Then shall all the trees of the forest rejoice...

I know I may be prejudiced, but it is my firm belief that this is the prettiest Christmas tree I have ever had. It certainly was the easiest to bring home. It was growing in our vegetable garden area and this summer I knew it would be our Christmas tree. It certainly was a luxury to be able to harvest a tree from our own property. A few steps outside the back door, and half an our later the tree was set up and ready to be decorated. It couldn't possibly be easier.

Decorated simply with cookie stars, apples, candy canes, and grapevine, the tree was ready to celebrate the Lord's birth with us.

I have plans to plant more spruce and fir seedlings so we will always have a supply of Christmas trees in our own backyard.

Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice;

let the sea and what fills it resound;

let the fields be joyful and all that is in them.

Then shall all the trees of the forest rejoice,

before the Lord for he comes, for he comes to rule the earth,

He will rule the world with justice and the peoples with faithfulness. (Ps. 96)

The Christmas Season is just beginning...

Dandelion and Mikey--the haflingers who gave wagon rides at our Christmas party.

Growing up we followed the Catholic tradition of the Christmas Season beginning on Christmas Eve and ending on the Three Kings Day on January 6th. The Christmas Season was a very big deal in our houseful of children. It meant lots of good food, time off from working on the homestead, time to do fun projects, have people over and go visiting. Christmas wasn't at all about presents (with 12 children and no money, lots of presents simply aren't part of the picture!) We spend Christmas Eve decorating, then would kick off the Christmas season by acting out the birth of Jesus, then sitting around the Christmas tree lit with candles and singing Christmas carols.

I'm sure I will always feel that Christmas lasts until January 6th. This year for sure I am going to celebrate the Christmas Season in all its glory. We started it off with a Midnight Mass in our beautifully decorated little country Church.

Then it was home to scrub the house and cook and bake to get ready for a Christmas party for my husband's side of the family/Open House. This was my first party that I have hosted with more then a few guests (who weren't my own brothers and sisters!) and I will confess I was pretty nervous about it. But it went off well and the 50 or so friends and family who came all had fun. It was complete with a big bonfire and horse and wagon rides provided by a local farmer.

Now that the house is clean and decorated and the fridges are filled with lots of yummy left over food, I can sit back and relax and enjoy my pretty little house as we wait for a bunch of my siblings to descend on us later this week.

We finally have the upstairs set up with some furniture and the little guest bedroom has a new wood floor and fresh paint. Be on the look out for some new photos of our home in the next couple of days. I finally feel like I am mostly moved in and no longer living out boxes, even though there are still plenty of things to unpack and lots of work to do on the house.

Merry Christmas Season to all my blogger friends!

Favorite Hangout

Snow Frosting

Just enough snow to make things beautiful.

Snuggles

O Come Let us Adore Him...

Ice Storm

Snowdrift

I think we can safely say that winter has come to Michigan. We had two days of temperatures in the single digits, with fierce blowing winds and drifting snow. Today the sun is back out and the temp is in the 20's. So much nicer!

Frost

House and Hill

"No house should be on a hill or on anything. It should be of the hill, belonging to it, so the hill and and house could live together each happier for the other." So says Frank Lloyd Wright.

While not a Frank Lloyd Wright home by any stretch of the imagination, this quote does fit our little house very well. How the house and land go together, was one of the things that attracted me to this house and property. The house blends in with the nature that surrounds it.

A Nurse's Prayer

Watch , O Lord with those who wake, or watch, or weep tonight, and give your angels charge over those who sleep.
Tend your sick ones, O Lord Christ.
Rest your weary ones.
Bless your dying ones.
Pity they afflicted ones.
Soothe your suffering ones.
Shield your joyous ones.
And all for your love's sake. Amen.

(This is a prayer by St. Augustine, and is very much my prayer tonight for the patients I spent time with today).