Christmas!

Another Christmas has come and gone; as always, I was almost ready. Are we ever completely prepared? Naturally, all of the gifts were purchased and wrapped, cards addressed and sent, and the food was ready at the appointed time and place. But, then, there's always those "extras", those things I think I'd like to make and tuck in as a special surprise- those little cross stitch ornaments I admired last July and had every intention of completing. The cute little Christmas quilt blocks that I decided would make such adorable pillows to give my friends. The precious quilted zipper bags for holding treasures. Some more mini-Chrismons for our home tree. The list goes on... did I make any of them? No. Where did all those days and weeks go? What did I do with my time? Sigh. I don't know. So, I tell myself the same thing that I always do:  There's always next year! 

I did get  our annual BIG batch of Almond cookies baked in time for holiday desserts (and snacking).

Gingerbread men (and ladies) were baked and decorated, as well as Sourdough Rustic loaves. 

I was able to keep up with my traditional favorite Christmas movies while I was in the kitchen baking. 

Our children and oldest grands, from the Capital City, spent Christmas Eve afternoon with us. I'm officially the shortest of the whole bunch now. Lucy Ann reminded me that I'm still taller than Augie!  

Christmas day was spent with our son and his family, the youngest grands. Lynnleigh is still captivated by American Girl dolls. Lila, her newest "child" is ready for gymnastics and received her own dog too. 

Gregory is quite skilled on the golf course. Video golf will keep him in good form during the winter. 

Today has been spent cleaning up, breaking down cardboard boxes and making more Rustic Sourdough loaves. These last two turned out very well. Mr. G. bought me sourdough starter and a crock from King Arthur for an early Christmas gift; I have wanted to get back into bread making for some time and this is a great way to begin! I'm really enjoying the process. So, another Christmas has come and gone and here we are again. During this "in between" week I hope to accomplish a few of those aforementioned little "extras" before we launch into the New Year... time will tell. Where, oh where, to begin?!

 Wishing you and yours a blessed week

filled with joy and gratitude and all 

the best in the New Year to come!

Life is Good!

New Year, New Purpose!

I have two traditions for New Year's Day: The first is to gather all the Christmas cards and disassemble them. Fronts are carefully removed from the backs, unless they're photo cards, and neatly stacked. The insides, with the card sender's name(s), are punched and threaded onto a ring where they will reside with our Bible and devotional material at the kitchen table. 
Each morning, after breakfast, we have our devotions and then pray for the person or family on the top of the stack. We rotate through the stack throughout the year, flipping the card on top to the bottom and so forth. For us, this keeps the senders close all year long. This is not an original idea, I have blogged about this before. The idea came from friends years ago, Helen and Marv. They have both gone to their Heavenly home now, but we carry on in their spirit; we don't have cards in the stack from them anymore but they are always on our minds and in our hearts as we keep this tradition alive. So, what becomes of those stacked card fronts?

They are re-purposed into gift tags! I trim them into shapes, punch a hole and tie a ribbon for attaching to next year's gifts. I realized as I was doing this that this is a great activity for children. I should have done it over the weekend when the grands were here. Little ones love cutting, punching and threading the ribbon ties. I will remember that for next year, but I was on a mission to finish up the project up yesterday.

The second New Year's tradition is to transfer all dates and data from last year's calendar/planner into the new one. For the last five years I have given our daughter a planner for Christmas and she gives me mine. We let each other know in the fall which one we would like to receive and how we would like the cover to be personalized. Now, we both realize that we could order our own planners, but where's the fun in that?  It's exciting to unwrap our planners together each year! One year we both chose the same design; this year our daughter suggested three different designs and asked me to choose for her. 

These planners are big and roomy with pockets and folders too. I use mine incessantly, all in an effort to keep my life orderly and organized.  Some days I'm better at that than others. But, hey, it's a new year and I'm ready for it now; I'm always up for doing better than before and I can dream big too! 

Life is Good!

