So it was the time to wrap presents and then, suddenly, Christmas Eve and the Day were gone. Also Boxing Day.
How could it be that it went so fast ?
But yes, we are now in January but Christmas Time didn't finish yet.
We will only take the Tree and the Decorations out AFTER Epiphany. And the Nativity will stay till the 2 of February: the Presentation of The Lord Day, Candlemas.
So, don't pretend Christmas ended because it's still Christmas Time.
On the first day of Christmas,
my true love gave to me A partridge in a pear tree.
On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.
On the third day of Christmas, my true love gave to me Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.
On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.
On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me Five golden rings, Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.
On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me Six geese a-laying, Five golden rings, Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.
On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me Seven swans a-swimming, Six geese a-laying, Five golden rings, Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.
On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me Eight maids a-milking, Seven swans a-swimming, Six geese a-laying, Five golden rings, Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.
On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me Nine ladies dancing, Eight maids a-milking, Seven swans a-swimming, Six geese a-laying, Five golden rings, Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.
On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me Ten lords a-leaping, Nine ladies dancing, Eight maids a-milking, Seven swans a-swimming, Six geese a-laying, Five golden rings, Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.
On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me Eleven pipers piping, Ten lords a-leaping, Nine ladies dancing, Eight maids a-milking, Seven swans a-swimming, Six geese a-laying, Five golden rings, Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.
On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me Twelve drummers drumming, Eleven pipers piping, Ten lords a-leaping, Nine ladies dancing, Eight maids a-milking, Seven swans a-swimming, Six geese a-laying, Five golden rings, Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree!
"Catholics in England during the period 1558 to 1829, when Parliament finally emancipated Catholics in England, were prohibited from ANY practice of their faith by law - private OR public. It was a crime to BE a Catholic.
"The Twelve Days of Christmas" was written in England as one of the "catechism songs" to help young Catholics learn the tenets of their faith - a memory aid, when to be caught with anything in *writing* indicating adherence to the Catholic faith could not only get you imprisoned, it could get you hanged, or shortened by a head - or hanged, drawn and quartered, a rather peculiar and ghastly punishment I'm not aware was ever practiced anywhere else."
No, I don't mean this one, I wish here we would have snow with a beautiful Christmas Tree on top of it. Not that it never snowed but it doesn't happens for some years now.
Well, never mind. What I want to say is that our tree is up. As we do every year on the first of December, we went to the garage and brought the tree and ornaments and the Nativity.
We still have some more things to do but we will a little bit each day, mainly on the Immaculate Conception day as we have bank holiday and we have more time to do it.
Just look to that image. Don't we feel like that, in the end of the day, so many times?
We make dinner, everybody eats and then rests and we look at all the mess and feel so tired to take care of the kitchen.
Never mind. You would expect me to say now:
- just engage everybody to help because you are not a slave;
- you did already all that work making the dinner, now it's time to rest and let them do the cleaning;
- you can't let the kitchen like that, if they don't help, do it yourself
- don't go to bed with a messy kitchen
- God forbid to have a house like that
- and so on.
But now let's think: it's just to put things in the washer, so why to have a war because nobody helps? It's better to do it ourseves and in a minute it's done and everybody will be happy. Then you will have a tidy and clean kitchen, a happy faced family and you too will have some rest.
We must give thanks for having a house with a kitchen and food and family and a living room where to go and talk with your family and watch some television or a film or series.
- But I haven't a washer (for several reasons) and it's so much work.
Ok, then you begin, wash everything and let it to dry. Then you have two choices: either you put it way in the morning after being drying all night, which is ok, or someone will help you.
And clean the countertops, for some the sink it's everything, for me it's the countertops.
We don't need to be perfect, what we need is to live in peace. Do what you feel it's better and remember that you haven't to prove anything to anybody, just do what is needed for you to feel well.
- Oh, well, I have no energy at all in the evening, I just can drag myself to the sofa and rest.
Well, now I will give you an advice that will raise a lot of eyebrows: do it in the morning if you know that you will have lots of energy then. Never mind what other people think and say.
Wake up earlier, go to the kitchen, shut the door so nobody will hear the noises. Put things in the dish washer or wash it by hand. Dry it and put it in the cup board. Clean the countertops. Sweep the floor.
