A New Year's wish for us all....

~ Inner peace
~Freedom from fear
~Good health
~Patience
~Kindness towards others
~Friendship

May the new year bring you all of these.
This is my wish for you all...:)

~Why my house smells heavenly right now.....

I'm making gifts for two very special people.....

They'll remain unnamed for the moment (shhhh, don't want to give away their gifts!)

I'm sure all of you are familiar with Tracey's beautiful blog
French Larkspur
She shared a wonderful recipe that I knew would be the perfect gift for my dd to give to the unnamed two....!
I've adorned them with a couple of ornaments from my Etsy shop, a couple of antique spoons, and possible more embellishment to come because I just don't seem to know when to stop!
We've had so much fun in the kitchen this afternoon and the smell, well it's just amazing!
Off to make her some hot chocolate....cheers!

Why our Christmases are so happy!

We had just the best day today going to see Santa. Dh had an appointment this a.m. so we had to go this afternoon and by the time we got there Santa was on lunch break ( he needs his energy you know)
So we went and grabbed some sandwiches at Honeybaked Ham in our mall (highly recommend by the way) and then we got in line.
My dd is 11 and still believes. (At least that's what she tells us.)
She was really excited to see Santa and our tradition is that she tells him her 3 very most favorite wishes for Christmas. Funny thing that, she usually gets them all.....:).
Then we went shopping for her Dad and came home and wrapped gifts......I just love this time of year.
Hope you're all able to enjoy the simple moments of this season.
I think I'm doing a better job of it this year than in years past and it feels great.
It's all about family and traditions and passing those on.....
hope you all have a peaceful week.....:)

A highlight of the season.......so far

Well hello, I do hope this week is treating you well so far!
I have one lone shot to share (and un-edited at that!) of some decor for the Christmas season...you see, we have a storage unit and all our decorations are in it. A couple of weeks ago we decided to go get our outside lights to put up, and that was it.
I'm kind of liking the fact that I can't get my hands on my decorations and start stressing out about decorating my house!
That will happen this coming weekend when we put our tree up and I'll decorate a bit inside, but I'm not feeling like going crazy with it this year, more simplified.
As for my blog title, I'm referring to our lighting of our Advent wreath each Sunday...our dd insists on partaking and saying a prayer, which is priceless! You never know what's going to come out of her mouth, what pearls of wisdom, and she's really very spiritual. (My dh was wishing we had recorded her words but once you put that recorder on it's a game-changer).
Have a peaceful rest of your week....:).

~TGIF~

So it's been a drama filled week and I'm over-the-moon happy that it's Friday! That means normal family time, festive activities, and good food! 
This weekend will be the start of our family stroll through the neighborhood to check out the Christmas lights.....we normally drive but why not walk? We can watch the progression of new lights each weekend.....and get some exercise!
And when we get home, hot cocoa time! Maybe with something special added? O.K., use your imagination here.....lol!

Two beautiful books with floral covers in my etsy...

Very cool dictionary in my etsy...

Gorgeous old bible in my etsy...

Vintage oak file box in my etsy.....

Beautiful vintage floral ticking in purple in my etsy.....

I do hope you all are having a wonderful Christmas season so far!
Remember to take some time for yourself to enjoy............!!

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care~

Beautiful vintage stockings....all found
here....www.etsy.com/shop/littlebeachdesigns

Unexpected treasures.....

What a fun day today was! First off, it's sooo cold here that it's really starting to get me in the Christmas spirit...our goal today was to get our lights up outside so we went to our storage unit...on the way we saw a sign for an Estate sale. Sweet dh asked me if I wanted to go. Ummm, o.k., twist my arm. As we drove up he said, "It doesn't look like a very big or very nice house, are you sure you wanna go in?" Silly man, those are the best sales! You know the ones, the older homes where the owners (we can only hope) were packrats! Oh, and did I mention it was Sunday so half price day!
(My dd pointed that out to me, she's such a good shopper).
So on the wall I saw the two gorgeous prints above....couldn't grab those fast enough. They're stunning in person and quite large with really nice creamy wood frames....so pretty.

Wonderful books....we'll see what I can part with...

A package of the sweetest tiny, tiny Dennison stars, and a really cool oak file box with index cards included...

Lovely large bunch of lace and a gorgeous purple roses pillow tick.....

and last but not least....an ancient old testament Bible that is literally falling apart and a very cool old dictionary.
I left that sale so very happy...plus we got our lights up today outside, went to church tonight, and had a great Chinese meal.
Happy week to all!

New in my Etsy shop!

A gorgeous antique book

and another

upcycled shoe forms

vintage shoe forms

vintage doll with angel wings

stunning roses tray

We've had such a busy day! Mostly organizing and cleaning out our master bedroom, trust me you don't want to see the before photos on this one! It feels so good though to get it all organized how it should be and get rid of things we don't need. So much more to be done but that's o.k. When it's finished we'll breathe a sigh of relief and feel so good about it!
What have you done today?

It's been a funny day, ever have one of those?

I was struck tonight, while letting my dog outside into our front courtyard, how breathtakingly gorgeous it is outside tonight.....we had no clouds today even though the day started out very foggy and spooky this morning....then the sun came out but it's been VERY cold all day.
I looked up into the sky and saw the moon.....my very favorite thing to spy in the night sky, always has been! And then seeing it through the bare branches of our redbud made it look otherworldly....

I was out raking leaves (we have a ton of them right now!) when the plumber drove up....once again a clogged kitchen drain....happens far too often, and $150 later (that's o.k., money grows on trees right?) I decided not to let that bother me.....too many far more important things to focus my time and energy on that a lowly drain....!
Tomorrow we'll put up our Christmas lights outside because I told my dh that we just need more light out there this time of year! The sooner the better, I say. As for the tree, that's going up later this year than normal because we leave our tree up through the epiphany in January....so no need to rush.
I would like to get some decorations inside though, so that will probably happen this weekend too.
Hope you're all enjoying the season so far!