We like to dress them up and call them “stockings” – oooooo – but they’re really just decorated socks large enough to stuff things in.

Reality check:

We hang them up (weird).

We hang them up over a fireplace off a mantle so everyone can see them (weird).

We do this with the expectation that they will be filled with something other than feet (weird).

Filled by a clean, fat man (despite having come down a very thin and nasty chimney) who will ascend back to a sleigh parked on a steep slope hitched to flying venison steaks (scary weird).

The other day, I was looking at our stockings.  My mom and grandmother made all of ours and they are exquisite and fun and festive.  But (as usual) I asked myself, “what are they doing up there?”  I thought about what my kids might expect to happen as a result of them being hung up over the fireplace.  Of course, they expect them to be filled!

Santa (the aforementioned fat man) keeps a list of who’s naughty and nice, right?

We still hang up the stockings.

Ask any kid around Christmastime whether he’s been nice or naughty and you know his first response would be “nice.”  Do an obvious double take and he’d likely make a modification, “not so nice” or “naughty.’

We still hang up the stockings.

Why do Christians hang up the stockings?  Well, we all want them filled with good stuff.  But what about the symbolism?  Any contemplative Christian when asked whether he’s been naughty (“sinful”) or nice (“holy”) would respond with the former.

We still hang up the stockings.

Had you ever considered that stockings are tokens of grace?  When you think about the Christmas tradition of Santa filling them whether we’ve been naughty or nice, our expectation in that case is, “C’mon, Santa, fill mine anyway!”  Don’t we always expect the same from our Heavenly Father?

What about them, anyway?

They are large! I’ve seen some enormous stockings.  I’ve seen some decent sized ones made of stretchy material (like Glad “Force Flex” trash bags that stretch so much you could fit a Volkswagen in them).  These huge stockings mean we want a lot of good stuff crammed into them.

They symbolize that we want a lot of God’s grace in our lives.  After all, He is the only One who only gives good gifts:

Luke 11:13,”If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”

James 1:16-17, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of Lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”

We hang the stockings knowing that we really don’t deserve for them to be filled or if filled, only with coal.  We have nothing to offer God except that we:

Lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord!

Hang ‘em!

They are hung in prominent display.  For some reason, we don’t hang them in the bathroom or the garage.  Surely, if the fat man can do the impossible and come down a skinny, dirty chimney, he could more easily navigate a window or a garage door!

We hang them out in front of everyone’s eyes. It’s like we want people to see, “I want God to fill my life with grace.  I’m even making it plain and ‘easy’ for Him by making my desire obvious.”  We don’t want Santa to have to traipse all over the house looking for stockings.  We want to make sure he gets it!  That large stocking in the middle of the house symbolizes our urgent plea with God that He fill us with His grace.

Hang ‘em!

They are festive and fun. The only time people hang ugly or plain stockings over the fireplace is when they’ve forgotten to get one!  I think about the ones my mom made for my family and I think the woman must’ve spent weeks on each one!  Glitter and quilting and stitching and colors and figures!

Grace is festive and fun.  Do we forget that grace isn’t just about giving us what we don’t deserve but that gift is excellent and fun and exciting?  Our playground is heaven!  All of what we know in our lives as good – places, relationships, food, activities – these are “good” because they are from God!  He doesn’t give boring gifts!  Have we forgotten?  Paul said it convincingly:

If God is for us, who can be against us?  He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?

The question is rhetorical – of course He will!  He has!  Look at your life and for a moment don’t focus on the clouds in your life’s sky.  Look at the stockings you’ve hung: see what He has done?  When you awake on Christmas morning to a full (undeserved) stocking, see what He has done?

Those stretchy socks that you and I hang aren’t the greatest symbol: for a time, they hang empty.  In the life of one who loves Jesus Christ, the socks bursts – all the time – even when it looks empty.

Hang ‘em!

It’s cold and rainy here on the East Coast.  I hope you are curling up with a cozy blanket, a good book and a roaring fire.  Happy weekend!

[Image from here]

Water never got inside of my house, which was a true blessing. With my family all gathered together under one roof, we had cake and I opened some of my present. I remember my Uncle Robert sent me legos, so my brother and I were able to play with my new toy inside.

