New Historical Fiction I Can’t Wait to Read this Year
Spring to Early summer is a season in the publishing industry, and as such I find myself eagerly awaiting the release of several books! A few of these are by authors who I have talked about before, a few are by authors I am not yet familiar with but am looking forward...Winter Refresh 2023
It is that time of year again, the time of year I think of as the lonely season… because when I take down my Christmas tree(s) it just feels so lonely in my home! Not to mention the festivities have calmed down, and I have a week or two to catch my breath. As I am in Pennsylvania I look around and think, “Gee, how many more months of this till we get to summer?” However, that’s really not all this season has to offer—I love the fresh start of the new year and I enjoy doing what I can to reflect some of that freshness in my home. Usually, I leave up as much of my wintery decor as possible: sparkly branches, winter trees, every greens—whatever reflects what is going on in nature. This year I was ready for more bareness. The holidays seemed more rushed and chaotic than normal and I just felt like I needed more room to breathe after the holidays. Can you relate? I don’t want my home to feel depressing though; I want it to feel cozy! Here are some things I am doing to refresh my home for winter and to enjoy this new time of year!
Purge
Nothing says new year like a good purge! Usually, I do an audit of our home the week in between Christmas and the New Year and do a quick purge. Seeing as our family was sick that week this year, I am carving out a little bit of time each weekend to do a purge and reorganize. It’s funny, every year I think I’ve paired down as much as I can bare, only to come across something the next year and wonder why I ever kept it!
Organize
You really can’t organize without having first purged so don’t skip that step. After you’ve done a light purge, take a step back and think about what I call the hot spots in your home—what areas are you always scolding your spouse for cluttering? What problem are you habitually having to deal with? Look at these problem areas and think about how you can solve them once and for all! For me this was getting a rack to hold the lids to my pots and pans. While my kitchen isn’t crowded for storage, these big lids weren’t as accessible as they could be, making it a pain to move all of them when I needed one for cooking. Moving all these glass and metal lids didn’t seem to be too much of a problem—till I had a napping baby in the other room and then the noise seemed major! Getting a lid rack solved this problem.
Here is the link to the lid holder I am currently very thankful for!
Missing Your Tree?
Are you missing your Christmas tree? While this could be because of all the fun the tree represents, it could also be the other elements that your room is missing. Does the room seem dark and bare? Does your room now seem boring? Does your room seem lifeless? Here are some possible remedies.
Add Light
Your Christmas tree can provide a lot of light. If your room feels dark, try adding a new lamp, candles, or a lantern. You could try incorporating a strand of fairy lights into a winter vignette to get a cozy glow going!
Add Scale
There is no doubt about it—your Christmas tree is a big statement piece in your home! If your home is feeling a little dull without it, closely look at your room and see if you have any statement pieces in your home. Do you have a large statement lamp? A show-stopping plant? A large mirror or piece of artwork? Your room needs a little drama! If you have been wanting to add a statement piece but just haven’t gotten there yet, this would be a good project to work on in these slower months!
Add Life
As I mentioned above, plants can add life to a dead-feeling space. If you don’t have any green in your room it really is time to add some. If you are not one for keeping plants alive, I hear you! Check out my post, Plants That Even I Have Kept Alive, or go for faux, but you’ll be amazed at how much style a little plant can add!
Cozy Up!
We already talked about adding candles and lights to your home, but don’t stop there! Pull out your warm, fuzzy throws! If you’ve packed up any throw pillows, pull them out. They will add warmth to your home and provide more comfort for the times when you are hopefully playing games, reading, or doing a puzzle.
Bedding
Most of us in the north have different bedding for our home for winter and for summer. Pull out your flannel sheets, swap out your lightweight comforter for a heavier one, and layer your throw blankets onto your bed.
Brighten Up
If you live in an area where winter can just be gray, try to brighten up the inside of your house by adding some touches of white. Treat yourself to a few white flowers—either as a plant or a bouquet.
To brighten up other rooms of your home try swapping dark drapery for white.
Enjoy!
So now you have refreshed your home with a purge and added any organization that you might need, you’ve pulled out your throws and your pillows, added lights and candles, and added some touches of white, if your home was lacking. Now it is time to enjoy your home! Here are a few ideas of how to enjoy your home this winter:
Make some soup. Nothing tastes better than hot soup on a cold day! Check out soups to warm you up!
Play board games
Do a puzzle
Read
Work on a craft
Relax with an adult coloring book
I hope this helps to give you some ideas of how you can enjoy this winter!
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How to Decorate Your Home for Winter
When We Go Falling
Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
Psalms 139:23
It was a beautiful labor day, the perfect kind of day to go biking with family! My husband had to work on this particular Labor Day, but my parents, aunt and uncle were biking on a beautiful stretch of trail with lots of little bridges over creeks and streams still lush with green summer foliage along their banks. I decided to meet them at the trailhead for a day filled with biking fun. Or so I thought…
We arrived at the trailhead and were busy unloading our bikes from our cars when I realized that along with these beautiful little bridges there were lots of cement poles (designed to keep motorized vehicles off of the trail). I am not a fan of those kinds of poles. Why must they be so narrow? They are intimidating. I think they work great to keep cars and 4-wheelers off of trails but they very nearly keep bicycles off too—you really have to make sure you are lined up before going through them so as not to hit one of the poles or scrap your leg on one.
