It's December!!!

Yes, it's the first day of December, and also time for the montly calendar roll-call! So here we go!

Oh, I love this scene from the John Sloane's Country Season calendar...doesn't it just make you want to be right there helping them carry in the big beautiful fresh Christmas tree that they just cut out in the woods?  And can't you imagine that mother standing at the door to welcome them has prepared some hot cocoa and cookies for them to enjoy once they come inside and take their snowy boots and jackets off?  I can just feel the warmth and welcome flowing out from the windows and doors...happy times are coming!! It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas!

Maybe she has a pot of tea brewing for the adults...and look at those lovely little tasty meat pies...I bet those taste mighty good on a frosty day...

Tea time...I didn't use a saucer, but here's my breakfast tea this morning...using the Thomas Kinkade mug with the beautiful little white church in the village...my favorite for the Christmas season:

And speaking of Thomas Kinkade, here's his December calendar beautiful painting...another warm and welcoming home...and the message goes along with Advent...yes, we are now looking for "that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ..." to return in His second Advent to redeem us all...Oh! What a wonderful Christmas that would be...to finally see Jesus face to face and feel His warm embrace...

And to see all of this:

This picture is on the calendar in my bathroom...a beautiful scene to wake up to each morning...

And then I just saw this on Facebook this morning, and it really spoke to me...it's on a site called "Restful", and one of my old childhood friends had posted it on her page. I didn't see an author of the quote, but it really seemed to speak to me today...

(Picture from the Internet)

"There comes a quiet season in life

where you stop trying to impress everyone

and start trying to be at peace.

You stop rushing.

You stop forcing.

You stop explaining yourself to people who were never truly listening.

You learn that slow mornings are not laziness —

they’re healing.

And early evenings are not boredom —

they’re peace you spent decades earning.

Growing older isn’t about fading.

It’s about finally seeing clearly.

You start noticing the softness in things you used to overlook:

• the way sunlight warms the kitchen tiles

• the comfort of a familiar chair

• the peace of breathing slowly

• the joy of doing nothing but existing

You no longer need loud rooms or big circles.

A few real people — or even just your own company — is more than enough.

And somewhere between all the birthdays and all the heartbreaks,

you gain a quiet kind of wisdom:

The kind that isn’t loud,

isn’t showy,

isn’t trying to prove anything.

Just… lived.

You realize you’ve survived every single day you thought you couldn’t.

You’ve learned more from silence than applause.

You’ve grown softer, not weaker.

Kinder, not smaller.

Wiser, not tired.

And maybe — just maybe —

this is what beauty truly looks like:

A life that learned to bloom slowly.

A heart that stayed gentle in a sharp world.

A soul that finally understands its own worth.

Growing older isn’t a burden.

It’s a blessing hidden inside ordinary days.

A gift you only recognize once you’ve carried enough years

to understand what really matters."

 (copied from "Restful" on Facebook)

I guess it spoke to me because I've been so very tired this past weekend, and a bit under the weather after the hustle and bustle of last week's Thanksgiving festivities at our house. I ended up having to stay at home from church yesterday, missing the beautiful first Sunday of Advent and also a 5th Sunday potluck dinner after church...but my tummy would not allow me to even think about participating in another big dinner!  Oh my!  But I am much better this morning, and trying to get myself back in gear to get started on this journey of Advent and preparing my heart and my home for Christmas...

Because...'Tis the Season...

The Susan Branch calendar always has some fun food for thought...

And some words of wisdom as well...

Amen!

So I did manage to put away the Thanksgiving decor and begin to slowly put out some Christmas color and delights...

The little church has changed now from being the pumpkin patch to the place where the carolers are getting ready to sing...

"Joy to the World...Let Heaven and Nature Sing!"

Oh, here's my own little picture of "bringing home the tree"...but we haven't brought out our tree just yet...that is yet to come...

But things are getting ready for a "Christmas tea"...just you and me...

We can pretend we are in this little log cabin out in the snowy woods...

Sounds like fun, doesn't it?   Here in Florida...a girl can only dream. LOL.

