December 2013

papery days of the festive sort…

christmastime

A second Papery Days post…easy at this time of year, don’t you think? Paper is everywhere at Christmastime, and I’ve just been through my photos from the past few weeks to find some to share here. If you would like to join in with a papery post of your own, then look around in your everyday life and pay attention to some of the paper in those days and create a post about it. Then come back here and link to that post so that we can visit your sharing and enjoy the focus upon the usefulness and beauty of paper.

christmas-basket

full-moon-board-december

card-stack

matchbox-table

matchboxes-beginning

tokensthree

tokenseleven

paperchains

wrapping-midst

bee-seal-close

sealing-wax

shell-wrapping

christmas-books

stockingbaskets

coffee-bags

unwrapping

advent-opening

dickens-banner

christmas-table-books

book-hands

christmas-hugs

dear, deer days

the-running-of-the-deer

On Christmas Eve, a very dear day, as I bake and wrap and sweep, part of me is out there in the woods and fields amongst the wild things…

duskymoon

As I was in truth when I walked through the house last week and glanced out of the front door window to see our kitty sitting on the doorstep, our dog a little further on laying down in the circle of the drive, and just beyond him in the dusky field, a small herd of deer peacefully grazing. As I slipped into the steaming outdoor tub a few moments later, I could just make out the deer as they slowly stepped through the long grass of the hayfield on their way to the woods, as the moon rose and seven geese flew overhead, softly calling…

iviedstag

A few days later, as we were driving home from a Christmas concert in town, nearly home with the light almost gone, we slowed down when we saw a herd of deer near the edge of the road…

white-deer-moon

…then gasped and stopped altogether when we saw the small, mostly white doe standing amongst the rest. I tried to take a photo of this piebald deer, but only managed a managed a misty, moonlit snap as they ran away and then turned to stare at us from afar…

little-antlers

…but the thought of her has stayed with me, through all of the peace and the busyness, the strain and the joy to be found in these dear days…

solstice-porch-moon

…it has felt…essential, somehow, to think of the deer as these December days have unfolded. In just a few minutes, I will listen to The Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols on BBC radio as I mash potatoes and make fudge for the Christmas Day feasting…

december-dressing-table

…and I know that I will have my ear out for the carols that mention my current infatuation while I stir and form and will  imagine them taking shelter in our woods tonight as, perhaps the dearest day of all circles ’round to us…

dressing-table-deer

Wishing you dear, peaceful, contented days and thanking you for reading here and the way our lives touch each other through these glass pages…

xo

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