snug as a bug

Hot cocoa on a cold day; a sip of delectable tea while sitting around a table with good friends; candles in the window; a dog snoring at my feet; a cuddly baby; a soft, warm blanket; nothing too big; somewhat old and comfortable ... these words and more conjure up "coziness" in my mind. We got into the discussion when my mother, surveying the switch in our dining room and living room asked, "Just what is coziness?"

I'm sure she knows, but maybe she never thought about it before. Since so many of you asked about what the "new" and "cozy" living room looks like, I thought I'd tuck a picture of it into a post about coziness. It's a word we often use to describe a place, and when we say the word, a warm feeling comes with it, don't you think? Of course I checked the dictionary and it used words like: "snug, comfortable, and warm," and another set of words I like: "marked by friendly intimacy." That's what we feel when we are in our new room where we read and have conversations.

I place a high value on coziness ... do you? Since pictures, at least for me, speak louder than words, I searched through my photos to come up with some that say "cozy" to me. (An aside: the center photo is of our dear Meshach who went to doggie heaven three years this week.)

We had plenty of "friendly intimacy" last night when the kids were over for the Gardener's birthday. After dinner, since it was "Little Brother's" first view of a Christmas tree (I wish I could have captured the awestruck look in his wide eyes when he first saw it), we hung around in our "small, intimate" room. And it was a bit crowded with the grands playing here and there and us trying to sit and talk. We should have gone to the larger "family" room, but of course we wanted to be by the tree. Next time I'll remember to add more chairs on the edge of the dining room.

I think we all look for coziness especially during the holidays ... 

... possibly in part because we remember the stable where a young teenage mom 

wrapped her baby and laid him in a manger she had filled with straw to make 

it a cozy bed for him. I'm sure the environment was harsher than 

the Christmas cards show, but certainly 

the light and love of Christ filled the place with great warmth.

Linking to Mary's Little Red House for Mosaics on Monday