not, this tradition goes back to the days of the Druids - that is, long before I was a twinkle in my father's eye! It was supposed to bring good luck and ward off evil spirits. It was also used as a sign of love and friendship in Norse Mythology, and that's where the tradition of kissing under the mistletoe comes from. 

 

 

Mistletoe images courtesy of Pinterest.com

Most of my older Followers know how much I love vintage Christmas images, so I thought I would post a few of them today, from my Christmas Board on Pinterest. Some of these images very much remind me of my childhood - simpler times somehow.

I’ll leave you again for now.  The house here is now fully decorated, and I’m now feeling very festive.  Hope you’re all looking after yourself, and remember ....