It's been a lovely whirlwind of family visits in Spokane and Seattle, the Christmas holiday, and a few fun gatherings with friends, all before the year comes to a close. We've been busy in our tiny corner of the world, and while I love the holidays for bringing people together with good beverages nearby, it is so nice to be back at my desk writing and reflecting on the past few days, staring out my window as the last half hour of light pours through the apartment. I feel happy. It's important to write these words down when they are true and when the experience is present: happy. It feels good to name it.
I've also felt a lot of other things over the last few days: caffeinated, tipsy, sleepy, nervous, relieved, overwhelmed, and overjoyed. The holidays do all of this to me, or I suppose if I'm taking more responsibility for my emotions, I could say this is how I choose to respond to the holidays. All trappings of language aside for a moment, I'm just glad to be sitting here now, in the quiet of this space. This is all.
As for the past week? Here's a handful of all the fun things we've been up to:
I was Secret Santa for my younger sister this year. My family has a tradition of drawing names, and I was happy to pick Natalie's from the basket this year. She's moving to Hawaii in just under a week now (lots of bittersweet emotions this holiday season), and I wanted to give her things that would not be too burdensome to travel with, but which would also remind her of home here in Spokane.
One of the gifts I gave was from a craft project I did last summer, found on Sugar & Cloth: DIY animal magnets! It's super easy, with the exception of cutting the plastic animals in half--this takes a bit of elbow grease--and they wind up looking pretty cute: little animal heads and butts jutting from the fridge.
I decided they'd be perfect for her new home, easy enough to travel with, and she might just smile and remember her adoring older sister when she grabs OJ in the morning.
This is what they look like after they've been painted gold. Nothing says *fancy* or "Merry Christmas" like a gold rhino butt, am I right?
It took a couple of paint coats to achieve a perfectly bright gold exterior, and it happened to be a brisk, windy day when I did this, which is not something I'd recommend for spray-painting jobs in general, but alas, the holidays were fast upon me at this point, so it was caution (and gold paint) to the wind.
Then I put all of the gold safari creatures into a little pouch--a bag o' gold for Christmas!
When all was wrapped, packed, and ready, Joe and I settled in, lit our new little Christmas tree gifted from my sweet mom, who knows all about our Christmas Sans Le Tree, and we got to work on baking cookies, which didn't turn out as perfectly as I'd hoped (too crumbly), but tasted pretty good, nonetheless.
How cool is this tree? Metal, light, and simple, with little gold cross-hatching painted along the edges of its frame. It's perfect for the coffee table and lighting a candle inside makes it feel very festive.
Cookie action:
After Christmas when we were back in town, we stole away to Atticus, our favorite Spokane coffee shop, where we read, did the Saturday crossword puzzle, drank tea, and watched the snow fall.
Tomorrow it's back to business as usual, and in just a few short days, we welcome a fresh start: 2015. I know I have a lot of ideas, projects, and plans for this coming year, but for now, I'm happy to say it's been pretty darn good these last twelve months. And that's rad.
Happy Monday to you! Hope your week is off to a good start.
(top photo via withgraceandguts.tumblr.com--thank you!)
No comments:
Post a Comment