What's In My Book Basket

 Some Really Great Books To Read!

Hello Everyone! As promised, I am blogging today about some of the books that I have been reading of late. I found each of these books to be really enjoyable and so you might give them a try, as well!

Before Christmas, I ordered two Miss Read books that I had never read before. You will remember that I am a long-time fan of Miss Read and her Fairacre and Thrush Green series of books that are lovely stories of the daily life of characters set in two fictitious English villages. The two books I am sharing today, "A Fortunate Grandchild," and "Time Remembered," are autobiographical books written by Miss Read (Dora Jesse Saint) about her childhood years growing up in both London and the English countryside. Oh friends, these books are simply treasures!! Not only am I learning about Dora's early life living among her many and varied relatives, but I also am learning where she got many of the ideas for her Fairacre and Thrush Green books. Her stories of how the schools/teachers in London compared to the schools/teachers in country villages really caught my interest as a fellow teacher. I was also so impressed by the descriptions of her parents, grandmothers, aunts and uncles all of whom she dearly loved. These books are such an awesome addition to my Miss Read collection of books. If you are interested in reading these autobiographies, I suggest you check with your library to see if, by chance, they have them available. If not, head to Amazon and see what they offer. I purchased mine as used books from book sellers offered on Amazon's site. 

"A Timeless Christmas," by Alexis Stanton, was a book that I found available and purchased at Dollar Tree. It caught my eye because it was marked as a Hallmark time-travel romance. I believe it has been made into a movie shown on Hallmark but I haven't seen the movie yet. This book is a sweet romance between Megan Turner, a tour guide at the historical Whitley mansion, and inventor and businessman Charles Whitley, who finds himself mysteriously transported from the early 1900's to present day times. The book is really good at allowing one to believe such an event could actually happen and weaves historical facts into present day living with believable characters that I found myself caring about. It's a fun read which I highly recommend. 

The final book I'm sharing today is one that I am still currently reading. "My Beloved," is the latest offering in The Mitford Series of books by celebrated and much-loved author, Jan Karon. Friends, this book is sooooo good! It's warm and comforting like a soothing cup of tea and I am savoring each page as I read it. To my mind, this book is similar to the very first book in The Mitford Series. Favorite characters are present in this book and we learn things about characters that we previously didn't know. If you are a Mitford fan, like I am, then I am sure you will enjoy reading "My Beloved."

What is in your book basket right now? Be sure to leave a comment and share. It's always fun to hear about new recommendations for books!

Until Next Time,

Debbie (This and That)

Seasonal Recap and New Word of the Year for 2026

 Let's Catch Up, Shall We?

Hi friends! I'm going to go ahead and say, Happy New Year too, since by the time you read this it will be New Year's Eve! I hope that 2026 brings wonderful things to you!

It's been an action packed December with lots of events and busyness. I'll share some highlights with you. Above, you will see the flute quartet that played "Carol of the Bells" at our church's Christmas Eve service. These dear ladies and I have been practicing together and I am thrilled to have had such a wonderful experience playing with them. The lady standing next to me was actually visiting from Utah and turned our trio into a quartet. She's an amazing flutist and is the daughter of the lady on the end. 

Our church's handbell choir also played for the service. They played so beautifully! We also had a mother/daughter pairing in this group, as well. My dear friend Sharon's daughter rang with us. She is wearing a striped sweater. It was wonderful to have her join in with us!

This was the altar on Christmas Eve. So pretty with the white nativity.

I've continued to do some supply pulpit preaching during December as well as teaching an Advent class at our home church. I've really enjoyed doing all of this. I did start to get tired and a little overwhelmed as Christmas came closer, however. I guess I'm not as young as I used to be! (wink)

I have actually begun playing flute more frequently at church. When I got my first flute years ago I said if all I ever did was hold it I would be happy. Then, six years ago, I started taking lessons from a wonderful flute teacher here in town. And now, I can actually stand up in church and play pieces! What a gift to me to be able to not just hold the flute but to play music! Playing the flute was something I always wanted to do from the time I was about nine years old. Better late than never, right?!

