Friday Favorite: A Simple Christmas
Yesterday, a bunch of you were asking to see our little Christmas tree in all it’s glory all decked for the holiday. Here is is:
I’ve noticed that each year the holiday decor around here is simplified. I used to spend lots of time decorating the tree and making sure everything was just right and fit with a theme. This year, the tree was wrapped with one strand of 25 C7 light bulbs and then added my favorite etched glass balls. A small grapevine star topped it all off and it was finished, in about 15 minutes.
I think I might have to stock up on some incandescent Christmas lights, especially the C7’s I love so much. Those LED lights that are so popular now give me eye strain and headaches with their piercing pulsing light.
I have yet to dig out my favorite nativity set, if you remember I’m a collector of these lovely holiday displays. I don’t know if they’ll all be unboxed this year, I may just dig out my Willow Tree Nativity.
There are gifts all wrapped and ready under the tree, these are all for Mr Chiots. When it comes to wrapping, I’m a big fan of simple brown kraft paper and newsprint. I have a box of ribbons of all colors and sizes that get reused each year. I’m thinking of making a few burlap bags to add to my box for quick wrapping.
There’s something wonderful about simplifying the holiday season. It allows for a more laid back and enjoyable time. For us, this year will be particularly relaxing because we’ll be celebrating here in Maine by ourselves (unless my mom and dad make it up). That means we have no family functions and no work parties. It’s just us, just here, enjoying a holiday like we’ve never had before and we’re really looking forward to it.
Do you have a theme when it comes to holiday decor?
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O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree
We finally have a nice Christmas tree set up in the living room. I prepared for it on Sunday by cleaning the floors and moving all the houseplants upstairs. The plan was to head out on Monday but it was raining. On Tuesday we spent all the daylight hours at appointments and meetings, but ended up with just enough daylight hours to get our tree.
We loaded up in our trusty “wagon”, grabbed our “axe”, and headed out into the woods to find the perfect Christmas tree. Back to the wetlands we went and the search was on. The beavers didn’t much like our presence, they were slapping their tails on the water to get us to leave. They’re quite amazing creatures, we saw evidence of of some fresh cutting as they’re building a new dam. Nature is truly amazing!
We debated on getting a tall slender one, or a shorter fatter one. After searching high and low, we found the perfect little tree. The short plump one eventually won and Mr Chiots cut it down.
We also harvested a couple smaller trees that will decorate a few other rooms of the house. One will grace the kitchen, one in the dining room and we’ll even put one in the office since we spend so much time in there. Perhaps the chickens would like one in their coop as well!
There’s something wonderful about putting up a Christmas tree. There’s nothing I enjoy more than sitting by the tree with a cup of hot tea reading. Something about the glow of those lights is so cozy and warm.
What kind of tree graces your home: real, artificial, or none?
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Friday Favorite: Making Do
There’s nothing I love more than finding a new use for an old item. When we were in Ohio last week, I harvested the remaining sage from my giant sage bush. I wanted to hang it above the wood stove so the warm dry heat would dry it quickly.
Just as I was about to head up the garage to find my hammer and a few nails to put in the beam above the stove, I noticed the old deer racks hanging there. These were left for us by the previous owners, admittedly they need a good dusting, which I hope to do this weekend.
They worked quite nicely to hang my herbs from. Instead of hanging lower from the beam, they’re now hanging up out of the way above the stove. In this climate they’ll dry quickly and be ready for seasoning delicious winter soups and stews! Lucky for me the lodge look is in, next thing you know they’ll be selling antler herb drying racks at Pottery Barn!
Have you found any great new uses for old items recently?
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Sweet Rest
Our lives are balanced by our experiences. So often though, we want the good ones and not the bad ones. The problem is, without the bad, we wouldn’t know what was truly good. After a while, you learn to welcome the bad and the difficult experiences because you know it makes the good times sweeter.
Work and rest are the same. If we didn’t work hard, our rest wouldn’t be as sweet. Luckily, Mr Chiots and I both love hard work. Yesterday we worked well into the night unloading the truck. We have a few more big items to unload today, like my stove. Rest will not come today, or even tomorrow. However, by this weekend, we should be enjoying much needed sweet rest!
What’s your favorite hard job around the garden?
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The episode that never will be…
Mr. Chiots here filling in for Susy. As I write this it is midnight, in six hours we are climbing in moving truck #2 and heading back to Maine. This past week has been intense. We celebrated two Thanksgivings and one Christmas. I harvested 3 deer which yielded around 130 lbs of meat. Susy picked up 50 chickens and a turkey for the freezer. We visited with friends and family. I picked up the worst cold I have had in years. To top it all off, we signed our end of the closing papers and had to have the place cleaned out as we will not be back in Ohio until long after the buyers give us the check (or someone gives us a check).
Today as we loaded the last piece of our lives on the big yellow truck, we had full intentions of recording a podcast from our empty house, sharing memories that had been made there over the past 10 years. It never happened, and therefore will never happen. Time was too tight and we were WAY too tired.
But Susy and I took a few minutes and walked around. We shared memories of each room. Of ding and dents. Of projects past. Of changing careers, and doing it again. Of building a successful business in the office. Memories of friends that dined with us and family that visited regularly around our table. Of the gardens and the transformation of them. As the memories folded over me I began to weep. Susy hugged me and asked “Are you sad?”. I shook my head but could not speak. After wiping my tears and catching my breath I replied, “I am not sad. I am happy we have these memories and I realize this house is not these memories nor are the things on that truck. Our memories are us.” I hugged her again and we both told each other, “I love you.”
One other thing that happened in the last ten years is this blog and all of you coming and reading about our simple life. So thank you. Thank you for sharing in our lives as we share them with you. You don’t know how much we appreciate the encouragement that you give. We are excited to continue this journey with you.
Here’s to the next memory!
Next week we will return to our previously scheduled program.
