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Dear Quaratine Diary – Week #52

30 Thursday Dec 2021

Posted by jennsmidlifecrisis in Foolishness

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Christmas, covid-19 diary, covid-19 humour, dear diary, family, food, holiday, humour


Dear Diary – The raging inferno of my dying youth has been wreaking havoc for weeks, so on Christmas Eve, I wore my ugly Christmas t-shirt. Just the thought of an ugly Christmas sweater made me break out in sweat.

So did baking pie. I baked a green tomato pie using green tomatoes that were stored in my parents’ freezer. The foil on the top said “Happy Thanksgiving 2020!” I soaked the raisins in rum, which sparked a series of “Jenn’s in the rum” jokes.

And I alarmed Youngest Son when I passed him in the living room and shared that “I’m done decorating Dad’s log”. What I meant was that I was finished decorating his birthday cake, a yule log cake, but you can imagine the terrible mental image I painted for him.

Hubby and Big Guy arrived in time for dinner. It was a slow drive because Hubby’s car was making rude noises on the highway, and he had to take the “scenic route”. I could finally tuck in for a long winter nap with my favourite peeps.

With no little ones in the house we slept in and took the morning slow. I broke out my first German stollen.

https://www.daringgourmet.com/stollen-german-christmas-bread/

We opened gifts and I finally got to see what this was:

We exchanged gifts before lunch, which included silly socks, goofy t-shirts, even a whopee cushion…because the joke never gets old. I could finally give Auntie M her new gnome; I was having too much fun with it.

Gnome-gnomes
Up to gnome good!
Hanging with my gnomies

Don’t worry – Auntie M’s gnome was quarantined prior to the holidays and properly masked with a handmade, blue tissue-paper mask.

Even though we thought we’d never need to eat again, the dinner hour arrived. With leftovers laid out, one by one, we fixed a plate and enjoyed round #2. We also enjoyed a rousing game of Scattergories, which was particularly hilarious with our tryptophan-induced brains.

The day ended with a bang! I asked had asked Eldest Son to help Auntie M take her things to car, then I went in my room to put on my fuzzy jammies. Nice Mama! It had been raining all day but we didn’t realize how much it had iced over. I heard the crash from the far side of the house and I knew it was bad. Both Auntie M and Eldest Son had fallen, but Auntie M wasn’t getting up. Dad is a retired firefighter and we let him take the lead. I called 911 and we paced inside, while Eldest Son and Dad kept Auntie M company and scraped ice off cars and the sidewalk. When they went to move her vehicle so ambulance could park closer, the doors were frozen shut. They also wandered carefully, with flashlights, looking for her car keys, her purse, and the crockpot lid, which all went flying! Thankfully, the hospital wasn’t busy and Auntie M was not seriously injured. She was sent home at midnight. Dad and Eldest Son made sure Auntie M and her pumpkin car, made it home. She’s badly bruised, and in no hurry to get back out there! I wonder if she’s working on the evil puzzle I gave her…

The rest of the week has been spent sleeping in, watching Harry Potter movies, and eating non-stop. We’ve also played board games. Mom got upset when she spotted someone’s trains on “her” track. It was her train. Eldest Son was given a couple of genuine Guiness and the closest thing we could find for a proper drinking vessel was a flower vase. Boxing Night, we watched Christmas Vacation, my all-time favourite Christmas movie. Right up there with…Die Hard!

These guys really like Cousin Eddie

I also had one final sewing project to complete by the end of the year, which should have been easy peasy. Instead, it took several hours because I’m so talented. I sewed things in wrong and had to rip them out over and over. I spilled warm tea all over the table, and me! Then, with only 1.5 inches left to sew, the machine started to grab and snarl, and make a right mess of it. After multiple stitching and ripping, and with more holes in the fabric than on a tattoo artist, my Dad took the machine apart. Back together again, and with the end so close I could taste it, I started to sew, hit a pin, and snapped the needle.

I finished the bag the next day!

It’s hard to believe that a New Year is right around the corner. I’m not sure yet if we’ll be ringing it in with Eldest Son’s traditional crack of his Terry’s chocolate orange. His girlfriend’s father passed away suddenly from covid; her mother was released from hospital earlier this week. He may be heading home to spend some time with her. If she had called him on Christmas Day and asked him to come, I would have given him my blessing. While there is no better place than with my family around me, I’m well aware that we’re all growing up, and I never want to be an obstacle in my children’s lives. I just pray they’ll still share a slice of their life with me. Afterall, they were once my whole world.