My dad was at work when the tide started rolling in, and when he came home, he brought pizza with him. We lit a fire because it was so cold.  Everyone was gathered in the living room. My brother played with his Lincoln Logs.

The water gradually evaporated, so my cousins, brother, and I had swampy yards to play in for a couple of days.

Eventually everything returned back to normal, and I had a make-up birthday party at McDonald’s. Still, I will never forget the day of my fifth birthday–ever.

If USM Haller decided to build stoves, they would probably look like this.

One of the real joys of doing what we do is the fact that you always know that something brilliant is just around the corner, you wait for it, wait for it… wait ….

And it still knocks your socks of when it arrives.

Winter is rapidly approaching and if like us you use stoves for heating you’ll appreciate some of the issues that involves.

For all dead space.

With his Vulcan Stove , French designer Arthur Senant has created something truly wonderful.

Not only does the main stove body have wonderful 1950 enamel feel about it, but through the introduction of a configurable shelving system around the chimney he has solved the dead space problem.

OK Vulcan Stove is limited to locations where the flue goes vertical – we, for example, have one stove where the flue enters the wall at a 90 degree angle to the stove, and so we could not insert a Vulcan Stove there.

But where the logistics allow, and for all when designing a new room with stove Vulcan Stove is an absolute dream.

Storage space for wood, scrap paper, firelighters, matches, a tea pot, a throw or two, your cold socks… And drawers at the bottom for toasting chestnuts.

There is little better in winter than areal fire and there is quite possibly no better place fora  real fire than in a Vulcan Stove by Arthur Senant.

Vulcan Stove by Arthur Senant. We may need to cry….

Vulcan Stove by Arthur Senant

the saviour of all who enjoy real fires

and warm chestnuts .. just watch out for squirrels

Students. Dont ja just love ‘em!
We do.
Because, freed from the constraints of having to think commercially, design students can concentrate on creating things that make our world better.

Rather than which make money.

True in the majority of cases the products developed are so impractical or plain daft that they will never see the light of day.

But occasionally, just occasionally, they get it right.

Piet Indoor Stove by Fredrik Hyltén-Cavallius is a masters thesis work that deserves so much more.
We admit to being more than  touch sceptical about the claim that it is “smokeless” ; whereas it certainly won’t produce billowing clouds of smoke – as every schoolboy chemist knows ethanol burns to produce carbon dioxide and water vapour  – which is “invisible smoke”

And too much carbon dioxide is not exactly healthy.

We’re not saying you risk gassing yourself – but we are saying we need more information regarding the amount of carbon dioxide released.

But at the end of the day we all exhale carbon dioxide when we breath

And when all is said and done, we so want the Piet indoor Stove to work, because we love the concept, love the realisation and love the end product.
An indoor fire you can take with you where you want and when you want.

And it looks gorgeous.

If George Nelson were alive today he would be kicking himself for not developing such as aesthetically well-conceived design.

In addition “A layer of rockwool fire insulation between the [brass] reflector and the outer shell keeps the outside cool. This means that you can always touch the ceramic body of Piet without burning your hand and also means that Piet can be placed closer to walls or other furniture.”

With every extra titbit of information we love the Piet Indoor Stove a little more

At the moment it remains a concept work. We so hope that changes very soon.

Piet Indoor Stove by Fredrik Hyltén-Cavallius : @ Nils Holger Moormann – we all need winter warmth!!!

Piet Indoor Stove by Fredrik Hyltén-Cavallius

An indoor fire

to take where ever you want

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This kitchen has the perfect balance between simple surfaces and gorgeous details! Black walls with white trim and cabinets.

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Cafe latte walls with white trim and rich brown furniture in this super cozy living room.

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This stairway is just fantastic! Love the dark wood steps and white railing, not to mention the chandelier.

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Rich brown bedroom with white trim makes a super cozy atmosphere.

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Old pink and white girls bedroom. I love a kid’s room which doesn’t need a total renovation every couple of years.

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Beautiful brown bathroom with built-in tub.

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View more photos from this gorgeous home here! I think the language in the page is Dutch (correct me if I’m wrong) and I can’t read it, but I’m pretty sure Mi Casa is a Belgian architect firm? Whatever they are doing, it looks absolutely fantastic!

