Winter Tables

Our Christmas was lovely. I hope yours was, too.

Micah and I host for my side of the family every Christmas Eve.

We enjoy it very much.

It felt easy this year.

I kept thinking I was forgetting something. But then it occurred to me...

I've "put on" Christmas Eve for my family every year for a decade.

I've got a system.

I know what works.

I suppose that's why the Bible says to, "Practice hospitality."

Practice gives you experience... experience gives you confidence!

(A quick picture was snapped of me as I was bustling around my kitchen.)

It is such a delight to set a pretty table that I want to make it more a part of my daily life this winter.

Sort of like a New Year's resolution.

Since becoming a wife and mother, I've discovered that winter can be a time for peace and rest, and a time for home.

(A page from the first grade Abeka science reader.)

So, why not settle into a nice long winter by setting tables that encourage a feeling of rest?

Stay and linger a while... I made dessert and tea... 

(A winter table from tonight's dinner.)

It sure helps that we've received our long-awaited snow!

Winter is drab and dull without snow.

And as you know, we like to search our bookshelves for some poem or story that relates to what we're experiencing.

This one will do... isn't it cute?

Sometimes I am asked about my tables.

I'm not sure what the mystery is, but I will touch on a few points about it in case someone reading may benefit...

I've purchased very little of my tableware. A lot of it has been handed down to me from relatives. But even if that were not the case, this is very attainable... I see beautiful china sets all the time at thrift stores for very little money.

Chargers and glassware can be purchased at the Dollar Tree.

Cloth napkins and place mats can be found at places like Hobby Lobby and HomeGoods.

It's fun to get creative at times... flat bed sheets make good table cloths for larger tables. Blanket scarves make good table cloths for smaller tables. And regular scarves make great table runners.

Even if you're limited in your tableware inventory but still want a rich, impressive look, the best thing you can do is a fresh flower arrangement as a centerpiece. They can be as little as five dollars for a small bouquet in grocery stores.

I like to think in terms of what's real when I set a table.

Real flowers, candles and glass will always be superior to plastic or battery operated options.

It's so easily achieved that I figure, why not?

It's inevitable, I always get the question, "Well, what about kids?" 

Even when my kids were babies and toddlers, I did it this way.

I always believed they could rise to my standard.

But for a larger event, it's nice to set a kid's table.

It's fun for the kids and it gives the adults room to visit.

(A Christmas Eve kid's table place setting.)

Yes, I think that setting more beautiful tables this winter will make a nice New Year's resolution for me.

Remember that a New Year's resolution doesn't always have to mean some huge upheaval in your life.

It can be something you're already doing, but you just want to strengthen the habit. You want to take it from good to excellent.

And speaking of New Year's resolutions, (I actually prefer to call them "winter goals") I'd like to work on developing deeper connections with the homeschool moms in my church. We always have such a nice time when we get together, and we get along so well, that I wish to prioritize those friendships this winter.

One of my ways of doing that includes setting a lovely table.

So, I will have plenty of table setting opportunities, I hope!

But more will have to be written about that at another time...

I hope you are pondering all your lovely winter goals.

I am looking forward to January, and a fresh, new year!

💐

~ Courtney ~

An Afternoon Outdoors

The weather lately has been glorious. 

I realized immediately this morning that we were going to experience another spring-like day.

For December in Wisconsin this is really quite something!

The sun was bright, the sky a deep blue, and the air looked clear and fresh.

When our school lessons were complete, and the lunch dishes washed, we put on our warm jackets and walking shoes to meet up with our trails and head down to our swing.

"Cold winds shake the trees and bushes. Winter time is near."

Never mind that we should be well into winter and under a few feet of snow by now... 

A brisk walk in sunshine and fresh air is welcomed at any time of the year.

I brought along our current read-a-loud, and read a chapter to the children while they climbed the tree.

Then I sat with my face toward the sun and closed my eyes for a bit, listening to the far off caw of a black bird. Other than my children playing, there was nothing else I could hear.

In the summertime, the tree is buzzing with life. But winter is such a quiet time for animals and bugs, that even on this warm day we were not in their company.

Soren brought along his gun because he wanted to go off alone to do some hunting.

He says the likes being in the woods alone.

That is just like his father.

He never actually shoots anything, I think it's all in the experience for him.

When he got back to the house his spirits seemed revived and his cheeks were rosy.

