The view from our living room window

Seasons Greetings from our house to yours!

Here's to a Happy Healthy & Prosperous 2013.

Julie and Amit

David Bowie & Bing Crosby (!) - Little Drummer Boy #MusicMonday #Christmas

Happy holidays from my home to yours!

Peace on Earth

Peace on Earth and goodwill to all from The Style Page.

Christmas floral arrangment

Source: Uploaded by user via Julie on Pinterest

My husband took this photo of a floral arrangement and enhanced it with Photoshop.

In the deep midwinter #MusicMonday

This is one of the most poignant carols that I know.  The words are by poet Christina Rosetti, and were set to music by Gustav Holst.

Sadness

Sadness

Source: cubiclerefugee.tumblr.com via Julie on Pinterest

Did I repress grieving when my mother died?

Ultimate Holiday #Beauty Gifts UPDATED

Thirteen shopping days before Christmas, and here are my picks for the ultimate holiday beauty gifts. From left to right:

Clarisonic Plus Skin Care Sonic Cleansing System - I was skeptical about Clarisonic until I had a chance to try it. You don't have to apply pressure to clean your face, and you can switch out the face brush head with the body brush head to exfoliate your skin in the shower.

Maison Francis Kurkdjian Tour Atour perfumed bracelet - If Ellis Faas is the cosmetics story of 2009, then Maison Francis Kurkdjian is THE fragrance story of 2009. Parfumeur Francis Kurkdjian has made fragrance conceptual art, through staging a light, sound, and scent show and other spectacles at Versailles. His new fragrance line Maison Francis Kurkdjian is as innovative as his conceptual art. Among its unique products is the Tour Atour perfumed bracelet.

Edward Bess Lip Wardrobe - Each winter holiday brings a slew of gift sets and limited edition palettes, the cheesiest being the mammoth palettes from Markwins International's The Color Workshop. This set of 10 lipsticks and 5 lip glosses is elegantly presented in a black lacquer box. It's exclusive to Bergdorf Goodman.

Don't expect value gifts here. The Clarisonic system costs around $200, while the Edward Bess Lip Wardrobe costs a whopping $400!

UPDATE Want to see more ultimate beauty gifts and salivate? Visit Best beauty gifts, as told by beauty bloggers from Queen of the Quarter Life Crisis. My input was the Bond No. 9 New York Bon Bon Box.

A bittersweet Christmas

On Christmas Eve, my husband and I leave for St. Louis to visit my mother. After my father died this past April, my parents' home was sold and Mom moved into an assisted living center. I never liked the house very much - it was a small brick home among nearly identical brick homes in a subdivision built post-WWII - and I resented the fact that we had the means to have a bigger home. But now it hits me that there's no home to which I can go.

When I call the assisted living center to inquire about Mom, the staff always tries to put the best spin on things. It was my Christmas wish to give her a night at the hotel, in a handicapped-accessible room, away from the center. Now I discover she's on oxygen all the time, and it would take 3-4 small tanks (each lasts for about 4 hours) to get her through the night. It doesn't seem likely that I'll be able to realize my wish. My husband and the woman I see for counseling advise me to take things one at a time.

Sometimes, I think that the Christmas spirit quite eludes me. I do derive comfort from listening to my favorite Christmas CDs - Handel's Messiah, Bach's Christmas Oratorio, and 'Twas on a Night Like This by folk performers Cathy Barton, Dave Para, and the Paton family. The last introduced me to the song In the Bleak Midwinter, which suits the rather somber mood in which I find myself. A Hallmark Christmas CD featuring contemporary Christian singer Sandi Patti would round this collection out, but it's probably in a box somewhere.

Christmas lights bring cheer, although my husband thinks that they are a big waste of energy. I like gaudy displays, but I found two elegant displays on my drive from Fauquier County to Fairfax County late this afternoon. One farm in Fauquier County had white lights along the enclosure fences all the way from the house on the hill to the road. Merrifield Garden Center on Hwy 29 had white lights tightly wrapped all around the tree trunks and branches. For a gaudy display, check out the house next to the shopping center on Nutley Street and 123 in Vienna before it's too late!

Another activity that has brought comfort is the Loving Hearts ministry of the church to which I belong. We send cards and make phone calls to people who are in need of comfort. I benefited from Loving Hearts after my father died. I began getting cards from people I didn't know. I was able to connect them to my church, but honestly, I couldn't connect names with faces. The care I received was gratifying, and I decided to volunteer this year.

Best wishes for the Holidays

Dear friends,

I will be leaving for St. Louis tomorrow to be with my parents for Christmas. After that, my husband and I will be traveling to India, where we will welcome the New Year (thanks to the multiplicity of calendars in India, there are several New Years, and more opportunities to create or renew New Year resolutions :-)

All this activity will leave me precious little time to blog. To everyone who stops by and visits The Style Page, best wishes for holidays and for a happy, prosperous, and peaceful New Year!

Julie