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Trying to finish last minute gift items this week....but struggling with lasting flu aftermath... I have a thing with boxes...cache pots, anything that will be the receptacle for my finds and trinkets I deem important.... ...made this box to give to my cousin Mary... ...love old scrim and muslin, just torn and tattered instead of ribbon for the closure... ...... a little acorn stamp for the symbol of rebirth and renewal, seems to be necessary for what I need to leave behind at the moment.... Found this appropriate passage to recall the meaning of the season..... ....a beautiful photo I downloaded from the Graphic Fairy and inserted into a tiny gold leafed frame from my stash....everything was then antiqued with gesso wash..... Several years ago when I had Acorn Lane, the shop, jewellery tuffets were one of the most popular items which we sold..... They were a unique alternative for holding special treasures or jewellery.... It was also a great way for me to use up...

How time slips away....more quickly now than ever...one week begins and ends almost in a wink !! This year has been filled with change for me, a temporary address while we renovate our forty something home....watching our oldest son leaving his maternal home, more difficult for him than I could ever have imagined, and my youngest son hosting Christmas Eve for the first time.....good change, but still, always trepidation for those involved....we are all managing very well! I am always grateful and try to remain mindful of those less fortunate....wishing all my readers the very best of the new coming year!! N.xo This is my 99th post, sent from my iPad, another new beginning!! N.xo

Christmas Eve morning, as I was driving back home, with the last of my errands completed, something interesting came across the CBC radio station I listen to....it caught my attention and made me listen more intently than usual...   It was about the impact of the song, Hallelujah, almost thirty years after it's release, sung by Jeff Buckley, and made famous by Leonard Cohen...that incredible word, what it evokes, even if you are of little faith... the words, telling of how joy and sorrow are inexplicably interwoven.... how we can't experience one without the other... ...it gave me pause.... I have always loved the song, my favourite rendition perhaps, by k.d. Lang. It was sung by Lang at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, and I recall the power and strength of the words, the feelings it evokes in me every time I hear it.... This Christmas, more than any other, it resonated strongly with me....how, in desperation, we throw our arms heavenward looking for an answer, consolatio...

Today, just like everyday, I went back to check on the progress of the renovation to our home in Jordan... I like to go on the weekend, when all the trades are absent, and I can look at what has been done through the week, alone, without company or observation... It was a wet, drizzly and foggy day today, not looking like Christmas at all... The light coming in through the big, new windows was a flat, dull grey... but I liked the way it played off the walls, and the paint colour I had chosen, Cake Batter. I thought it would work nicely with the greens and whites I like to decorate with at Christmas, and the newly upholstered sofas, now renewed with a creamy cotton duck fabric. Two tufted, vintage bedroom chairs will join them, recovered in a green pastoral toile fabric. To date that is really all I have decided to do until we move back in.   It's been a learning curve these last few months, every little detail must be considered to avoid disappoin...

I am not a big list maker, but since I have had an iPhone, the Notes app has become my best friend...gone are all the lists of groceries and to do's of holidays gone by...instead everything I need to do is hidden away and available at a touch of the screen...thank you Mr. Jobs... Food takes top priority at my house, after decorating....first priority at my sister's house...before decorating! It is always a source of friendly discussion between the two of us! Today, I did just that...made lists....gifts to buy, baking supplies to buy, stocking stuffers, etc. and I actually managed to DELETE a few off the list...and it is only Dec. 3rd! Last year was the first time I decided to make a trifle, not really Italian, but we do have husbands who are of English and Scottish descent....so I made a Black Forest Trifle last Christmas...you can see it pictured above...it was lovely, but not really a big seller... What is requ...

...all God's creatures great and small..... ....anticipating promise, hope, love and health and happiness.... ....to one and all.....for the coming New Year. N.xo