Our first Tree

Sunday morning, we decided that we would go cut down our Christmas tree.  Our first tree together as a family.  Jason was so excited and i loved that.  I love that we got our tree early.  We cut down our tree at a farm just moments away from our home.  We thought it would look beautiful in our living room.  We paid ten dollars, as the tree farm was trying to thin out the 'big trees'.  It stands nine feet tall, and i believe almost nine feet around.  Jason cut it down, we carried it to the truck & squeezed it in through the front door.  Needles everywhere....beautiful pine needles.  We struggled to get it in the stand.  It was heavy & large.  Finally, it stood tall.  We stood there, laughing, as it was much wider than we were anticipating.  But it was perfect.  Jason swept up the living room & i re-arranged the furniture to make room for this new addition.  Jason brought up our Christmas boxes and i started un-winding the lights.  Jason brought the step ladder up and put the star on the top.  He put up the top half of lights, i put up the bottom.  He swept again and gave the tree water.  I began decorating, while he and charlie laid on the floor and watched.  We had bluegrass music playing.  Jason's foot tapping to the beat on the floor.  Me, humming.  We had corn chowder for dinner & dimmed the lights to fully enjoy the tree.  We watched northern exposure and fell asleep on the couch.  Over the next week, i sewed a tree skirt for the tree.  It was a wonderful way to begin our first Christmas in our new home. 

I just finished the book: "we took to the woods" by Louise Dickinson Rich.  I deeply enjoyed reading this, as the way she portrayed her life was frank, poetic and to the point.  She spoke of the hardships, the beauty and the meaningfulness of living close to the land.
:: "It adds up to more than that.  All ordinary people like us, everywhere, are trying to find the same things.  It makes no difference whether they are New Englanders or Texans or Malayans or Finns.  They all want to be left alone to conduct their own private search for a personal peace, a reasonable security, a little love, a chance to attain happiness through achievement.  It isn't much to want; but i never came anywhere near to getting most of those things until we took to the woods."

Grateful

I'm thankful for the food that fills our cupboards and bellies, day in & day out.
I'm grateful for my wonderful husband and how truly happy and settled i feel with this wonderful life
I'm thankful for our loving families
I'm grateful for our health and all the opportunities in life we are offered
I'm thankful for my niece's & nephew and all the joy they bring
I'm grateful for our beautiful home that shelters us......

Very, very grateful indeed.

November Woods

"Well its the same damn tune; it's the man in the moon,

Its the way that i feel about you.

And with no place to hide, I looked in your eyes,

and i found myself in you....

Now my hands on the wheel, I've got something that's real

And i feel like i'm going home."

                                                                                            -Willie Nelson

Times like these.....

It's times like these : :

: : I wish time would stop, if just for a moment, to inhale the fresh, crisp air  ~ of all that is autumn. 

: : I feel grateful to have this man in my life ~ This thoughtful husband, who always surprises me with perfect dinner conversation, night after night.  We never miss a beat, him & i.....

: : I sit at my table, thinking, i need to document this....this sense of fullness that i feel.  This love for photography and the present life around me.

: : I set in and begin a winter full of sewing projects....i walk into my studio and see fabric that i have gathered here & there.....i dream of all that is to be made.

: : I see the temperature going down, and more layers going on.  The winter hats come out & log johns are worn.  Winter is upon us.

: : I laugh at the record breaking snow that left a blanket on our land, at just the end of October....

: : I feel grateful to see the wood we harvested off our land, going into our stoves to keep us warm.  Its a wonderful circle, this life......

: : I watch him.  Content.  Happy and at ease, as he drives his tractor.  Simply happy & right where he belongs.

: : I also watch him.  Bouncing through the snow. Full of excitement & wonder. 

: : That sometimes, the right evening consists of english muffin pizzas, popcorn and a camp-out on the living room floor.  Yes, that is just right.

: : Little bits & pieces of our home come together.  Tables are cleared of clutter & pictures go up. 

: : We enjoy the gift of family around our dinner table & the candles that burn bright to light the darkness.

: : I listen as my father reads me a poem of the mountains, over the phone, but when he does, i am right in his lap, rocking.

: : I look forward to Thanksgiving.  Our very first Thanksgiving.  Surrounded with the gift of family & good food.  Yes, this will be one to remember.

: : We look at each other with love & compassion, as we fill our freezer with local meat.  We feel good to be able to do this, very good.

: : We have conversations of piglets.  Perhaps two piglets will join us in the spring.  Oh how fun that would be.  Mine will be Ethel, and his Charlotte (bacon for short).

: : We enjoy babysitting charlie's cousins..... while they run wild around the cabin.  very wild.

Yes, This life, This year, This day ~ I feel grateful. 

It's times like this, i enjoy.