Now look: isn't your kitchen so nice? Don't you feel well and victorious? And powerful? And full of energy !
And the day is beginning, the morning is such a wonderful time. And you have a nice, clean kitchen.
Now you begin to hear you children and husband waking up to a nice and tidy house. And all that begins with a tidy kitchen.
It's so good to have a home and a family. Thanks be to God.
Do you know that english rhyme that says Mary, Mary quite contrary?
It could be about myself, it's just that I'm not Mary.
I never go with the flow not for liking going in the opposite way, it's just that I don't mind to disagree.
And what am I disagreeing to this time? About being too early to "look like Christmas".
Every year I read in blogs about the doubt of being or not too early to talk about Christmas. Ah but Thanksgiving ! First comes Thanksgiving. Oh well, I don't care, before the end of October I am Christmassying in full swing and nobody can stop me.
This year even before that date people could see me buying Christmas presents already. And wrapping them !!
I have two bags full of presents already wrapped. I feel victorious for begining slowly (or not so much) and having started already, that early, to prepare for Christmas.
Isn't that a wonderful time of the year? Pity I haven't snow here but never mind, I have it in my mind and that is good enough.
Yes, in those countries where Halloween is a cultural habit, people may dress children as the saints of their devotion on the eve of All Saints Day. To dress as witches and such, to hounour the ocult, no, that is to serve the demon. If you like it, do it, but later don't complain about the action of the devil in your life because it was you who invited him.
I must say, I don't like a lot of things, as everybody knows. Very high ceilings, rooms with no doors, all the house with a big, large warehouse look where all the rooms get together, industrial style, too much grey in decoration, lack of privacy in the kitchen assuming that it's a public place and every guest and friend goes there and stays.
Antique furniture spoiled by corse paint. Old shutters outside windows, making pannels inside homes, as inside decoration. Ladders as towel rails.
Oh I could carry on.
I don't like most house find and transformation tv shows where, in the end, I think the house is worse than before they began but everybody applauds and even sheds some tears.
Too much people. Wine - well, a little sip of Port or Madeira wine it's ok. Coffee. Extroverts. Political correctness (this I abhorre). Going with the flow, following trends, in clothes and in homes. Or ideas.
Summer with its hot weather and people trying to look their worst showing too much body. Beaches with women showing their bare bottoms - I wonder why they think the others are interested in their backside. But on this, anyway, let them be grotestque, I don't go to the beach anyway.
As I don't intent to please and I show myself as an intolerant woman who dislikes most things that almost everybody likes, if somebody is reading this, now he (she) is wondering if there is something in this world of God that I like. Yes! I do like a lot of things, it's just that I don't follow any trend and I always row against the tide, not because I like to do it, but because I dare, I have the nerve to be different from the madding crowd.
So, now I will show some things I like. Yes, there are a lot of things that I like. - I can't post now about everything I like but I intend to show, slowly, what I like on the course of several posts - not in a row.
Traditional looking homes. Cottage style, the real one, in the kitchen, with a mix of farmhouse and shaby chic. Or craftsman for kitchens and all the house.
You will say that I am like Grumpy, the dwarf, as I don't like many things and I don't mind saying it.
Well, I don't like Summer at all. I can't stand the heat, the display of bare bodies, the discomfort. Nah, I'm waiting for Autumn since the last days of Spring.
Ah but the beach, people will say. I don't like it. I don't like the sand, the heat and I'm afraid of the sea.
And those almost naked bodies !
But the country, you may go to the country. Well, there we have the heat too and mosquitoes.
(from this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNHG_d9_480)
Most people prefer Spring over all other seasons but not me. My favourites are Autumn and Winter but I do like the beginning of Spring with its fresh days and wonderful light. But I don't like when it goes near Summer, which is a season I don't like at all. That strong light gives me headaches and depresses me.
But now it's the beginning of Spring. Such a delight. It makes me feel I want to acomplish things (I feel the same in the Autumn) and I make plans. I want to go outside, I who prefer being indors. I feel like gardening and I multiply my plants. I think of improving my home and myself.
I give thanks for all this. Blessed be God in His Angels and His Saints.
.png)
.png)
