Christmas in the Howe Home

Hi there!

I'm back! But only for a bit. Blogging tends to get in the way of other things - I've recently revamped the 'about me' section which includes ample (and slightly humorous) explanation.

Rather than explain and describe for you the past 6 (5?, 7? I literally have no idea) months, I thought that because I recently have been home for Christmas, I wanted to share with you what the Holidays are currently like in the Howe Home.

The first and more important thing to say is that my goal for our home at the beginning of the Summer was to get to a point where I wouldn't be stressed about clutter, dust, carpet and mess. When I walked into the house at the beginning of Winter break this year, instead of thinking lots of profane angry things in my head about the state of the house, I took a big breath (and sigh) of relief. There was life. Although there aren't any pictures on the walls, there's happiness, dust in the corners from people that have actually lived there, and light reflecting off the new floors which does not carry diseases.

When I left at the end of the summer, in some ways I felt as though I hadn't done much, because there were still things that I wanted to change. Coming home again reconfirmed the amount of work that I had actually done throughout the summer. Call me insane, but the satisfaction I got from opening cupboards just for them to EMPTY was completely amazing. It was well worth all of the work and there is certainly more to do!

Christmas was made possible because of all three of us. Dad had the tree set up when we got home and then we all decorated together. The decorations really haven't been pulled out since maybe even before 2005 - thinking about it now, I think that was the last Christmas I hauled 20 million boxes out from under the stairs.

Mum's biggest and more important Holiday of the year was hands down Christmas. The one that always sticks in my mind is the year she ordered hundreds of Lee Valley wooden ornaments and spent so many evenings painting and decorating them all. We didn't have a dining room table to eat on there were so many.

You all know as well how much comfort you get from pulling out each meaningful decoration, and putting it in a similar place you did the year before. This year was no different for us. It felt just like it used to, and Christmas in the Howe Household was a wonderful (if not slightly stressful beforehand) as ever.

I wanted to show you a few essential things that are part of our Christmas annually (and some that aren't, or are new to the scene).

See! Nothing on the walls, but just as charming! :)

Mum obviously made all of these decorations on our advent Calendar

Chris made his own Ornaments . . . albeit in Kindergarten

But I did too! This time with Play-Doh!

Mum also hand crafted our Nativity Scene! This is my favourite decoration hands down. 

We read (maybe just me right now) all of these books every year too. Mum loved collecting Christmas books when we were young - as a result we have a huge place in our hearts for them! (Especially the Jolly Pocket Postman!)

 I hope that gave you a small idea of what our Christmas was like.
A new tradition that Chris and I started though, was this:

For three days straight? Oh yes.

I mentioned briefly that there were things that aren't normal, and this won't need much explanation:

A Tulip! Just kidding . . . Winter Garlic.

I am nervous when winter actually hits the buds will . . . well I'm not sure.

And that's all Folks!  A little update from the Howe Household. All good here! Look out for a Springtime update via snail mail. I am hoping to get that out in the next couple months.

Peace and love!