Somgs my Mother taught me # 5

Sleeping time
"I can endure anything if I only can sleep,"my Mom used to say. 
"There's a lot of healing in a good night's sleep," went another of her sayings.
In spite of that, we are a family where the females are affected by insomnia.
"Never think going to bed with cold feet", was rule # 1. 

Warm socks are a good solution. Mom making socks for the entire family Christmas 2011. She used left over yearn and would always knit the heels with double thread.

Hot water bottle, electric mattress heater, or even better; a soft adjustable electric blanket makes the bed inviting.
That is definitely a must. The bed must be a relaxing, welcoming place to be. Soft pillows, a thick feather duvet, a bottle of water, reading glasses and a pile of good books. For harsh nights I have added my own remedy; Astrid Lindgren's videos. They mellow my mind and focus thoughts on happy memories.

 The sleep of the righteous after a long day's work.

My parents would also ALWAYS  read one or two prayers and a homemade one, summing up the day and place it all in the hands of the Lord.
They had a book from which they read one or two chapters before we went to sleep.We got to choose the books.
In Norway in the early fifties there was housing shortage. That meant that we had tenants living upstairs like everyone else in the valley. 
That was a good thing to me. I shared bedroom with my brother till I was 7, and we really had a good time singing, guessing riddles and making noice in general before falling to sleep. 
People need people. I've always pitied babies being placed in a room of their own. Especially when the parents are telling not to go and look after when a baby cry." He's just being difficult, wanting  to get up". 
Goodness, gracious me, little children are not monsters. If they cry, they have needs, and should not be taught, that crying doesn't help.

My Mother taught me that. She practiced learning by doing.
Good routines before bedtime are a must both for adults and children.
No TV or homework the last hour before bedtime. A light meal with a mug of hot chocolate or milk & honey to drink.
Tidying up, folding the day away, half an hour on the bath, circling down to the bed.
Then the songs, the lullabies.  
Funny thing is, in Norway many choose on of the famliar lullabies for funerals too. They are so comforting.

 

This was one of my mother's favorite bed time songs.

Songs my Mother taught me # 4

The more I reflect I see how influenced I am by the many little details my mother taught me, nor by preaching, but by doing.
Nowadays we can buy fresh flowers imported from all over the world 12 months a year. When I grew up most store flowers were grown in Norwegian greenhouses. January was a rather naked month, the Christmas decorations were boxed away and outdoors snow and naked trees as long as the eye could see.
"Now I go outdoors and fetch the spring indoors," my Mom would say, wading in the snow towards the Forsythia shrubs.
Then, as a yearly, smiling refrain; " the only specie to blossom on a naked twig."  
January first is the day I fight the frost to harvest some Forsythia twigs for me and my friends.A week after the first buds and a few blossoms sprung.
I have spring in my kitchen!

Photo and poem © 2012 by Magical Mystical Teacher