santa baby . . .

Hello, I'm so glad you're here!  (Who am I kidding??  I'm so glad *I'M* here!  Hahaha!)  

Welcome, welcome to the first post of the annual Online Advent Calendar, hosted by Jo at Serendipitous Stitching! Each day she'll update the source post to reveal the day's guest poster!  It's loads of fun and a wonderful way to count down to Christmas, stitchingly!  Every year, Jo chooses a theme—this year it's Santas—and asks her bloggers to share a theme-related tidbit, and a Christmas stitching! And this year, I'm very honored to be December 1; Day ONE!  So on to it!

I've been a Santa-lover my whole life.  In other words, I still believe.  :)  I used to have an extensive collection of Santas of all sorts, shapes, and sizes, but when we moved from the house to the RV, I pared down a lot, and have continued to do so over the last fourteen years that we've been fulltime RVers.  Still, I have my very first Santa, who's nearly as old (aka "vintage") as I am . . .

Isn't he beautiful?! I also have two beautiful Jim Shore Santas, but would you believe, I haven't decorated yet?  I'm saving that for this weekend!  So they're not out to take a photo of, to share.

We also have lots of Santa traditions in our family.  For example, there's the visit to go see Santa.  Joc has done that with her kiddos from Ellie's first year . . .

Ellie and Santa 2012

Ellie (with Sawyer) and Santa 2013. Love Sawyer's holding his ears!

Merkel Girls and Santa 2014

Merkel Girls and Santa 2015

Merkel Girls and Santa 2016

These just get more hilarious as they go. My-oh-my, what a handful they were with him!  And he was the best, most patient, and hilarious Santa ever!  This year they took everyone including Ezra, and I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it sure wasn't this . . .

Merkel Family and Santa 2023

All I can think of is that Ezra equates men with dark beards to his dad, and men with white beards to his Pawpaw!  LOL!

On Christmas Eve, one of our favorite traditions is to go down to the main circle through Joc's community, and catch Santa coming through on the fire truck!!  

The kids (and this adult, as well) are delighted by this charming service (check out Edith's rapt little face)!

Then there's always the Galaxy of Lights tour at our local Botanical Gardens.  I've done the walking tour the last couple of years, and it's so much FUN to see all the lights and special effects!  But my favorite display is—yeah, you guessed it—Santa and his sleigh!

I think an elf is holding the reigns while Santa slips down the chimney!!

I gave a lot of thought to what I'd share Christmas stitching-wise in this post.  To be honest, other than this cross-stitched tree I shared in August . . .

And this 2008 BOM Christmas Quilt that I finished and shared last December . . .

I haven't done a lot of Christmas stitching over the past two years.  So I decided to share this darling ornament that fits the theme . . .

I loved creating this little fellow! I didn't use a pattern (so I don't have one to share).  He's based off of a tin Santa ornament I had and wanted to replicate in felt.

Such fun!

Glad tidings to you, dear reader!  I wish you a Merry Christmas and a joy-filled New Year!  Don't forget to check in with Jo at Serendipitous Stitching each day, to count down the days until Christmas!  Thank you, Jo, for always doing such a lovely job with your blog hops!

And to all, a good night.  :)

surprise . . .

Backposted (because how ever many years from now I'd regret not having posted these pictures along with their stories)!

Back in December (way back when), I participated in the Advent blog hop — which is one of my favorites of the year!  Since I do participate, I'm also faithful to visit all the other participants.  Because it's the nice thing to do!  Anyway, one of the participants, Elfin Stitches, featured the most beautiful, hand-beaded ornaments in her post, and she had a give away, and I won one!  They came all the way from Australia, so it took a little time.  But when I got home from retreat, guess what was waiting on me?

It was like Christmas all over again!  I took my time opening it.  It was so worth the wait . . .

Isn't this beautiful?!?  Her bead work is stunning.  I couldn't wait the twelve months to next Christmas to hang it, so it's hanging at my desk where I can enjoy it daily!  

She asked us to specify if we wanted lightly or heavily beaded trees.  I chose heavily.  It's just stunning.

