our wish...

it's new year's eve! the old year is on it's way out and a new year on it's way in! how exciting and promising! a new year! i am ready and excited for a new year! the smile on my face, dreaming about the new year, is as big as this snowman's smile! i hope you have a smile on your face in anticipation of new year! mr. snowman and i would like to wish you a very happy new year filled with all of what your dreaming of for 2010...

snowy and cold...

the snow and the cold are here to stay. and that's ok by me! i'm looking forward to a long winter!

i am sooo ready to hibernate in our home and enjoy the snow and the cold from the inside where it's all warm and cozy!

i hope to slow down and relax some during my hibernation but i also hope to get busy and work on some projects around the house and to stitch and sew some crafts! fun, fun, fun! so bring on the snow and the cold...

a white world...

it's a white world outside my door! it's also beautiful! the storm that was set to hit the midwest over christmas did just that! and this is what it left behind! drifts of fluffy, white snow everywhere! i've mentioned before that i love snow. it is so peaceful to me. it quiets the earth and envelops it in a white blanket.

it really couldn't be any more beautiful than this...

the reason for the season...

truly the baby born today is the reason for the season, the reason we celebrate christmas. merry christmas to you and your family!

and there were shepherds keeping watch over their flocks by nite...

and there were shepherds keeping watch over their flocks by nite... it's christmas eve! an angel will appear to the shepherds to bring them good tidings of great joy! a baby will be born, wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger! the shepherds will go to bethlehem to find mary, joseph, and the baby jesus. glory to god in the highest and peace to his people on earth...

and the stockings were hung...

and the stockings were hung... and so i'm ready for christmas! it's sounding like we will have a winter storm here for christmas! i looooove being snowed in at home and being cozy and warm inside, but i've never (never) not been at dad and mom's for christmas day! it's unthinkable for me! it's where i want to be for christmas day! but not this year. this year i'll be at our home with my husband and daughter. and i'm excited about that! it'll be different not being with my dad and mom and my brothers and sisters and all the nieces and nephews but it'll be good! quiet, simple, and good..and then on sunday, when the storm's all over and we've all dug our way out, we're all going to get together to celebrate christmas at dad and mom's! all is good...

walking in a winter wonderland...

i am walking in a winter wonderland! and i love it! i walk thru this lane almost every morning. it's my favorite part of the walk because, in every season, it's beauty never ceases to amaze me.

the trees are sooo incredible frosty and beautiful.

the spruces are flocked and ready for christmas.

the beauty and peacefulness of this winter wonderland is so fitting for christmas.

may beauty and peace be yours this christmas...

cozy and natural...

this is what i see when i am watching hallmark christmas movies in front of the fireplace. i love the glow of the lites on top of the fireplace. the lites stay on thru some of our darker winter days. our fireplace room is a rather small and cozy room; my very favorite room in the house! it's my favorite because it has the fireplace in it and there is nooooooothing better than being in front of the fireplace for me! i can look out onto our deck and see birds feeding or watch the snow falling and i'm next to the kitchen when i want something yummy to eat or a hot cup of coffee or cocoa! life is good in the fireplace room!

i love greenery and i love pinecones, and because this room has a natural feel to it, they fit in beautifully and naturally.

my"friendy" made this wonderful arrangement on an old shutter. she is incredibly talented and i love, love. love her and this arrangement. the clear, sparkly glitter gives it the look of icy frost on a cold winter morning! it is beautiful! again, just like friendy!

a dozen christmas's ago...

a dozen christmas's ago i recieved this wonderful santa cross-stitching from my mom! she stitched each of the 5 of us kids a different christmas crosstitching. i recieved the santa crosstitching because, i, like my mom, collect santas. i love this crosstitching, first of all because my mom made it for me, and also because of all the different sizes and shapes of the santas! i love the traditional christmas colorsin the stitching, the velvety pine green matting with the cranberry red peeking thru, and the old-looking gold frame. the bells with holly and berries on the top rite corner is a vintage pin i added for a little jingle! this is one christmas gift that i will love and cherish for the rest of my christmases...

angels we have heard on high...

this sweet angel is an old tree topper. i found it in the original boxat an antique shop. i have her placed over a candle in an older candle holder. i like that she stands above everything else so she is can easily be seen and admired.

i had to have this angel when i saw her because one of my very best friends, june, has one just like it! her angel is sentimental in that it was her grama's and she remembers it on top of the christmas tree every year. my angel is sentimental because, whenever i look at her, i think of june. isn't she just beautiful? just like june...

ring ring-a-ling...

ring ring-a-ling... ring ring-a-ling... i love bells, especially at christmas! jingle bells, sleigh bells, church bells. all of them! my husband and i found these bells this year on our christmas shopping weekend at a favorite antique shop. the bells are metal and are hung together with a metal strip. there is a small hole at each end of the metal strip so i added the red velvet ribbon to hang them, and, more importantly, ring them! they ring so beautifully! they sound like church bells. they are hanging in a window looking out into our backyard.

hope you are hearing beautiful bells ringing this christmas season...

oh christmas tree...

oh christmas tree... oh christmas tree... we have a beautiful, full, balsam fir christmas tree that we bought at our local hardware store. i love buying local and i'm soo glad they carry real trees. i love having a real tree. it makes me happy to have a real tree!

