Hope

I found some metal 'hope' signs in a sale, I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do with them, but they were a bargain!

 

 Inspiration struck!

Wouldn't the signs look great decorated and placed around the house, 

and then on even the dullest, snowiest, coldest winter day 

we could look at them and be uplifted.

'To love means loving the unlovable. To forgive means pardoning the unpardonable. Faith means believing the unbelievable. Hope means hoping when everything seems hopeless.' Gilbert K Chesterton (1874-1936), British journalist, novelist and poet.

 

We had lots of 'hope' sign, so we waited until friends were over and decorated the signs together.

A couple of the finished signs...

 

 From our little hope sign, came a whole hope display

 

 We finished off the sentence 'In 2013, I hope...' in ten different ways.

We also added our jar of hearts to the display.

 

 Some people are lucky enough to live in Hope.

And this week we had a trip out to Hope in Derbyshire.

 Before we set off, Geoff had said we wouldn't need thick coats, but as we got off the train we were meet by the sight of snow on the hills.

 

 Ready to explore!

 Losehill from the lower slopes of Winhill.

 We didn't make it all the way up Winhill, to Geoff's disappointment.

but the kids had a great time in the deep deep snow drifts.

'Hope is the golden thread that should be woven into every experience of life.'
anon

 'Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul, and sings the tunes without the words, and never stops at all.' Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) American poet.

Collecting a jar of hearts

I read recently that for a lot of people January is their least favourite month of the year and that new years resolutions can be more destructive than helpful. It is more constructive to focus on the good things that are actually happening already. So, we've starting collecting a jar of hearts.
We decorated a glass jar and cut up some heart shaped pieces of paper. When we do something that we want to remember, that makes us happy or proud, we'll write it down. Then every few months we'll empty the jar, read the hearts and smile :-)

You could adapt this for Valentine's day, by writing down messages placing them in the jar and giving 'the jar of hearts' to the one you love.