:)

advent time . . .

Once upon a time there was a blogger who was participating in an online Advent calendar blog hop with Jo at Serendipitous Stitching, but she got her dates mixed up and didn't realize her date was the 20th (instead of the 22nd) until she hopped over to check out today's feature.  

It was me. I'm that blogger. Glad I made the realization before noon (CST)!

This year, Jo, who so graciously hosts this annual hop, has asked participants to share about their Christmas tree traditions!  This is an easy one for me!

Growing up, and even well into adulthood, I always enjoyed a real tree!  I love the trudging out to get it, setting it up, stringing the lights, bringing out the ornaments and enjoying all the memories that they evoked, and then enjoying the tree's grandeur all through the season.  Even though they're work, a live tree just smelled good and made me happy.

Trees of Christmas past.

But when we made the move from the sticks & bricks house to the RV in 2009, we realized there was no bringing a live tree into our living space.  There simply wasn't room. So we purchased a small, artificial tree . . . 

I adore this tree.  We've had it for every year we've been in the RV except one.  But paring down on the tree meant paring down on the ornaments I'd collected over the years, too--though you wouldn't know it, seeing how packed it is! I kept the ones with the most poignant memories (that weren't huge/too big for the tree) and gave my son and daughter their pick from the remainder.  It's fun to visit their homes during the Christmas season and see ornaments I purchased over the years, on their trees! But I know the origin/story/gifter of every single ornament on my RV tree.  It almost makes me a little teary-eyed thinking about it!

I also have a little quilted tree in my mini stand that makes me smile . . .

Ellie saw this one yesterday and decided she'd like to make a Christmas pillow similar to it.  She liked all the beaded 'ornaments' on it!

Our family's favorite Christmas tree story involves a cat.  Gwenevere was full of cattitude.  I'd been holding her in my lap, playing with her, and evidently she got tired of me messing with her.  She escaped from my lap, ran over to the Christmas tree, gave me a look over her shoulder as if to say, "I'll show you," and turned around and BIT a light off the Christmas tree.  I was horrified!  I mean, she could have electrified herself or short circuited the whole house ... or at the very least, cut her mouth! But no, she just ate glass ... kind of like the Grinch ... and sulked under the tree for the rest of the day.

I think we retell that story every year, with more and more hilarity! :)

This season, my stitching has looked very different.  I mentioned in the prior post about the paper ornaments I've been making.  They are hand-stitched down the center.

I think these are so pretty!  The angel is my very favorite.

And I learned how to make these cute little canvas poppers, too . . . 

I taught Ellie to make one yesterday.  They're cute, easy to make, quick to put together, and house a sweet little surprise!

The mouth is just big enough to tuck a Hershey's kiss inside.  Fun!

So there you have it. Just in the (St.) nick of time!  Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out Jo's page to see all the wonderful participants!

Merry, merry!

:)

stash report and *so* much more . . .

This past week has been so busy . . . probably the busiest of the season so far!  And even though today has been busy too, it was good to stop and celebrate my favorite Sunday in Advent . . .

The Sunday of JOY!

My Stitcher, etc. Christmas party was Tuesday evening and that's where the nominal change in my stash report occurred.  (And can you believe we're at week 50?!?)

The bottom line didn't change, because there was an even exchange of fat quarters. We do an ornament exchange and the "wrapping" is a fat quarter of Christmas fabric.  Here's mine ready to go in Christmas plaid (with a bonus yo-yo candy cane ornament):

And here's the pretty fat quarter I received:

I also received a darling little teapot ornament from my darling friend Kari:

Isn't it sweet?!  I opted to 'spruce' up my tea corner with it, instead of putting it on the tree. This sweet little thing may stay out year 'round!

With regard to stash, thanks to all of you who share input on de-stashing.  I've got thirteen days over Christmas, and I have decided for sure to spend at *least* one of those in the Nook, sorting and reorganizing (and de-stashing)!

I had a little time to get in some handwork in spite of the busyness.  For example, the yo-yo candy cane ornie was finished, and I stitched up another wool tree . . . this one in pinks, white and red.