I did manage to set up the grapevine tree on the front porch so we can have some lights shining in the darkness...

Telling the neighborhood the Good News!  

Not a full moon, but a bright half moon was shining down upon us as we lit up the night with the Good News that Christmas is coming...

Here's a song I've never heard before, but I love it...

A Star in the Night

A fitting end for this post today.

Happy Advent...Merry Christmas season beginning now!!

 

Advent Day 14: Let Heaven and Nature Sing!

As I sat here in front of my little window from my "Room with a View" and started to write this post, my thoughts were directed to the sign above the window, and the view of Still Waters Pond early on this Advent morning.  This is kind of like opening a window on the Advent Calendar, if you will! You never know what may be there to surprise or bless you!

The Christmas carol "Joy to the World" came to mind, especially the first verse, which is where this words for this sign came from:

"Joy to the world the Lord is come

Let earth receive her king!

Let every heart prepare Him room

And heaven and nature sing

And heaven and nature sing

And heaven and Heaven and nature sing!"

If you've been reading my blog for a long time, you may remember that this picture below used to be the banner photo for my blog, which was at my kitchen window in our last house in Salt Springs, FL., in the middle of the Ocala National Forest. (Click HERE to read a post about this window sill and more)

There were many opportunities to view nature outside that window and all around us at that house.  (Click HERE for an example, in case you've forgotten, or are new to my blog since we left that house in 2019)

But today I wanted to focus on the beauty of God's "wild kingdom" right outside our current window, here on Still Waters Pond.  I love this time of year because it is the time when the migrating ducks and geese and other birds start arriving...some to stay around all winter, and others to just pass through, but all are a delight to see even if for a moment! They sing their songs and flap their wings and it seems to me that they are a part of the heralding in of the Babe born in the manger, the King of kings, and Lord of all creation!

Colossians 1:15-17 says:

"15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 

16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, 

visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. 

All things were created through Him and for Him. 

17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist."

Psalm 24:1 says:

24 

The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness,

The world and those who dwell therein.

2 For He has founded it upon the seas,

And established it upon the waters.

So it is only fitting that today we will focus upon the beauty and wonders of God's kingdom right here on Still Waters Pond!

I was so excited yesterday morning to look out the window and find a wonderful surprise!

Not just one or two, but a whole family of Black Bellied Whistling Ducks had arrived to our pond!

I know this picture isn't very clear, but I like it. It was early morning, and the sun wasn't fully up yet, so some of these pictures may be a little blurry. 

If you remember HERE in September, a couple of these ducks showed up and stayed around for a little while, and then they disappeared again.  And now look!  I believe this may be the same couple, and they've brought back their whole brood to visit here!  I feel like a proud Grandma of quintuplets! As best I can count, there are five youngsters and the two parents! What a wonderful surprise!

They stayed around for quite a while. There must be something really good for them to eat there along the mucky shore of the pond.  

Of course I took pictures for as long as they stayed in close enough range for me to watch them. I knew you'd want to see them too!

My statement at the top of this blog, under my cover photo says this:

Remember: "When God closes a door, He always opens a window!" You never know what might be out there waiting for you!

When God closed the door on our previous home in Salt Springs and brought us here to this house on Still Waters Pond, we had no idea what might be out there waiting for us. I was afraid I'd really miss seeing our bears and deer and other critters from the forest (and I do miss them), but God has provided abundant beauty for us to behold here. I am so very thankful for this open window from my little "Room with a View".  There's always something out there to enjoy if I just open my eyes and look!

Here's a few pictures from the day before the ducks arrived:

Our Canada Goose couple continues to show up most every day. I am hoping they will decide to nest here again this winter/spring and that this time they will be successful. Last year didn't turn out too well for them, but maybe they were too immature yet and needed a year to 'grow up' before starting their own family? Who knows? God knows. Time will tell.

This morning there was no sign of the ducks, but the geese were out there on the pond again, however, you really can't see them in these pictures below. I was mainly focusing on how pretty pond looks in this late fall "early winter" season we are encountering. It was rather overcast this morning, and these pictures were from my cell phone, so they aren't quite as clear, but maybe you'll get the "picture".

