Mandala Monday ~ Christmas Gifts

Happy Mandala Monday!  I just thought I would share a few photos of the lovely mandala coasters and set of magnets I got this past Christmas from my nephew and my sister. They’re so delightful and they make me happy – (the gifts and my fam 😉)!

I had both of these things on my Amazon wishlist and was so excited to receive them!  One of my love languages is gifts, so I always feel extra loved when people give me gifts.  Granted, it is a common tradition to exchange gifts at Christmas time – especially with family, but it still makes me feel extra special whenever I receive a gift!

Here is a stock photo I stole off of the Amazon listing so you can see all the great mandala designs on the coasters.  They’re all so pretty, it’s hard to chose a favorite…

And those coasters will come in handy while I’m drinking all of the fruit-infused water concoctions that I’ve set my mind to making in the new year.  The color of this one looks especially yummy doesn’t it?  Strawberry, blackberry and pineapple. Mmm so refreshing…

🍹

The magnets are such darling little things!  They were tricky to photograph because they’re only about the size of a quarter and have a glossy finish, so these are a bit blurry…

These will come in handy too, as my sweet Granddaughter loves to draw, color and paint pictures for me to display on my refrigerator.  Maybe I’ll have some to display from my Grandson one day too.  We’ll have to wait and see if he enjoys art, as he is only one year old, but he seems to like being involved in anything and everything that his big sister is doing.

Speaking of my Grandchildren…

I could share hundreds of photos I snapped of them over the holidays, but I’ll spare you from all the scrolling.  I do love these ones of the two of them though, because of the warm, loving memories I have of them helping me decorate my tree…

My Granddaughter always insists on wearing her ‘strawberry dress’ (which is too small), whenever she comes over.  But it makes her happy, so we just let her. Even though it’s winter. 🙃

🎄❤

And I’ll share this one too, because of the pure and simple joy of it…

Oh, how I love my Daughter and my Grandchildren! 💕

And while we are on the subject of children (and this looks like it’s for children), and it’s Mandala Monday, one other mandala-themed gift I received this Christmas was this mandala sidewalk chalk stencil kit from my mom…

Another stock photo, but that can’t be helped – it’s winter right now and everything is covered with snow, so I can’t exactly take it out and play with it just yet.  Maybe for a future mandala Monday…

I hope your Monday is off to a good start!  Wishing you beauty and inspiration today and in the coming week!

 

 

✿~Peace & Love~✿

Mandala Monday ~ Christmas Ornaments

I’ve been back in painting mandalas mode over the past couple of weeks making Christmas ornaments as gifts for friends and family.  I’ve had a lot of fun painting them and I really hope they like them.  Here are a few of the designs I created.  They’re all a bit similar, especially color-wise (red, green and white), but each one is different…

The ornaments I used were clear glass, so they pick up whatever is in the background.  It really affects the look of the design and I’m not sure if I like that or not.  I tried using an etching cream on one of them to create a frosted glass look, but omygosh that was a complete fail.

The lighting wasn’t the greatest trying to photograph them indoors, so I brought them outside and snapped a few photos of them hanging from the branches of my arborvitae…

I don’t know if you can tell in the photo, but I put fake snow in the bottom of this next one.  I thought it’d be a whimsical way of providing ‘snow’ for loved ones who don’t get snow where they live…

I also put rhinestones in the center of some of them for those who might like a bit more bling, but at the time of this post, I’ve already wrapped them up for giving and don’t have a good picture to share.  Oh wait, here’s one…

It’s not very sparkly in the photo, a real crystal would look prettier, but I couldn’t find any flat-backed ones in the proper size.

I made them in two different sizes and the details got a bit muddled up trying to paint the tiny dots on the smaller ones, so they don’t look as nice blown up in a photo, but they’re pretty and dainty in person.

Due to the same color scheme, they all started feeling like they looked too much alike, so I tried to create different patterns, at the same time as keeping the person I was making them for in mind.  This one turned out be sort of a star burst design…

A few of the recipients of these ornaments follow my blog and I’m hoping they don’t see this post before they receive their ornaments, but I wanted to share because it’s one of the things I’ve been up to lately.

I know I’ve been a bit absent from my WordPress community this December (posting and reading) and I’m sorry I haven’t had the chance to stop by your blogs as much, but please know this… I’ve still thought of a great many of you quite often during this time, truly I have, and I’ve been sending love and good vibes your way as you’ve come to mind.

