December 25th - grateful for ...

{ His Birth }

~ El Greco ::The Adoration of the Shepherds ~

~~~~~~

Troparion for Nativity

Thy Nativity, O Christ our God, hath given rise to the light of knowledge in the world. For they who did worship the stars did learn from them to worship thee, the Sun of Justice, and to know thou didst come from the east of the Highest. Glory to thee, O Lord!


~~~~~~

Kontakion for Nativity

The Virgin brings forth today the omnipotent, and the earth offers a cave to the Unapproachable. Angels give glory with shepherds, and the magi journey with the star, when for our sakes was born, as a new babe, He Who is from eternity God.


~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~

May you all have a blessed Christmas!

xxx

December 24th - grateful for ...

{ being here }

(do you remember this view?)

No matter how dreary and gray our homes are, we people of flesh and blood would rather live there than in any other country, be it ever so beautiful. There is no place like home.

~L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

December 23rd - grateful for ...

{ the beginning of the Christmas holidays }

:: listen ::

χχχ

December 22nd - grateful for...

{ being healthy }

The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future, or anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.

~ Buddha

~~~~~~~

(Please read the post below; I'm having a chat with a lovely lady!)

December 21st - grateful for ...

{ knowing and liking myself }

Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.

~Dr. Seuss
~~~~~
If God had wanted me otherwise, He would have created me otherwise.

~Johann von Goethe

December 20th - grateful for ...

{ remembering this post from my archives }

(this frosty image is not a randomly picked one; it represents how I've been feeling lately and why reading what I wrote a year ago is something to be grateful for)

Peter Robbins (Charlie Brown): ... I think there must be something wrong with me Linus, Christmas is coming, but I'm not happy, I don't feel the way I'm supposed to feel ... just another dang Christmas I guess, I like getting presents, and sending Christmas cards, and decorating the tree and all that but I'm still not happy, I always end up getting depressed ...
Christopher Shea (Linus): ... Charlie brown, you're the only person I know who can take a wonderful gaping white Christmas and turn it into a problem, maybe you shouldn't gripe, of all the Charlie Browns in the world you are the Charlie Brownest ...
From A Charlie Brown Christmas

December 19th - grateful for ...

{ hot cinnamon tea }

"Talk and tea is his specialty," said Giles. "He has come along inside... We'll see if tea and buns can make the world a better place".

-The Wind in the Willows

December 18th - grateful for ..

{ Christmas ornaments }

(from my ornament swap partner, Connie; literally, the only ornaments on our tree we haven't made ourselves!)

~~~~~

Perhaps the best Yuletide decoration is being wreathed in smiles.

~Author Unknown

December 17th - grateful for...

{ snow }

(schools are closed today)
~~~~~~~
Snow Towards Evening

Suddenly the sky turned gray,
The day,
Which had been bitter and chill,
Grew soft and still.
Quietly
From some invisible blossoming tree
Millions of petals cool and white
Drifted and blew
Lifted and flew,
Fell with the falling night.

~ Melville Cane

December 16th - grateful for ...

{ art }

People discuss my art and pretend to understand as if it were necessary to understand, when it's simply necessary to love.

~ Claude Monet
~~~~~~~
I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers.

~ Claude Monet

December 15th - grateful for ...

{ inexpensive long-distance phone calls }

(image via)

Promise me you'll never forget me because if I thought you would I'd never leave.

~A.A. Milne

December 14th - grateful for ...

{ fantasy }

Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try!

~Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Thinks You Can Think!

~~~~~~

My little boy went to bed with a broad smile on his face last night, after I told him a story I made up.

I took the picture on Saturday at the Christmas village we visited; this was a place called 'The Little Prince' after Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's book. It was really magical.

December 13th - grateful for ...

{ Sunday afternoon stillness }

( under the blanket you see is my baby who's napping)

God's poet is silence! His song is unspoken,
And yet so profound, so loud, and so far,
It fills you, it thrills you with measures unbroken,
And as soft, and as fair, and as far as a star.

~Joaquin Miller

December 12th - grateful for ...

{ twinkle lights }

they were so worth the 4-hour bus ride back and forth!

December 11th - grateful for ...

{ central heating }

Forms of central heating have been discovered that date back to the time of the Greeks - despite the Mediterranean climate - but it was the Romans who created the system which allowed properties and water to be heated, Mr Geoghegan claimed.

Later, in Victorian Britain, households experimented with different ways of heating the home but it was not until 1970 that gas fitter Martyn Jarvis claims he first saw central heating really taking off.

"There was a sense of excitement. It was like getting the first colour television - 'Ooooh, I've got central heating'," he explained.

(via here)

December 10th - grateful for ...

{ weekends }

(from last winter)

“- "I've been thinking Hobbes --"
- "On a weekend?"
- "Well, it wasn't on purpose..."”
Calvin & Hobbes quotes

December 9th - grateful for ...

{ the blanket stitch }

The best thing about doing needlepoint for very small children is that they are so uncritical. They don't say things like, "I see you've missed some stitches over here on the leg, was that intentional?" or "Was this creature blinded in a fight?" They will clasp it in their little arms and love it besottedly, inseparably as the thing becomes more and more rancid.

~Carole Berman and Jennifer Lazarus

~~~~~

I think today's choice needs a bit of explanation; you see, my sewing machine broke down on Monday, leaving me with a whole list of projects to be completed by the end of the week, presents mostly. I was quite miserable after that until of course I came to my senses and realised it was not the end of the world and there are always alternatives. There's no way I'll manage to do everything I wanted to but , well, c'est la vie!

(and yes, there's a reason you only see part of what I've made!)

Take Care!

xxx

December 8th - grateful for ...

{ my job }

Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.

~Confucius

December 7th - grateful for ...

{ music }

Music is well said to be the speech of angels.

~ Thomas Carlyle

December 6th - grateful for ...

{ crafts }

Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.

~ Jonh Steinbeck