Magic was Made.....

Christmas Day started out as beautiful as can be.  The sunrise was splendid. Even though  it only lasts a few moments, and  the camera does not do it justice, it was a sight to behold.

 On the central west coast of California, we had our coffee on the deck in the crisp morning air, watching as the beauty transformed itself into Christmas Day.

We waited for our children to wake up, not for them to  see what magic had happened, but rather to thank them for creating the magic. At the ages of 17 & 20 they have been making the 'magic' happen for us the past couple years.

We had done a lot of prep work on Christmas Eve to prepare for the big feast.

There would be twelve eating dinner, some family from out of state, some from around the corner. Our house is the gathering spot for all.

Our table has been set ...

As the rain came down outside, Tom cooked the two turkeys on a Weber BBQ and filled the deck with a wonderful aroma.

Inside a Prime Rib Roast with all the fixings was slowly cooking away in the oven. Family arrived, visited, caught up on life and simply enjoyed each others company.

It was time to eat, we lit  the candles, and served the food,

Another wonderful meal, another wonderful day, another year ahead.

As we awoke on Dec 26th, still full from the meal, we were greeted with another beautiful start to a new day.

The rainbow spanning over the place we are lucky enough to call home is a reminder of all the beauty we get to enjoy living here.

Our little baby Bojangles basks in the sunlight of the early morning, and licks his lips remembering what he got as a supper treat the night before, at least that is why I think he is licking his lips.

Enjoy your day and remember what you have in your life to be grateful for!

The dinner bell has rung.......

What do you do when it's time to feed the kittys? Build them a tower.

Here is our kitty tower of dinner. They come running from all  over the property and stack up.

My man is so sweet to the four legged critters,

they all get their fair share and our big bear puppy Tanner gets to lick the fork. I love our country life.

Eat up Snoopy, Bojangles, Zoe and O'Riely!

A Special Gift!

I made this last year at this time for my darling daughter.

She and I have sorta the same taste. I picked out the soft warm fabric, I found fuzzy cozy cuddlieness to line it with, and  I sewed it all together. Almost.

I  was just completing the last sleeve when someone came into the sewing room and made the statement..'What is that ugly thing you are making?" I got a tad discouraged. I guess everyone does not have the same taste as I do.
Now a little deflated, I was not sure SHE was going to like it . I put it aside and did not complete it. I did not want to give my pretty girl an ugly gift.

To my delight, she wandered into the sewing room one day and saw the partially finished robe. Her expression was great and real. "What is this? I LOVE IT!'  I proceeded to tell her the whole story and then finished the robe. It makes my heart happy to see her wear it.

I think it makes hers happy too. Lesson learned, Never second Guess Yourself When Making a Gift From the Heart.

I am linking to Rebeccas Birthday Party! Pop on over and wish her a Happy Birthday.

Here is this years creation supplies.

I will be making her a blanket to keep her warm when she moves to Idaho next Fall.

Do you like the contrast and quirkyness? I KNOW she does, because she helped pick them out. We still laugh at 'THE UGLY ROBE'

Happy Day Everyone!

So Lucky I am.....

It hit me again, the need to create. I can not seem to get it out of my system. My sweetie will walk into my craft room and I jump, thinking I should be doing something else. He does not care, I seem to bring all this on myself. He only wants me to be happy. I am a very lucky girl!!!

As I was creating my newest ornament thing using goodies sent to me by a fellow blogger, Beth at Gathering Dust, I was getting so excited and thrilled. Somehow my sweetie understands this. How I am not sure, because I am not sure I understand myself.

You see, today we had scheduled to repair the chicken coop. So out early and ready to work, that's the motto for us, I mentioned I really wanted to 'post' about my new little stockings.

I was delighted when he grabbed his guitar and started playing me a song and said......Go ahead.

So he strummed, while I posted and now it is out of my system and into blogland where they can be viewed and maybe spark someones creative engine.

 I would love to see any that are made as a result of these little gems.

Right now, I am going to pop on over to Gammy's Little House and give her one as a little holiday pick me up. You see she actually lives next door. How lucky am I?

How much is too much???

