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.