Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Afterwards...


I love these days following the holidays.  After all the busy-ness and focus of preparing (gift making, treat making, preparing for company, etc) it feels good to have more time to do our own things.  We've been enjoying daily walks in the woods and feel very blessed to be in the SUNSHINE almost all the time. 

Living this high above the valley amazes me and, no matter how often I see the beautiful view or how often we're in the sun, I feel constantly blessed (a far cry from our old home in the shade of the mountain in wintertime).  We make a point of stopping each day (several times a day, actually) to enjoy the view and the sunsets and to be out in the sunshine each day too.
There's been time for sledding each day and time for reading.  Lots of time for Lego and Lego stop-motion animation.  Time for enjoying the tree each evening by the fire.  Usually we get rid of our tree quite soon after Christmas but this year we want to keep it as long as possible.  I'm sure part of that is just from living in a bigger house where there is more room for a tree but most of it is that I can't think of anything  lovelier than sitting by the fire, looking out at the snow and having the tree lights twinkling.

Dog has been slighty interested in all the going-ons.

But not overly so. ;-)

Time for felting slippers (for S not, as it may appear, for a giant)

Time for enjoying these days of cold, crystal snow and long shadows.


Time for walking with the boys and on our own. 

Observing creatures.

(these rabbit "highways" are everywhere here and signs of squirrels too)


Enjoying natural "snowcones" and caught in the act of enjoying. ;-)


And talking, dreaming and making plans.  We always do at this time of year but this year we are even more motivated to make goals, I think, in part, because we are already in the midst of such change.  I've been inspired by Rebecca to make a list of 101 things in 1001 days.  I worked on it last night while my guys were all out at a film festival.  I've got a rough list that I'll add a bit more to tonight then I'll number it, print it out and post it close-to-hand.  I've always been a goal-setter and a believer in writing down specific goals with steps towards accomplishing them.  This habit has served me well in living a life I love to lead.  I've never done a list with so many goals before though so am interested to see how this works for me.  The rest of my family is interested in making lists too so we will be enjoying that task over the next two days as well.

7 comments:

affectioknit said...

All so very lovely!

* Mandy * said...

Very pretty pics. Thank you for sharing :)

Lise said...

Thanks for your comment on my blog today. It's so good to know it's not just me struggling with that bias tape!

What gorgeous pictures in this post!

sheila said...

I am LOVING sitting by the fire with our twinkley tree. It's for such a short time, relatively speaking, that I feel almost wistful each and every night.

We just finished a long stint of clear cold sunny weather. It was lovely. Cold, but lovely.

Eax if!

ipsa said...

Heather, it's you! Nice lid, too. :)

I adore your lovely, tall tree. I'd want to hang on to it for as long as possible, too.

I used to keep Christmas twinkle lights up all year round (in my Bohemian days). I have been thinking about doing that again... getting back in touch with my wild, artsy side. :)

Unknown said...

Gorgeous pictures xx. My boys do lego stop-motion too - keeps them busy for hours.

Leigh said...

heather, what beautiful photos! Your corner of the world is lovely. Interesting about the 101 things in 1000 days. I do agree with you about goals. In fact, I've been working on a new year's day post of homestead goals for the upcoming year. Will you be sharing your list? I'd be curious!