It is amazing when you suddenly realises again who you are and what you are doing..hehehehe..    surviving of the swine flu..  Coughing and feeling awfully lazy reminding you that the way to recovery is still a long one – up to six weeks until on the height of life again.. well, at least I am not infectious anymore when I will start slowly working again, which is scheduled for Wednesday.

So I spend my day relaxing, reading, taking a nap, enjoying my nice new fire place and the sound of wood burning down nicely – what a treat, just interrupted from cascades of coughing and sneezing.. Well, also paradise is not perfect.. I guess…. or it might depend on which paradise… the Christian one, or the Muslim one, or rebirth and nirvana as an alternative option?? Not sure, sometimes I feel tempted to keep all options open.. and to decide when I get there.. Hopefully I will have a chance..

It’s March 23rd when I have a dream. It is frightening but at the same time peaceful and everything I wish I could be brave enough to face.

The dream is hollow, like most are, but has a feel of reality to trick you and reel you in without your knowledge. Somewhere in the back of your mind, though, you know what is happening and you wish that you could get up and not finish the nightmare.

In this dream I am in my kitchen, I am the age of twenty or so, and somehow everyone in my home has died. Buried years prior; I do not remember the events, I just know that they have happened. Dreams give you knowledge of lies when you can’t see the truth.

The kitchen is dark, quiet, suffocating. I am wallowing in my own miserable loneliness, cooking a meal that I won’t finish. I hear something, and for whatever reason I react in panic; I know something is going to happen. I get a sense that I have been warned of this event by someone on the phone. This memory comes out of no where and I run to my door, my English-Springer Spaniel barking wildly, but doing nothing else.

I rush, trying to lock the door, but it only results in failure as the door is shoved violently open and I am pushed back into the wall, onto the ground—beside the fire place. I fill with dread and the intruder who barged in is a man. He is faceless, but I know who he is. He pulls out a gun, puts it to the side of my head and whispers something about love or lack of and I feel nothing, but I hear a bang, and I hit the ground.

I watch his feet as he walks out, and I watch as my blood pools around me. Eugene, the spaniel, lays next to me, whimpering but offering no help, and I want to reassure him, but I can not speak. I feel like I’m fading but not quite. I touch the wound on my head and let myself fall back into place.

I am dead.

Here is me trying to help Bob with his love life and never thought about Dalia and the weather!!!! This is like a small getaway for her and she might freeze to death!!!!!!…..I need to buy a small heater just in case she is cold…she is not used to this weather…..I wouldnt like her to get sick!!!! We shall be doing lots of things and that will keep her moving…I also have the fire place but her room might be too cold….I better get ready for that….This is so excting!!! We are good friends and I am sure we will have a good time!!!

With Valentine’s Day right around the corner…

Everybody knows that Asturias is a Natural Paradise, and we know that the Somiedo Natural Park is one of the most beautiful Asturian corners.

In wintertime, the Somiedo mountains are often covered with snow, and sometimes it snows also in our village Pigueces – when it happens, it adds a magical touch to our beloved home.

Of course it is also cold, but the sightseeing is worth an additional pair of gloves, and we also have a very warm house, thanks to our fire places and general heating system.

Enjoy more pictures of Somiedo in wintertime!

I love the fire place.  Especially when it’s in use.  The fire place over at the Somerville household has been in a good amount of use in the past week or so.  Today it’s been especially nice because it’s been especially cold.  This morning me and my friend Ryan went to skateboard and it was around 30 degrees.  It was way way too cold so we went and got some coffee drinks at the gas station and then came back.

The Fire Place.

Burning.

So since I am in the middle of my super major project of painting the kitchen, I seem to be day dreaming on what I want to do with the living room. We have an awesome fireplace that will probably be used once a year but I love it anyways. So I was looking Domino Mag’s website and they had a thing on fireplaces. Below are my picks of perfect fire places.

My FirePlace

Domino Mag Fireplaces

Photo by me | This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Although it was lacking in the amount of meat being available to eat, this was actually a really nice evening. After eating some roasted Feta cheese and, yeah I am not kidding, some meat balls (not the Swedish Kötbullar ones) I really was in the mood of drinking some white wine which turned out to really enhance the overall experience. Not in the getting-drunk way but in the i-really-like-good-white-wine-because-i-enjoy-its-taste way. You know what I mean?

