Saturday, December 31, 2011

For the New Year! Snowmen that will Melt Your Heart!
































It's a NEW YEAR!  Happy New Year to all the friends of Old Centennial Farmhouse.


That's a fresh slate, a new, shiny first page on the calendar.  A time of new beginnings.  


Something to look forward to, while still looking back and realizing all the blessings we've been given over the past year.


I am hoping you have a lovely weekend and special memories to savor from all the holidays the past few months.  


I am thankful for so much, and that includes YOU.

  












Oh, be STILL MY HEART!  
Mrs. Snowlady here has a red gingham apron!  
Oh.  How.  Sweet!














Happy, happy NEW YEAR!




(No snow here!  Just rain!  No hope for snowmen to help say hello to our New Year!  How about you?  Got snow?!)

Monday, December 26, 2011

So THIS is Christmas!












"WOW!" That's what Levi said on Christmas morning. We did, too, for it was so much fun watching him that day, I wouldn't have missed it for the world!


When the babies went to bed on Christmas eve, there wasn't much under the tree. Christmas morning, you should have seen Levi's eyes! We all enjoyed watching him enjoy Christmas very, very much.


And we all are getting our snuggling time in with sweet little Audrey, too. Levi is so busy, it is hard now to catch him for a photo!


So how was your Christmas, deLIGHTful?


((My kids bought me a new MACRO lens for Christmas and these photos are a result of the first test drive I took with it. I love it already!))




All the best to you during this holiday season.



Friday, December 23, 2011

SnOw! A White Christmas?



















































It's just a little bit, enough to get the ground covered, but it's white and it's snOw!!




Enjoy this beautiful music video...


Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Corners of My Home: It's A WRAP!! That's Christmas!






We're down to the "Christmas rush"...those last few days, when we're squeezing in everything extra along with the everyday routines and chores and responsibilities.


We wonder how it will all ever get done. 


Somehow it does.  And we sleep a little in between all those lists.






We may have to re prioritize our time and eliminate some things we really thought we should do, but now cannot do.






This, too, for moms, is one of "those Christmas things"... we recognize that niggling panicked feeling.  


SO much to do, SO little time!








But sometimes, we're so intent on the goal that we miss the scenery on the way by.







Like the excited face of a child...looking at the lights on the tree or dreaming of a toy they want.  We remember back to our own childhood how thrilling it was when the lights came on and that meant Christmas was coming soon.  What a feeling!  May it always be so for our children and theirs.






But when we're no longer children, and we are the ones making Christmas happen in our homes...it may take a little more to get the feeling we remember.









It might mean that we must take notice of the Christmas tree lights reflecting on the window--the way the frost is curling just so around the window to frame it...and we remember that is Christmas, too.






We see the wrapping paper, ribbon, and scraps of paper thrown willy nilly, and remember that, too, is Christmas. 






We see the Salvation Army kettle and hear the kind attendant ringing that bell, and that, too is one of the sounds of Christmas that we have heard for our whole lives--if we just stop to notice...






We walk through the grocery store, and notice that the customers are talking just a little more animatedly and have a more excited sound in their voices, and that, too is part of this wonderful season.












The heavenly scent of those tangerines you walked by, the mixed nuts ready to scoop up and take home, all remind you of the scents of your Christmas stocking when you were knee-high to a grasshopper ...






Greetings between friends and acquaintances are just a little more warm, a little more sincere this time of year than any other.  That is Christmas!







It's all combined to make a warm, wonderful, light time of celebration.







And as long as we have our family, we're fine.  That's all we need.







And somehow, on the day we celebrate, we feel it all come together.  And it's all just fine--no matter what may be left undone.






The greeting cards in the mailbox, peppermint, the eggnog, the ham, the sugar cookies, the cute ornaments and decorations your kids made through the years; it all just gently urges us to get us to that ...






Wonderful feeling of CHRISTMAS.



Merry Christmas to you and yours.
See you on the other side of New Year's!

XOXO
Joni

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Corners of My Home: Christmas in the Kitchen






Every year it's different.






That's what makes it fun.






That's because some things seem to fade away and new ones come into our lives.






Just like real life.






Change is constant, sometimes unwelcome and often very hard to adjust to.





But it's the wonderful ways we mark our year that make everything come back around again, and we slow down to appreciate what we have, who we love, and to remember what CHRISTmas is...






Not just the decorating.


Not just the buying.


Not just the planning.










Not just the baking and cooking.


Those are all can be wonderful, each in their own way, all coming together to make warm and special memories for our loved ones.


Celebrating a new beginning, a New Hope for the world...


All from a manger:  a simple, humble place.


We can all have hope, too, in spite of our simple, humble beginnings, that we can make it to the Most High from access through the Son--a King--that came as we did:  helpless, innocent babies.


Only this Baby was different, He was born a King.


Simply amazing.