Doubly Blessed

I arranged these two bouquets last evening, they graced the altar at church this morning. I come from the tradition, in a large church, where, when it was the Sunday that you dedicated the altar flowers, they were ordered for you by the church secretary and just showed up, arranged and delivered by a local florist to the specific norms adopted by the church. And then there was Grace, our mission church. We meet in the chapel of a funeral home and, until fairly recently, we trotted out the same silk arrangements every week. A few months back we adopted the precious tradition of signing up for a particular week and bringing flowers from home. There are no stipulations, they can be as elaborate or as simple as the donor chooses; anything from professionally arranged florist bouquets to cut flowers from one's own garden or even potted, flowering plants. It's exciting each week to see what fellow members choose to bring, since it's a personal choice we learn more about each other through this service opportunity; it's always interesting to me to see what someone may bring on a particular Sunday and why. Today was our Sunday, I signed up weeks ago, these flowers were dedicated to my mother and father this morning as they are celebrating doubly: today being both Father's Day and my mother's birthday! It is a joy-filled day, our family is doubly blessed. So, back to the arrangements being readied last evening, I thought for a moment about how we could transport two vases in the car without spilling water. I cut two holes in a shipping box after taping it shut all around and slipped the vases inside. Voilà! (I haven't lived with an engineer for over forty-two years without picking up a trick or two.) It worked out just perfectly.

Happy birthday, Mom, happy Father's Day, Dad.

These altar flowers today are dedicated to the glory of God in your honor.

Life is Good!

Countdown Glimpses

When I began posting this month I made reference to glimpses, little peeks into the Christmas preparations going on here at home as if they were quick looks into windows on Advent calendars. Today's glimpses are of some of our actual Advent calendar collection. These have long ago had each window opened as we counted down to Christmas, but I have hung onto them and proudly display them each year now, not only for the charming illustrative artwork but also for the memories associated with opening each tiny window as a family, all in anticipation of what was to come! This free-standing Christmas house may just be my all time favorite!

I simply love the illustrations and the colors.

The attic garret is an art studio. The photo below shows what is behind window #7 above.

Why, yes, it is Santa himself, posing for the artist of course!

The outside of the Christmas house calendar.

This smaller, wall calendar, depicts a European Christmas market in the snow.

This chestnut vendor wears a coat with #4 window as her pocket.

Just look at what is keeping warm in there! I have a special fondness for the little dog in this one too!

The bear skiers are having a grand time outside this Alpine castle on this bright calendar.

This particular calendar has not held up as well over time, some of the "doors" have been lost but it remains on of my favorites nonetheless!  The precious illustrations evocative of children's books of fairy tales hold a very special place in my heart!  How are you counting down at your house?🎄📅

Life is Good!

For the Love of Plates...

 ... and bowls, and cups, and saucers, and platters and sugar bowls! Okay, you get the picture, I love dishes! There was a time in my life when I considered Christmas dishes a worthless and unnecessay extravagance; I'll admit that I turned up my nose at plates with holly leaves and bowls with Christmas trees... "why would anyone want to commit space and resources to dishes that can used for such a limited period of time" I thought. And then I saw Villeroy & Boch's Naif Christmas pattern. I remember the exact moment that these dishes spoke to me. We were living overseas, in Geneva, and I was downtown in the Globus department store browsing through the china aisles when my eyes fell upon these. It was immediate... I knew then that I needed them. Maybe it was the charming folk-art scenes, or perhaps it was the lovely, delicate, cranberry-hued edging, but the thing that reeled me in then, and still does, is this nativity platter. 
You can read the story here of how I came to acquire this set of dishes; but, please, read on. Over the years I have developed the custom of getting these dishes out in early December and keeping them in the cabinet clear through January so that my husband and I can fully enjoy them over a period of weeks with their precious winter scenes. They have become all the more special to me now; as I place the stacks of plates, bowls and mugs in the cabinet, I am reminded of the number of dear friends and family who have gathered with us at Christmastime and been served off of these plates. I am truly thankful for them and for the gallons of tea and coffee, over the years, that has been poured from pot to cup... from heart to heart. These dishes have come to represent such abundant blessings in my life; looking back, maybe it was no coinicidence that I wandered into the china department of Globus on that day so long ago. God changed my heart to one of welcoming hospitality and opened my eyes to the treat that awaits if one looks beyond the ordinary and unnecessary to what might just be considered something of true and lasting value. That's a lot to ask of any plate, but I can happily confirm that these dishes have delivered all of that... and much, much more!

Life is Good!

Cutting Corners

Hasbro is cutting the corners off of it's game board this year. The 75th anniversary edition of an American icon, Monopoly, will be round! The new game will have no cash, debit cards have replaced the little paper bills. I loved that money, our children used to play "bank" for hours on end with it. I'm sad, too, that the thimble has been replaced by a stand-up plastic playing piece, is nothing sacred? Could this be a repeat of the "new" Coke, will the public reject the change? I wonder; time will tell. It looks like the little houses remain the same, I see "Go" and I found "Jail", but what's the "Rocket Zone?" Hmmm... I just don't know how I feel about going in circles to get to Park Place.

Life is Good!