loving old things, our tree is entirely decorated in old, glass ornaments. some of the ornamments were my grama's but most of them i've accumulated over the years. as with a lot of what i decorate with, i'm always on the lookout for more ! i love the clear lites. they are so pretty and cast such a warm glow! i just love them!

the tree is loaded with ornaments because i have to put them all on! i love a tree full of ornaments and with lots of lites! with the short and sometimes snowy days, the lite from the tree is beautiful! i hope your tree is bringing you as much joy as ours is bringing me...

seasonal stitchings...

merry christmas! don't you love the rustic simplicity of this stitching? i do! it's not old, only looks that way! if i can't have old, i want it to look old! the poinsettia is a vintage pin.

look at the charlie brown christmas tree? i loooove it! hope you're being good! santa is coming!

santa and his boots...

i love santa and i love his boots too! i have several santa boots and here are a couple of the ceramic ones. the garland draping the boots is a vintage chenille yarn. santa is winking at you! isn't he so handsome with his green rhinestone eye? i think so! i'm still decorating and still loving it! more christmas to come...

it's beginning to look a lot like christmas...

it's beginning to look a lot like christmas...in my kitchen! this is the windowsill over my sink filled with mr. and mrs. santa claus and all the fixings for cookie baking and decorating. i love to decorate windowsills with lots of little goodies! mrs. santa is also mr. santa! each side has a different face. isn't that fun? the glass shaker is filled with holly and berry cake decorations.

i love the red and green-handled cookie cutters. altho i don't make cutout cookies, i love the cutters. i'm always looking for more!

the salt and pepper have red and green sugar in them. this puts me in the mood to make some christmas goodies!

ho ho ho...

ho ho ho... merry christmas!!! i love santas and have collected vintage santas for quite a few years. these are mostly soft sculptured santas, altho there is a tree topper, a paper mache, a
plaster of paris santa and 2 musical santas.

the far left roly poly santa is musical and the santa face is a bag.

i really love them all and can't pick a favorite. i still look for santas when i'm out and about at antique and thrift stores. there's always more room and enough love for one more santa...

moving on...

i'm moving on with my christmas decorating! this is my pastely bathroom upstairs. kinda girly and bright! i love flowers and have lots of pastlely, vintage vases with old silver glass garland

strung in and around.

i also like frogs and this is my pastely baby blue frog!

isn't decorating for christmas just the most fun?

a small start...

i've started! it's a small start! i've decorated my daughter's room for christmas! i love decorating her room. i use a lot of her things from christmas' past and some fun vintage items.

like this pretty lited angel...

these little porcelain boys holding christmas goodies and the pink santa! don't you looooove the pink santa? i love santas and he is my only pink santa!

this is a cute little corner with some fun pink and red!

this velvety red dress is one my daughter wore. my daughter is african american and was adopted at 26 days. she's 13 now. she is severely developmentally delayed, nonverbal, and is autistic. but mostly she is the lite of my life!

it's december already...

hard to believe it's december already! i always look forward to christmas but i still am surprised how quickly it has come. my husband and i were on our annual christmas shopping trip this past weekend. we got most of our shopping done. and now i am ready to get busy decorating our home, baking some christmas goodies, and crafting some christmas things. i like to bake and i am all about homemade but these are our only christmas goodies so far!

chocolate balls...

and soft peppermints! i better get busy! busy, busy, busy!

happy thanksgiving...

a very happy, blessed, and thankful thanksgiving to all...

thankful...

i am thankful. thankful for so many good things in my life. making an entry daily to my "i am thankful for..." list this month has made me become more aware of how much i have to be grateful for and how many blessings i have in my life. being aware of what i have to be grateful for makes me realize how very many blessings i have, which, in turn, makes me more aware of how blessed i am and more grateful. and on and on... being thankful and giving thanks makes me feel much more blessed and happy!

again, happy thanksgiving! be happy and be thankful...

talking turkey...

this is a vintage lacer to stitch up your stuffed turkey before baking it! i remember my mom stitching up a turkey and i've done it too but not with one of these lacers. i've just used needle and thread. i love the color and and the detail to it! it's amazing to me how something quite ordinary is so appealing to look at. new things just don't have this look.

speaking of turkeys, i heard on the food network that to have a really moist turkey you should soak it in a brine of water (enough to cover the turkey), 2 c salt, and 1 c sugar for 12 hours. i want to try that! hope that you have a moist turkey for thanksgiving!

sharing food and joy...

these pictures are from the children's book "one little, two little, three little pilgrims" by b.g. hennessy. to me these pictures depict the sharing of food and joy at a thanksgiving feast. i love that!

i hope that we are all able to share in the food and joy of thanksgiving with our family and friends and also with those who are less fortunate than ourselves. to count our blessings and to be a blessing to others. isn't that what thanksgiving is all about?

thanksgiving greetings...

thanksgiving greetings to you... again! another thanksgiving postcard to show you today. this one is sitting on top of our breadbox in the kitchen. the color is so good and the turkeys so realistic!

i found the teapot, creamer, and sugar bowl at an antique shop in red lodge, montana when my husband and i were on our honeymoon. they are the pattern of my dishes. i call them church dishes because you used to see them at every church and have even accumulated some of tehm from a neighboring church that closed. i don't know the name of the pattern or who made them. they are plain and simple and cream in color. i love them! they're the only dishes i have and i am always on the lookout for replacements or pieces i don't have. to me they look good whether i'm serving an everyday meal or a thanksgiving feast!