Carole's prelude for this week's Ten on Tuesday is one I really agree with.  I am not always successful, but I do try to be mindful of of finding a little sparkle in the midst of challenges
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When life is hectic and crazy, when work is stressful or overwhelming, it really helps to focus on the good things that are going on. Honestly, it’s always helpful to focus on the good things and that’s why this week’s Ten on Tuesday topic is 10 Things I’m Happy About Right Now.

•  Finding quiet time for the creative side of me.  Sometimes it is Spinning or knitting.  Sometimes it is learning  in photography classes and sometimes it is just playing with color.  These things make me happy, especially during the long days of winter.
• My family, but you already know this about me.  Our 2 new grandbabies just make me smile.  I love all of my grandchildren so much and now that I have a little more time in my life, I really enjoy the time I have to spend with my grandchildren.  They are great kids!
• Sunday mornings ~ Sipping coffee on the sofa, watcing shows that I enjoy, knowing that I really do not have to jump up and get dressed for the day.  Sunday's here are slow, enjoyable days and always have been.  I love Sunday.
• Football…especially this week!  w00t!  Go Pats!
• Tai Chi makes me happy.  I think that all of my years of reading Deng Ming ~ Dao has led me to this form of expression.  I have so much to learn…learning to be quiet, to listen, to watch and embrace.  You know how hard that is for an ADD person, but the challenge of learning quiets the ADD.  It makes me happy.
• Pulling up the shade in the morning and being greeted by an awesomely sunny day.  It's amazing how much that sun helps to set my feet in the right direction. 
• Working on the downstairs bathroom.  Each painful step is bringing me closer to a soak in a tub that I have not enjoyed in 10 years and if you know me at all, you know how happy I will be!
• Frosty mornings…I love them.  The temperatures are going to be favorable all week, which means I can get out and do what I love to do ~ walk.  I love to walk in the beauty of the place that is my home and walking in the cold, crisp air while listening to tunes that motivate me on….makes me very happy!
• Having the tedious parts of my new website finished.  Very happy!
• Listening to my husband who gently snores as I type this.  I am not always a fan of  the snoring, but I do love this man who supports me every single day.  He makes me happy.

 

What a weekend up here in New England!!
The weather was icy, but the game was hot, hot, hot!!

The last 2 weekends we have spent watching the game at my oldest daughter Stacey's house.  Last weekend her husband Jeff was excited to find Gronkowski shirts at a local store up here and even more excited to give Ken one of them.  Watching them do that "superstitious guy" thing with their shirts was too funny!  They started out with their shirts on like this, and then switched the shirts inside out to rally, then Jeff tossed his in disgust, but Ken turned his around backwards to turn the game around…and we won!  Ha!!  Guys and football just make me laugh.
This week the shirts stayed on just as they are here.  So excited to see our team advance to the Superbowl!

Of course with any play-off game, there are lots of good things to munch on as we cheer our teams on.
Jeff made a very very good pot of chili and Stacey made an awesome guacamole.  I brought one of my favorite desserts.  Blue cheese and crackers with some Fig/ginger preserves and a bottle of moscato d'asti.  Normally I hate sweet wines, but with blue cheese, it's pretty darn good.

We also spent time with our little guy.  The lighting wasn't good in this picture, but you can see his little personality shine here., We always enjoy a chance to spend time with Asher.  He is such a happy little soul, even though I can see a little bit of the challenging two's starting to rear it's head..LOL.  He does make us laugh!

I did manage to squeeze in some knitting on another headband and ran a sale on our new website,
www.thewoolenrabbit.com  Yes, a shameless plug, but I worked hard on the new site learning a new platform software and am happy with how it is progressing.  Still a lot more to do, but the hard part is behind me…now I get to play more on the creative end of it, so it's all good, right?

