Christmas Eve 2021

 Well I made it to Christmas Eve 2021 and despite several set backs this year I am feeling pretty good. 

The online shops are closed for the remainder of 2021 I'm not sorry to have packed the last items, I will deliver them to the post office today and then sit back with a cup of tea and breathe for a while and enjoy the short break.

I decided to pass on putting up a Christmas tree this year, I had it pulled out of the box, spread out the branches and left it for a day or two, when I opened the box of ornaments I realized I just didn't feel like decorating a tree this year.  So I boxed up the tree, put away the ornaments and decided this arrangement would work perfectly for me this year.

My arrangement of silk flowers, pinecones, berries and greenery was all I needed this year, oh and my vintage Yule log which has been packed in a box since 2011, I was planning to remove the plastic decorations and remake it but decided to leave it.  I think it fits in with the vintage table cloth.

This is my $5.00 bargain I picked up at Walmart the other day while I was browsing the garden center.

It's just an assortment of evergreens and a few faux berries all stuck into florist foam, it smells divine and marked down from $39.95 to $5.00 I grabbed one.  It's turning a bit brown so I have to trim it each morning. It sits on my table in the kitchen and all those boxes around the table are now gone.

I plan to get in some stitching this week, I'm close to completing the last goddess for my Goddess of the Month challenge. I still haven't decided on a subject or if I will do another monthly challenge for 2022 but I  have ideas roaming around my head.

I have several friends and followers that want me to continue with the Goddess theme, I also thought of a Witch a month, then while paging through my sketchbook I came across several old Greenman sketches as well as mermaids and Hamsa hands.  

Today when I return from the post office I need to hang a new bird feeder in the backyard.  A few days ago I put one it front of the house and the next day it rained all day then yesterday on my way to my car there were birds at the feeder, and a half dozen cardinals in the tree along my driveway.  I was so thrilled to see these beautiful, elusive birds.  There is also a woodpecker that loves to peck my sons car window and the palm tree in front of my house.  I have yet to get a photo though my daughter in law manage to get one.  So I bought a woodpecker seed block to hang by the palm tree.

Since moving here 2 years ago I hadn't replaced the bird feeders that were broken in the move and with knee injuries and illness, heart surgery I forgot all about them.  One of the best things about regaining my health is all those little forgotten things that always brings pleasure are surfacing again. My number one goal for 2022 is regaining 100% of my health or as near to that as I can get.

Later today between chores and stitching I'm going to sit down and read through the latest issue of Beachcombing magazine before the new issue arrives.  The subscription was a thoughtful gift from a dear friend I lost this year.  

She knew how much I love the beach and sea glass and one day an issue arrived in the mail for my birthday.  I knew who sent it right away right before I became ill in 2020 we had been walking the beach and I was lamenting how finding sea glass on the beaches in Florida is rare, well for me anyway and that I was planning to visit a few of the beaches where finding it wasn't as difficult but not without a challenge.  A few weeks later the magazine arrived, I didn't even know such a magazine existed.  Perhaps this year I will make it to a few of those beach glass beaches.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and the happiest New Year yet!