merry merry christmas!

i hope you all have a wonderful christmas surrounded by all the people that you love....and that all your christmas wishes come true...this is my favorite carol, i loved it ever since i was a little girl...it now reminds me so much of my oldest son...he called this week and said 'i won't be able to bring gifts'....and was feeling so bad about that, i told him that isn't what christmas was about, that we were looking forward to spending time with him....something tells me christmas eve he will fill the room full of music from the keyboard and cello or any of the other instruments we have around the house, just like the little drummer boy....what a blessing we have...

nothing like christmas shopping...

one son is grown and gone...the other, santa....my oldest son never got back to me of what he would like for christmas, the other wrote it all out, coded, in lines from most wanted to least in a letter to santa....the oldest 'needs' things, the youngest has everything...

so off hubby and i go to do shopping while the weather is still good....eli is sledding at a friends, the other is making his way through the snow to work in shoes with giving seams...

we had no idea what to get them, other than shoes with no holes and $ for my oldest to help with the never ending 'bills'....and since this is the first time we've been put in this position, i can tell you that it is the surest way to buy to many gifts, spend way more than you should've, and then think to yourself, gosh, i hope they like these things....

on the drive home with eli from his friends house, oh he had so many things that he wanted now for christmas....he threw in ideas of nerf guns, snow boards and sleds....not one thing was what we had gotten him....of course, not a one....his list to santa included only old football cards, you know the kind that are hidden away in peoples attics, long forgotten...or worse, bid on ebay, which honestly i'm always outdid at the last minute...i asked him after reading his list, 'no toys?'....no, just cards...was his simple answer....hubby looked over santa's list and chuckled to me that he thought one card was certainly $20,000.00....hmmmmmm

i spoke to my oldest last night and told him all the shopping was done and his gifts were wrapped under the tree...."what?" he asked, "you didn't ask me what i wanted"...i reminded him, yes i did, i just never heard back....i told him to not act like a brat, and be thankful...after all, they are gifts to him...(have to throw those manner things in still every now and then)....but he shyly listed a few things that he needed - and that wasn't shoes....nor anything else that we bought for him...and honestly with the things he mentioned we could have spent $25 and he would've been very happy...

so next year i will send eli off to his friends a couple of weeks before christmas so he can come home with some ideas for me....and the oldest, i will call him the day i'm going shopping and tell him i'm already done shopping...so i can hear his list of what he 'would've' wanted...

i hope your shopping is going better than mine....maybe i should go and do exchanges....

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to russia with love...

thank you russia for my wood....if it weren't for you, i couldn't do what i am doing to meet the quality that i expect of myself...for many years i have thought of your country and the many hands that have worked so hard to bring this wood to my small appalachian area... i couldn't be who i am, if it weren't for you...



my mom sent me a video saying be glad you are not in russia in the wintertime....i wasn't able to figure out how to load that one to my blog, but i found this one on youtube...i thought this is the perfect time to give russia a big thank you shout out! i have had readers from that area, so you never know, maybe they will get the message and smile!

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this made me cry...

my mom sent me this video...and i was filled with pride and sadness...the tears for the sacrifices that our armed forces are making, for their losses of their friends in their units, and for their missing of their families...i know many of my readers are wives of soldiers that have been gone many times over the last years...my prayers are always with you and for the safety of your family...





i wonder if we could actually see prayers lift off into our skies what would it look like - maybe it would be like a constant silver sparkle, like snowflakes in reverse?

something really bad has happened...

i cannot remember a time like this, unless i think back to 1983 when i was pregnant with my oldest....sara lee was the culprit then - she created a heavenly dream of chocolate cake with chocolate pudding in the middle....i ate so many of these cakes i couldn't even begin to count....one pan, just enough for a very pregnant woman...but they are now gone, i guess they just never caught on...

and now....it's m&m's....how could they have ever come up with this idea....really, a pretzel in the middle, really, who would want one of those? well let me tell you - i cannot live without them...they are better than a coke, and if you know me, you are gasping right about now...

i, sadly, am allergic to nuts....just a few years ago, as hubby was driving me to the doctor, eyes sealing shut, tongue (evidently quite humorous as i'm told) swelling and making it difficult to talk....i was diagnosed as having a reaction to an almond croissant...and that was just the beginning, peanut m&m's, pecan pie, even little sweet sunflower seeds get me all an itchin'....and my motto is 'if there ever comes a time that the world is ending you will find me sitting on the floor of our local bp station eating reeses cups, what a way to go' i say....oh how i miss them...

but these pretzel m&m's are as close to my memories of the wonderful peanut m&m....hubby keeps bringing them home in the huge bags...i begin emptying the bags and yell out - no, this can't be....he says 'what'? i scold him for bringing them home again....i cannot continue eating all these pounds and pounds of candy...just look at my stomach - he just smirks, i rip open the bag and tell him, this is it, just stop it!

i think i will have to put a ban on them by the end of the month....certainly if i cannot get into any of my 'fat' clothes we will have a problem...and if i dare mention the word 'diet' around hubby, he certainly will bring me 2 bags at a time, he always does those things, so annoying! or worse, fill my entire stocking full of them, and then what could i say other than thank you and eat them to make him happy? oh dear, what a mess i'm in...

oh how i love christmas lights

winter wonderland...

as i'm busy working in the studio, quick as a holiday elf could be...i have to admit that i'm enjoying our first winter view...yes, it is a couple of months earlier than our normal winter, but last year was the same...i'm enjoying my time painting by the fireplace and thinking of all the game boards that will be opened christmas morning...and i'm truly honored that you all have invited me into your homes...


a day out to the tree farm - tromping up and down the snowy mountain, each of us spotting the 'perfect' christmas tree....i have to say, 3 people, 3 different ideas of the perfect tree - me, well i fall for the charlie brown trees, hubby, the fatter the better, and eli, fat & enormously tall...but as the sleet was drying to a nice ice topping on my head, we did find the perfect tree...


is there really ever a not perfect christmas tree? decorated with all your treasures over the many years, how can it not be just perfect with an ornament like this?

school, as you know, is out forever i'm sure....i am putting the finishing touches on your pieces and then i will begin a new gee's bend game board...if there is a gee's bend quilt that is your favorite and you would love to see it turned into a game board, just let me know...!

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