Winding Down

OK, here goes.  Other than IWSG, I’ve been lacking in blog post topics for a long stretch.  Today is no different, so you are getting this.  A journal entry of sorts, I guess.

As I type (Sunday), I’ve got beans boiling on the stove to add to a turkey chili for dinner. The tree behind me is on, and the smell of the evergreen-scented candle I’m burning delivers a piney bouquet.  I’ve got the house to myself.  Our daughter is still down at school and my husband is over doing projects at his mother’s, although I’m hoping he’ll return in time for us to attend the annual lighting of this tree, before we sit down to a warming meal.  

Hubby and I got out before 8:00 am to shop, returning home by mid-morning, successful in most of our endeavors.  We’ve given ourselves a strict budget this year.  Not because we have to, but because we don’t really need anything.  We made a decision to take things easy, and that call is helping to keep stress at bay while adding to the joy of the season.

Last weekend, our daughter came home with a friend, and she, her friend and I partook in an annual holiday activity, the Festival on the Common put on by the local churches.  As has become our family tradition, while our daughter and I visit the common, God love him, the man I'm married to, aka Mr. Christmas, stays home and decorates.   

This year, the festival was smaller and more restrained than in other years, yet we enjoyed our annual bowl of clam chowder at the Congregational Church, followed by a concert put on by local instrumentalists at First Parish.  I'm not sure our daughter’s friend had experienced anything quite like our little festival—jumble sales, a meat raffle, silent auctions, book sales and the like, but seemed to take it in stride and rated the whole thing “charming.”  We returned home to lights and wreathes and nutcrackers all over.  Let’s just say we’re a three-Christmas-tree kind of family and I’m not sure whether our daughter’s friend was impressed or horrified overwhelmed. 

We start our festivities this coming weekend as we celebrate the season with my side of the family.  As a result, I’m not sure I'll get a blog post in again before the holidays. In case I don’t, please know, I wish you all a wonderful Christmas.