When we took this photo December 31, 2019, I had just quit my job. I had spent November coping with kitchen renovations and December baking up a storm. Youngest Son was facing his Grade 9 first semesters finals, the only ones he’s written to date. Eldest Son was preparing for a career-advancing exam. And my folks were planning their annual trip to Myrtle Beach. We had no idea what was to come…

I still somehow feel like we’ve lost time, 2 years to be exact. As if we have all been hibernating and it’s time for new beginnings and greater adventures. I feel like we should be celebrating the start of 2020, not 2022.

Like we deserve a do-over.

Don’t we? It’s time to re-engage with the great big world beyond our front doors, even if that engagement is a phone call, an email, a handwritten letter. I’m not suggesting we disobey the rules or take unnecessary risks. I never want to put others in harm’s way, but our souls don’t belong to a virus. We can’t let covid hold us hostage any longer. It’s time to resdiscover joy. One day at a time.

Happy New Year! See you in 2022!

The joy of the Lord is your strength

Nehemiah 8:10

Dear Quaratine Diary – Week#51

23 Thursday Dec 2021

Posted by jennsmidlifecrisis in Foolishness

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

Christmas, covid-19 diary, covid-19 humour, dear diary, family, holiday, humour


Dear Diary – It’s Christmas Eve Day Eve Day, and I am home!

It doesn’t matter that it isn’t the house where I grew up! It doesn’t matter that the cookies never got decorated, or that my hair didn’t get dyed, or that my Christmas skirt may not even fit. All that matters is that this year I’m truly in the one place in the world where I most want to be, and in one more sleep, I’ll be with most of the people I treasure.

I know I am blessed.

I know it will not always be this way.

But today, I am here and I will live in today. The present is a gift.

The week has been a blur of activity – finishing gifts, making sponge toffee, and Hubby’s birthday cake. He’s a Christmas Eve baby! Last Saturday I leaned into my German roots and attempted stollen. I even soaked my fruit in spiced rum.

On Monday, Hubby and I watched the Love Nature channel. It’s not really our thing but it’s on free preview and the videography is amazing. In the ad for their channel, they talk about how there are no sleepy Mondays on Love…I say they need to read the room! Sleepy Monday sounded good to me!

My mind has been humming at full tilt, somtimes overheating my body, and I have to step outside to cool off. It’s been keeping running lists of things to do and things to pack: baking, clothing, food, gifts, games and entertainment. Somehow I prepared meals in the chaos, and the pile of dirty dishes never ended. Amazing in a family of only 3.

My brain has been so scattered as a result, and I’ve made several stupid mistakes and extra trips up and down stairs. I posted Wilderness Wednesday a day early, and didn’t realize it until I was waiting in the Tim Horton’s drive-thru at 1 in the afternoon, between a chiropractor appointment and a grocery/gift delivry to a friend. There was no time to stay for tea, hence the Tim’s delivery too. I had to make a last-minute trip for fabric – both for a post-Christmas order for a knot bag and in case everything shuts down again. A very real possibility, so I purchased enough fabric, on faith that I would make some sales, for January projects. No one corrected me to say I was a day early, which I appreciated! 🙂

It turned out I wasn’t the only one confused on days because they had too much going on. Mom read my Monday blog on Tuesday, and thought it was Tuesday all day, and couldn’t figure out why I kept saying I might be coming the next day because didn’t I have an appointment?

My travel plans were precarious, even without the ever-threatening covid restrictions. I had planned to travel on Wednesday, but it was supposed to be a blizzard with high winds. If it was, I’d leave Thursday. But the forecast kept changing, with heavy winds Wednesday afternoon and snow on Thursday. So I dragged Younger Son from his sweet slumber and we ran a marathon to get on the road. He even remembered to grab granola bars because we’re not making any pit-stops on the way. He even brought the chocolate kind I like.

It was sunshine all the way!

Christmas road trips are always accompanied by two favourite Christmas cds: John Denver & the Muppets, and The Arrogant Worms. Even last year when the road trip was only halfway home to trade gifts and goodies with my parents because we couldn’t be together.

Dad looks less like Santa Claus this year!