I think I like this one even better!!  The white and blue one I gifted to our hostess on Tuesday.

I also will be working on some more felt poinsettias.

I've always done these in regular craft felt, but I think they'd be pretty in wool felt. I may have to try one out. The hardest part of finishing these is trying to decide which button to use for the center! I'll probably do a little slow stitching on those to carry me through my Sunday evening!

Wednesday we had church and packed Lunches of Love, Thursday we had our MSC missionary Christmas dinner, Friday I finished wrapping anything that had come in late, boxed it all up and got all my out-of-town gifts in the mail!  Whoa!  Is this really me?!?  Ha!  Speaking of gifts for out-of-towners, we also got to do a little FaceTiming with this crew . . .

Their first California Christmas tree!

Sawyer and June were busy 'working' on colorings for us.

Liv was happy to blow kisses to Neesey and Pawpaw!

Saturday was an outing to Miss Mary Bobo's, in Lynchburg, Tennessee.  A group of ladies from Wears Chapel have now made this trip two years in a row!  

The food is always excellent, and it was fun to walk around the square of Lynchburg (home of Jack Daniels), too!

Then today, after church, I met Jocelyn, Ellie and Joc's mother-in-law, Marilyn, at the Von Braun Center for the matinee performance of The Nutcracker!

Ellie was really excited to see it again and told us her favorite part was the Mouse King!  She really was entranced with the ballet and watched through the whole thing quite intently!  I think this year was even more enchanting for her, because she's been taking ballet lessons!

And she was able again this year to wear the pretty little Nutcracker dress that I hand-embroidered the "E" on!  In another year or two, Everley will be able to wear it, too!

I'm linking up to Patchwork Times and Kathy's Quilts.  And I'm off to see what little stitches I can make before bedtime!

Have a fabulous week!

:)

'tis the season . . .

It's been a busy, but happy week.  We got out the Christmas tree at work and decorated there . . .

I love decorating the work tree . . . that have big HUGE ornaments, and I love to tuck them in here and there.  Plus, since the RV tree is tiny (20"), this gives me a little bigger playing field! 

I finally finished up Mr. Snowbuddy.  I'm *so* pleased with the final product:

Isn't he just festive and handsome??

I should have moved on to the wool final snowman I have . . .

He'll be a doozy!  But I felt like playing with something a little smaller, so I pulled out these two mini yo-yo ornament kits I picked up in Paducah a couple of years ago . . .

The yo-yo's whip together quickly, and in no time I had a finished wreath:

My *intention* was to finish the candy cane, next, but I got distracted on the internet and came across a darling wool ornament tutorial on Camellia Rose (by way of Buttermilk Basin):

Yes, I was so enchanted with it, I had to stop what I was doing and make one for myself (see above)! So now I don't know whether I'll be making mini yo-yo candy canes, white wool Christmas trees, or a big ol' woolen snowman for Slow Stitching Sunday . . . but I've got options!

Of course, the day isn't really a 'slow' day.  This afternoon we're headed out for an adult Sunday school class party.  It's Mexican (food) themed, and I think we're going to have a great crowd!  

I've made guacamole and Mexican Wedding cookies for my offerings.  *Spicy*!!  But we'll be home before seven, so I'll have some quiet evening time to sit and stitch.  :)

My stash report hasn't changed a whit since last week.  

Again.  More often than not this year, that's been the case!  I need to get into my stash and thin it out a bit.  There's a lot there that I'll probably never use. What do you do with fabric you know you'll never use? I'd love to hear some ideas!  I'll be linking up to the stash report at Patchwork Times and to the Slow Sunday Stitching linky party at Kathy's Quilts.  

That's it for me this week.  Our Stitcher's group has its Christmas party on Tuesday, we have our MSC Missionary Christmas dinner on Thursday, our church ladies' Christmas dinner at Mrs. Mary Bobo's (in Lynchburg, Tennessee) on Saturday, and then Joc, Ellie and I are going to the Nutcracker on Sunday.  'Tis the season, right?!

Have a blessing-filled week!!

:)