Wishing You The Best !

A Happy New Year! Grant that I

May bring no tear to any eye

When this New Year in time shall end

Let it be said I've played the friend,

Have lived and loved and labored here,

And made of it a happy year.

~Edgar Guest

I truly wish each and every one of you, a New Year filled with much love, peace and happiness.

Your friendships have encouraged, enlightened, and made me laugh my frock off throughout this past year.

Here's to a 2011 filled with the same !

To friends and family alike

Many Blessings,

Jo

x

Gifts That Made Me Smile

My sweet daughter, has a genuine love of antiques.
I put it down to all those years her dad and myself spent endless Sunday afternoons rambling the aisles of our local antique malls, despite her protesting, a seed was planted.

I in turn now reap the rewards of her passion, she has an adeptness of choosing the most beautiful pieces of dinnerware, and utilitarian pieces.

On Christmas Day she gave me this set of Liberty Blue, English Staffordshire dishes. All displaying Historic Colonial scenes, such as the one shown Independence Hall.
The 'blue' is just stunningly beautiful.

Next she added more dishes to my Johnson Brothers Friendly Village collection.
Eight of the Winter scene square side plates.

Last but not least, a gorgeous silver and glass pedestal cake plate,
the middle piece is made of etched quartz glass and shines like the North Star.

Thank you sweet baby girl.

Winter Friendships

Since I have a few days off from work, I had hoped to catch up on my overdue visits to dear friends.
Share a cup of tea, a piece of homemade Christmas cake, and swap Christmas gifts.

Instead, I've been infected with some sort of malaise, and have found myself spending much of the day in bed, my head wrapped in a lavender and chamomile sinus poultice.

Hopefully tomorrow it will have ran it's course.

"Winter, a lingering season,

is a time to gather golden moments,

embark upon a sentimental journey, and enjoy every idle hour. "

~John Boswell

Ratty, and Mole visiting Badger ~ Wind in the Willows

Visions Of Sugar Mice Dance In His Head

No longer able to withstand the festivites, and many sniffs of cat-nip later
Oliver ops for a cat nap.

And The Snow Came

It is close to midnight, we have feasted, celebrated, swapped baubles, and made merry.
The snow came.
No significant amount, just a dusting of the white stuff, enough to give the feeling of being a part in a picture postcard.
Snow on Christmas day, is there anything more magical !

"Christmas--that magic blanket that wraps itself about us,

that something so intangible that it is like a fragrance.

It may weave a spell of nostalgia.

Christmas may be a day of feasting, or of prayer,

but always it will be a day of remembrance--

a day in which we think of everything we have ever loved."

~ Augusta E. Rundell

Dreaming Of A White Christmas

As if by magic, the snow is falling.

The first time in seventeen years since we have had a 'White Christmas' and as the midnight hour approaches, there is stillness and silence all around.

"In the bleak midwinter
Frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron,
Water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow,
Snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter,
Long ago.

~ Christina Rossetti, 1872 ~ A Christmas Carol.

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Merry Christmas to you all !

Peace On Earth Good Will Towards Men

Christmas is upon us.......

I've so enjoyed our visits back and forth throughout the year, all the sweet comments written, and well-wishes when a word of encouragement was needed.
I truly wish each and every one of you, all the blessings of a wonderful Christmas.

May you have the gladness of Christmas which is hope;
The spirit of Christmas which is peace;
The heart of Christmas which is love."

~ Ada V. Hendricks

Peace on Earth, Goodwill toward Men
From our home to yours.......

Christmas Memories

When Christmas bells are swinging above the fields of snow,
We hear sweet voices ringing from lands of long ago,
And etched on vacant places
Are half-forgotten faces
Of friends we used to cherish,
And loves we used to know.

~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Catnip Dreams

Christmas is coming
and all through the house
no creature is stirring,
not even a mouse

With a soft sweet purr
from under his hat
in catnip dreams lost

sleeps Oliver cat .....

The Longest Night

With the full moon high in the winter sky and the promise of a rare combination Lunar Eclipse and Winter Solstice, I've spent the better part of the evening outside.
Bundled up, with wool coat, gloves and hat, I began the task of stringing the faerie lights around the porch.

Inside, the warmth of the hearth, twinkling trees, and heady aroma of clove-studded pomanders gave me an excuse to abandon the project, opting instead for an evening with Dylan Thomas the popular and much-loved Welsh poet.

A Child's Christmas in Wales, a timeless tale, delivers with gentleness a glimpse of a child's Welsh Christmas and takes you on a journey back to the magic and marvel of boyhood " where no two moments were ever alike, and life was embraced with belief instead of doubt ."

Purely magical !