We had biked quite a distance and I had made it successfully through all of the poled entrances without incident, and we had just turned around and were on our way back. I had gained some confidence over this ride and was now sailing right through those poles with hardly a second thought! Slow down for them? Please—that is for amateurs!
As we headed back to our cars there were two poles that I had to ride through—I confidently lined up my handlebars and without slowing proceeded through them. Almost. I remember having the fleeting thought that these poles were higher than the others and I just might hit my handlebar as I felt a huge jolt go through my body as I went flying over the handlebars, landing painfully on the ground. My knee and wrist broke the fall, and I landed face down on the trail. I laid there, very closely observing the asphalt trail and started to laugh. It was not because I had not gotten hurt—I had skinned myself up pretty well but rather because here I was a young 20-something biking with four geriatrics (they were all over 60) and who got hurt? Me! I should have been the fast one without balance issues but no, I was the one to misjudge and went flying over the handlebars!
We see instances of pride tripping people up all throughout scripture. Saul becomes proud and when the women sing David’s praises. It literally drives Saul crazy. We see Judas Iscariot, the respected treasurer, betray Jesus for 20 silver coins. We see Hamman build a scaffold to hang Mordecai, only for the tables to turn and instead Hamman himself is hung from this scaffold. The Bible is clear about these messages: pride goes before a fall (Proverbs 16:18). Just like I went flying over the handlebars of my bicycle so each of these people went flying and landed face down on the proverbial ground as well.
It is, of course, good and healthy to take pride in certain things in life; our family, the way we do a job, and so forth, but the harm comes when we make any of these good things an idol. Let us always have the heart David did when he wrote, “Search me oh God and know my heart.”
Disclosure
Please remember that this post contains affiliate links; that means if you click on the link, I will make a small commission at no extra cost to you. It’s a way to support my blog! I will only ever share an affiliate link if I love the product and think that you just might love it too!
Whom He loves
For whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives.
Hebrews 12:6
I had wanted a kitten for forever. I remember when I was really little asking my mom if we could get a cat and she said no, namely because we had a cockatiel named Tweeter and cats and birds don’t mix well. I remember the day Tweeter died trying to look sad as I inquired if now that she had died, could we get a cat? The answer was still no.
Imagine then my delight when, at age 11, I discovered that the neighbor’s cat had kittens! There was just one problem—the cat had her kittens in the woods across the street and it was anyone’s guess where exactly these kittens were located. A few days after the kittens were born (momma cat had gotten considerably skinnier) we were on a family bike ride when we noticed momma heading into the woods. We stopped and watched as she disappeared behind a fallen tree. We hiked up the hillside and what did my wandering eyes behold, but five tiny baby kittens!
I think my mom knew as we carried the kittens down to the neighbor’s house that there was going to be no possible way to put off getting a cat for much longer. I basically lived at the neighbor’s house that summer, holding and playing with the kittens for hours a day. The neighbor had made a bed on her front porch for them and there was a slight slope between the porch and a covered pavilion that the kittens like to race back and forth between. One day my dad and I watched from the bottom of the slope as the only little black kitten raced up the hill and rolled on his back, batting and trying to get his mother to play with him as she was walking down the hill. They batted back and forth for a little bit before momma sat down and started licking her front paw—signaling that she was done. The kitten again rolled on his back and started swatting her front paw. She gave him a harder little swat as if to say, “No, I’m done. Go play with your brother.” Well, that little black kitten stood up, hissed, and did the curvy arched back thing that cats do when they are showing they have attitude.
Whack! Momma swatted him so hard that he rolled down the hill before he scampered off to the pavilion where his siblings were playing. That black cat would become our first cat and we named him Dickenz because boy, did he have an attitude and he sure could be a little dickens! To this day he was the sweetest cat I’ve ever had; he did have his moments of being bad! But he always came back to love us.
This reminds me of the story of David—I promise this is a compliment that I am comparing David to my cat! In the Bible, we hear a lot about David—like a lot! He was labeled by God as a man after God’s own heart. Such praise! But David was just a man, an imperfect one at that. David sinned, he committed adultery, and murder, but when confronted David was quick to repent and turn back to God.
Still, there were consequences for his sin. The first child David conceived with Bathsheba would die. God would ultimately bless them with another son, but David would have to pay for his sins. He would have to be disciplined by God for his sin in order to know true communion with God.
Being disciplined is never fun. I hated hearing that word growing up. But just as it was necessary for the momma cat to discipline her kittens, so it is necessary for God to discipline us—so that we can have the relationship with Him that He craves for us to have.
Disclosure
Please remember that this post contains affiliate links; that means if you click on the link, I will make a small commission at no extra cost to you. It’s a way to support my blog! I will only ever share an affiliate link if I love the product and think that you just might love it too!