Please be well my friends.  Sincerely wishing you all that is good and lovely in this world, a very Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and lots of love to you and yours…

 

 

✿~Peace & Love~✿

 

Holiday Lights

 

Holiday lights

glow warmer 

on a wintry morning

when there’s snow

 

© Julie Rehnelt 2016

 

We put up our Christmas lights the other day, and although it looked quite festive when we turned them on that evening, I was feeling a bit disappointed about our lack of snow here.  But when I awoke the next morning, I found to my inner child’s delight that it had snowed during the night!  There’s something extra magical about snow at Christmas time! ❄

And the lights do glow warmer…

😊

 

 

✿~Peace & Love~✿

Things I Love About December

 

The invigorating scent of fresh pine

Peppermint flavored everything

Swirling snowflakes dancing on the wintry winds

and on my blog

Christmas music ringing out on the airways

The color red

Frosty windows

Animal tracks in the snow

Hot cocoa

A crackling fire on a cozy hearth

Warm winter clothes – mittens!  🙂

The extra sense of wonder and excitement in children

and in my pets

and in me

The increased spirit of giving and goodwill people have toward one another

Pretty packages containing special gifts for loved ones

Celebrating the greatest gift of all – the birth of Jesus ❤

Holiday lights sparkling everywhere

The warm glow of candlelight

Spending extra time with family and friends

Baking festive holiday treats

Clear crisp wintry night skies filled with bright stars

Frost on my windows

oh wait, I already mentioned that  😉

~

 

I’m experiencing a slight bit of overwhelm here in my little world at the moment, so I made this list to remind myself of everything I love about this time of year.

What do you love today?

 

 

✿~Peace & Love~✿

Weekly Photo Challenge: Yellow

 

We went over to my sister’s new house yesterday where I snapped this photo of one of her Star Trek ornaments hanging on her tree.  It’s not anything spectacular, but with the yellow Christmas light shinning there next to it, I thought it would be fitting for this week’s Weekly Photo Challenge: Yellow.

Christmas trees, the final frontier.  These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise…

😀

As a bona fide Trekkie, over half of my sister’s Christmas tree ornaments are Star Trek themed ornaments, and some of them are pretty darn cool.  My favorite one is the Borg cube, where when you press it a recording says: “We are the Borg, enjoy your holidays, resistance is futile.”  Hahaha gotta love it!  (Only other Star Trek fans will get that).

 

With just a few more days to go until Christmas, my hope is that your holiday would be ‘assimilated into the collective’ of the beauty, the wonder, and the joy of the True meaning of season.  Many blessings to you and yours.  Merry Christmas!

 

 

✿~Peace & Love~✿

Reindeer Sighting

I was trying to take some pictures of our snow out my window yesterday morning; they weren’t really turning out, but then I spotted Rudolph…

Okay… so I added the red nose, but it still resembles him don’t you think?  No?  Oh, well maybe I’m just seeing things.  😉

I guess our recent snow just has me feeling a bit festive over here.  It may be a little early yet, but there’s nothing like some fresh snow to get you into the holiday mood.

😀

 

 

✿~Peace & Love~✿

May Your Christmas…

 

May your Christmas be filled with warmth and Light

with Peace and Love and all that is bright.

May your heart taste Joy with childlike delight

and shine with the Hope of that blessed night.

© Julie Rehnelt 2013

~

Peace & Love…

and Merry Christmas!  ♥

And… Exhale

After Christmas there is always this sense of a sort of exhale for me.  All the hustle and bustle is over and I can finally release the breath that I feel like I’ve been holding in through it all.  It’s really quite a relief actually, seeing as I usually rather enjoy breathing, in general.  😉

I’ve mentioned many times in previous posts how much I hate busyness and unfortunately sometimes even the fun kind wears on me.  The past few Christmases have been so different and also difficult for me.  I hope one day everything will be back to normal, but perhaps this is just how it’s going to be from now on.  Maybe once you experience the death of a close loved one and/or other multiple major life changes, the holidays never really go “back to normal” again.  Or maybe it just takes time.  I did have a nice Christmas though, for the most part, and I hope you all did too.

I’d have to say that the best thing about mine was having my punk nephew home from California.  I only get to see him every few years, so it was really nice to have him here for Christmas this year.  On the first day that I got to spend with him we all went out to see the movie The Hobbit.  I am a huge fan of Tolkien and I really enjoyed seeing a beloved story of mine brought to life on the big screen.  I also thought it was very well done and I look forward to the next installment.

The next day, my nephew and his girlfriend came over and we all made candy together.  My mom happened to snap this photo while we were working on making our Christmas mice.Maraschino cherries dipped in white chocolate = yummy little mice!

~

Yeah, they may be all smiles in that photo there, but on Christmas Eve when he brought over a new game for all of us to play, things got a bit heated.  Taboo…We always play games after eating and opening gifts on Christmas Eve, and Taboo was tons of fun!  I had never played it before, but I think I was pretty good at it.  Well… except for the whole not being allowed to talk with my hands part of the rules.  That was a bit tricky.  Yes, I’m one those people who talks with my hands.  Hey, I’m often overly expressive, what can I say?!  😉

~

Another thing I enjoyed this Christmas was the new recipe I tried out.  It’s called Christmas Crack and omyfreakinggosh is it ever delicious!  And addicting.  Hence its being called “crack.”  This will definitely be a regular treat that I will be making around the holidays from now on.