As Charlotte Mason wrote to the parents of the "poor London children" of her day, "The gutter children who feed on the pickings of the streets are better off (and healthier looking) in this one respect than your cherished darlings, because they have more of the first essential of life - air."

- Charlotte Mason, Home Education

It is important to remember that when this was written, the wealthy upper class kept themselves indoors most of the time.

"Mid-Victorian interiors went with the frail and fainting feminine type that was the mode of the period. Dyspepsia and other ills flourished in the depressing darkened rooms of the Gothic Revival. Modern days have taught us the value, mental and physical, of plenty of air and sunlight."

- Gladys Becket Jones

Here is something you can try with your children the next time you are sitting outside:

 - Mental Photographs - 

"Get the children to look well at some patch of landscape, and then to shut their eyes and call up the picture before them. Let them say what they see. This is an exercise children delight in. It is well worth while of getting a bit of landscape by heart in this way, because it is the effort of recalling and reproducing. It is the altogether pleasurable act of seeing, fully and in detail."

- Charlotte Mason, Home Education 

When we practice this exercise I have noticed that my children recall different scenes, even though we all have the same view before us. One might say they saw fluffy clouds, whereas another may say a patch of pine trees, and another, long shadows stretched across the ground from the tree branches.

My hope is that when they are grown and moved away, when the difficulties of adult life are heavy upon them, they will be able to bring to mind a detailed memory of carefree times from their home in the country, and that would give them comfort.

We are due to get snow this Saturday, which the kids and I look forward to very much.

It will probably cause another burst of blogging inspiration, as sudden changes of weather usually excite in me the desire to write something.

I'm not sure why that is, but I don't fight it.

I write for this blog whenever I feel like it.

I never force something to flow out of me that isn't there.

However, I'm contemplating making "publish more blog posts" one of my New Year's resolutions.

Whether people will click over and read is not something that concerns me.

I mainly do this for my own enjoyment, and also "for the record," as they say.

But to those who do stop by and read, and tell me they're reading, you encourage me so much!

I hope to be back here again soon...

💐

~ Courtney ~

Christmas Corners

~ Happy December! ~

💚💚💚

 It seems that I have taken an accidental blogging hiatus.

That happens sometimes, and I really don't know why.

There have been topics I've wanted to write about, but for one reason or another I can't seem to sit myself down at my computer.

I've even jotted down notes for these pending blog entries. But alas, the notes just seem to semi-exist, as the more pressing matters of the day take precedence. So there they sit, next to my daily to-do list, getting knocked around my desk day after day. 

Then what happens, when these hiatuses occur, is that I'll receive a call or text from a friend (usually about some unrelated issue) and they'll casually slip in something like, "Hey, have you stopped blogging?"

I love it when this happens.

A loving nudge from a friend is good motivation.

Today's post isn't going to be about any of those interesting and thought-provoking topics that are scribbled down on notes. Maybe I'll get to those one of these days. Lately I've done a little Christmas decorating, and thought it'd be fun to share that instead.

Several years ago I saw a photo in an old Victoria magazine of a homeowner who used red roses in their Christmas decor. I was so inspired that I've used red roses myself ever since.

I've titled this entry "Christmas Corners" because my method of displaying the roses is to tuck them in here and there around the house.

Like this...

I even found an antique pot holder with a red rose on it in a thrift shop a year or so ago. I love to hang it above my sink at Christmas...

I also like to use fresh pine and boxwood from my yard in some vignettes, too.

In the kitchen...

On my mantle...

And of course, twinkly lights at night...

My home is very old therefore I believe it's best to stick with traditional decor schemes.

I'm not a big trend chaser anyway, so it suits me just fine.

It's better to decorate in accordance with what's best for the house, than what the commercial world tells us to buy.

"She is not enslaved to advertisement or the fashion of the moment, but will think primarily of the needs of that house."

- Modern Priscilla Home Furnishing Book, 1925

If you find what you like and what works perfectly for your home, the look should last for many years.

Like my red roses. 

🌹🌹🌹

I haven't tired of them yet, and my old-fashioned home continues to accept them year after year with no trouble. 

I am enjoying all the little Christmas corners around the house.

It gives my work at home a fresh, new feeling!

🌹

"If your surroundings are cheerless and ugly, you will only be conscious of the work to be done and of the desire to finish that you may be free to seek pleasanter quarters."

- Modern Priscilla Home Furnishing Book, 1925

I hope to be back writing again soon, friends.

Until then...

xo,

~ Courtney ~