The Mr. has kept busy this season, as well, playing many concerts with big bands as well as solos and his brass quintet. 

And, guess who turned three years old? Our dog, River, celebrated his third birthday in style with a small taste of cake icing and a new toy!

I got such a kick out of the look on River's face in this picture taken Christmas morning. I gave The Mr. this funny wall plaque and River looks very shocked to learn he didn't pass obedience school!

I have transitioned over to Winter Decor in our living room and foyer, keeping my one little tree out with multi-color lights. It's so cheerful on the cold, winter days to still have some multi-color lights out to enjoy. Following are other pics of our "Winter Decor."

So, here we are, with 2025 ending. As you know, if you have been reading my blog for a while, I typically choose a word (or two) for each new year to focus on and see what the word has to teach me. My words for 2025 were "gratitude" and "grace." I have tried very hard this past year to think about the many blessings that God has given me in my life and to remember to be filled with gratitude. At the same time, I have felt the impact of giving myself and others grace while realizing how often others extend grace to me. And, of course, God gives grace, love and forgiveness in extravagant measure in my life. I am truly, truly blessed. 

I have been thinking and praying about a word for 2026 and I am actually a bit surprised by the word that keeps cropping up in my mind. As I think more on this word, however, I can see why it is a good choice. So, without further Ado, my word for 2026 is.......

"Imperfection"

Does this word seem surprising? After all, nobody should be striving for imperfection, right? My words for other years have been positive words like "trust"  "prayer" "gifts" "light" and "hope" to name a few. "Imperfection" may not seem to fit. 

However, as I have pondered about this word, I have come to understand that it's not that I should try to be imperfect, but rather that I should relax. I feel that God is reminding me that only HE is perfect. The world around me is certainly not perfect, other people aren't perfect and I certainly am not perfect. As a recovering perfectionist, these truths about life are sometimes difficult for me. I seem to get frustrated at times because I feel like everything I do should work out perfectly, my performance in life should always be perfect....I should always be perfect! As I have focused more on gratitude and grace this past year, I feel that God is reminding me to offer myself grace with the whole idea of being a perfectionist. It's a lesson I have been trying to learn for many, many years. So, as I move forward into 2026, I will strive to realize that imperfection is part of living in this imperfect world. I don't have to like it....but I have to be willing to give grace to both myself and to others.....realizing that God's grace and love is with me in all things. 

As I close out this post, I would love to know about your holidays, about what is happening in your life, and about your "word of the year" if you decide to choose one. Also, allow me to thank each of you for reading my blog and commenting. Although I write my posts for myself...I also write them for you! Thank you for making blogging so enjoyable! And be sure to join me next time, as I share what's been in my book basket. I've been enjoying some great reads!

Until Next Time,

Debbie (This and That

Freepik.com

Merry Christmas To One and All

 Christmas Wishes 

Hello dear readers! I imagine that, by now, most of you are knee deep into all sorts of Christmas activities and gatherings. How a whole month could have passed by without my posting is hard to imagine but it has been an unusually busy Advent season for me this year and I honestly haven't had time to just sit down and think about what to share with all of you. I didn't want any more time to pass, however, without popping on to wish each of you a happy and most blessed Christmas! 

I'll be back next week with a recap of the season and will be sharing my new word of the year for 2026. Until then, God bless each and every one of you in this most holy of seasons!

Until Next Time,

Debbie (This and That)

A Few Thoughts On Gratitude and Thanksgiving

 Expressing Gratitude

Good morning, friends, on this Monday before Thanksgiving. Today, I'm thinking about the concepts of gratitude and thanksgiving. Both are important, not only at this time of year, but throughout the year.

My words of the year for 2025 have been gratitude and grace, and I have to admit that I have become much more mindful of expressing gratitude in my own life. Whether expressing gratitude verbally, in my journaling or through a thank-you note, I have tried to recognize the many things in my life for which I am thankful. 

