We are quickly approaching my favorite time of the year! My creative nature clicks into high gear starting with Halloween and runs straight through to New Years Day! I am at my best creating, gathering, collecting, wrapping, canning, cooking and entertaining. It's a ridiculously busy time of the year and I absolutely excell at it.
This year is particularly exciting. I have three new spaces to add to my decorating plan. My pop up shops in Unadilla and Worcester and my Boutique in Worcester. With Halloween quickly approaching, I am getting into the Spirit by creating creepy three dimensional mantle pieces, urns overflowing with scary skulls, fabulously fashionable witch's hats and totally tricked out vampire top hats.
My plan for Thanksgiving is a celebration of all the gorgeous colors that absolutely explode all around us here on the Southern Tier of New York. Pumpkins and gourds are plentiful, dried grasses, leaves, berries and all manner of wonderful natural elements are added to my decor. The weather is delightful during the day and cool and crisp at night. I celebrate the season by canning all things tomato in my massive All American canner. Last year's garden haul produced 126 quarts of deliciousness that made stocking our preppers pantry a breeze. Add to that soups, stews and preserved pumpkin, butternut squash and Hubbard squash, allowing us to pull from the pantry all winter long, everything tastes just like harvest day. Canning was one of the skills that I have truly embraced that has enhanced our life considerably.
Moving into winter and the wonder filled season of Christmas is a celebration of the blessed life we are so thankful for. Gatherings of friends and family to share a meal and celebrate old traditions, as well as starting a few new ones, is truly precious. The decorating process begins late night after the thanksgiving dishes are put away. A tree in every room, lights twinkling, beautiful trimmings and many handed down and lovingly collected ornaments displayed all over our home. And of course, Baby Jesus, in all his glory proudly displayed in each room within a beautifully decorated creche. I now have an extensive collection of the Nativity, each very different and beautiful. Christmas is a wonder filled celebration of our faith and a month long gathering of family and friends that allows us to share goods times and express our love and thankfulness for one another. I enjoy every moment.
Once the holiday celebrations are over, and everyone returns to their own homes and back to school and careers, my husband and I have a tradition of celebrating New Years together as a couple. We scoot around doing massive amounts of laundry, putting the house back to preholiday condition, and settle in for an evening of sitting in front of the fire, eating a meal that we prepared together and just being quiet. We reflect on the past year, look at the hundreds, sometimes thousands of photos we have taken over the past year and discuss our hopes and dreams for the new year. It's a really special time for us as a couple and we look forward to it every year.
I hope as this holiday season approaches, you have the opportunity to gather with friends and family. Here at Just Off Pine, we wish you only the very best...
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