Here’s Hoping

In spite of new grief and more disappointment, this Advent season has been lifted by hope: the light is still coming! I hope that 2021 will open like a gift for each of us, surprising us with joy. I hope that you are blessed by love and the warmth of good memories of those you…

You are Welcome

In early December, we said good bye to another house guest, our eighth since we returned from Canada the end of August. Our guests ranged from age 19 to early 70s, and represented five nations. One of the visits was planned for more than a year, with our friend’s desire to come and visit going…

Good Health, Good Cheer

If the throat tickles start and the coughing gets rough, when the sniffles begin and life feels kinda tough, that’s when you need magic*, our secret recipe (it’s secret no longer): a drink we call Head Tea. This amazing potion, called an aromatic infusion in the book where I saw the recipe, was christened head…

Brown Paper Packages

Lo, ’tis the season for mail, despite the digital age. We wait and we hope for the things we’ve ordered to arrive (some have, some may still…) and place bets on the amount of cards this household will receive. But it’s not just about waiting and hoping: there’s a bit of effort involved here, a…

Handmade Smthngs

Around my place, it’s always “make something time” in this season, so my interest was piqued by an email from Greenpeace telling me 2-10 December is Make Smthng Week. So it’s official; it’s not just me! In their words, Make Smthng Week is “an international festival of making, challenging our consumerist culture that has cut quality…

Beauty Garland

Are you less crafty than a fox? Here’s a simple project for you: All you need to be able to do is cut fairly straight and tie knots. I bought a selection of small pieces of Christmas-y fabric, spending less than 10 with lots left over for my stash other projects. One of the great…

Light

At this the darkest time of the year, I wish you light: the light to live by, the Life-light that blazes out of the darkness, that the darkness can’t put out. I hope that you will know the power and vulnerability of a tiny baby, and that you will find the mystery and the miraculous in…

Happy Homemade

Whatever the quality, the best gifts are often the ones that are made by the giver. They seem to carry something of that person: their creativity, their sense of style, their time. Or their time-keeping skills: I have a memory of one Christmas eve/morning painting the walls of a doll house that looked – even through…

Oh Christmas Card, oh Christmas Card!

The light thump of letters landing in my porch is wonderful, but never more so than at Christmas (although it’s hard to beat the doorbell sound of a postman delivering a package!). It is lovely to receive any of them, but the ones that have a letter or a photo with them are ultra-lovely. And handmade ones?…

Bunting on a Rainy Day

What better to do on a rainy day than make bunting as gifts for friends? With ribbon from Tiger and buttons from my button boxes, triangles cut from a coffee sack (washed first; the aroma of coffee beans had really lingered) and an Ikea net curtain, this was an easy project to brighten a dull…