But Younger Son’s tastes in music has changed over the years and he actually prefers silence. I can’t drive in silence, especially for over 2 hours. Normally he doesn’t sleep either but since he’d run a marathon before noon, half an hour into our trip, his head started to bob. I waited patiently until he was “out”, and I slipped in The Muppets first. My uncle H was a fun & fantastic guy, and we’ve missed him for years. I can remember him taking my brother and me to the city to see the first Muppet movie in the theatre. I was 6. He introduced us to this cd, singing alongside, and excitedly telling us to “listen” just before the funny parts. I still listen closely for the “funny” parts!

The other cd has unusual Christmas songs in several genres of music, that also make me smile, like Vincent the Christmas Virus (5 year old Younger Son thought Vincent was a Christmas Pirate) or Daddy Threw Up On Christmas Day. Or the song about Santa getting arrested, the Christmas Fruit Brick, and Santa singing the blues because:

I use to be jolly, now I’m depressed
Had a twinkle in my eye, now I’ve got a bullet proof vest
Cuz if the pace don’t kill me, some gun totting yahoo will
They keep shooting at me like I’m some sort of big fat red criminal

Got the Christmas blues, I’m starting to see
That I gotta be some sort of loser to get paid in milk and cookies

I’ve already listened to Bing Crosby dreaming of a White Christmas, which is better than listening to George Michael crooning about his bad taste in partners when he gave his heart away at Christmas. He’s planning to do it again this year.

So I’ve stitched the last handmade gift and all the gifts are under the tree. The goodies are mostly in the freezer, out of reach. I’ll thaw Hubby’s birthday cake and turn it into a yule log tomorrow. I’ll also thaw my green tomato pie filling, for tomorrow. I can’t snack on either one. I’m also the queen of Mom’s latrine!

After an exciting game of Play 9 (I won!), we settled in last night for another winter slumber. A large moon, nearly full, climbed into a clear sky and rested over a tall pine. Moonbeams glinted off the icicles over the kitchen window, and bathed the fields in white. I stepped out on the deck, in my slipper socks, snow crunching under foot. The sky was so clear, I could see the milky way, and I listened to the silence.

Was it this clear and this quiet on that first Christmas?

While the Town of Bethlehem slept, the moon witnessed the greatest gift coming to earth in the smallest and less likely packagae of all – a baby. Immanuel – God With Us.

Was it this clear and quiet on the first Christmas as the moon shone on plain and lowly shepherds watch their little lambs sleeping. They were unaware that they were about to step into the pages of history as the first to hear the heavenly announcement. Christ is Born.

Was it this clear and quiet on the first Christmas when wise and learned men spotted a star in the sky, heralding the birth of the King of kings, and began their long journey to worship at His feet? The Hope for all the Nations.

‘Cause how many kings stepped down from their thrones?
How many lords have abandoned their homes?
How many greats have become the least for me?
And how many Gods have poured out their hearts
To romance a world that is torn all apart?
How many Fathers gave up their Sons for me?

Only one did for me.

Downhere, How Many Kings

Merry Christmas!

Wilderness Wednesday: Christmas Cardinals

21 Tuesday Dec 2021

Posted by jennsmidlifecrisis in Photography

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

birds, cardinals, Christmas, nature, photography, snow, Wilderness Wednesday, winter


Love the Giver more than the gift.

Brigham Young

I received an early Christmas gift on a blizzard-y day. The house smelled of yeast and spices, and as I was kneading rum-soaked fruit into my Christmas stollen, I had 2 visitors…

It is Christmas in the heart that puts Christmas in the air.

W.T. Ellis

Happy Wednesday!

What’s in My Cup: Christmas Morning

20 Monday Dec 2021

Posted by jennsmidlifecrisis in Food

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Christmas, food, holiday, tea, tea addict, tea lover, tea time


Christmas is only 6 days…Santa is coming!

My plan is to do what I have done every year for the past 40+ years (with the exception on last year): wake up in my parents’ home and celebrate Jesus’ birthday with my family. That’s Plan A. But I also have Plan B. And Plan C. I hope it doesn’t come to Plan C because it involves a sugar-induced coma. And since it’s not guaranteed that I will be embarking on Plan A just yet, I decided to start celebrating a little early with a cup of Stash Christmas Morning Tea. It is a blend of black and green tea lavishing the imbiber with a bold flavour, like English Breakfast tea, as well as gentle floral notes of jasmine.

