my 2023 glass christmas tree
I began decorating my Christmas trees with glass three decades ago (time flies!) during my first of eighteen Christmasses in the United Arab Emirates. Over the years, I bought…
santa’s rides
I’ve no excuse for this other than it’s that time of year… ‘Tis the season to be jolly fa la la la la la la la la and to…
20 pics of my 2022 crystal christmas tree
When I moved to The United Arab Emirates with my then husband in 1993, I began festooning my non-traditional overseas trees with Swarovski crystal and glass decorations. Wherever we traveled,…
i’ll be glad when christmas is over
I wrote the poem below in December 2017, a little over a year after my mom died. I have shared it again each December since, when so many people…
11 things i’m grateful for today 21/02/11
A good way to lift my own spirits when I’m feeling a bit blue is to make a list of the things I’m grateful for. Here is today’s list: I’m…
5 things i’m grateful for today 20/12/25
The Christmas season has been hard for me for the past decade or so. Still, I think it’s healing, healthy and hopeful to find joy in small things. It’s the…
almost christmas eve wishes from a christmas eve past
Christmas 2020: I made this video comprising pics of mom and me during the festive season at her big red brick house on the hill in 2008. I was…
11 things i’m grateful for today 20/12/21
Even in all this COVID Christmas mess, there are moments of joy to be found. Especially in giving and receiving. Here are eleven things I am grateful for today: I’m…
i found a quilted heart #ifaqh
A friend and I were out walking on December 19, 2020, when I spotted something unusual on the side of the trail. “Look Stephanie,” I said. “There’s a heart hanging…
12 things i’m grateful for today 20/12/12
Despite my grief and sorrow at having been caught in a cycle of emotional abuse, I feel lucky to be finally free of the drama, chaos and destruction of that…