I hope you had a wonderful weekend too!
xoxo

If you remember back on this post, I mentioned that I changed the word that I had embraced as my word my for 2015 at the last minute and chose the word Embrace instead. From that point forward I felt as though my life had turned upside down.  Seriously I don't think that a word we embrace makes that much of a difference in our lives, but I was feeling as though the word that I had chosen instead of the one that had been in my mind all along was creating a little havoc in my life.
How silly does that sound?  Right? 

Well this is how it went….2015.
Having to sell a wheel to keep the business going.  My parents were involved in a serious accident.  An inured deer had to be shot in my back yard the day after my parent's accident, think bloody yard on white snow..  On our trip to visit a dear friend and my son a few days later, my car crapped out on the way.  Ey yi yi….time for a change.

When I mentioned to my husband that I wanted to go back to my original word, but I felt as though it was cheating, he looked at me and said…"It's ok, you can make your word be whatever you want it to be…it's your word."
(I know he thinks I am nuts, but he humors me.)

Well, he is right.  My original word for 2015 was Sparkle. 
Somehow I let myself translate embracing my Sparkling energy into embracing all of the challenging things that we deal with in our daily journey.
They really are two different things aren't they?  We all have challenges that we have to meet, but how we view and deal with them is truly our challenge.

For me, I choose to Sparkle on. 🙂

 

Today's Ten on Tuesday's topic is 10 Ways To Make Winter Less Bleak.
Historically I have always enjoyed winter..well until mid March, but last year I indeed had a bleak winter, which took me by surprise.  This year in preparation for another bleak winter I made plans, but to my surprise, this winter has not felt bleak at all in-spite of a few setbacks that I will talk about tomorrow..

These are the things that I do while embracing the winter months, even though they really are much too long up here.

1.  I brew a cuppa coffee and I knit.  Currently on the needles is my Morning Coffee Sweater and a few of these lovely Chicknits Elisbeth headbands.  These headbands are like potato chips…if you make one, you want to make more.
2. Lots of little white lights around the house to brighten our paths and our minds.  I love the little lights that make me smile.
3. Spending time working in my shop whether it is dyeing orders or time spinning/weaving it's always enjoyable because it is toasty warm out there. (thanks Ken!)
4. I enjoy Tai Chi.  For some strange reason I don't mind dragging this tired body out in the morning for 90 minutes of Tai Chi.  It gets my day heading the right direction…and it's toasty warm here too.
5. Cooking…I enjoy it more in the winter, especially soups and stews.  I love watching my cooking shows, especially The Barefoot Contessa.  This time of year I plan my lunch break around her show and it gives me new ideas for interesting dinners to enjoy with Ken on those nights when I actually want to cook. 😉
6. Walking outside when the weather permits.  I LOVE to walk outside when the sun is shining and the temps are hovering around 20 degrees.  Every step and every breath makes me feel alive.
7. I pour a cup of tea and pour over seed magazines, thinking ahead to the next season's garden.  The last 2 years have been a bit erratic in terms of production, so I will be thinking of ways to amend the soil.
8. Fresh flowers in the house always make me smile….it reminds me that Spring is not too far away.
9. I pay the deposit for our Cape Cod vacation.  It's hard to shell out the money in the depth of winter, but it's a deposit that I am happy to send off.  Someday I will live there, but until then, this is the next best thing.
10. I embrace and enjoy the general hunkering down that winter gives us permission to do.  Putting on pajamas early, reading and relaxing earlier in the night.  Enjoying the twinkling lights and hearing the sounds of the furnace that keeps us warm. Trying new recipes both in the kitchen and in the shop.  A little weaving and a little spinning.  Winter gives us permission to slow down and I like that about winter.

Even though I had a rough winter last year, that was the exception.  This winter is on track for being another enjoyable winter…well as enjoyable as a winter can be.

What do you do to embrace winter?

Today's Ten on Tuesday's subject is Resolutions, Intentions or Goals for the upcoming year.

