Twinkling Lights

Christmas, Decorating

With all of these thoughts as my guiding principles, I approached my Christmas decorating this year with a main objective in mind.  I wanted a few magical spaces that would make us want to be together, doing simple things, appreciating simple blessings.  One of the most obvious is our evening meal together, so I tried to think of a way to make gathering at the kitchen table a special experience.

This is what I came up with:


I bought four strings of white lights on white wire and hung each of them in a corner of the room, then brought the ends together and wrapped them around the light fixture over our table.  I already had little hooks in each corner from this event more than a year ago.  I wrapped some gauzy fabric around the mess of lights in the center and hung some glittery bells beneath it.


A couple of years ago I bought these cool little wire things.  They’re made from very thin wire, all crinkled up and formed into a ball.  You just work a light bulb through one of the holes and they stay on (unless your teen-aged son gets his hands on them or your one and two year-old girls decide to unravel them).


These little balls are what make it feel magical.  They add an element of drama to an otherwise plain string of lights.  I love the way they glisten and soften the effect in the room.


I keep them on all day.  They’re so pretty that I {almost} forget how much I hate living at dusk.  When my children walk in the door after school I watch their faces as they look at the lights and smile.  It’s like they just walked into a backyard party with a canopy of lights, and they love it.


In the evenings we’re not even turning on the lights.  Every night has been a candlelight meal.  With this in the kitchen and the Christmas tree in the family room, we’re basking in the simple gift of twinkling lights all evening long.

So guess what?  I’m not taking them down after Christmas.   These lights are staying up until spring so we can keep our little wonderland for the winter.

I wish you were here to see them.  They really add a bit of magic to the night.
HH

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One of these kids…

Musings on Life and Beauty

is doing his own thing.  Any guesses who?


That boy has been a pill about pictures since he was four years old.


What do you do?  I keep hoping that soon he’ll have the sense to care about what he looks like….

Oh well.  At least there is now a photographic record of us all together.   Mission accomplished?  That little nut!

Hopeful Homemaker

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One Step Report #48

One Step



If it is true that the sky is the daily bread of the eyes, I’m feasting each day around 5 pm.  The one thing I can say about clouds is that they’re great material for sunsets.   I think I’m going to post more often about our gray skies in Utah so that the sun can come out.  This week we  had three days with some sun!  I must say that on this subject I’d be thrilled to be proven wrong.

The first magical days of December have come and gone, providing rich learning experiences for my heart.  We’ve begun our evening readings of Christmas stories and have spent time snuggling in the glow of white Christmas lights.   I’m trying to savor it all and squash the part of me that lists over and over again the things I haven’t yet done.  There is this sense of urgency, not just because the Christmas holiday is coming quickly but also because the year is ending.  There are still so many things I wanted to accomplish.

As I said, I’ve had some wonderful learning experiences, but I’m saving them for another post.   This week’s report:  90 steps.

Highlights:

1.  We celebrated our son’s 10th birthday on Monday.  He is a gem and we love him so much.

2.  I attended a funeral on Thursday for a good man.  My heart aches as I watch his family try to decide how to begin the task of living without him.  I walked away from that day thinking to myself, “I have a husband.  I should never complain about anything again.”  So why am I such a wimp sometimes?

3.  Thanksgiving decorations were put away and Christmas items made their appearance.  We’re planning to travel during the holidays so the topic of a tree caused some debate.  My husband wanted to skip it entirely to make room in the budget for other things and to ensure that we don’t have a dried out tree in our home while we’re gone.  I can’t imagine snuggling with the kids reading Christmas stories without a tree in the room.  So we compromised.  I bought a very cheap, small, artificial tree that will fill in for our traditional fresh tree this year.  (My extended family might disown me for this.)  None of us are impressed with the tree as it really is a very sorry stand-in for the experience of cutting our own, but it did help that I promised the children that the artificial tree can live in the toy room as their own little tree next year.  I loved the enthusiasm of my little ones as they quickly ran for pillows and blankets to camp out under the tree mid-day.  Whatever will we do when we don’t have little ones in our home someday?


4.  A friend kindly came over and snapped some pictures of our family on Saturday.  I needed something for our Christmas cards (which are behind schedule AGAIN this year).  Let’s just say that it was an adventure.

5.  On Saturday afternoon my husband and I were privileged to attend a sealing ceremony for some friends whose adopted child was sealed to them for eternity.  It was precious, and in addition to being there we had a special personal experience with a complete stranger who won us over with her kindness and enthusiasm.   Just one more reminder that God really does know who I am.

6.  I am really trying to relax and enjoy  this holiday season, whatever it brings.  I tried to mentally note the times when we simply laughed.  It feels so good to laugh.  Why don’t I do it more often?

7.  Try as I do to help everyone have good experiences, there are more of these moments than I’d like.  They make me feel a little sad.  Sometimes it’s overwhelming to be responsible for the emotional and physical well-being of so many people.


8.  I bought my son a 500 piece puzzle for his birthday.  While I’ve decided he would have enjoyed a 300 piece puzzle more, it was fun today to sit down several times and work on it with my oldest children.

9.  I tried something new with white Christmas lights in my kitchen this year and I LOVE it.  They’re definitely staying up for the entire winter.  We’re having way too much fun with them.

I’m grateful to be alive, grateful we have each other, grateful for my Savior.  I love this time of year.  Life is good, very good.

Have a great week!

Jennifer

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