Hello, friends! Fancy meeting you here again for this week’s Happy List!
Have you had snow yet? We had a dusting on Wednesday, but I don’t really count that. I am hoping for a white Christmas.
This week on the blog I shared a non-Christmasy thing. I hope you don’t mind. I have another non-Christmasy thing for you next week too.
But back to this week! I wrote about the Online Game Budget Form I set up for our kids. It’s been so helpful. Guess what my kids want for Christmas? Money for online game stuff. That’s not super fun to wrap, by the way.
They also want books, but that’s about it. Makes for an easy Christmas, but I do miss the days when they got excited over a stuffed animal or toy truck.
I also shared the crafty things I did to create our Gold and Copper Christmas Tree. I had fun decorating it this year!
Now, here’s the Happy List!
TRIANGLE WREATH
This triangle-shaped wreath by Paper and Stitch is so cool! Love the fresh modern vibe.
(image: Paper and Stitch)
SPOONS OUT OF A PINECONE
Handy Husband and I were mesmerized by this video of a man making spoons out of a pinecone and I don’t throw around the word mesmerized lightly.
Handy Husband was in awe of how the guy made a wood contraption on the lathe for the express purpose of being able to cut the pinecone in half.
I caution you. If you watch this video you are going to want a lathe.
If the video doesn’t load, here is the link.
CUSTOMIZABLE NY TIMES PUZZLE
This is SO cool if you have a puzzle lover in your life.
You can customize a puzzle with the front page from the NY Times for any date going back to 1851!
Pick the date they were born, got married, graduated, etc.
I have a feeling this would be a very hard puzzle to do if you picked a date before the NY Times started using color pictures.
(image: UnCommon Goods)
BEAUTIFUL
I’m not exactly sure what this Christmas greenery is sitting in, but I’m here for it!
If you love looking at historic homes, all the pictures from this home decked out for Christmas by Zara Home are incredible.
Although, there is one image that Handy Husband would definitely veto as a fire hazard.
(image: Zara Home via The Nordroom)
LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS
If you want to see some amazing places in the world, go check out the 2020 International Landscape Photographer of the Year Award winners.
The below photo is titled “Life Stream, Highlands, Iceland” by Kai Hornung (Germany). This photo won 1st Place, International Landscape Photograph of the Year.
(image: Kai Hornung via My Modern Met)
BELLEAU WOOD AND STILLE NACHT
Belleau Wood is the one Christmas song that is guaranteed to make me teary-eyed every time I hear it. So, of course, I have to play it on repeat. Ha!
This version of Belleau Wood where the singer transitions into Silent Night sung in German is very moving.
The line in the song that gets me every time is the one that says, “Here’s hoping we both live to see us find a better way.”
That sentence applies to so many things in this world we inhabit that it makes my heart ache a little.
If the video doesn’t load, here is the link.
GLAZED CRANBERRY ORANGE SCONES
I don’t think I’ve made a bad recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction and that’s saying something because that accounts for my human error!
I didn’t really enjoy scones until we lived in Ireland and they tasted so good there, especially served with clotted cream.
These Glazed Cranberry Orange Scones look so festive and tasty.
(image: Sally’s Baking Addiction)
THOUGHTFUL ADVICE
“Do not ask your children
to strive for extraordinary lives.
Such striving may seem admirable,
but it is the way of foolishness.
Help them instead to find the wonder
and the marvel of an ordinary life.
Show them the joy of tasting
tomatoes, apples and pears.
Show them how to cry
when pets and people die.
Show them the infinite pleasure
in the touch of a hand.
And make the ordinary come alive for them.
The extraordinary will take care of itself.”
― The Parent’s Tao Te Ching: Ancient Advice for Modern Parents
That’s it for today’s Happy List! Thank you, as always, for being here!
I hope you have a fantastic weekend.
I’ll see you back here on Monday.
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