and a brown bird sang in an apple tree

Working on the house has been slow going! Husband-guy put up the little deck that faces the big trees out back. It’s really beautiful but is currently jammed up with scaffolding. Which means the building wrap will go on soon. Also the last windows went in which you can see in that photo. It’s lovely because there’s no wind inside but oddly, they get fogged up on the outside?!

We had a ’slow’ Christmas. It was lovely. Simple and heart felt. We made popcorn and rosehip garlands, lanterns and branch stars for ornaments. We made butter tarts, shortbread, gingerbread and birdseed cookies for giving and eating. We made nutloaf, stuffing and cranberry sauce, mmmm! I made rabbit stuffies, scarves, a needle book, a bread quilt, penguin slippers, felt pockets, and play blocks from our own maple branches. Out of all this making there was only one re-do. I adore the branch wall hooks that my husband-guy made me - they are so precious to me!

It was just the four of us on Christmas day. We really needed that with all the hubbub of Advent and Christmas eve. Then the day after boxing day we packed up for four days in the ‘big smoke’ to visit and it was such sweet visiting! Though as soon as we docked in Tsawwassen, we knew that we were not ‘home’… that where our house is is home… Gabe is truly home now. That was a such a good, sweet feeling.

Life may speed up a bit now that the days are getting longer plus I’m hoping to train for the Sun Run again… but it is / was a lovely slow, hibernating and rich time. Not every day feels lovely and slow but the sense of it is there and I’m cherishing it.

Cheers.

We’ve also constructed a teepee which is lovely for shade that was inspired by the bluebirdbaby blog and sent off a doll for Craft Hope’s project… it’s always nice to be apart of something bigger!

If only I could get my kidlets to sit still for a photo. I’m thinking about making a bottom sheet out of my bird seed bags, they’re woven plastic so I think they’ll do the job nicely.

Cheers.