Coffee in a Starbucks Christmas blend sounds awesome to me.

Early morning coffee when the sun is just coming up on a frosty morning when it seems the rest of the world is sleeping is an enjoyable time of day.

I love it when you can just dress comfortable and warm for the outfit of the day.

I used to work at Okemo Mountain at one time and back then if you worked there, you got free skiing. I never had time to take advantage of that but I remember we got to tour all the Inns around the area as I worked in reservations and had to know what to recommend when the condos were full. There was one beautiful inn that a young couple owned and the guy there said that the first run down the mountain was free in the morning and he frequently took advantage of that. How fun that must have been.

It’s fun to go for a walk in early winter when there isn’t a ton of snow on the ground. So pretty with new fallen snow.

There is a florist near where I live and you can buy paper white bulbs this time of year and plant them. They are supposed to be good luck for the new year as they blossom right around New Years day if you just put them in water like the above photo.

I like the container in the above photo for the paper whites.

Vermont is known for Maple Syrup and there are so many ideas to use it for.

My favorite maple syrup treat is French Toast.

Also a maple chiffon cake with maple fudge frosting is a favorite. I put that recipe on my Pinterest cake board.

Vermont has lots of rural areas.

It’s really pretty even in the frosty cold.

They have cute ideas like the candy cane door and the frosting loops for roof shingles for a Gingerbread house.

Little Gingerbread men are so cute.

I have the above Christmas cookie cutters that I got at King Arthur Flour last year.

It gets dark so early now but I love it when I go shopping and see the beautiful Christmas lights along the way.

The Vermont Country Store has maple syrup in all kinds of cute containers this time of year.

It’s also fun to make fondue with Vermont Cheddar to have when you have been out in the frosty cold.

The months just go by so fast it seems.

The above kitchen has everything anyone could want in a kitchen. The double wall oven, the glassed in display case for dishes, the island, plenty of counter space and neat stove top. Plus it has under cabinet lights. It is affordable because it’s in a modular home.

Just right counter-top stove.

Love the built-in hutch.

Then the laundry room. If you have ever had to lug laundry to a laundramat, this room is like a dream come true. A luxury and it comes in the modular home.

And then the beautiful glassed in shower with a rain shower-head. If you have ever had to have a shower curtain that wraps itself on you when you are taking a shower, this luxury is just a dream. And it comes in the modular home.

I like the design of the ceiling and how there is plenty of room in the bedroom.

Plus there is a master bathroom. Another luxury that comes with the modular home.

The Living-room is open concept with lots of light.

There is an option of putting in a second floor or not. You can leave it an unfinished area where 2 rooms could be added.

It even has a neat front porch.

Location is everything and this modular home can be put anywhere you want to put it. After living on the second floor with people under me, beside me and no lawn or garden, this would be the ultimate. Then add a garage for my car. To be able to plant a garden, flowers and to have a lawn and a view.

To me, it’s perfect. Everyone likes what they like. This is what I like. ❤ It was an award winning modular home and I can see why.

I have a friend who is a builder and he is into quality this and quality that. Thick insulation and all top of the line materials. Kitchen cabinets with solid wood and all the top of the line stuff. But I really just like something that looks good and is affordable.

This to me, is everything I like and it doesn’t cost way out of anything affordable. And it sure beats an apartment where you are crowded in like sardines with steep stairs, no laundry, no dishwasher and a view of buildings.

At the moment I am thankful for what I have. But it is fun to dream.

This year we have been getting quite a bit of snow early. The Farmers Almanac claims that it’s supposed to be a mild winter. Not mild so far.

I love how people decorate with string lights in their yards. The snow can be so pretty.

The shooting star string-lights are just beautiful in my opinion.

I also like white string-lights around a kitchen window. And then light a candle while you are baking.

Waddle, waddle in the snow…….

The above Chalet is almost exactly like a friend of mine had years ago. They could see 3 different mountain ranges from the huge windows in the front. The deck went around 3 sides and it was custom built just the way they wanted it. There was a pond they could see and in the summer it had swans in it. It had open beams and was just beautiful. There was a ski mountain nearby and they were both ski instructors. Plus one was a school teacher. They also owned a chalet on a lake that they custom built with gorgeous sunset views that they built in northern Vermont and they enjoyed traveling to Florida in the winter. They visited Austria sometimes and had quite the life. The guy was a native Vermonter who’s Dad was a builder and his wife was a New Yorker. So quite a team and I always envied them. Quite a different life then what I ever had, but they were one very lucky couple.

I love the middle bridge in Woodstock, Vermont. It’s just pretty any time of the year. If you go through that open gate, there is a bank with steps that go down to a landing and that house has a couple of chairs and a fire-pit that they enjoy in the summer with a view of the river.

This is a view looking out at the river from inside the covered bridge. That river has an Indian name and I can’t spell it. But it’s something like Ottaquechee River.

The above magazine was at the Walmart and I couldn’t resist buying it. The turkey dinner made easy had a mushroom sauce that had white wine in it that the turkey slow cooked in. Then it made a delicious gravy to put over mashed potatoes and over the turkey. Plus it had some really good fix-it and forget-it slow cooker recipes in it.

The highest mountain in Vermont is Mt Mansfield and Stowe has some nice ski trails on that mountain. Vail bought Stowe and also Okemo Mountain ski area recently.

Chocolate fudge is fun to have for the holidays. My brothers used to love it when we were kids. There is a recipe that is no fail that has chocolate chips, evaporated milk and marshmellows in the recipe. I pinned the recipe on my Christmas ideas board on my Pinterest.

King Arthur Flour had Gingerbread cookies and cocoa at their store and bakery on Saturday. I have the snow-globe, the Christmas tree and and the gingerbread man cookie cutters that I got last year from King Arthur Flour and saved the above photo so I could use the ideas to decorate gingerbread cookies. The reindeer is new this year and I have not got that cookie cutter yet.

King Arthur flour has the best cocoa you can find anywhere. And if you ever tried their chocolate chips, you would never use any other brand.

I have all the above cookie cutters that are from King Arthur Flour. I took a class on Blueprint on how to decorate cookies and it’s so easy to do what they call flooding with the special recipe for frosting that really looks nice on Christmas cookies. Then using decorator tools is fun, looks artistic and is very easy to do with a little practice.

I have a sugar cookie recipe that was on an old Land of Lakes butter box from the 1970’s that I really like. But everyone has their own likes and recipes.

My sons always have to get a Christmas tree that is high as the roof in their houses. I just like a small tree myself like the size in the photo above. I can remember when my sons were little and one year we went to this place and cut down our own tree with their father. They had hot, spiced apple cider there and it was just plain fun.

I would love a reading nook like the above photo.

The above is another view of the reading nook. A nice cup of tea and lots of candles. Then the latest holiday magazine. I will never have one like that, but it is a nice idea that I would love.

December is a busy month and can be very stressful. It’s not always an easy time for everyone and especially me. But somehow we all manage to get through it in our own ways with little traditions that have meaning and we always get through the month of December one way or another.