I used to make resolutions for the New Year, but as I have gotten older, I have moved towards embracing goals and good intentions instead.  If I accomplish them, then I am pleasantly surprised and if I don't, I haven't failed.
As the new year approached I sat down and thought about the year that had past and realized that I had indeed accomplished more than I realized and was pleasantly surprised.
So here goes my list of goals for 2015

1.  Get more familiar with forms of social media, such as Instagram, Twitter, etc, without spending more time than I already do on the computer.

2. Better time management….see above.  Facebook, Ravelry and Pinterest can be time wastelands.

3.  Spend as much time as I can squeeze in with my grandchildren.

4.  Continue to be more mindful of living a healthy lifestyle.

5. Spend more time working on my website while keeping time management in the back of my mind.  I'm thnking that maybe setting a timer might be a good way to accomplish time on the computer.

6.  Knitting more

7.  Exploring further education

8.  Exploring meditation….to quiet the monkeys that chatter in my brain.

9.  Worry less and spend more time relaxing.  Sounds easy, but so hard at times.

10.  …and I am going to steal this from Carole because I love it!  Try new things. Make mistakes. Be bold. Change. Grow!

~ What are your goals for the upcoming year?

 

This is the moment of embarking.
All auspicious signs are in place.
Deng Ming~Dao
In the beginning, all things are hopeful.  We prepare ourselves to start anew.  Though we may be intent on the magnificent journey ahead, all things are contained in this first moment; our optimism, our faith, our resolution, our innocence.
(More Deng Ming~Dao)

What a busy few days we have had!  I was going to do a recap last night, but I crashed pretty early, so I figured today was soon enough.  There is no way to include it all but here is a little taste of our Christmas Eve and Christmas day.

After a relaxing round of appetizers and cocktails we celebrated our little
Christmas boy who is growing into a handsome young man.  It has not easy to get him to cooperate for a picture, but as he is maturing, he is more willing to let us snap off a few shots.  I know he had a very Happy Birthday!  We work hard to take the time to make sure on Christmas Eve a chunk of our evening is devoted just for him.
Thankfully he loves that his birthday is on such a special day.

The rest of the night was dedicated to Christmas Eve celebrations.
A Lasagne dinner, my traditional homemade Eggnog topped off with some dark spiced rum for the adults and virgin Eggnog for the younger ones.
We watched "The Christmas Story" as we always do while talking, laughing and just enjoying each other's company.

Tearing into the presents began.  My kids did their sibling swap, which now includes my parents and of course little Asher entertained us like no other little entertainer could.  What a funny little boy he already is…we just love him!

Christmas morning started a little earlier than usual now that all of the kids who stay home for the holiday are older and like to sleep a little later.  Some of us were heading down to visit my son's family earlier than we expected, so I hauled them all out of bed. I remember the days when they were hauling Ken and I out of bed before the crack of dawn..ha! 
Miles's family couldn't be with us because he had to work on Christmas eve, and they were going to be traveling later in the day to spend time with his wife, Jen's family, thus the early rising.

We enjoyed a breakfast casserole, cinnamon rolls, coffee and more present unwrapping. 
This year I have to say my children and husband were so generous to me.  The kids asked me for a list and instead of saying my usual "I don't need anything", as I know how crazy it makes me when someone says that to me, I gave them a little list…and in return they gave me a wonderful Christmas as you can see.
(more about that cutting board in another post)

This picture that Courtney gave to me just made me smile on every single level.  Each one of these pictures are ones that she took on our two vacations at Cape Cod when she was with us.  She is an amazing photographer with her phone.  She told me that she had been saving so that she could give this picture to me…a picture I will always treasure!
She produced the picture with a company called PrintStudio and they did a wonderful job!

Christmas Day was spent with my son, Miles and his family, along with my parents and Hannah.  Little Finley is getting so big.  In this picture they are watching a personalized video from Santa to Finley and you can see from the expression on his face how much he loved it!  We had such a nice time visiting with them, but I will admit that once home again with some dinner and a glass of wine, I crashed big time.
Christmas is the most magical time of year and I love every single moment, but when it is over, you realize how exhausting it can be…
I love it!