The words thankful and gratitude are often used interchangeably. And they are closely related. As I looked up the definitions of each, however, I found that while thankfulness can be momentary, as in "thank you for helping me make this meal," gratitude is more of a mindset. Gratitude is felt more deeply and includes an appreciation of one's life and the good things in life even though one's life circumstances may not always be great. That puts a whole new spin on the idea of gratitude, doesn't it? We all know that life isn't always wonderful. There can be so many things, different for each of us, that can cause us worry, pain and difficulty and, in these circumstances, it's hard to be thankful. But if our mindset is one of gratitude, we can realize that even when life is hard, there are still some things that are good. And it is often this goodness in life that pulls us through whatever the hard times may be. 

The apostle Paul seemed to know this when he wrote in I Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NIV)

 "Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus."

I am still a student of learning to have an attitude of gratitude in all things. All too easily, I can quickly revert back to being grumpy and fault finding when things in life aren't going well. But I'm trying. And having the word "gratitude" as one of my words of the year has helped me to focus more on this important mindset.

How about you? Do you have an attitude of gratitude as we go into Thanksgiving and then Christmas? I hope that each of you dear readers will enjoy a wonderful Thanksgiving week and I look forward to being back with you next week!

Until Next Time,

Debbie (this and that)

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

 Christmas Decor and A Little More

Our foyer table vignette

Hi everyone!  I'm sure that you are starting to see lots of Christmas posts popping up on your social media sites. So, allow me to share one more with you! I got started with Christmas decorating pretty early this year and I must say that I am really enjoying all of our decorations. Especially with the time change and the earlier dark evenings, it's so comforting to turn on all of the Christmas lights. Hope you enjoy these pictures of our Christmas decor.

I bought a new tabletop tree for the corner of our living room. This tree is a bit taller and slimmer than the previous one. It also has a remote that can change the color choices and add twinkle lights or fade in/out lights. I've been enjoying being able to change the light choices in the evenings. The tree skirt was created in needlepoint by my mother-in-law who used to do a lot of stitching. I didn't like the way it hung over the table though, so I have scrunched it more around the tree bottom. I didn't take a picture of the way it looks now.

Our mantle with three different scenes created around our rock collection. I like placing objects I love around what we already have on display. To me, it is interesting and meaningful to decorate like this. I've put everything we had on the mantle away in previous years in order to decorate for Christmas. I just don't do that anymore. 

Little Santas and cat figurines on one end of the mantle. 

Christmas bears on the other end of the mantle. You can also see the pet stockings. I use heavier rocks as my stocking holders. 

And the white glass nativity in the center. I removed the bear poster so you could see the nativity better in this picture. I kept getting a glare from the poster cover when I took a picture with it behind the nativity. 

I have some smaller nativities on display in the side window and I also ordered this full size Jim Shore nativity as a new piece this year. The colors are simply magnificent and the seller on Poshmark used such great care in packing and shipping it to me. I'm very pleased. If you have never heard of Jim Shore before, Google him and you will find many very colorful figurines for both Christmas and other times. 

On the side table of the living room I have a three foot tall Christmas tree covered in musical instruments.

Over the years, The Mr. and I have collected many musical instrument ornaments. I am really enjoying this musical instrument tree so much! For toppers on my trees, I used ribbons that I found at Hobby Lobby that color coordinate with the colors of ornaments on each tree.

On the guest bathroom shelf I placed these colorful pieces. The "Baby It's Cold Outside" sign is a new piece this year that will displayed throughout winter.

A couple of weeks ago my friend, Sharon, and I attended an ornament making class at our local library. The ornaments were made out of book pages. Sharon did great at making her ornaments. I'm sorry to say I struggled but I did finally get one to work out. I decided not to hang mine on my tree, however.

To make myself feel better, I came home and did some of my own crafting of ornaments and cards using scrapbook paper and stickers. I'm much more adept at this type of crafting! 

Some close-ups of the ornaments I created. 

And I haven't forgotten that we are still in the Fall Season. As a nod to Autumn and the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, I created this vignette on our round kitchen table. It makes me smile each time I see it. It's whimsical and playful and reminds me to be full of gratitude for all that God has blessed us with. 