Christmas Morning Tea is part of the Holiday Family Tea series, which contain an assortment of seasonal flavours and spices in black, white or herbal blends. It’s available in many grocery, drug, and box stores, as well as online. I picked mine up at the Bulk Barn. If you want something spicier, I’d also recommend Holiday Chai and Red Dragon Chai. But after December, they can be hard to find!

I think it’s a welcome change to plain black tea when I’m busying myself with fun, holiday things. This morning I enjoyed a quiet moment at the start of my day, next to the twinkling lights of the Christmas tree. And perhaps I’ll savour another as a pick-me-up while I continue baking spiced breads, cakes and cookies, wrapping last-minute gifts, or packing to travel.

It’s possible Santa would appreciate a cup to refresh him during his international flight in only 5 sleeps! I’m not ready….are you?

You better watch out, you better not cry
Better not pout I’m telling you why
Santa Claus is comin’ to town

 J. Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie

CFFC: Holiday Colours

15 Wednesday Dec 2021

Posted by jennsmidlifecrisis in Photography

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Christmas, family, holiday, Photo Challenge, photography


My idea of Christmas, whether old-fashioned or modern, is very simple: Loving others.

Bob Hope

This is my post for Cee Neuner’s Fun Foto Challenge: Holiday Colours.

Dear Quarantine Diary #39

31 Thursday Dec 2020

Posted by jennsmidlifecrisis in Foolishness

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Christmas, covid-19 diary, covid-19 humour, dear diary, holiday, hope, humour


Dear Diary – As if the world isn’t messy enough, now we could be at risk from rogue, mutant spiders from outer space. NASA just commenced Operation Dragonfly, taking 2 spiders to space to see how they react to zero gravity conditions. Things became messy, figuratively and literally, when the “back up spider” escaped into the sealed chamber. Let that really sink in…

http://www.giphy.com

Apparently, this is not the first time arachnids have travelled in space. Frankly, it all just sounds like the makings of a horror story, and with days to go before we start 2021, it just gives me the hee-bee jeebies! Anyone else?

Dear Diary – On Christmas Eve Day, I set out to bake a lemon blueberry cake with a lemon glaze, a lemon meringue pie, and a pumpin pie. To save myself some grief, I bought the pie shells and a can of pumpkin pie filling. But I had been so efficient (Nana J would be proud), I put away my pie filling, somewhere I would find it. Until I couldn’t.

While Big Guy went searching for my can of pumpkin, in every cupboard and drawer in the kitchen and basement, I started the lemon cake. Did you know that butter explodes in the microwave?

It took Big Guy half an hour to find the pumpkin filling. I read the directions and my heart sank. It needed evaporated milk. I had evaporated milk…which I used to make inedible fudge. Big Guy texted all his friends in the neighbourhood, but none of them had any either.

Pie will be the death of me.

I made a substitution and crossed my fingers. It worked. So did the lemon curd and meringue.

The lemon-blueberry cake was to celebrate Hubby’s birthday that evening. In the spirit of not spreading covid, or any other airborne disease for that matter, we decided to use a sparkler that I had found in the food processor box. (Seems like a reasonable place to store sparklers?)

It seemed like such a clever idea…until the smoke threatened to set off the smoke detector.

Before bed, Little Guy decided to play with the corn pops box. I store cereal in plastic storage containers and for some reason, the corn pops were stuck together in a solid lump inside. Little Guy was shaking the box, upside down (do you see where this is going?) when the flap popped open as the lump broke apart. It was a family game of “pick up the pops”.

Dear Diary – I never thought I hear myself saying these words: “Don’t spit in your brother’s hot chocolate”. My sons are 16 years apart – you’d think they’d know better!

Dear Diary – We only had a couple nights with Big Guy before he headed home, thanks to the provincial lockdown. We watched a lot of great Christmas movies: Die Hard, Mad Max, Lego Movie 2 and Monty Python.

Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before! What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store. What if Christmas…perhaps…means a little bit more! Dr. Seuss, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas

While it really sucked, to say good-bye to Big Guy so soon, it was better than the alternative: Not having him come at all. When it looked like that was going to be the case, I had a complete breakdown. I’m not proud of it but Mama’s hearts are fragile things. I felt guilty for not being content with the many blessings we have compared to so many in our hurting world. I knew of other Mamas whose hearts were broken too. I had to choose to hold on to what joy there was, rather than lament what was not.

Christmas is as much about lament as joy.  No one could have imagined, as we gathered around the Christmas tree last year, that everything would look so different. I imagined the Israelite nation once felt the same way. That first Christmas, they were still under the thumb of Caesar. They were waiting and longing for Messiah to bring a new way, a greater kingdom, a beautiful hope. Meanwhile, an innkeeper was collecting his fees. Shepherds were watching their sheep in the fields. Magi were studying their books. And everything changed. God visited His creation as a divine and human baby, bringing light, and hope, and joy, to a weary world.

Our Christmas Day came and went. It was different. It was sad in many ways. But in truth, no one or no thing could ever steal the Hope and Joy that Jesus brought that first Christmas. Our celebration was always meant to go beyond gifts and glitter, or even the hugs and harmony in family gathering. It is deeply fixed in our heart and soul, and sustains us all year long. Even as the years pass, and the world changes.

Lord willing, it will be better next year. Even if it is not, don’t let go of Hope. See you next year!

Remember, I’m pulling for you. We’re all in this together! Red Green (aka Steve Smith)

What’s In My Cup: Red Dragon Chai

28 Monday Dec 2020

Posted by jennsmidlifecrisis in Food

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

#whatsinmycup, Christmas, food, holiday, tea, what's in my cup


I think Christmas is a wonderful time to drink tea.
And also after Christmas and before Christmas, and all the other days.

~Unkown

With no travel this Christmas (for the first time in 47 years), I had ample time to sip tea from an assortment of cups and tea pots. Last week, my friend and I each bought a box of Stash tea, and we traded some sachets. Her pick was Holiday Chai. My pick was Red Dragon Chai!

Red Dragon is a red rooibos base and therefore has no caffeine. It also contains cinnamon, ginger root, and clove. I found it a warm, comforting and cozy addition to the holidays. In fact, that’s how I started my Christmas morning. The aroma reminds me of apple cinnamon, and the colour is a rosy hue. The spice was lighter and brighter than Holiday Chai, which tasted strongly of clove. Instead, Red Dragon had a pleasant and balanced blend of spices. In fact, I used the tea bag a second time in a pot of regular black tea, and it added a soothing hint of chai.

I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach.

Charles Dickens

Happy Monday!

Dear Quarantine Diary #38 – Part 2

24 Thursday Dec 2020

Posted by jennsmidlifecrisis in Foolishness

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Christmas, dear diary, humour


Dear Diary – Yesterday I met my parents halfway and we “celebrated Christmas” in a rest centre parking lot. We weren’t the only masked families lining the edges of the parking lot, swapping packages and gift bags between car trunks. Little ones chased each other around on the grass, squealing with delight. It was a beautiful sound (unlike the herd of elephants that live next door)!

Our visit was really short, probably no more than 5 minutes. It was cold. Little Guy took a picture of my folks on his ipad, and my parents took a pic of us. We smiled by instinct, even though our smiles are hidden by our facemasks. 🙂

We couldn’t hug, but it was SO good to be together! This is the first time in 47 years that I haven’t been home for Christmas. What a blessing to have such a long record!

On the way home, we listened to one of our favourite Christmas cd, The Arrogant Worms: Christmas Turkey. There were a few songs that just seemed appropriate for 2020! Santa struggles with his “huge debt accumulation”. Daddy is sick and contaminates the whole family. Maybe he was sick with Vincent, the “gift that keeps on giving all night long”. Santa Got Arrested, and the turkey is singing the blues.

Dear Diary – Hubby helped me make cranberry salsa. I carefully weighed out 12 oz. of cranberries. When I checked the bag, it was 12 oz. Not an auspicious start….

Spicy!!

Pies and Hubby’s birthday cake are next. Wish me luck!

Dear Diary – Christmas Eve. 1980-something. It was one of the scariest Christmas Eves of my life.

My Dad was a firefighter. He worked shifts – days or nights. When he worked nights, I slept with Mom. I was a kid with an overactive imagination and wicked nightmares so I looked forward to the nights when I slept with Mom because I was “safe”.

