Christimastime is here

Santa's Generous Surprise

It's definitely Christmastime! Santa's eaten as many gingerbreads as he can so it's time now to surprise his lil' helpers once more, hanging up the remaining plateful as decorations around their cozy cabin.

I just realised this morning that I forgot to post the sign-up last night! Funny thing is, I actually had this all completed and reworked a bit over the weekend.  Too many last minute things going on, I suppose. Well, as it is, you still have until midnight MST to sign up your piece below.

Needless to say, I'm bringing a few of these (pre-frozen) nibbles to the frigid picnic this week! Where's the fireplace? That's where you'll find me, sipping Welsh tea and joyfully dunking gingerbread galore. :) Oh, and I really should bring some up to the cabin we're renting the next two nights in Estes Park, about an hour from here, for our family xmas with the kids, before we depart for Kentucky,* Christmas Eve, to go meet Alex's family and post-celebrate her mother's wedding (first time in 20 years) which happens tomorrow (after the funeral,same day, for her fiance's brother who just passed away)! They just met three months prior but at this stage, there's no time like the present! :) It's going to be an interesting time indeed.

*Silly me, such a romantic idealist: as we're flying into Nashville first (where we'll be picked up), I'm dreaming of some kind of Tennessee Christmas with good old classic Amy Grant songs lofting in my memory, but I've heard Campbellsville, KY, is nothing like that! Hee, one can still dream though right? :)

Let me end this by saying, HAPPY CHRISTMAS to each of you and holly jolly New Year. I'm doing an end-of-year fabulous Christmastide giveaway to celebrate! Sign up below and get TWO extra entries along with 1 per entry since the last giveaway. The winner will be announced in the new year, along with a recap of the year which I think you will all quite enjoy. Please keep your eyes out on that. In the meantime, enjoy the well needed break, no doubt, with family and/or loved ones. I close out this year with our weekly Scribble Picnics certainly being one of the highlights of this year. Thank you.

For those of you on Instagram, you can follow along our winter's travails there, if so inclined. I might even publish a few oddball IG video stories too. Let's see. I do know that it's meant to snow tomorrow and get down to10F! Brrrrr... but, oh, how delightfully seasonal too.

SHARE:

Spinning tops and dreidels

Happy Hanukkah to our Jewish friends out there! Yes, I went with the dreidel as my choice for this week's theme. One of the more recent theories out there as to its origins suggests that it was actually first developed from an Irish or English top later introduced to Germany as the teetotum, eventually making its way into Yiddish communities, where the ascribed Latin symbols mean the same as those found on the Hebrew version of today's holiday favourite. Regardless, spinning tops of all sorts are found in ancient archeological sites the world over — they were that popular. And to think, most of us never even play with them today! Well, if nothing else, I could always make a statement with my very own interior design pattern. Maybe it would even take off in places like Brooklyn? It would certainly make for a fun splash of sky blue in an otherwise often drab grey sky this time of year.

So, how about you? What did you spin up for our Scribble Picnic this week? I'm bringing along Sufganiyot, which may be a traditional Israeli treat but sure looks a lot like, ironically enough, that classic British jam filled, granulated sugar sprinkled doughnut found in any bake shop in England (my favourite btw!).

P.S. I plan to visit everyone sooner this go around and will be sure to leave comments to all those who played along last week too. Sorry to have not got to that yet but am going to! I'm looking forward to it, actually. Thank you!

SHARE:

Happy Finland Day!

(Independence Day in Porvoo, Finland!)

 Update: My piece is finally done! Thanks for checking back to see it. 

This week in Porvoo, they have beyond frigid temps and lots of snow but, never mind,
there's plenty of coffee, baked goodies and holiday cheer to go round!

  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * 

Guess what? I haven't Finnished my piece yet! At least I already have a rough idea in my head and have gathered various photos from which to create my own rendition. Sorry to have to ask you to once again pop by and see my piece later...as with last week's that still needs completion (although it's about halfway coloured now).

The reality is that Alex and I drove up into the mountains away for the weekend at a little Airbnb studio condo up in the town of Breckenridge, CO, to celebrate our (4 year) anniversary. Since returning though, it's been quite busy. We both have a lot of work on our plates. In fact, I really don't see it dying down until the official 12 days of Christmas kicks off on Christmas Day itself!

In the meantime, whenever ready today, please show us how you've artistically honoured Finland or Scandinavia. Happy Independence Day to any Finns out there btw! Before this week, I had no idea they invented ice skates, have more saunas than cars, let alone drink 4x the coffee Brits enjoy. Not only that, their forests cover a larger area than the whole of the UK or Italy and yet there are actually more people in Colorado than Finland, with the population just under 5.5 million! Makes me wonder, who among you has ever been? Mary, perhaps? Let's Finnd out... :)

SHARE: