A Small Town Girl's Guide » Holidays

Perfectly Safe

MilliGFunk — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 22:24:03 +0000

A good friend introduced me to the writings of C.S. Lewis last Easter, and I’ve found so much wisdom in Lewis’ words. I’d like to share this passage with you today from The Four Loves:

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round hobbies and little luxuries, avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket – safe, dark, motionless, airless – it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable…The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers of love…is Hell.”

Central Park Pumpkin Festival Pumpkin, photo taken by MilliGFunk

It’s the season for expensive gifts, fancy wrapping and shiny jewelry. It’s the season for engagements and vacations and time with family. The holidays can be wonderful, but they can also bring pressure to relationships and loneliness to those people who aren’t in relationships or who can’t be with their families.

The holidays can be about the people we love, but it’s also easy to allow ourselves to focus instead on the things we can buy. Who do you love and what do you value? Do you want to live your life unbreakable, impenetrable and unloving? I don’t. Life is short, my friends, so get out there and love it. I dare you.

Believe (The McKinnis House)

MilliGFunk — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 04:36:59 +0000

McKinnis Home, photo by smalltowngirl

On Sunday I took my mom on a small town blogging adventure to the Washington, Missouri Holiday House Tour. One of my favorite features of the homes we saw was the fireplace in The McKinnis House, which was decorated in letters that spelled “Believe”, along with lots of whimsical, wintery accents and Christmas stockings.

Believe! photo by smalltowngirl

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The Homes Tour also featured the following locations:

St. Peters United Church of Christ

The Kriete Home

Hillerman Nursery & Florist

The Meyers Home

The Schneider Home

The Gildehaus Home

Gary Lucy Gallery & Home

The Prenger Home

Tickets for the tour were $10 in advance or $15 at the door, and were available for purchase at Four Rivers Area YMCA, Hillerman Nursery & Florist, Urban Accents, Four Seasons Florist and the Gary Lucy Gallery. Stay tuned for more pictures and writing about smalltowngirl’s experience on the 2009 “Homes for the Holidays” House Tour.

Homes for the Holidays House Tour in Washington, MO

MilliGFunk — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 05:05:10 +0000

McKinnis Family Tree, photo by smalltowngirl

Today was a mother-daughter blogging adventure in the town of Washington, Missouri. Washington is on the Missouri River west of St. Louis, and while it’s not a tiny town, it’s downtown has a historic, small, river town feel about it. Decorated for Christmas, the town left a nice impression on this small town girl’s heart.

After months of subtle hints from friends to make the trek to Washington, it was the Four River Family YMCA’s “Homes for the Holidays House Tour” that finally inspired my visit. The homes tour included eight homes and businesses and a church, and though my mom and I weren’t able to visit all nine locations, we both really enjoyed our day.

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The Homes Tour featured the following locations: