Merry and Bright

"...the raisins were so plentiful and rare, the almonds so extremely white, the other spices so delicious, the candied fruits so caked and spotted with molten sugar as to make the coldest lookers-on feel faint." -- Charles Dickens

"This is  meeting time again.  Home is the magnet...All that is dear, that is lasting, renews its hold on us: we are home again..." -- Elizabeth Bowen

Wishing you, my wonderful readers, a Christmas filled with warmth, joy and love.  I hope you enjoy some delicious treats with your loved ones, and you are able to feel the warmth and the joy of this holiday season.  This Christmas marks a little over a year that I have been blogging.  Through this wonderful adventure I have made so many new friends, looked at life with a different eye, gotten into photography, come to appreciate the simple pleasures as I photograph and write about them, learned from so many of you about the things that bring you happiness, and settled down and thought more about life and, perhaps the best part, wrote about it.  Thank you for your comments and your friendship, my world has been greatly enriched!

Here are a few images that capture some of the sweet pleasures from the month of December.  I hope you are enjoying your own sweet pleasures today.

"The snow turned all to pearl, the dark trees strung with pearls, the sky beginning to flow with such a radiance as never was on land or sea.  And the stillness everywhere..."  --  Gladys Hasty Carroll

May we all find that stillness and peace within ourselves and all around us in the New Year and enjoy the luxury of reflection and sharing with others the wisdom we discover as the years go by.  Thank you for all that you have shared with me, and I look forward to another year of an exciting exchange of ideas and inspiration!

I wish you all the best in the New Year!