Edit note:  I would love to share this amazing recipe with you all, but I’m afraid you’ll have to find your own drug dealer for this one, as I’ve just recently been made aware that this particular recipe is in fact Top Secret and was only shared with me in the strictest of confidence.  Oops!  My sincere apologies to the dear friend who shared it with me as I didn’t realize that before I posted it here earlier.  There are many other variations of this recipe out there on the Internet free for the taking, none as delicious as this one mind you, but you’ll just have to make due.  I know, I’m such a tease.  😉

~

Well, I don’t know about you, but between doing crack and devouring poor unsuspecting mice, I had waaaay too many goodies over the holidays.  Oof, time for a diet!

And speaking of needing to go on a diet, look at the picture I took of my cute, chubby little kitten.  She is usually a timid little thing whenever there’s company over, but she was celebrating like a pro with the rest of us on Christmas Eve.  She kinda has a thing for wrapping paper and she wasn’t giving this piece up for anything ~ not even for a nap.

~

And look what we subjected my daughter’s poor dog, Teddy to…Haha oh how he detests wearing his Santa hat, but he just looks too darn cute in it to not make him suffer in it, at least for a little while.  😉

Besides, we’re all subjected to a bit of suffering over the holidays.

And… exhale.

~

Now it’s time to get busy contemplating all of those New Year’s resolutions…

Tis the Season to be Stressed Out Falalalalalalalalah…

I saw this the other day and thought, “I can relate.”

The holidays can be such a busy, stressful time for a lot of people, but it’s not just because it’s the holidays that I’m so busy.  Things just seem to have been hoppin’ in my life for quite some time now.  I keep waiting for things to settle down, but then something else comes up, on and on it goes, and now it’s Christmas time.

I have always loved Christmas, absolutely everything about it.  There used to be a time when my daughter was little (and when I was younger too ;)), when I was all finished up with the “busy stuff” of Christmas before Thanksgiving.  Gifts wrapped, Christmas cards addressed etc. and I would just spend that time in between Thanksgiving and Christmas baking, decorating, being festive, and just enjoying the company of friends and family.  But now, after more than just a few major life changes, everything is different, and my perspective on things has changed a bit, and not just about Christmas.

But either way, I’m totally stressed out right now and finding that I’m having a bit of trouble feeling that ol’ Christmas spirit.  I’m really tempted to rebel against all the Shtuff* I have to do and take that nap instead.  But for the sake of my family I will suck it up, take care of everything that needs doing, and make myself be Merry and Bright (right after I finish complaining ;)).

But I really can’t complain because even despite life’s difficulties, busyness, pressures, and stress, still all I can see is how totally blessed and fortunate I am.  Truly.  I have only to look outside of myself at the others around me out there in the world to realize it.

In moving back home and being in my “old neighborhood” in the inner city, I see so many hurting people who are in true dire situations and struggling just to survive.  I think I have stress?  This is nothing!  At least I have a nice warm bed to take that rebellious nap in if things get too overwhelming, some of these dear souls around me don’t even have a place to rest their weary heads.  Shame on me for complaining about anything!  For real.  Oh, am I having trouble finding my Christmas spirit?  Am I stressed out?  Boo who, suck it up and count your blessings Missy!  Indeed.

And here are a couple of them ~ my precious daughter and my dear mom…Haha yeah, you should see our other attempts at trying to take a little family photo in front of the tree, we so totally fail!  Maybe they would have turned out better if we would have had a person taking them for us instead of using the timer on my daughter’s camera.  We tried to take a few with our 3 cats in them with us too, but those all turned out being just a big blur.  There is one semi-nice posed one of us that my mom intends to send out in her Christmas cards this year, but this one was my favorite because it’s a better example of our typical behavior.  😉

~

To be completely honest, I guess I should mention here that even just trying to take those photos was a stressful ordeal, that’s probably why I like that particular shot because it was one of the moments during all of that where we were having fun.  And that’s what it should all be about.  I love my little family.  ♥

Well, I’m off now to go and run a myriad of errands.  Christmas Eve is only a week away!  No time for naps!  😉

But when I do lay my head upon my pillow, I will count my blessings instead of worrying…

~A very Merry Christmas to you and yours~

Give Me Some of That White Stuff

~Waiting for my fellow flakes to arrive ~

I know just how this little guy feels…

We’ve been busy here putting up all the Christmas decorations and I think we’re just about finally finished.  My daughter has been anticipating decorating Grandma’s house for Christmas ever since way back in June when we first decided to combine our homes, and it’s been fun to see her be so filled with excitement.

But, now that all of the decorations are up and looking so festive, I am feeling in real need of some of that “white stuff” to top it off.  We had a light dusting of it a few weeks ago (First Snow), but it has all gone now.  Come on flakes start falling, my little snowman friend here is waiting, and I’m dreaming… of a white Christmas.

Love, love, LOVE the classic rendition of this song!

~