Sylvia's Simple Shots

As we wait in the dark through the long night things can feel lonely, sad and discouraging.

We must remember that dawn does come.

Christmas can only be found.  

Christmas can not be bought.

Fill your heart with the hope an light that is coming.

I put up the tree this week as I was going to be hosting some teas for Christmas visits.

This is my wall tree that I made last year.  I still love it!

This year I decided to put some narrow green garland around the edge which nicely defines it.

I placed a couple of TV tables below it to allow me to hide the cord and put any other seasonal decorations I wanted.  Nice lacy tablecloth and one of my several Nativity sets as the main one is packed.  

I did not put all the ornaments I have on this year as I was up against a deadline.

It provides beautiful light to the living room.

Thank goodness the temperature warmed up a little this week and having friends over was possible.

I pulled out the red table cloth and the plaid Christmas place mats. 

A bit of healthy veggies and brie cheese with whole grain crackers were prepared.

Some clementines as there were not Mandarin oranges when I was shopping.  Supply chain issues.  I was grateful to get most of the food I was looking forward to.

I used my white Ikea dishes and mugs on the first tea and my White Regency for the second tea. 

A bit porcelain teapot of tea and a couple of hours of catching up and visiting with friends.

The Christmas Candle I received from my sister when she was in Germany.  It comes out every year. I have added a flameless candle to it in recent years.

I spent a day with my aunt making our traditional tourtieres (meat pies).  

We made a few small ones and a big one.  She is the one who makes the pastry so she decided that she was not making another batch so we just froze the meat in containers to eat in the next months.

The frozen filling may become pies or just eaten with pea and carrots which is my traditional way of eating tourtiere.

This tea with my friend featured just a few snacks.  Chocolate almonds, Ferrero Rocher and some cranberry and almond cookies.

Still a bit big pot of herbal tea and clementines.

I so enjoyed having a few people over this year for Christmas.

I set up one of several of my fireplace DVDs and just had the crackling fire for sound.  

It makes the whole living room feel very warm and cozy and festive.

The fireplace DVDs allow me the option of just fire, fire and crackle, or fire, crackle and music.  Some feature traditional Christmas carols and hymns.

I have one that features Christmas songs by Boney M. and another with nature sounds that I use after the Christmas season.

It works well for me.

I was given this book by a friend who enjoyed and thought that I would enjoy it too.

Miracles from Heaven by Christy Wilson Beam is a true story of the miraculous healing.  Christy and Kevin Beam traveled a journey of faith by putting one foot in front of the other. Their daughter Anna was diagnosed with an incurable, life threatening disorder.  The family endured through years with Anna suffering pain, invasive testing and treatments. Travelling many hours for specialized care, managing the care of their other children, the cost of treatments were part of their lives during this time.

When Anna suffered an accident that nearly took her life they thought it would makes Anna's life even worse.  In the days that followed her rescue she shared her stunning experience of heaven.

Anna was well following this experience. God is good!

Recent Photos

We celebrated the first Sunday of Advent this week.  I put out my Advent Wreath which are a set of 4 glass vases with crackle glass votive holders. 

The bottom of the vase is filled with glass marbles and the candle in placed inside the holder. 

The vases are place on a glass charger plate with the space around covered in frosted glass marbles. 

I did not manage to find colored votive candles this year so they are all white.


It was Dad's 88th birthday this week so I was home on the weekend  to celebrate with 17 others for a great time with food and family.

I am still on the hunt for winter barn photos so I stopped several times on Sunday to take photos.  This one was well situated, not too many distractions but the sun refused to come out from behind the clouds so the image is not as great as it could have been.  It was 20 minutes down the road before the sun came out.  I'm glad I did not wait.

I caught good light on this building.  It is not a barn unfortunately but the snow was sparkling and the eves of the building were bright.

The clouds in the background were heavy on the horizon.  The fence posts provide some elements in the fore ground.

I dug out the Christmas Tea for my afternoon snack.

It is a black tea from Epicure which I purchased a while back.  It was good with a bit of honey and milk.







I had a mince meat tart which is one of my favorites with a little whipped cream.  Some tea biscuits with Black Current jelly.  These were left overs from our card making & quilting women's group get together on Monday night.  We sang songs, played a couple of games and had good fellowship with good finger food.

My photo calendars are available for purchase.  This is the Nice Cuppa one which features tea cups and mugs in the 2018 photo calendar.

You can check out my Calendar Page for details.

The Miniature Show reception was held on Friday evening.  The show runs to December 23rd.

I have my photo calendars on the first row of the display.

Christmas cards on the next couple of rows.

Fridge Calendars in both English and French versions on the bottom row featuring flower, nature and tea photos.

Sharing with the following:
Friends Sharing Tea hosted by Bernideen

Tuesday Cuppa Tea hosted by Ruth

Through My Lens hosted by Mersad

Monday Mosaic #18 - Wrap Up Tea

Our ladies groups (Card Club and Quilting Circle) had our wrap up tonight.  Linda and I decided to have a few goodies and tea and coffee. My forgot to take pics so I've set up at home.

I brought Cranberry Welsh Cakes with Lemon Spread which was a hit with the ladies.  I bought the Lemon Spread at the craft sale on the weekend.  It was very tasty but has no details available on the container.

I used the Welsh Cakes recipe from the Company's Coming Muffins & More recipe book.  I replaced the currants with cranberries and cooked them on my electric non stick griddle.  It worked well but I need some practice to not burn my fingers when turning them over.



I chose a red table cloth on my table with a Christmas plaid place mat which features gold threads with white dinnerware.  I made some Jade Citrus Mint tea in the new Luxury white porcelain tea pot by Tannex. I served it in a Royal Worcester bone china tea cup and chose a Dudson Finest Vitrified 6" side plate to hold my 3 Welsh Cakes.

Submitting to Mosaic Monday hosted by Maggie at Normandy Life.