I'll close with this silly pic that The Mr. took of me and my good friend Dolly! We were having a fun afternoon in Black Mountain, NC looking in the shops and having lunch. This cardboard figure of Dolly Parton was in the book area of the local hardware store there. The Mr. takes these photos because he says I need to use them on the blog. He calls it "feeding the beast." He's too funny!

I hope that you are finding fun and laughter in your November days, friends!  And I hope that you enjoyed this photo-heavy post today! Let me know how you are spending your November days in the comments section. I love hearing from you!

Until Next Time,

Debbie (This and That)

What's Your Favorite Time of Day?

 Morning Glory

View outside my window this morning

Good morning friends! Do you have a favorite time of the day? For me, the very best time of day is in the morning when I first get up. There is just something about sitting in my living room in a comfy chair, hot cup of tea in hand, staring out my windows at the beautiful scenery, that just brings me great joy. There is even a scripture in Psalms 30:5 that speaks to morning joy...

Morning is also typically when I read my devotions, read the Bible and work on sermons. It's a great time for journaling as well. When I was still teaching I never had time in the mornings for all of this. The mornings were so early and hectic-getting dressed, doing any morning chores, grabbing a quick breakfast and trying to get out the door on time. I have never been a morning person and school schedules never really worked for me and for my body. I always longed to just be able to have a slow, quiet morning-drinking my tea and enjoying just getting into my day slowly and peacefully. And when you teach, you just hit the floor running when you enter a school building and your classroom. And the running continues for most of the school day. It's a hard job and while I am grateful for my teaching career and all of the joys that it brought me, I am also so very grateful for retirement and for the ability to enjoy these more gentle and quiet morning times on most days now. 

What is your favorite time of day?

I would enjoy hearing from you!

Until Next Time,

Debbie This and That

(Graphics created on Canva.com)

Lake Junaluska and Bailey Mountain Preserve in Mars Hill

 Enjoying Some Local Sight-Seeing

Hi friends! The Mr. and I have been doing some local sight-seeing recently so I thought I would share some of the beautiful scenery we have enjoyed on these day trips. We had occasion on Tuesday to visit some friends in the Lake Junaluska area and stopped by the lake to walk and enjoy the Fall colors. 

Lake Junaluska is a Methodist Retreat Conference Center with many lovely and unique homes situated around the lake and in the area. It has a beautiful walking trail around the lake that is enjoyed by many. 

I always enjoy coming here whether it is to attend our Annual Conference or simply to visit and walk around the lake. The views with the Fall colors and the mountains in the distance are just stunning!

Later this week, we drove to Mars Hill, NC to scope out a trail at Bailey Mountain Preserve. This is a relatively new hiking/walking trail that is located close to Mars Hill University. 

The preserve is located on the old Smith farm and features several old barns which were either located on the property or were dismantled and then rebuilt on this property. 

The trail begins by meandering through a meadow and then into the woods. The first half of the trail through the woods is a footpath that is covered with soft mulch. It's a steady uphill, but not steep, and offers places to sit along the way. The trail eventually turns a bit more rugged. We didn't hike the whole trail but I enjoyed what we did hike.

This tree was huge and located where the trail leaves the meadow and enters the woods. I loved the swing and we made sure to take advantage of swinging for a few minutes as we hiked!

It was an enjoyable time spent walking at Bailey Mountain Preserve and I look forward to going back and hiking more of the trail. Next time, I will be sure to wear my trail shoes and have my hiking stick with me!

We enjoy sight-seeing locally and these two trips were particularly enjoyable for me. 

I also enjoyed a time of retreat last weekend at Hinton Rural Life Center near Hayesville, NC. This retreat center is located next to Lake Chatuge which straddles the NC/Georgia border and is a beautiful spot to rest and spiritually rejuvenate. Since some of the ladies on the retreat requested that their faces not appear on Facebook, which I use to share my blog, I won't show pictures of them. But here are a few pics not showing faces.

 

That's all for now. Life has been busy lately! 

And November is almost here!

Blessings and Peace until next time!

Debbie (this and that)

🍂