As you can see, we still have some autumn leaves on the maple trees around the pond, but with the windy days we've been having lately, they are really starting to fall.  

Here's some added color from around the house and yard! The geraniums are loving this cooler weather, and the Christmas Cactus is starting to really bloom!  

This geranium is blooming under the back porch! I put it there to protect it from the bright sun (and frost whenever we get any) , and it seems to like it under there!  And it still gets plenty of sun and rain and has survived there for a while. Maybe next spring I will bring it back up to the porch.

I don't think I've shown you a picture of the grapevine tree in the daytime that is on the front porch. And a couple of little poinsettia plants beside it.

The little pinecone on the shelf of the table (above) has a story. One day when I went out to get the mail from the mailbox, I noticed this little pinecone just sitting there on the lawn, upright just like you see it above. I looked all around and thought, "where did that come from? There are no pine trees right over it or near by, and even if they were, they seldom land upright like that!"  I decided it must be a little gift from either a squirrel or maybe God just wanted me to notice it because it is special. So there it is!

Here's our shed "decorated" for Christmas. Those wreaths do have lights on them, but they are battery operated and it's too much trouble to keep remembering to go outside at night and turn them on and then go back again in the dark to turn them off, so this year they are just greenery by day to decorate.

And this is the wreath on the front door.

So that's the tour of the outside right now that you haven't already seen. And now I must close this door and open the window of the kitchen to get to work on cooking supper! LOL.  

"Joyful, joyful we adore Thee

God of glory, Lord of love

And hearts unfold like flowers before Thee

Opening to the sun above"

Happy 14th Day of Advent. I hope you enjoyed opening this Advent window today!

Friday Foto Friends: Christmas Is Coming to Pamela's Victorian Cottage

As we open today's Advent calendar window, we see it is getting close to Christmas, and as a new dawn arises things appear to be pretty peaceful and calm at Pamela's Victorian Cottage...

But inside those doors there is a flurry of activity going on...

Mother and her little growing family have been busily getting the house decorated and ready for Christmas

A couple of days ago Papa and some of the children went and found the most beautiful Christmas tree in the woods and brought it home to decorate:

Painting by John Sloane, Country Seasons Calendar

And so they brought it in and decorated it as beautifully as they could: 

Mother said they had done a very good job of decorating, and just in time, because they were expecting a special visitor!

Papa had gone to the train station to pick up their wonderful Auntie from the city, who was coming to visit for Christmas as per her usual custom each year:

Painting by John Sloane, Country Seasons Calendar

Oh my! There she is now!

As always, there is a great bit of excitement when Auntie comes to visit! She is always full of wonderful surprises and fun!

Mother worries in the kitchen about making sure there is enough food for everyone and that everything looks perfect for their sophisticated guest from the city...

But what Auntie really wants is to sit down and relax in her sister's warm, cozy country kitchen and have a cup of tea and a good visit with her family. She's tired from her journey and from the hustle and bustle of city life, and she just wants to enjoy a country Christmas with the ones she loves.

And so, while the children go out to play in the snow, Auntie and Mother have a wonderful time visiting and enjoying each other's company and catching up on all the news from their busy lives.

The children are having a great time sledding and skating on the pond

Painting by John Sloane, Country Seasons Calendar

And the family looks forward to going to church together while Auntie is visiting, especially because the children have been practicing for their Christmas program and they want their Auntie to see them perform as they sing the Christmas carols and tell the old familiar and wonderful Christmas story once again.

Painting by John Sloane, Country Seasons Calendar

"O Holy Night" 

Won't you sing along with us?

Now let us all sing "Silent Night" together

I hope you enjoyed this little Christmas program put on by the family at Pamela's Victorian Cottage.

Here are links to last year's Christmas stories:

https://pamelasopenwindow.blogspot.com/2019/12/a-special-christmas-visitor-at-pamelas.html

https://pamelasopenwindow.blogspot.com/2019/12/pamelas-victorian-cottagea-new-years.html

Merry Christmas from Pamela's Victorian Cottage!

May God bless you all with a very Merry Christmas!