First SnOw!

We had our first snow last night...and it continued through the night. Floating snow, and as it fell on the ground, it glittered. Not much stacked up, maybe an inch, but it's an inch of magic we didn't have before.

And it made everything seem like Christmas...inside and out!

I had just finished decorating, so it was just the finishing touch I needed! The snow softens everything, makes the outdoors quieter, less harsh, and seems to make a home cozier and the cold more worthwhile somehow.

I thought I'd make an "early Christmas card" for you...I had to run out and snap some pictures when the snow was fresh. I get excited like a kid!

And with the snow I want to wish you a happy, peaceful, Christmas season...

A Christmas season that is chock full of the simple things that make this time of year so wonderful.

Somehow I've found it necessary this year to give myself permission to go much simpler; to decorate less and enjoy the Christmas season itself much more.

I don't know why, exactly, I thought I had to decorate every main room in the house, but it became more of a chore as the years went by. I gained stress about it and lost the beauty of the season. I was afraid my kids would only remember my lists and my frantic "must do" attitude...

It's so easy to do. It's so easy to think we have to do it all to keep up; to do "what's expected" when it's really only expectations we put on ourselves.

Despite the fact that there are wonderful and beautiful treasures in my attic that I really do adore and enjoy decorating my home with, I'm going to be forcing myself to stay away from that little attic door, and stop bringing them down one by one.

Instead I'm just going to enjoy this Christmas. How about you?

The First Snow

Eileen Spinelli

The first snow

falls

softly.

Suddenly,

moonlit children

spill across

the sidewalks

laughing.

Give me

your red-mittened hand.

We will join them.

The moon

will light

our faces too.

It is time that

we learn again

the play

and the magic

of peace

in that first snow

that falls.

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I am participating in VINTAGE INSPIRATION FRIDAYS on "Common Ground". If you would like to see more beautiful vintage decorating click on that link! At the end of her beautiful post, is a menu of links to other blogs that are participating!

Have fun! (But remember, you can just look, you don't have to add pressure to yourself to "do more, be more"...just be you and enjoy what you can and leave the rest!)

Thanks for stopping by!xoxoJoni