December ABC's...V is for Visiting

"Don 't hurry. Don't worry. You're only here for a short visit. So don't forget to stop and smell the roses." ~Walter Hagen

I had the hardest time finding any positive quotes about visiting family and friends...most of them were the negative "fish and visitors smell after three days" type of quotes. I may be in the minority, but I love spending time with my family and friends (especially over the holidays).

We eat great food, catch up on each others lives, play games, give presents and get hugs...what's not to love!??! Life is too short...enjoy the time you get to spend with your grandparents, parents, siblings, cousins, and friends.

December ABC's...U is for Up.

"Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven..." ~Lamentations 3:41

"Today gives us a chance to love, to work, to play, and to look up at the stars." ~Henry Van Dyke

"Up" things that we do around the holidays:

Look up...at the night sky on Christmas eve, looking for the lights of Santa's sleigh.

Lift up...our hearts and spirits by helping others (donating money, toys, clothes, food).

Dress up...get new clothes to wear for Christmas.

Stay up...try to stay up late on Christmas eve to listen for Santa.

Wake up...get parents up very, very early on Christmas morning

Open up...gifts under the tree (we take turns opening the presents)

Clean up...after opening gifts (try to recycle as much as we can).

Lighten up...enjoy the day, don't get stressed, have fun!

December ABC's...T is for Trees.

"It is difficult to realize how great a part of all that is cheerful and delightful in the recollections of our own life is associated with trees." ~Wilson Flagg

"It is not so much for its beauty that the forest makes a claim upon men's hearts, as for that subtle something, that quality of air that emanation from old trees, that so wonderfully changes and renews a weary spirit." ~Robert Louis Stevenson

"There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it." ~ Minnie Aumonier

I love the trees of winter. Whether it's a Christmas tree, all decked out for the holiday...or the bare trees, silhouetted against the gorgeous winter sky at sunset...or branches encased with ice, sparkling in the sun...or birds lined up on a limb of a tree. They're all delightful and beautiful, each in their own way. You just have to take the time to stop and notice...and maybe take a picture or two along the way.

(p.s. I think I should have called these posts "Winter ABC's", since December has come & gone...oh well!)

December ABC's...S is for Snow.

"The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event. You go to bed in one kind of a world and wake up in another quite different, and if this is not enchantment then where is it to be found?" ~J.B. Priestley

Things I love about snow....

Watching kids catch snowflakes on their tongue.

Waking up in the morning & listening to the radio to see if schools are closed.

Sitting on the sofa, reading a book, and watching the snow gently falling outside of my window.

Building a snowman.

Going sledding and then coming inside for a cup of hot chocolate (with mini-marshmallows).

Standing at the top of the mountain(in Vail,Park City or Jackson Hole)& looking out at the vistas.

Putting the finishing touches of "snow" on our Department 56 Snow Village.

Looking at the different types of animal tracks that are in our yard after a new snowfall.

Taking pictures of the trees & bushes covered in snow.

Taking pictures of the kids playing in the snow.

...about the only thing that I don't love about snow is driving in it.

December ABC's...R is for Rejoice!

"This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it."
~ Psalm 118:24

"Be Content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you." ~Lau Tzu

“Carpe diem! Rejoice while you are alive; enjoy the day; live life to the fullest; make the most of what you have.” ~Horace

Rejoice...feel the joy of this moment...be glad...delight in the little things...enjoy life...be grateful.

December ABC's...P is for Peace & Quiet

"A happy life must be to a great extent a quiet life, for it is only in an atmosphere of quiet that true joy dare live." ~Bertrand Russell

"Quiet is peace. Tranquility. Quiet is turning down the volume knob on life. Silence is pushing the off button. Shutting it down. All of it." ~Khaled Hosseini (The Kite Runner)

December = shopping, wrapping presents, decorating, sending out Christmas cards, holiday parties, school activities, travelling, cooking and baking. It can be hectic, stressful and overwhelming...but only if you let it. I try to be organized...I start early, make lists, do less and, at times, say "no". By saying "no" I'm really saying "yes" to peace and quiet. I'm saying "yes" to taking the time to enjoy my family and taking the time to celebrate what the season is really about. I'm saying "yes" to the true joy that's found in the quiet moments of life.

December ABC's...O is for Ornament

Ornament \Or"na*ment\ n: That which embellishes or adorns; that which adds grace or beauty.



We have many different types of Christmas ornaments on our trees...fancy Christopher Radko decorations and a collection of the official White House ornaments. We have many from our travels (from California to Bermuda and places in between). We have ornaments that represent things that we love...like baseball and horses and photography. But the decorations that mean the most to me are the ones that were handmade by the kids when they were little. The ornaments that they put glue and glitter on...that they molded and painted...that has the kids cute pre-school pictures on them. Those are the most beautiful and valuable of them all.

December ABC's...N is for Nutcracker

"The nutcracker sits under the holiday tree, a guardian of childhood stories. Feed him walnuts and he will crack open a tale." ~Vera Nazarian

Our child-sized nutcracker doesn't sit under our tree...he stands guard in our foyer, at the bottom of the stairs. If he could talk, he would tell stories of love & laughter...of family & friends...and of magic & memories.

December ABC's...M is for Making Memories.

"You never know when you're making a memory." ~ Rickie Lee Jones

"Memory is a way of holding on to the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose." ~The Wonder Years

"Each day of our lives we make deposits in the memory banks of our children."
~ Charles R. Swindoll


It's the little things that make the sweetest memories...

making sugar cookies with my mom and the kids
making felt christmas tree ornaments with my daughter
making hot chocolate & going out on our deck to watch a meteor shower in the middle of winter
making time to play ping-pong with my son

December ABC's...L is for Light.

"Ever since we crawled out of that primordial slime, that's been our unifying cry, 'More light.' Sunlight. Torchlight. Candlelight. Neon, incandescent lights that banish the darkness from our caves to illuminate our roads, the insides of our refrigerators. Big floods for the night games at Soldier's Field. Little tiny flashlights for those books we read under the covers when we're supposed to be asleep. Light is more than watts and footcandles. Light is metaphor. Light is knowledge, light is life, light is light." ~Diane Frolov and Andrew Schneider


"Light gives of itself freely, filling all available space. It does not seek anything in return; it asks not whether you are friend or foe. It gives of itself and is not thereby diminished. " ~Michael Strassfeld



I can always tell when winter is approaching...not by the colder temperatures, but by the way the sunlight changes as it filters through my kitchen windows in the morning. It highlights the dust on the floors...it casts shadows of the plants onto the pantry door...and it shines in my son's eyes as he's eating breakfast.


I love light...it's pretty essential to three of my favorite activities...photography,reading and being at the beach in the summer. I also love the light that December brings...the soft glow of candlelight and the white twinkle lights on the trees. So peaceful.