a long debriefing (and a giveaway) . . .

So it's that time of year when you *blink* and two (or more) days weeks have passed.  LOL!  Can I get an amen on that?!  I always struggle, when I finally make my way back to the ol' blog (which I always do), with what to post. Do I go back and fill in the blanks?  Or just pick up at 'today' and pretend nothing happened?

Because I use my blog primarily for me ... as a means to remember events, projects, and life, over the course of the year ... my tendency is to go ahead and fill in the blanks.  Case in point:  I just stopped blogging after my May 13 post this year.  Until October (when I got the itch).  And then I went back and BACK DATED at least twenty posts. <insert sheepish grin here>  That, my friends, is how I roll.  Which I guess answers my original question.  Buckle up . . . there are a LOT of photos!  ;)

We celebrated Thanksgiving at my folk's house this year.  It was Joc's year to celebrate on the day with her in-laws, so we chose to celebrate together on Friday. Since it's more about the giving thanks than the date, it wasn't a problem for us! One of my sisters was even able to fly in with her youngest, and celebrate with us.  

The more the merrier, right? Plus it was great-grandpa's first time to meet/hold Ezra!

Four generations . . . oldest and youngest of our family (for the time-being, anyway)! Ezra wanted to spend time with his Pawpaw, though . . .

He really wanted to get a fistful of that beard! Maybe he thought he was being held in Santa's lap??!

We missed our California crew, but they checked in from a Thanksgiving morning walk! ♥

That Sunday evening a group of us traveled out to see the light show at the Toyota Field Stadium.  It was a first for me and it was lots of fun!

We would have had a bigger crew, but Everley had stepped on a pencil earlier in the day, and broke 1/2" off in her poor little foot! She's fine ... after a trip to the pediatric ER.  Whew!

So the transition from Fall to Christmas kicked off with the lights. Next was the RV decor . . .

I love decorating our little space for the holidays!

I also love this darling little chub-a-lub!

On December 2, we had our Christmas Open House at work. Not only am I on staff, but Todd is volunteer staff, so it's a family affair. 

We didn't do it last year (covid), so we were excited to be able to advertise it this year -- but there were still some concerns for keeping it safe.  We decided to pre-bag everything we weren't serving pre-packaged. 

We did a good job (if I say so myself) and a number of guests commented how much they appreciated our efforts in that regard.  My favorite was the pretty little fruit cups . . .

I had the vision for these.  Kind of like the jar-cuterie, only done with just fruit. They were very festive looking and a big hit, plus we found we had a lot less (of everything) leftover this year!

Friday we had a most unseasonally beautiful day.  In the 70s with no winds, sunshine with just a tad of cloud cover ... we had planned to hit the lake (in DECEMBER!) but Todd was not feeling well, so we decided to stay home and I headed to the Nook.

I had stitched up a couple of the simple snowman stitchery I'd created for Ellie, and while I'd made a wall-hanging with one, the other was just sitting in the hoop.  Rather than leave him there, I decided to use him to make the center of a pillow cover for the completely-out-of-place brown pillow (see RV holiday picture above).

It looks really cute (again, if I do say so myself)!  Ellie has decided this is how she's going to finish her project, too!

I feel like we jumped into the season with both feet! Two days later we had our Stitcher's Etc. Christmas party. (This group is different from our guild group; this is a smaller subset.) We had a great group of women gathered—twenty-four in total—which is the biggest gathering we've had in a while!

There was stitching, lunch, an ornament exchange, desserts, show 'n tell and more stitching!  Grand time.  

And both my "affirmation sisters" were there, too, which was the cherry on top!

These two are precious to me.  :)

Then came late Saturday afternoon ... time for the SEC Conference Championship game.  

I won't say I wasn't a tad bit anxious going into this game (I mean -- we were the underdog!), but I sure was super-excited about the outcome!

Sunday morning was the second Sunday of Advent. My old Advent wreath was looking a little shabby and covered in candle wax, so I decided to do something a little different this year . . .

The Nativity candle will, appropriately, be my Christ candle. I think it looks pretty and fun and outside the box, which I believe Jesus was (at least as far as the Pharisees were concerned), so totally appropriate!  

If you've hung in all the way through this post ... way to go, you! To reward you, leave a comment (make sure if you're a no-reply blogger that you leave some way for me to contact you) and I'll choose one lucky winner to be the recipient of one of the sweet ornaments the girls have made this year:

This is Ellie and Evey's 6th annual ornament fundraiser! The girls made yarn angel ornaments and sold them for $5. I bought four! All proceeds go to Food for the Hungry, to purchase things like seeds, animals, tools, medication, water purification, shoes, Bibles, and more!  The girls select the items and then [Jocelyn makes] Ellie call the order in herself.  This sweet little handcrafted angel represents the fulfillment of a basic need. ♥ So I'll make a pick and announce it on Monday!

Whew ... this was long. I need to do a better job of staying on top of this thing!!

:)

tricks and treats . . .

First things first.  Did you remember to fall back last night before going to bed??

I'm not all about time change.  I wish they do away with it. But I *do* like the extra hour on Sunday morning and the change so that I'm not driving to work in the dark in the morning.  Yes, I like that just fine!

Last things are last. So be sure to read through! (That means there's a giveaway!)

Todd was in Florida for a conference most of the week, so I was on my own. I battled a headache for pretty much the whole week, but managed to squeeze in some fun time.  Mainly on Halloween night, where we (Jason, Joc, Ellie, Evey and I) gathered for a 'spooky' dinner at my mom and dad's home and then trick or treating. My mom was in her party hostess element! We had Goblin's Eyes:

Jack-O-Lantern Humus:

Poisoned Apples:

And Pumpkin Brains:

Not to mention dessert . . . 

