December days

A month of low light levels and candles, Christmas cake for breakfast and homemade door wreaths. I'm trying hard not to get caught in the bustle of it all. We are busy, yes, but making time too for fireside reading, making cards and gifts, seeing friends and, as we recently acquired a projector and screen, planning for Christmas movie nights with the boys...

first day

First day of December. The car windscreen is completely iced.  Freezing fog is lifting slowly from the fields and lake. I say to the boys perhaps we should have an adventure one morning and walk to the school bus. Back home I light the fire, put my porridge on the stove and decide to make a cake with the fresh eggs my friend gave me yesterday. Her chickens are still laying. I heat the water for coffee and use some of it to boil an egg. Egg and buttered toast - one of the most comforting foods. The advent calendar I made three years ago has been strung up in the dining room. The pouches are filled with gold foiled chocolate coins. One for each of the boys. William says homemade is best. Homemade is best. I nod.  In fact home is best.

autumn feelings

Autumn means darkening days, finding cosy spaces to curl up with a book, lights on, comforting food (cinnamon buns and porridge with maple syrup, flecked with mixed spice). Grey skies on my morning walk and that sudden sense of bleakness that comes when the leaves fall, although there is the occasional splash of berries to brighten the way. It's cold and windy and I'm thinking about the sloes up the lane. There's a good bounty this year, so that means gin, which bring me back to cosy spaces...

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve: chocolate tiffin for gifting, early morning candlelight in the dining room, the Landrover full of wood, walking the hills at Loughcrew (it snowed!), ancient stones, new coat and blue skies. It is now evening and the children are in bed. We read A Child's Christmas in Wales and The Night Before Christmas and we watched Nativity. We left out a mince-pie and a glass of port for you-know-who and a carrot for the one with the red nose and now it's time for peace and gentle anticipation...wishing you all a Happy Christmas x

Christmas wreath

This year's wreath is ivy and rosehips from the hedgerows, euphorbia from the garden, a string of cranberries and some gold sprayed ears of wheat. It is one of my Christmas traditions I look forward to most. There's a quietness to the selecting and picking of the plants I need and the careful work of creating the wreath. It hangs on our rain soaked front door and its glossy green, cheery red and rich gold announce this festive season...it's Christmas time...

wishing

image from pinterest

So here we are the night before Christmas Eve. All is as calm as it can be in a house with three young boys. Presents are wrapped, the cake is iced (this in itself is a miracle), the turkey and ham arrive tomorrow, friends will come for brunch and we will spend Christmas Eve at home with the air fizzing with excitement and expectation. Bedtime will come soon enough and we will hang the stockings and read A Child's Christmas in Wales and 'Twas the Night before Christmas together on sofa and then finally, finally their sleepy heads will rest on their pillows and the rest is magic... Wishing you a Merry Christmas...

precious days

These are the precious days- the last few, when all the preparations will come together with hopefully no stress. We have shopped local (for the most part) this year so most of our present buying is done. It's time to slow down and enjoy the moments as they happen. I light the candles early in the morning - it helps against the winter gloom and their light casts shadows from an early-opened Christmas present (dear friend, you chose well!). The boys are nearly beside themselves with excitement and yesterday we kicked off our holidays with a trip to The National Concert Hall to see The Snowman performed by their orchestra. There was live puppet animation by Matthew Robins- it was just beautiful with intricately cut paper puppets and, of course, there were lots of carols and Christmas songs which we all joined in with. We bought paper cones of fantastic maple and pecan popcorn from the vendors at the side of St. Stephen's Green and enjoyed watching the hustle and bustle of people as we strolled through the park. Today we are at home with nothing more pressing on the agenda than making pancakes and having a family movie night. These are the precious days.

Christmas traditions

breakfast time by Becca Stadtlander

This is going to sound daft but I do love a good breakfast! Hot coffee is a must, cream is an optional extra, porridge with brown sugar, toast with marmalade or honey. Weekend breakfasts might include buttermilk scones, pancakes with maple syrup, homemade granola or sometimes eggs and bacon. We've a lovely pre-Christmas tradition of inviting friends for brunch on a morning as close to Christmas day as possible. We'll have something sparkling and bubbly to drink, cinnamon poached plums with greek yogurt, smoked salmon with eggs and, in a starring role, plum duff fried in butter and served with smoked bacon, this is possibly the best breakfast of all with the clatter of excited children and the laughter of friends around us making us feel very lucky indeed.

endings

Yesterday was Little Christmas, a day usually set aside for Irish women to be looked after by their menfolk. It's also the day that marks the end of the festive season - it's the day to take down the Christmas tree and put away the decorations for another year. Oh my, the end of the tree and all things Christmassy. It's always a little sad and it wasn't helped by the gloomy, squally weather...however we have managed to retain a vestige of Christmas Spirit thanks to fairy lights...

So light the last of the pine-cone shaped candles, lift out all those boxes filled with age old tissue paper and

 admire, for another while at least, the glass decorations brought back from Belgium so many moons ago

and, when the deed is done, be grateful that the tree provides a source of heat as its branches burn in the stove

Christmas eve

The snow has just started to fall from the leaden sky making this Christmas Eve even more atmospheric. We are tucked up in our little house, grateful to be warm and safe. The boys' bedrooms are finished and it's so wonderful to have the extra space for playing!

We have made the wreath (this year only using hedgerow finds), we have baked our cake and plum duff, we have swapped gifts and good wishes with family, friends and neighbours. We have snuggled deep into the sofa, by a roaring fire, to listen to A Child's Christmas in Wales, easily one of the most wonderful of our Christmassy traditions.

                                     

In short, we are ready for Christmas Day.
We wish you a Merry Christmas, wherever you are and however you are celebrating!

Sunrise

 

Sunrise this morning at about 8.20am. There was the tiniest amount of pinkish rays of light on the kitchen dresser and then as the earth changed position it was gone. It's always a treat to catch a glimpse of something subtle and this was extra specially nice before all the bedlam of children (in holiday mode) and breakfast. A moment of peace.

P.S. What are you doing this weekend? I'm off to make pancakes with bacon and maple syrup. It's a bit of a tradition, a family thing, to all sit down together for breakfast at the weekend. To spend our first meal of the day together and maybe re-connect a little after a busy week and before the hoo-ha of the weekend. Traditions. A good thing.