A Thursday in December

Here's my favorite little spot to sit and look out at the bird feeders. It's tucked in next to the table in the breakfast nook. When I first put the little rocker there, Joe said that there wasn't room. I not only fit the chair in...I added another bookcase for my nature books.I like cozy...I put my Christmas books there, so I could read them. They were in a basket, but the basket got used for something else at our party on Sunday...and I haven't replaced it.The paper whites are on my little garden table. I bought it at a sale at the Botanic Gardens a few years ago. It's made of concrete...tinted green with imprints of pine cones and leaves etc. This is where I sit when I talk on the phone to my daughter. We talk on Sunday morning. The reason I'm showing this is my love of little books. Christmas books. I have quite a collection started. I was looking through them just yesterday and thinking that I haven't read any of them this year. Probably because I've been busy getting ready for our Christmas on the 1st. Now that the party is over, I'll probably pick up one or two and reread them. I placed an order just last night for three new Christmas books to add to  my collection.

                                           

 I love reading stories about winter...cold, cold nights when the wind is howling and the snow is blowing. The perfect scene would be in the olden days with a family, cozy in their log cabin while the snow piles up outside. Or a book about winters in some New England town with a family all together in their warm house making homemade Christmas gifts.. The hardships people faced even though they didn't think about life being hard.

 I also like books about birds. This one has the old owl telling the Christmas Story to the birds. I really liked the illustration on the cover of this book.I think it sells the book. 

A novel completes my selection. This is about the holidays on Nantucket. I'm fascinated by Nantucket and was happy to see a Christmas book about Christmas and how it's spent on Nantucket.

I am looking forward to getting these books. If they don't arrive in time to read them before Christmas, it doesn't matter. As a librarian once told me..."You are the only one reading Christmas books in summer."

I didn't get the baking done the other day, I was just too tired, so today is the day for my breads. It's partly sunny and cold this morning. A trip to retrieve the garbage can lid started my morning...it was a brisk wind that pushed me down the driveway and into the warm house. The little birds are here, shivering in the cold. The blue jay has been a regular.... now that we are serving sunflower seeds.He announces his arrival and the little birds scatter. Bully! My little squirrel with the white furry tufts on his head was here most of the day yesterday. I noticed, while watching the bird feeders at the pool the other day, that the squirrel has his food nest high in the tree right across the street from the peanut feeder. Smart squirrel! 

I've had to find room in the windows for Christmas plants. I think that I have the slowest amaryllis there is.It started growing and then stopped...guess it isn't happy right by the window. I'm moving it to my little table by the rocker this morning....maybe the spot will be warmer. I have a collection of poinsettias now. We bought a medium sized one and a tiny one at the grocery. On the 1st my daughter brought me a beautiful one...packed with blooms, and my daughter in law brought me a little rose bud poinsettia. They are all vying for the best spots in the windows. I. going to put them among the ivy plants and try to make a pretty arrangement. Show you tomorrow. 

Balisha