A Favorite December Eve, Little Notices Today. Close Your Eyes and Remember

4:30ish pm.today.  I'm listening to a cd I rather like these days..I put this cd on in the morning as I pour my coffee in the kitchen. The cd?  "for Book Lovers" it has favorite classics and it is sooo pretty. I just listened to Reverie by Claude Debussy. It has To a Wild Rose, Katharine in April, Simple Gifts etc. I would recommend the cd. It's very nice indeed.

I'm looking out the back windows of our country home here and I see bare artful trees with beautiful arms twisting and bending against the sky...and oaks with leaves, hints of blue sky and fluffy clouds barely peeking through but grey cloudiness is coming in quickly...That means coziness. A gentle breeze now and then, I see where my old fashioned mop placed against the back door by our girls, the white yarns swaying gracefully in the breeze just a little, to & fro...to & fro....I've never seen a mop look so elegant.

I think today I'll post photos from one of my very favorite days last Christmas. Actually Dec. 1.  It was one of the first days our daughter, "Delle" was able to get out of the house after seven kidney stones! I knew when I sat in that ER room that this Christmas may be a trying one and all I wanted was to get back to normalcy as I sat praying to God and of course for healing for "Delle".  God answers prayers.

This favorite evening of this Candlelight tour, it was Dear Husband Jem, Zuzu and Janie our oldest daughter. That night Joycie & Grace were under the weather and they really missed out on this sweet event bless their hearts.  Next year I have a feeling they'll be ready to go.

Where we live here, we are on a country road, a very historical area, the road was designed for Model T's and thus, The Skinny Road as we affectionately call it.

Our property backs up to a historical ranch and our property was actually part of a historical ranch too...Love this place, I can go walking out pray looking up to the sky as I lay in the grass...many days the cows and their calves frolic about beyond the gate. Really neat. I can be having one heck of a day and I go for a leisurely sachet to the back....I go talk to the Father and He has a loving way of putting things into perspective.

The old small town nearby has a plantation home where oil wells abounded like trees in a forest at one time,  Mr. B. the sweetheart who sold us this piece of property, used to spend time in that magnificent plantation home as a boy.  The home was owned by one of the governors of Texas. It has been said that all Texas governors are judged by the standard of this governor. I can remember my history teacher, Mrs. Menard telling about this particular governor.  You would have had to have known Mrs. Menard...she reminded me of a larger than life Lady Bird Johnson. A Southern Belle to the hilt.She had known my grandfather. My grandpa's business was one of those interesting places on the water from 1920 that a writer once wrote should have been encased in glass and placed in the Smithsonian.   

Boat shows, a mummy, money hanging from the ceiling, monkey's....People from the city as well as locals would go to the water on the weekends to my grandfather's place, fishermen, farmers, judges, our family doctor, it was quite a place.

Here is our little December evening in photos in case your wondering where I've been going with all of this.  This was one of those evenings where you would want to close your eyes to capture the moments.  Much I didn't capture on film, there was a cooking house etc. I met a handsome couple, now living in the city. She was from France and her husband was from a nearby tiny town too...a handsome Dick Van Dyke kind of man. Who would know?

 I hope you enjoy spending the evening out with us!  Here goes!

Jem, Zuzu & Janie as I lag behind...sneaky me with my camera. ; )   

Janie gets a shot too.

 A little house with Mr. Claus sitting relaxing, the little house was where a workers family lived I presume.  See the Santa Claus on the porch?

 Isn't this lovely? The old oaks?  I love the white fencing.  At one time oil wells were everywhere and I mean everywhere...

 

The majestic columns of the home, and the pretty Christmas lanterns...

 A lovely Southern Belle greeting the eager crowd,  don't tell but I saw her tennis shoes under her dress. ; )  ...Sooo now you know what those Southern Belles wore on their feet! : )

 One of the guides gives an educational talk. They took small groups, one at a time.

 A highschool choir sings many Christmas carols and very Christ-centered ones as we were so glad to hear.  The ladies had homemade cookies for everyone and wassail.  ...Sooo nice.

 This lady was so friendly, I made a new friend that evening. : )

 This is Ms. Betty, we met her before Grace was born...when we lived here before; 20 years ago we had stopped here to get to know Smalltown  before we had offically moved in. She was soooo sweet. She tells me she wants the girls and I to be tour guides next Christmas...I think the girls would look so pretty in the antebellum dress...It would be fun wouldn't it?  I tell Ms. Betty we live on a piece of Mr. B's old property. She smiles and tells me she would sure like to talk to him about the history of this place.  She's right, he is a sweet history book and a blessing to know.

 This guide tells us how they would wrap gifts in whatever they had around their home and seal the package with string or perhaps wax. Scotch tape wasn't heard of in the Victorian era.

Governor rocking chair made by prisoners especially for him as a gift. They made the chair extra large for his frame. 

Look at the barn and carriage house, isn't this wonderful? It's huge!  You can see Zuzu, Janie and Jem. 







Quite a few carriages and wagons. Janie looking at the signature there.


It was getting to be supper time....sup-sup-sup-sup supper time!!!  

And this was really GREAT after the candlelight tour...We heard sirens and thought oh my there has been an accident, streets were closed. What do ya know?!  A darling parade!  This is a model of the first capitol of TX.  There was the highschool marching band complete with male drum major and baton.  Adorable. So old fashioned...

 


I was like a kid at Christmas this night, I was standing on the siderail of our Utility vehicle laughing with glee. Jem had pulled over in the grocery parking lot and we watched the precious parade and then off to our favorite smalltown mexican restaurant.  Yep, it's the kind of place where the waitress knows us and brings us four salsa bowls from the get-go for our chips... They even ask us...Do you need a menu?   ....That's my Smalltown USA... : )

Such a privilege to be back again.  I hope you enjoyed your time with us on my favorite Christmas  day from this past season. God is good.

Love to All,   ~Amelia