Blogging For Bliss.......

I have been reading this book today. Blogging for Bliss by Tara Frey.


I was looking for ideas and suggestions. I have never done blogging before and so I wanted some direction. I found this book easy to read and informative and more than that, enjoyable. I did get some ideas and some of my questions have been answered. I really dont know how people find our blogs and I don't know what makes people read them. At this point I have 3 blogs because there is just too much for one. I must have too much to say? Who wants to read what I have to say anyway, so I guess what I do is just do it for me. If people read then that's wonderful but I know I dont have any life changing ideas or thoughts for anyone else. If you read Bluebell Woods you may see how I get through trials and tribulations but how do I get through procrastination and mental blocks? I have more than enough to inspire me and I have got really into reading other peoples blogs. I really need to get on and do stuff, crafts and painting and sewing and all those projects I have been wanting to start. Well.............a New Year. A new beginning. Come on 2012 move over 2011 and get the heck out of here we are moving on.

Amazing how one child could change the world. Even the universe and all of our eternities.

Pink............

One of the prettiest colours is pink. It will always remind me of my granddaughter Alexandra. She died this past February in a car accident. She was such a beauty, a troubled soul for the longest time. She was finally getting her life together and was beginning to be happy. Sad to die at 21. This is not a sad post though,we know we will see her again. This was her time and although this will be our first Christmas without her with us, we will do our very best to gave her son a wonderful time. Pink was her colour. She wore it well with her dark eyes and hair, she was tall and model material at least we thought so.



We will miss her this Christmas because she would come into the house and would immediately be the center of attention. She never went unnoticed. These colours looked great on her.


She would have loved these shoes and I do too. If only I could wear them. When I was working I always wore high heels. Now I have been at home for awhile and go barefoot they would kill me. I still love them though.


Alexandra is very much missed and I think of her every day. I suppose I always will because I have her 2 year old son living with me. He is just like her very much the center of our world as you can imagine. He is also so much like her.

This is Alex on Tristens birthday, no make up and just having given birth.........still beautiful and one of my favourite pictures. The PINK is in her cheeks (smile).


I am happy to share her with you on "Pink Saturday".................you can follow the link on the right back to the host blog. I look forwards to meeting other participants and plan on checking out some new blogs.............Merry Christmas everyone

Winter wonderland..................

Among the pretty things in the world is snow.......is the whole fantasy of Christmas, and the whole beauty of the real meaning of Christmas. I never led my children to believe in Santa nor did I encourage that belief. Like other beautiful things though I didn't mind pretend.... I do remember my own childhood and watching out on a full moon wishing I could see that sleigh and reindeer go past that moon in silhouette. I knew it would never happen but I still looked out of the frosty window through Jack Frosts beautiful artwork and wished until I fell asleep.



I love the glitter and the candles. I love the light. There is a special glow about Christmas. A feeling of Holy anticipation. Even though it may be pagan in origins they got it right. We all know that Jesus was not born at that time of year, and certainly not in snow but it does not matter. We feel His love, His presence in the love or friends and family. Even in strangers sometimes. The giving of gifts in the tradition of the Three Wise Men, make it special. Its not about what one gets but in the joy of GIVING.

Angel.....

Today we went to explore my favourite Antique shop. It had moved and so I wanted to see what the new digs were like. I prefered the old ones but hey ho.......I did find a couple of things I could not leave behind. One was this Angel.Its supposed to be a tree topper but its too big for that, and its not an antique. I do collect angels and so I thought she would fit in.

There is a lot of detail to her. She has a pretty face. I am not that crazy about dolls but they are not so creepy these days.

Its Time to Get Ready for Christmas.............

I love to get the house ready for the Christmas season. It's so much work now though. I decorate the whole of downstairs and so that means putting away our every day things till January. I think this year I will paint some of the rooms to freshen up before putting things back out.
Anyway, we got the tree up and decorated on Sunday, Saturday was spent packing things and exploring the Christmas things again. Its lovely to go through it all and remember people and who made some of the things. I gave a lot of the hand made things to Laura and this year will give some to Danielle. Then the things I have will just be purchased things, and thats just fine by me. There are really cool things out there now.



Some of the ornaments on the tree, its always fun to rearrange after its all done



Then to decorate and redo all the surfaces in the house (smile) at least downstairs. There was a time when the granddaughters came home for Christmas from North Carolina, I would put a tree in each of their rooms, they didn't notice the effort though. I collect snowmen and santa's now and the older ones as they get ragged get to sit outside.



The living room needs a few more touches but this is what we have so far.......



I put holly and poinsettias in among my real flowers and replace the summer flowers to give everything a festive look.



I foumd a use for the little chair that I found this summer. Didn't know what to do with it and it's been sitting empty. So now Santa has a new place to sit. Seeing as how we don't have a chimney.



I had to bunch all my plants up basically in one spot, so I loaded them up with poinsettia and made them festive. It's the only place I could put them and not kill them



I am trying to put some sort of lighted tree in each room, so far I only have this one going on.


The stuffies I have had for years may not make it through this year with Mr Sticky Fingers in the picture.


One thing I found useful was old jars I found at resale/thrift shops. Other years I have put candy in them but glass balls look so sparkly and pretty.

Christmas may not be the real birthday of Jesus but it is His official birthday. I am sure He does not need to have a birthday but we need to remember why he was born into this world. Maybe we do need to remember that more than once a year, and I do, but the "world" does not. If nothing else it is a joyful season and people have the opportunity to wish people well and think of others. That too should be done more often. This though is the real world and people get busy and quite often just do not make the effort. Please do not say "Happy Holidays' it is Christmas!. otherwise why bother? I especially do not like Xmas. That is just lazy and it is also taking Christ out of Christmas. Not everyone is a Christian, I do understand that but the "holiday" IS Christmas no matter what people think. No one HAS to celebrate it. Let us all make an effort especially Christians, to put the whole meaning back into this Christmas season. All the miracles of His birth, His life and His gift to us of eternal life and the whole reason for his coming. Think how those shepherds felt when they saw the heavenly choirs announce His birth. Think of the priviledge and the fact they came to the lowly ones and not the Kings of the earth to give their message of hope. Have a wonderful Christmas.