Dad was working nights. My grandparents were staying over too, sleeping on the pull-out couch in the living room.

I was a naughty girl. I crept downstairs in the night to check out my stocking. I had to be quiet because my grandparents were sleeping in the next room…

…until they weren’t.

They decided to turn on the light and talk (thankfully only talk – lol). In the middle of the night.

I held my breath cowering in the half-light for what seemed like an eternity. I hugged the wooden bookcase, sweating in terror. My little pink nightgown did nothing to keep me warm. I knew the floor would creak if I moved so I stayed frozen on the spot. I prayed Mom wouldn’t wake up and come looking for me. I was sure I would get caught!

But eventually the light went out and they settled to sleep. I tip-toed back upstairs and crawled into bed, careful to keep my frozen feet from touching Mom. What a way to wake up!

No one ever knew and I’m pretty sure my late-night escapades were not repeated. But I could be wrong! Mwa ha ha!

Dear Diary – A friend posted this on Facebook, and I thought it was great!

Merry Christmas! And God bless us everyone!

Dear Quarantine Diary #38 – Part 1

23 Wednesday Dec 2020

Posted by jennsmidlifecrisis in Faith

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Christmas, covid-19 diary, dear diary, faith


This week I’ve felt like I’m a roller coaster. Difficult decisions were made and plans rearranged. Every day seemed filled with new changes and challenges. There has been heartache, and hard work, and more nights falling asleep on damp pillows, than not.

This pandemic has done more than interrupt my routine. It has toyed with my emotions, broken my sleep, and stolen my joy.

Everything is topsy-turvy, and while I’ve come to enjoy some “adventure” in my life, I’m still so much happier riding the Merry-Go-Round than a Roller Coaster.

On Saturday I went for a walk in the snow. It was large, fluffy flakes coming straight down, the kind that piles up on your hat and sticks in your braids. The streets were empty and it was crisp and peaceful. It gave my mind time away from the running to-do list and the ache in my heart as I wrestled between rocks and hard places.

It gave space for God to speak…and for me to listen.

God reminded me of another woman whose life was interrupted.

Mary was an ordinary girl dreaming of her husband, her home, and babies. Then she was visited by an angel with an incomprehendable request. Her love for and trust in God made it easy to answer, but it came at a cost. It didn’t always seem fair. There was probably a whole gammet of emotions. And the future held so many unknowns.

The circumstances around that first Christmas weren’t “normal” or perfect. God’s plan for salvation, from the beginning of time, arrived in a barn on a cold, dark night, to a young couple far from the comforts of home and family.

Immanuel – God With Us.

Life is interrupted, but God is still moving.

Life is interrupted, but love and joy, and wonder still exist.

Little about this Christmas is normal or perfect either. The tree, the lights, the gifts, the goodies – even the time with family – may all be part of the celebrations, but they aren’t the most important parts of Christmas. It’s a time, like Mary and Joseph, and the Shepherds, to look into the face of God and worship. It’s time to acknowledge our need and His presence in our mixed-up, messy lives. I needed that reminder.

O come, all ye faithful…come and behold Him
Born the King of angels
O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord.

What’s in my Cup: Holiday Chai

21 Monday Dec 2020

Posted by jennsmidlifecrisis in Food

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

#whatsinmycup, Christmas, holiday, tea, tea addict, whatsinmycup


Good friends don’t let you do stupid things…alone.

Last week, my friend and I each purchased a box of Stash tea, and then we traded, half and half. It’s a great way to try two new flavours without the expense!

One of those teas was Holiday Chai. It’s is an aromatic blend of assam and darjeeling tea, with cinnamon, all-spice, clove, ginger root, natural gingerbread and run flavours, and nutmeg oil. It’s a spicy chai with a bit of heat. I found the clove was the strongest flavour and tended to overpowered the other spices. The nutmeg oil also leaves a strange film on the surface. It has a warm rosy colour and a strong spice bouquet conducive to dreaming of sugarplums.

It’s lovely with homemade orange-cranberry scones too!

Until one feels the spirit of Christmas, there is no Christmas. All else is outward display–so much tinsel and decorations. For it isn’t the holly, it isn’t the snow. It isn’t the tree not the firelight’s glow. It’s the warmth that comes to the hearts of men when the Christmas spirit returns again.

Author Unknown

Merry Christmas!

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