May Flowers

It wasn't April showers that brought me these flowers, but Mother's Day.  The carnation was from church, but the rest were from my son, D.  Thank you, D! :-)

 I have always loved irises.

 Bright yellow flowers are like little bursts of sunshine.

 Happy colors!

This carnation makes me think of a fiesta party dress.

To all who had opportunity to celebrate the day, Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving:  an offering of gratitude.  a looking around at life and seeing God's grace in both the joys and the sorrows.

For my family:  a loving husband. wonderful kiddos and kiddos-in-law. grandbabies! :-D extended family gatherings we look forward to attending instead of dreading. 

In this winter weather:  a pleasant home, warm clothes, good food.

Time:  time to quilt. time to knit. time to be with my quilting conspirators each week. :-)

Beauty:  sunrises. sunsets. fall color. wild flowers.

Fun:  good movies. music. meaningful conversations.  

Grace: comfort. encouragement. guidance. communion.

Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise.

Give thanks to Him and praise His name

For the Lord is good and His love endures forever;

His faithfulness continues through all generations.

Psalms 100:4-5

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Labor Day!

My hubby's work schedule make weekend times a precious commodity for us, so holiday weekends are especially welcome around here.  My dearest took off early on Friday and came home with these...

Happy Labor Day!

Merry Christmas

At last, peace on earth.
Oh!  But then again.....

Awww....all is calm, all is bright.

Merry Christmas!

Holiday Musings 2012

This is a holiday of transitions--grandparents growing older, children getting married, grandchildren arriving.  As the seasons of life bring change, there is comfort in the traditions that continue and enjoyment of the beginning of new traditions.

Three or four years ago, beginning the weekend after Thanksgiving, I started reading through The Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.  I have fond, though faded, memories of watching the Mr. Magoo cartoon version as a child.  Last year I read it out loud to my husband at meal times on the weekends, one stave per weekend.  We are repeating that tradition this year and find it to be a enjoyable and thoughtful part of the season.  

Our little tree is up, though it owes being decorated to my husband.  I just didn't have the enthusiasm for it this year.  I placed the ornaments on their hooks, and he put them on the tree, and it was a little task made pleasant by his company. 

The creche is arranged on our new fireplace mantle, and it was a lovely surprise to see how the colors in the creche matched the colors in the new fireplace. 

All that is left of the decorating is adding our bit of lights to the front porch.  Sending out the Christmas cards, wrapping packages, and holiday baking should finish up the preparations. 
Family will gather together, and I am anticipating a time of lots of laughter, bustle, and love. Afterwards I may curl up in a comfortable place somewhere with maybe a book, some knitting, or a movie and enjoy a bit of solitude.  

Gifts-Part 2

To finally catch up on our family celebrations, I received a couple of lovely gifts from my dear husband, and my eldest son and his wife for anniversary/birthday:

The necklace was from my husband to replace one just like it that I had lost over a year ago.  It was one of my favorites, so I am glad to be able to wear it again.  The earrings from my son and daughter-in-law pair so nicely with the necklace.  I love jewelry that relates but doesn't exactly match. 

In my next post I hope to share some pictures from our Nebraska trip back in the fall, and that should bring me up to date, I think.   

Gifts

The holidays didn't go quite as we planned since both my hubby and I came down with colds just a few days before Christmas.  Consequently we weren't able to join the family for the celebration, making for a very quiet Christmas, but thanks to technology we were able to join from afar.  

To catch up, here are some the special things I have given and received for Christmas.  

First, from my dear husband, a lens for my iPhone:

I hope this will improve the quality of some of the photos I post here.

For one of my daughters I made what I will call a tote cloth since its original name is trademarked.  It can be used to carry produce she gathers from her gardens or kindling for her wood stove.  On a nice day, it could even serve as a picnic cloth.

This is the cowl I made my other daughter, but I will need her to send me a couple of pictures with it on to really show it off. (hint, hint :-)  )

One of my sons had my name for Christmas, and his family gave me a nice hefty knife to add to my kitchen cutlery plus a gift card for iTunes (yeah!).  

And my parents gave me a couple of quilting books to help me with skill and inspiration.

Every once in a while our family tends to do the unexpected.  At our Sunday school class Christmas party I made a steal during the white elephant gift exchange.  Even my husband was wondering what I was going to do with these.

I told him that I planned to wear them to the farmers' market, though they may not be as practical for that as I had hoped.  They aren't as warm as I might like, but they are something easily washable.  As far as people noticing what they are, that may happen occasionally, but I have come to learn that people really don't pay that much attention to each other.  And those who do will probably laugh to themselves, or make a funny comment.  The packaging gave me a laugh...construction, cooking?

I hope I didn't leave anything out.  If I did, someone remind me and I will add it to another post.  Having a cold made the holidays a bit of a blur.  Happy New Year, everyone!

Preventive Holiday Planning

I learned a new word this past week--frenemies.  That is a good description of my relationship to the holidays.  Not being one who works well with pressure and deadlines, I find the holidays full of opportunities to get frazzled.  Wanting to be on better terms with the season, I am working on various strategies to reduce the stress.  

This is the second year where I have worked on our Christmas cards throughout the year.  By November they are done, so I can focus on the Christmas letter and getting envelopes addressed.  So far so good.

While we have never been big Christmas decorators, we do have it down now to having both the putting up the decorations or taking them down in two or three hours.  This is our second year with our little tree.

The Christmas quilts are up.

 

The Nativity is displayed on the mantel.

A bit of lights are on the front porch and my shabby chic wreath is on the door.  

Well, maybe not chic, but I am just waiting for the right one to come along to replace it.  Waiting can be profitable as evidence by our newest Christmas addition--the swirl tree.

I had been keeping my eye out for a little metal ornament tree.  This one was featured in a Crate and Barrel catalog I got in the mail--just what I was hoping to find.

Thanks to my children's willingness to work with giving me gift ideas, my gift shopping going well--almost down to the wrapping and mailing stage now.  The biggest challenge will be the food, planning for safe foods for my hubby and me plus the traditional foods to be shared. 

So, while the holidays and I will probably never be just friends since it always means a disruption to my routine, we are learning to work together to make it a time I look forward to and enjoy.