Saturday Ramblings

Like tiny sprinklings of icing sugar, the long-awaited (for us) snow is quietly falling from heaven outside my kitchen windows as I type.
I’m finally sitting – after a morning of stripping everyone’s beds, doing laundry, hanging sheets to dry outside on the line and beside the woodstove (we do not use a dryer),
cleaning floors, cleaning under beds, normal chores of a Saturday …
I’m tired now – by afternoon, my body feels like one big contraction … so a cup of tea beside the front woodstove is surely calling my name.

November is rushing by and with every Saturday that approaches, I feel more excitement for the birth of our baby and the celebration of the birth of the MOST important baby ever – Jesus. We love Christmas in this house, but that does not mean it needs to be stressful and overbooked and over-crowded. The decorations will be simple with candles, lights and a few homemade ornaments. Nothing incredible or Pinterest worthy … but homey and cozy and, hopefully, enchanting for my little girls. It’s a great honor to be a parent at Christmas time! So much excitement and joy and anticipation

{baking Christmas cookies with the three year old}

 

{one of my favorite things at Christmas is seeing the Christmas catcus bloom! Every house should have this plant …
it is perfectly timed with Easter and Christmas. How creative is our God!}

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I read an article the other day about enjoying the winter months instead of complaining about them. I could not agree more. Could I challenge you to go through a whole winter without grumbling about the weather? It would be hard for most Ontario residents to do, I’m sure. But there are so many benefits and blessings of the winter season! Just think of the cozy nights, the hot chocolate by the fire, lighting candles as the sun sets earlier, snug and warm purring cats ready to cuddle on your lap, books to be read, movie nights to be had with family, popcorn on the woodstove, quieter nights and quieter days, ice skating, tobaganing, homemade mittens and tasty apple pies fresh from the oven. There are wonders to be had during the winter season – and not just throughout the holidays.

When I asked my girls what season was their favorite, nearly all of them said Autumn or winter – which really surprised me. We do a lot of fun things in the summer – we LIVE outdoors, we rarely come inside, there are animals to play with and fresh food to eat … and yet, they still love the cooler months.

I love the quiet of the winter months. I also think it’s a perfect time to have a baby – you do not need to rush about and you can stay cozy at home and cuddle your baby without worrying about tending to the gardens, the much needed summer chore list and so forth. There are less chores in the winter for some and I appreciate that.

This is our first year with goats to be kept during the winter. It will be interesting to see how they appreciate or dislike the colder weather. So thankful for sweet barn my husband built {all for free!} this summer. It’s just perfect for our goats. We’re also awaiting the next kidding in the barnyard …
Lacey’s goat, Marigold, is pregnant and ready to pop. Not the best timing for a goat birth, but we will pray all goes smoothly!

Today, we set up the cradle for the new baby in our room. It was a Kijiji last minute find and I am so grateful. The previous owners even delivered it for me! What a blessing! You would think we would have a cradle after all these babies but we have either borrowed or had friends lend their cradles in the past. We do have one vintage crib {which I love} that I will set up as the baby grows to be about six months.

{picture to come later – Leia was napping our room whilst I took time for tea… and sadly that means I am redoing all our bedding from an ill-planned accident … }

P.S. Today, I’m also attempting to make bread on the woodstove. For all of the winter months, I do 90% of my cooking on the woodstove (it is amazingly efficient and not as hard as it may sound).
We cook everything on there – from toast, oatmeal, roasts, whole chickens, potatoes (even baked potatoes, rolled in tin foil and placed in the ashes for an hour or so), biscuits, everything … but I have yet to conquer making bread on top the woodstove.
I don’t think I have the proper Dutch oven for it, but we shall see. I’m hoping to one day save up and have a wood cookstove in our kitchen –
as it is a little bit, um, annoying (too strong of a word) to carry all the foods and spices and utensils whenever I want to cook to the back room where the woodstove resides.

P.P.S. The bread did not quite turn out- had to resort back to using the regular stove which produced a lovely loaf for dinner. I will continue with future attempts!