Christmas is over and the New Year will begin in just a matter of a couple of days.
People are beginning to de-decorate their homes, (me included), and settle in for the long winter still to come. Taking the Christmas decs down is always bittersweet--the house feels so bare and less cozy, yet it feels more organized. Speaking of organization, I have been doing a fair amount of that also--cleaned out the pantry, organized yarn, cleaned off book shelves (which resulted in a bag of books for the donation station), cleaned off and reorganized my kitchen counters and picked up our bedroom. Tomorrow, I hope to finish some thank-you note writing and some small sewing projects--bless Pinterest for all the new fun ideas I have found. :)
I decided as I packed away my holiday decor, that I would leave a few things out--just to maintain a bit of that wintertime cozy---
This little counter used to hold the mail and all kind of paper junk. No one liked how it looked, so we figured out a new mail storage spot and I added this little bit of cozy to my kitchen!
My husband suggested we leave this twinkle light swag up for the winter, which makes me all kinds of happy, because twinkle lights make me smile!
Even though I had to clean all the cedar boughs off my shelves and mantle--I decided to keep a few in water on the shelf--it just feels a bit like the holidays with out all the holidayish stuff!Are you leaving stuff out too?
Many bookie bloggers are doing their end of the year stats posts, and normally I do one too. But not this year. My completed reading for 2011 was a bit paltry compared to other years and really I am alright with that. The thing which demanded equal time from my pool of free time, was knitting. I learned a lot of new techniques, met lots of new people, and finished many projects.
I will tell you my favorite reads of 2012--there were several and they are listed in no particular order:
- The Tower, The Zoo and the Tortoise
- The Weird Sisters
- Minding Frankie
- The Violets of March
- Major Pettigrew's Last Stand
- A Lesson in Secrets (Maisie Dobbs)
- Prayers For Sale
My page total was somewhere around the 8,500 mark--which sounds like a very pathetic amount compared to so many others--but it is what it is and hopefully next year will be a bit more productive!
And my completed challenges for 2012? Not so great either. I got so far behind that I kind of quit keeping track-but I did post the other day several for 2012 that looked do-able for me. I was really hoping Becky from Becky's Book Reviews was going to host the A-Z challenge, but I have seen no mention of it. I might just challenge myself to do it on my own as it is always kind of fun to make the books fit!
Happy New Year and happy reading!
We share a fondness for Major Pettigrew :)
ReplyDeleteI don't keep track of pages but I read 95 books in 2011 - fewer than the past few years but hey, I became a grandmother thanks to my son and his wife and planned a wedding for my daughter this year, haha.
I love the idea of keeping lights around the window. My youngest daughter who still lives at home asked if we could keep the little tree up (with white lights) that's on the landing outside her bedroom. I think I'll suggest the window idea!
Happy New Year, Kim.
I agree about taking the decorations down, Kim - mixed feeling here, too. I put some stuff away today. We didn't get to taking the tree down yet, but as I walked past it this evening, I was kind of glad because I like the scent so much. That's a great idea to keep up a couple of things to brighten up the winter months. We did that one year with the white twinkle lights on the mantle because the kids liked them.
ReplyDeleteNice list of favorite books. I have wanted to read The Tower, The Zoo, and the Tortoise for a while now. I haven't posted my year-end summary yet, but I did count up the books in my reading journal yesterday - I think I read 68 this year.
Happy New Year!
Sue