Well since I don't have a lot of readers yet, ( I know they will come) I guess I won't bombard you all with too many posts. How much is too much? Is there a limit? Is there a protocol to follow? Any feedback is great, as that is how we all learn.

I have been busy, not doing what I should be doing,  but rather getting the CRAFT out of my system.
About a week ago I rolled a sheet of music into a cone. I had an idea to make a banner to hang on the fireplace, I was not sure how it would turn out and the result could not be further from a banner than a banana peel!

I sat down after watching Tim Holtz video on making a paper rosette. I do not have the equipment he uses, but I made do with what I had. Here is the result.

I am pleased and now that I got my craft on, I can get on to my work!!

I'm a Winner!!

Do you ever go to the mailbox and gasp? I did when I saw this little white cardboard envelope! I rarely get anything besides junk mail and bills, so checking the mail is not an exciting job around here.
I was the winner of a give-away by Beth Leintz on the Romantic White Christmas e-zine .

I first ran to my husband to show him I had gotten something from a blogger friend, (of course he humors me, but knows I am crazy)  I proceeded to carefully open it up with him watching my every move.

First inside, was this great twine wrapped page from a book carefully holding the contents to soon be discovered.

Next was a collection of goodies wrapped in a handmade wallpaper envelope...

I think I was drooling. Look at all those yummies, they sparkle so pretty.

I am so excited to use these in my art. 

I am going to collect some of my treasures and have a giveaway too, stay tuned to see what I can come up with! I am really enjoying blogland.

THANK YOU THANK YOU Beth!!

A Tree you say?

As the sun rose over our pasture I was filled with the need to decorate. We still do not have a tree but that was not going to stop me. I headed to the attic and pulled out a little lighted thing that resembles a tree.

 I carefully hung the ornaments on it and placed the gifts underneath.

It is a funny quirky little thing, but my need to HANG ORNAMENTS has been filled. My husband laughed and asked if I was kidding. I found a simple pleasure in this question. Maybe I was but it felt good.

After all, I had made ornaments that I WANTED HUNG., so here is our quirky little tree, unlike anything we have ever had before. It isn't about the tree that makes Christmas, It's the spirit and togetherness, so if this happens to remain our tree it will just be something to look back at and giggle.

I made a delicious meal last night and thought I'd share how I created it. So yummy and warm. I served it with steamed broccoli and fresh bread. I hope you will try it and let me know if you enjoyed it as much as our family did.
Ciao!

From one Holiday to the next....

Thanksgiving came & went, Life seems like a blur sometimes, All 17 seats at the Thanksgiving table were filled. The family came from where ever they were to dine at our table once again this year.
After the meal prepared and eaten the kitchen was tided up and a good fun game of Bunco ensued.

After Thanksgiving naturally comes Christmas. I found this great cloth (scary looking) snowman to hold a candy cane for each of my little pumpkins. One for each day until their teeth rot out of their head or when Santa comes, which ever comes first. I am not a candy control freak, and they have both learned to make good choices around the sugary substance. Who doesn't love a good 'ol candy cane in December?

It is our tradition to get our tree the day after Thanksgiving, and spend the weekend decorating the house. Well as the little ones grow up and start to have a life of their own, 17 & 20, things do not go exactly as planned. So we were not getting our tree on friday, not the end of the world, we could still decorate! Right?

I saw on Karlas blog about hanging ornaments from a chandelier and have been waiting for the turkey to get off the table so I could make my own magical hanging centerpiece. Here is the result at night. I love this photo, not that the kids are not in it, but that I have my sweetie by my side.

My sweet fairy perches from the top and keeps an eye on all that goes on in the kitchen.

This year I went with the 'less is more' option for decorating. My husband always states loudly in early October 'Oh No! It's the beginning of the clutter season' I never realized what he really meant by it, but I think I finally got it. Just because I own 7 million decorations of ALL colors, themes and sizes, does not mean they ALL need to be displayed EVERY year, AT THE SAME TIME.

 His eyes get so overwhelmed with lots to look at, I on the other hand, enjoy it. He is quite pleases with the minimilistic decorating approach this year and so am I. Now when the tree comes we will be complete!
In the mean time I will continue to peruse blogs to obtain inspiration, Happy Holidays everyone!