9th Day of Joy

A Winter Walk

Today I'm joyful for the chance to take a little break from the chaos that comes with December. We bundled up and took a quite winter walk.  We were surrounded in utter slience.  Even the wind did not rustle a leaf.  The only sound that pierced the frozen December afternoon was the cry of a gliding hawk....oh yeah, and my three year old twins rumbling and shrieking down the trail.

This post is part of 12 Days of Joy where I am celebrating the holiday season by sharing simple little joys in my life.  To keep things simple for me, all photos for this series were taken with my iphone and processed with Instagram.  See also: 
12th Day of Joy - Cinnamon 
11th Day of Joy - A Handwritten Letter 
10th Day of Joy - Old Christmas Music

10th Day of Joy

Old Christmas Music



Growing up, my mom filled our house with Christmas music...just as often in July as in December. My first memories were of them were being played on vinyl on her giant stereo in our living room. Over the years, my sister and I have constantly teased her about her Christmas music and movie obsession. The truth is though that nothing gives me that warm, homey, childlike wonder about the season the way that old music does. I've been playing music for my girls (on my ipod rather then my record player). I found lots of fun modern songs sung by cartoon characters and from movies they've seen, but I still find myself pulled towards the originals over the music that has been released in recent decades.

My joy for today is rocking the neighborhood with my Bing, Nat, Elvis, Judy, Burl, Brenda, and the rest of the gang.

My apologies to our 22 year old neighbors....you'll totoally get it in about 10 years.

This post is part of 12 Days of Joy where I am celebrating the holiday season by sharing simple little joys in my life.  See also: 
12th Day of Joy - Cinnamon 
11th Day of Joy - A Handwritten Letter

11th Day of Joy

A Handwritten Letter

I correspond with people all day long and close to seven days a week. I spend countless hours typing away. Emails, text messages, convos, status updates, tweets, tags, instant messages....the history of my adult life neatly organized into to short typed blurbs.

Real mail, the paper kind that gets delivered to the house has turned into nothing more then a mundane daily task of weeding out the bills from the junk. Aside from packages arriving with handmade goodies that I always look forward to, nothing special is ever delivered by the way of paper mail.

This time of year, our postal carrier's sack is extra loaded. More junk mail and credit offers, store flyers, and of coarse the annual avalanche of holiday cards arrived at our door everyday.  I always look forward to that avalanche. I love Christmas cards...the colors, the glitter, and the photos.

Yesterday however, I get an extra special treat. Something arrived at my door so rare in these times that I actually cannot remember the last time I received one. What is this elusive little piece of joy? It was something so simple....a handwritten letter. In a time of being connected with the world, but hardly connected at all, what a beautiful little treasure.

Consider brightening the day of someone you know with some simple written words.  

A special thanks to Grace of Grace's Garden Walk for the little piece of joy brought to my day. 

This post is part of 12 Days of Joy where I am celebrating the holiday season by sharing simple little joys in my life.  See also: 
12th Day of Joy - Cinnamon

12th Day of Joy

It's that time of year when people are celebrating many different holidays and traditions.  My family and I celebrate Christmas.  We do the tree and Santa, cook a ton of food and consume too many cookies.  Over the years, Christmas has become so much more for me.  It is a time of reflection, graditutes, family, giving, charity, finding joy, and for slowing down and living life.  It all comes easliy for me, especially this time of year except the last one.  I'm hardwired to multitask.  I have an insane desire to do it all...myself.  

Since Thanksgiving I've been making a point to slow down and enjoy my family and the magic of this time of year.  I've even been enjoying the overcrowded stores this year (I can only say that because almost all of the gifts I'm giving this year were either handmade or purchased online).  

The girls are nearly four years old now and everything is so much fun to experience with them.    For the past few weeks, we've been honoring some old family traditions and starting new ones. 

For the next twelve days, I'll pop in and share some things that are bringing me joy this year. 

Making cinnamon applesauce ornaments.  Cinnamon has to be one of my favorite "home" smells.  I cook with it every morning and in the winter, I overload my home with the warm aroma.  I place the drying cookie sheets on top of my radiator and for two days the house smells incredible. 

This post is part of 12 Days of Joy where I am celebrating the holiday season by sharing simple little joys in my life.  See also: 
11th Day of Joy - A Handwritten Letter

Frosted Mornings

Of coarse I've been thinking about the holidays and the winter season. Here in Pennsylvania, we had been having unseasonably warm weather. Though that made me very happy as I do not enjoy our long months of winter here on the east coast, it does not feel like Christmas is just two weeks away. We awoke two days ago to our first heavy frost. The rising morning sun shining through the glistening ice. Mist rising from the warming rooftops. This is what December should feel like. I enjoy buying and making handmade Christmas gifts. Etsy is always my first stop. I love supporting the handmade movement and I couldn't help but be drawn to the cool frosty images today.