Christmas Snow

Fresh fallen snow...

means

Snow Angels

 

and 

Hearts....

and  
snowball fights...

 and

quiet evening walks 
to simply enjoy the fresh falling snow.....

À tantôt

Indulging

Indulging     present participle of in dulge (verb)

Allow oneself to enjoy the pleasure of....... 

As a child I always remember the buffet in the diningroom

as the keeper of good things

at Christmas...

the drawers would often act as the hiding place for something

that my mother was trying to keep guarded as a treat during the holidays.

And often you could find something yummy in a bowl

to nibble on as you bathed

in the wonders of indulgence....

Ah yes,

chocolate, pistachios and cashews

are always
a Christmas indulgence around here.

À tantôt

Boxing Day Wrap-Up

Ate too much?

Perhaps....

but what a lovely day with the snow falling all day long

and a lovely walk at night to admire the snow-laden trees

and the lights and decorations in our neighbourhood...

really beautiful.

The pond was a bit tricky this year with all that fresh snow falling

but we still got out for a game of pick-up hockey!

 this little stand of trees is between the front of our house and the pond

 A fair bit of work is involved in maintaining an outdoor rink but
in my area of the world
it adds so much to the winter season that
it is well worth the effort....

 Our dog is not too crazy about the rink
a tad slippery for this old guy!

 My daughter and I have a photo taken every year on the rink on Christmas day!
It was snowing fairly hard as you can see....

Another Christmas day celebrated outdoors
and more pond skating to come over the next week!
Enjoy everyone!

À tantôt

Christmas Eve Preparation

 Well, the Celtic music is playing in the background

the tourtière filling is made and just waiting for the completed pie crust....

Source: ricardocuisine.com via An Anglo on Pinterest

Christmas is all about traditions for us,
and the addition of new ones is always welcome...
perhaps this year the eggnog pots de crème
will become a regular at this time of year
we will see but
it certainly looks like it
is going to be lovely!!

Source: kendrascreationsandinspirations.blogspot.com via An Anglo on Pinterest

Lobster will be the hors d'oeuvre for tonight
with a glass of well-chilled Lillet
a tasty French Apéritif.

The party will be off by 7 p.m.!!
Be safe everyone....

Joyeux Noël

À tantôt

Liebster Award

I hope I am spelling that right, Liebster, that is....
I actually had to look that up to see if this was a good thing or a bad thing...
;)
Looks pretty good to me...
So, I have never been sure about my feelings on awards
but I love the fact that with this award
I can recommend some other blogs to you....
the blogosphere is getting pretty crowded and it is not always easy to find your way around out here
so thank you very much to Maureen over at
It's All Connected
for giving me this award....she looks like a lot of fun so I am going to enjoy
following along and see what trouble she can get herself into!
Without further adieu,
here are some of the blogs that I am lovin' these days and all under 200 followers!!!

First up, this is one I drop by often,
Creations and Inspirations
very tasteful, lovely design and oh how I am looking forward to making her
recipe for eggnog pots de crème......


Okay, then, off you go and visit over here
to another favourite...
Gayle at Vintage Farmhouse
has the most beautiful inspiration pics you can imagine!!
Whenever I leave her blog I want to inject colour somewhere, somehow around this house of mine!

And of course, I have some favourite Canadian bloggers too...
Linda over at the White Weathered Hutch
is very creative!!
Her latest pillow creations say it all!!

oh, and more creative talent can be found over here...
at Happiness is Five...
I am still trying to figure out where she finds the time for all this sewing!!
She is one project-oriented blogger!

and finally, you have got to wander over
well, no, perhaps you should fly
on over to Scotland
to visit Jileen....she has a lovely blog
that I just discovered and am really enjoying..
The Overhaul

okay, there....you have it...some Christmas holiday discoveries just a waitin' for you all!
so, off I go to make those egg nog pots de crème...
I just might need to have a little glass of that eggnog with a wee brown tipped in....
:0 cheers all.

Oh and ladies if you are interested in passing this award along then

simply link back to me in your own post and nominate 5 other bloggers

with less than 200 followers.

indeed.....no pressure...

so,
back to my eggnog!

