light my fire (or not)

No snow for a few days but the ice and frost is just, well freezing. I have never seen it so cold here. My dh said it was -13 when he was leaving for work..... the trees are bedecked once more in nature's finery.





Everywhere, magic. The whiteness of winter makes it bearable, it's the dark dreary wet cold muddy days without the whiteness that makes winter hard to take sometimes I think. Our house looked like a fairy tale.





Walking on water (ha).







We changed the nature table indoors to a wintry village.



Carried on with the using of tissue paper to inject some colour into our lives. Jar lanterns and more stained glass windows....







I made some felt hanging decorations. Felix asked what is that? Pointing to one. It's a space rocket! Of course. Doesn't every Christmas need one? Fact is I was using my scraps, and that scrap just happened to assume the shape of a space rocket. Intended to sew them but instead went for the lazy glue gun option with satisfyingly quick results. Lets face it, with three children around who actually has *time* to spend sewing every decoration by hand? Show me that person! And I still won't believe it!





Paper chains made too. We have no tree (yet), I don't really like getting one so early. I'd quite like to do a German Christmas and get one on Christmas Eve. But the children are having none of it and insist that is not the way Christmas is Done. When I was pregnant with Isaac so so many moons ago and mistress of my own little house for the first time ever I remember being very pregnant and lugging the last little tree into my car on Christmas Eve. My dh laughed when he saw it, it was rather paltry, and that's usually what you face when you hunt for a real tree on the Eve of the Day. Plus we only had about four decorations. I like to think it was a primitive affair, in fact most of our early life together was very primitive in design, belongings and lifestyle (and love?). I'd like to pretend it was all rustic and romantic but it was not so, really, all of the time, but I still remember it rather fondly.



Rather like having a fire. We are all supposed to covet one right now. They are they 'in' thing with 'Green' and natural parents and families. But lets not pretend they are all ease and comfort. They are work and ash (clouds of) and debris, there's the chopping and lugging and heaving and splinters and axes in snow, and *money*, yes you buy in wood and then burn it. Pretty hilarious, and just usually an additional expense to heating the rest of your home. This is not a whine about fires, I LOVE the fire.



The scent of woodsmoke (I can pick my kids out of a line up by this scent on their clothes alone), the cosy atmosphere and sheer lovely heat and focus they bring to life. I don't know anyone with one who doesn't, but it's not all light and warmth :) I sometimes read other's post about them, and yes it's glorious and I *wanted* one for AGES. But you are still who you are and your family life will be how it always has been because it's the people that create the warmth in life, as we all well know, not the 'stuff' be it wood burning fire or ipod (so there, I can also stand on a soapbox). Just don't let it be something else you 'want'. Something more on the list of making it to the perfect way of living. Bleh. And yet again I am thus reminded of the comparison to birth. The idea of natural family living and the perfect home birth being the ultimate in starting off life as it's 'supposed' to be. Well I have done the c-section and I have done the hands off home birth and you know, yes they were different experiences but neither were the ending (of the 'perfect' pregnancy maybe?) but the start. I am here having had both and love my children anyway. They are loved and my body is intact and whole. The only times I ever felt dissatisfied with my experiences in any way was when I was comparing them to others, to the sorts of experiences I *should* have had .... that everyone else was having. Same all round really if you are thinking in that vein, pick a topic and someone else is doing it better :) Crafting, knitting, crochet, vintage hairstyling (seriously I looked up how to do Victory Roll yesterday and Mien Gott, it's amazing how many youtube clips pop up: my hair is way to long by the way for this cute hairstyle, I look like I have loo rolls stuck to my head), vegetable gardening, rural living... blah blah. Time to shift away from that and probably mellowing out about how things 'should' be and turning to how things 'are' and actually how nice they can be if we are not constantly craving. Lets strive, ok, that's good, but it implies an appreciation along the way of what's here, right now. I am finding it slightly easier to do the older I get. And I will soon be 31, so from this old age I can say that :)



Any-way.... where on earth was I? Oh yeah. The cosy little days (stuck at home, my car has been out of action for nearly two weeks). This means finding things to do, all of the time. For some it's easy enough:



Felix made a present for the cat, all his own idea and design. A pine cone wrapped in bits of wool, then twisted up into a a bit of one of his own drawings and tied with a ribbon. He thought every little bit of it would be an exciting cat-present. One present done! Ye-ha! Is what he shouted. Now he has totally lost enthusiasm for making other types of gifts and wants to borrow a tenner (unless I too happen to want a wool wrapped pine cone?). It'd do I tell him, it would quite do (I'll be keeping the tenner).





~ Happy Frosty days of little wanting and much dreaming x