Pumpkin, Spider and Cat's Tongue cookies! The little girls--especially Ellie--were delighted.  But I think Jason, Joc and I were equally delighted with the fun of it! 

Even the table was dressed to the nines!

I had managed to finish up Flotsam and Jetsam for Evey's costume. Please don't mind the mess on my kitchen counter!

They came to work and kept me company for the day. 

That certainly raised some eyebrows as visitors came in during the day!

I didn't get any great pics of the girls dressed up for Halloween . . . I let Jason do all the photo taking and I've not seen any yet! I did snap a pre- and post-Trick or Treating photo of the two . . .

They had matching glo-in-the-dark pjs.  Ellie is demonstrating hers in the bottom right capture.  Evey is demonstrating how worn out she is!

I finished up both scarves this week and finished up my swap mug rug that needed to go in the mail by Friday.  I can't share a picture yet, but I will next week.  I hope my partner is pleased with it.  She sure did a great job on mine -- reveal later.

Thursday I took off a little early and met Joc and the girls at the Botanical Gardens.

With temps still in the 80's, it seemed the thing to do. Ellie loves to "strike a pose"! Evey just wants to run. Everywhere.

Even the butterflies were still out and about.  And loads of flowers still blooming, since we haven't had a frost yet.

My stash experienced a little change up this week. 

I took in two fat quarters I was gifted with from the tea cup exchange.  And then my mug rug going out and the two eels, took it and a little more back out.  I'll take it!

I need to work on some Christmas ornaments today. Just need to figure out what I'll try next. Probably not the crescent Santa!  LOL! 

That'll be my sloooooow stitching for today!

One final thing. This picture was taken at Evey's birthday party in September. I'm holding Ellie and Marilyn, Joc's mother-in-law in standing next to me, holding Evey.  Our respective husbands are behind us. Leave a caption for this photo in your comment.

For the bestest, funniest, zaniest caption I'll give a prize. Then I'll draw from all the captions that peg the picture correctly for another prize! That's TWO prizes! I'll leave it open through Wednesday and announce it next Sunday. If you are a no-reply blogger, please make sure you leave your email in your comment!

Linking up to Patchwork Times and Kathy's Quilts today.  Enjoy your extra hour and have a blessing-filled Sunday!

:)

bzzzzzzeeeeness . . .

Wow, what a BUSY week it was!  The Campers on Mission group was here working through Friday, but we did a big fish fry for them and the pastors of the association I work for on Thursday. Normally (on a smaller scale) Todd does hush puppies, fries and fish for a fry, but for this event I made three pounds of carrot slaw, twenty-one cups of pineapple slaw, and two gallons of banana pudding. It's a good thing I did -- none of it was left!

This group was a marvelous group of workers . . . they did two months of work in two weeks! The camp has been very blessed to have them out here.

And look what the Campers on Mission did for me . . .

Stairs! With a handrail!! No more climbing up and down on concrete blocks!  What a blessing they've been to *me*!

Friday evening I was helping hostess an engagement party for a sweet young couple.  Jeremy is from Huntsville, but is a Wycliffe translator serving in Romania. His fiancee is Romanian, but also working with Wycliffe. They're only here for a short couple of weeks and then headed back to Romania (and they'll marry there in August).  

I did meatballs and (of course) cream cheese mints for the party. Cream cheese mints are my ministry!

It was a lovely party and well attended. I wish thought to get a picture of Jeremy and Magda, but I was too busy . . . well . . . hostessing!!

Saturday I spent the majority of the day in my Little Nook in the Big Woods.  LOL! The Little House on the Prairie series has *finally* come out on Kindle, and I just recently read through them all. Can you tell? Anyway, I got some things accomplished.  I finished up ornament two (and took a pic of ornament one):

I got the second tab marked and ready to stitch:

I got letters G, I, and J traced and ready to stitch (it's hard to see them, but they're done!):

So I'll definitely have something to work on for my slow, Sunday stitching!

I managed to squeeze in a stop at an LQS to pick up the backing fabric for Evey's quilt. Initially my thought was to use white. And then I got to thinking about Evey and decided that white was dumb. So I got this, instead . . .

Along with the white I'll need to sash the blocks, once I've finished the embroidery. And the floss I'll need for the embroidery.  LOL! And isn't that print just darling??!  Evey is all about 'jurjuls' (turtles) right now. And since I turned around and cut out the backs right away, I can count it out of my stash as fast as I added it in . . .

Whoohoo for me!  The white will be gone soon, too.  Plus I was able to add a little in for these cute little hexies I'm playing with (because we should always add something new to the mix, right?) . . .

I saw a cute little candle mat on Jeanna's blog, Slammin' the Screen Door, and decided I'd like to make one of my own. The pattern arrived in Saturday's mail.

I mean, why not?!?

On top of it all, Joc had purchased this sweet little smocked romper, but the elastic was shot.  She asked me to turn it into a little blouse and make some bloomers to go with it. 

So I cut off the bottom and hemmed it up -- it's really quite darling; I believe it was lovingly made by someone and not a manufactured piece. Now to make up some bloomers!

So that's it for me. I'll link up to Patchwork Times and Kathy's Quilts today.  Enjoy a quiet, happy Sunday . . . this is the day that the Lord has made!!  Rejoice and be GLAD in it!!

:)

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!

:)