Mid-Winter Vignettes

I am finding that winter in the canyon is a magical time. Whenever snow falls, it seems like we get just a little more than the rest of the city, tucked back in the foothills, and our little house becomes covered in a blanket of white, making it look even more like a fairytale gingerbread house.

I have enjoyed the stillness of winter, taking lots of quiet time for inner work, rest, and hibernation. I have enjoyed hiking in the canyon with Preston and with my friend Jessica, (and maybe with you, next!) and finding our way through the ice to the more melted, sunny-side trails.

Just yesterday Preston and I ventured up a trail to find ourselves looking over a great mountainside, as high as we could be, snow gently melting on our noses. You could see a fog of white drift over. It was blissful! Everything looks so different here in mid-winter.

I would love to share with you some pictures that capture some small scenes in our home that celebrate the magic of winter, and some of Preston's beautiful photos of the canyon, blanketed in snow....




I changed our Christmas mantle a bit, keeping the enchanting silver, but adding some of my favorite woodland things...







Annie and Kevin gave me this AMAZING frame for Christmas this year, and put in it a special picture of a very important moment in my life. It meant the world to me, and it is Perfect for this little nook right now...





Tiny white birds, a lost feather and a crystal...







Some of my favorite ceramics in the kitchen, along with a picture of P and I at Grandma and Grandpa's at Lime Lake in NY, when we were teenagers...



A collection of crystals, waiting with our plants to catch the light when sunshine comes...




Spoofer all snuggled up in our bed for a winter's nap...







Some special shots captured by Preston early one snowy morning in the canyon...













There is stillness and quiet here. What a blessing to dwell in the winter for a while, allowing for a winter of the mind, body and spirit, preparing for a new emerging of light in the springtime...

Love to you...

Winter Magic: My Christmas Mantle

If you've been reading, you know by now that decorating my mantle with the coming of each season is something I absolutely LOVE to do, and I daydreamed and really looked forward to bringing life to the mantle for Christmas.

I think one reason decorating the mantle is so special to me, is that this is Preston and my very first house together. We've lived both in our parents houses and in an apartment, but this year, we share the sweetest little cottage. And decorating our very first house for Christmas??? Even more joy. So putting mantle and Christmas together in the same sentence, you have one very very happy me.

Another reason I love decorating the mantle, is that to me, it is like a special altar in our home (and the only place our cat Spoofer cannot get to) and I love having a special altar to the seasons. It is a warm, wonderful ritual to decorate it. This precious earth is so special to me, and it is one way in which I can honor the cycles of the earth, and honor each season and the way it touches my own human cycles, and honor the changes that take place in and all around me with each new season.

I put a lot of love into this mantle design and really dreamed it up over a couple months time, looking high and low in shops and online for the perfect elements to compliment it. So sharing it with you has been a much anticipated thing. Of course I only wish you could see it in person, and see how it sparkles in the low light of the evening, because its even better than the pictures can express. But here they are, my very special Christmas Mantle...

Ta-dahhhh! Ok...now let me show you some close-ups...

A sweet sparkly winter bird (yes, I definitely have a bird obsession)

A little snowflake candle...

Little trimmed trees on each end...

Silver branch garland that I bought to decorate for my holiday trunk show, but ended up getting some more when I realized it was the missing element in my Christmas mantle...

The beginning of a winter vignette I've started to the side of the fireplace...I've already changed it a little since this photo...

A precious tiny decoration my sister Annie got for me when she was living in France...

Spoofer wishing she could knock everything down... ok...maybe she's just daydreaming, waiting for spring to arrive so she can eat grass in the yard...

The star atop our little tree...

And put it all together.....

Christmas Magic!

I wish for you a holiday season filled with warmth, love, and all the things that make you happy! Thank you for reading my blog and allowing me to share with you the joys of my life.

Love,

Abbey