…..and to all a Good Night!

There are those who give with joy,
and that joy is their reward.
Kahlil Gibran

It's been a busy month here at Casa Woolen Rabbit.  There has been a ton of dyeing, lots of shopping, fetching Hannah from school, baking and decorating. 
I love the lights of winter, don't you?

Before I show you some of the decorations here, I wanted to share a little story with you.
I have a 10 year old grandson, who will turn 11 on Christmas day.  This young man understands the joy of giving and he gives with joy.
Each year for the last few years when I have asked him what he would like for his birthday, he would always squirm uncomfortably telling me that he didn't want anything, because he felt guilty asking for things. 
(how many kids do you know like this, right?)

So when I sensed his discomfort I asked him if he would like to shop for a needy child in our community via a program called Angels and Elves.  This organization makes sure that all of the children who might not receive a present for Christmas will have some of what they want and some of what they need under their Christmas tree.
He was so excited the first year that we went out and it has become his birthday tradition ever since.  This young man has a very kind and gentle heart…good karma.
Happy Almost Birthday Aidan!

So on to the decorations!  This little tree was the tree that you saw lit up in a previous post.  I call it my crystal tree.  It's full of light and sparkle and when I sit on the sofa at night and look at it, it makes me smile.  I think it will stay up until the hints of Spring start to show.

…and on the big tree, two of my favorite ornaments.  At the very top is the little glass tree that Ken gave me years ago after I had traveled through a hard time…little did I know that a few years later he would become my husband.
And this beautiful Cavalier ornament gifted to me from not only a mentor in the Cavalier breed, but a friend.  I cherish this ornament!

..and finally this little corner in my kitchen.  My favorite Christmas angel looking down on "Joy".
Even though I love the Christmas season, I know it is not an easy season for many people so it is my wish this year for Christmas that we can share our kindness and joy with someone who may need an extra hand and a smile.
xoxo

Do you get the Christmas newsletters that many send out?  I hate to say dreaded, but truth be told, I would much rather hear from my friends/relatives a few times a year by phone or by email than by a letter tucked inside of a Christmas card, but yet we get them.  I know….life is busy, but still. So this week's topic is 10 Things I would Put in a Christmas Letter?

1.  We celebrated the birthdays of our two new grandsons this year.  I have so enjoyed getting to know these sweet little boys.

2.  Ken and I have been married for 20 years this year and we celebrated the event by purchasing 2 new (well new to us) kayaks this year

3.  In those kayaks we spent many wonderful days in the lakes of New Hampshire and the shores of Maine in Massachusetts.

4. Another sweet week in our favorite house on Cape Cod.  We will live there some day.

5.  Courtney is now an alumni and Hannah is in her sophomore year…where does the time go?

6.  We celebrated Thanksgiving with all or our children, their spouses, their children and my parents.  It was truly the highlight of my year.

7.  Tai Chi ~ it has been such a balancing influence in my life, both in my body and my mind.  I learn something new every time I go.

8.  For my oldest granson's birthday, which is Christmas Day, we once again did Angel's and Elves, which is an organization that makes sure that any child in need has some presents under the tree.  This year was a stretch for my 10 year old grandson…his child that we were given was a 15 year old girl…ha!  It truly was a stretch for us knowing how 15 year old girls can be, but she gave us good ideas and I hope she will be happy with the choices we made for her.

9.  A new loom came home with me to light up my winter days.  So many ideas dancing around in my head

10.  I have met a lot of goals this year, I have walked on a regular basis, I finished 2 photography processing classes, I have lost 10 pounds (more to go) and I have stuck with my Tai Chi class.  Sticking with things for me is not always easy, but this year I have been successful with some of them.

Here's to 2015 and no fear…I will not be sending out the Christmas letter..ha!