À tantôt

Christmas To Do List

Okay, so here goes,

I have been trying to get into the habit of

establishing lists...

as a way of organizing my life.

Is it working?

Not sure....

Let's see...

Christmas gift shopping......hmmmm....

not done but sorta almost done? 

And do I really have to wrap them up as pretty as those lovely striped packages????

Christmas tree up and decorated.......done.....
and uh that is for sometime now.....so please do not touch the tree!!!

Christmas baking ..... done....oh and any left?

.....nope!!

Christmas decorating completed.....check!!
This years favorite is this....our pantry santa.... some ends of red velvet material with ends of dropcloth!

so, what have I missed??

ahhh....yes, I have now got to the part of my list where all this happens.....

Skating on the lake with my family and friends....

there will be a stroll through the old city to admire the lights....

certainly hitting the ski trails across the road.....

and a lot of time spent around this table....

with all the various friends that drop by over the holidays!

Now, I do admit,
that was pretty easy!!
Bring on the holidays!!

Je vous souhaite un Joyeux Noël!!

À tantôt

Christmas House Tour

 I have been slowing down somewhat with blogging...

too much to do before Christmas!

I am one of those last-minute shoppers so

today I plan to get the majority of it done

and will probably save a few items for my

annual shopping excursion on the 23rd!

Believe it or not, the malls are very quiet around here on that night...

there is a blanket of serenity that hangs over that cement monster

allowing people like me to saunter in and out of stores

picking up any pre-Christmas sales....

 but before taking off,

let me take you on a wee Christmas tour of our home...

So, come on in....

we love to make use of old maple syrup sap buckets and fresh greenery...

You will see the tree right away....

our home is not large but certainly cozy...

 an old all-wood ski chalet

so somewhat rustic.

The kitchen is certainly the hang-out so it gets lots of touches

of greenery...

The pantry ..... left side

and the right side.....

 the diningroom.....

a little greenery in the chandelier.....

the buffet....tiny as it is.....

 my favourite Christmas flower...the amaryllis
ends up in different spots around the house..... 

and on the stairs down to the basement...

this year I found these little battery-operated 'candles' that are

lovely in the bottom of these jars....

Basement has its own little tree...

 Of course my office needed a little touch of Christmas too!

 the snow has certainly changed this image

but it was too cold outside for me to go and get an updated image of the urns!
I do have one of the front though with the fresh snow falling......

And with that fresh snow as a send-off.....

Joyeux Noël !!

joining these parties:
Michaela Noelle's Christmas Party
Cottage and Vine

The Nester Christmas House Tour Party

 Housewalk Party at Jennifer Rizzo
Christmas Home tours

À tantôt

Ten Days 'til Christmas

 10 days until Christmas

and I hand it over to
Charlie Brown......

À tantôt

Swedish Inspiration

 I swear
I was meant to live in Sweden!

I mean if I lived there

perhaps these would be images of my home....

Skonahem.com

look at that sofa,
really .........you could sleep there....I would sleep there....

in Sweden that is.....

 and of course that is probably
my cabin in the woods....

Skonahem.com

I am sure I would have a cabin in the woods in Sweden...right?

I basically live in a cabin right now, 

and it is somewhat in the woods.....

Oh and it would have that simple elegance, 

which I really love about that Swedish look...

Skonahem.com

 Oh and yes, a massive fireplace...

I know, I know

but the regulations on fireplaces are certainly different over there...

it is Sweden for goodness sakes!!

Skonahem.com

Skonahem.com

 Oh and at Christmas I would be pulling out all the stops...

that means these babies...

shandies that require a massive amount of IKEA no-drip candles...

oh they

would make their appearance...

for all forms of entertaining!

Skonahem.com

and of course after dinner

we would all relax in the lovely, rather large salon,

so enticing... yet elegant ....yet cosy

Okay is this Swedish?

If it isn't then it really should be!

I am moving on to another procrastination round-up project and my bedroom

may become swedish...
all starts here....lamp stays,
floors...well, they stay too....

but that headboard and the wall colour
is all going

sweet swedish design....

À tantôt

Linking this up to Mod Mix Monday 
Bowl Full of Lemons One project at a time
Motivated Monday    ......because this really is about motivation!!