Well, additionally we have a really cool movable fire place which we placed in the middle of the lawn today. It really got hot around there and it even drove away all the mosquitos which was nice of course.

You should do more barbecues. And it doesn’t even matter if you have meat or not. It just doesn’t matter.

Fearless lives in very close proximity to a large church.

On Sundays it is near impossible to get parking anywhere nearby.

I don’t know what was going on yesterday afternoon (wedding? baptism?), but there was no open parking down his road, just back to back parked cars. I turned and weaved my way through winding side roads that generally have some open spaces, with little luck. I found a tiny little spot between cars, and was rather pleased with the fact that I drive a tiny little car that would fit.

Being a born and raised country bumpkin, I’m used to people having drive ways. Used to lots of available parking space, and free parking at that. As it happens, Fearless is a matter of blocks away from downtown.

It was snowing, but hovering around zero, so as soon as the snow landed, it pretty much melted. Not yet having transitioned to a waterproof spring jacket, I was still wearing a heavy, non-waterproof, wooly jacket. The long walk didn’t go together with lack of waterproofing very well, and by the time I got too his doorstep, I was pretty soaked.

Sad little person I must have seemed, wet hair, sopping jacket, teeth chattering when he answered the door. He unbuttoned my jacket for me and took it to hang on a chair close to the fireplace to dry. I went to the hall closet and got a towel to get some of the excess wetness out of my hair.

While I was smoothing it down with my fingers, trying to avoid as much as possible the fluffy texture my hair likes to take on, he came down the hall with a bunny hug of his, knowing I would still be shakily cold. When I get chilled like that it sticks with me for quite a while, and I’ll shiver and shake until I warm back up.

I pulled on the bunny hug, marvelling once again to myself how small I feel next to him. The waistband was more than half way to my knees, sleeves extending way past my shivery fingers. It was perfect, soft and warm. But even better, it felt safe, smelling like that pretty mixture of old spice and cedar and himself that I love to breathe in.

As I rolled up the sleeves, hands reappearing, he told me to get out of my wet socks. You’ll catch cold. And anyway, you’re leaving little wet footprints everywhere.

I wiggled my way out of my mismatched sopping socks and threw them in the laundry. I’d steal a pair of his when I went home.

He led me back to the living room. My soggy shoes were in front of the fireplace, as was my jacket hung over a chair brought in from the dining room.

Then he did the perfect thing, got me down on the couch and nestled up behind me. Broad chest and shoulders like a shield, an envelope I fit into just right. Through the fuzzy fabric of the bunny hug, I could feel when he breathed. One arm was a place to rest my head, and the other came across my side. Muscle and bone not resting too hard, but transferring enough weight and pressure to feel their strength and protection. His big hands swallowed mine up, transferring over their heat. He’d had a day off, and so avoided shaving because it wasn’t compulsory, and the stubble touching my cheek wasn’t too prickly or tickle-y, it was just another layer of texture.

To think you said you weren’t one to cuddle I breathed into the warm air.

He shushed me and replied For you, anything.

(I know, I’m being super smushy. I just couldn’t help myself.)

Song of the Day: Love Me Tender – Elvis Presley

Well its is now the beggining of spring so the winter slowly goes away. This year February was a great surprise for all Greece especially the heavy snow in Athens was amazing in some areas like Nikea and Korydallos the snow was higher that usually in Florina at this time of the Year. In many areas of the Greek mainland in the North was ideal for Ski and other winter sports. But Leros is not a place for this kind of weather, as usual the winter in Leros for many locals is the best time of the year. Nice warm cafes time for bagamon and pilota. With the latest fashion many houses in Leros have made fire places as well as some Cafeterias like Castelo where the atmosphere is cosy with the wood burning while you enjoy the sorokada (the south wind rough sea, Sirocco)  . Winter usually snows very rare in Leros but this year the snow came very near but unfortunatelly in other islands. As for rains we have a lot, and this is a blessing for the local agriculture as well as for the municipality water supply. A vist in Leros during the winter is a good idea if you want to meet and know the locals better. there are many hotels open like Miramare in Lakki and Crithonis Paradise in Krithoni so accommodation wont be a problem.