Merry Christmas

The love of God was wrapped in swaddling clothes.

May you all have a blessed Christmas!

Merry Christmas

Just a few days before Christmas. Thought I would give you a small tour of my decorations.

This simple little nativity was made by my mom. She made a set for me and my three brothers one year for Christmas. The NOEL figurines were my grandmother's. We (her grandchildren) use to rearrange the NOEL into LEON every Christmas. Drove her crazy.

Our tiny little tree. It is only 6 feet tall but since I am the one who decorates it and I have no children at home to help with the decorations, it is big enough for me. My husband's contribution every year is to set it up on the stand and place it in the house. Here are some of my ornaments. The past few years I have not used the usual ornaments. I have tried a more coordinated look instead of the mixture of ornaments used while my son was growing up.

The snowflakes and the angel on top were crocheted by my mom.
Can you tell that I get very sentimental during Christmas? So many wonderful memories. I love pulling out decorations and recalling the memories.

This year will be a very different Christmas. It will be the first time we have not had our son home on Christmas morning. He won't get home until Dec. 28. We still will have the usual large Christmas breakfast with my father-in-law, and on Christmas eve night, we will celebrate with my husband's family. My family (2 of my brothers and their families) and my son's girlfriend will celebrate on Dec. 30. They wanted to wait on my son and his girlfriend before getting together.

Only three and half more days of school before Christmas break....looking forward to the time off. I'll be busy this week getting some baking done and last minutes gifts together for friends at school. Looking foward to all of it.

Yum, Yum....Biscotti

Isn't it amazing that a simple log of dough with a few dried cranberries can turn into a delightful treat? This is my first attempt to making biscotti and I was very pleased with the results. I think I'll make some of this Holiday Biscotti to give as gifts along with some handmade coasters for Christmas! Yum, Yum!!!

Handmade Christmas Swap - Love It, Love It!

Back in the fall, Beth organized a swap for handmade Christmas gifts. Today I received some the coolest items from my swap partner, Patti. As usual I feel like I received the better end of the swap. In my package I received these:

Patti noticed that I tried to win a set of toile notecards a couple of times and was unsuccessful. So she made some for me. How thoughtful is that?

Then she designed and made this adorable frame.

The mat is knitted...not paper - yarn....amazing. Here is my feeble attempt of photographing the detailed work. Not very focused, is it?

Finally, she sends me 20 origami paper balloons to place over 20 mini lights. I was so excited, I used some mini lights I have on my mantel to see how it looks. Isn't it this sweet? The picture doesn't show how the light glows through the paper. And won't it look great once all 20 are placed over the lights?

Thanks, Patti for the wonderful package and thanks, Beth for organzing this swap. It was so much fun.

It's Beginning to Look Alot Like Chrismas

Slowly but surely the decorations are coming out and appearing around the house.

Each night this week I have tried to decorate a little instead of waiting to do it all at one time during a weekend. I should have been doing this all along. This is so much better. The wall hanging is one of my first handmade quilts. Every year I tell myself that I should make some more wall hangings to hang over the mantle throughout the year. Haven't acted on that thought yet. The Christmas tree is in the kitchen. It is decorated with kitchen utensils and gingerbread ornaments.

One of my favorite items for Christmas is the my son's stocking.
It was crocheted by my mother right after my son was born 29 years ago. I wish I had the pattern. I would love to be able to crochet some stockings for nieces and nephews who did not receive one from my mother before she passed from this world a few years ago. If anyone out there in blogland happens to recognize this pattern and knows where I could find it, please let me know. Every year the stocking is one of the first items set out during this season and every year as it is hung, a tiny little wrapped present is placed in the toe. As old as my son is, when he comes home and sees the stocking hanging, he will feel the toe to see if that gift is there. I love simple little traditions such as that.

Contest Alert: Once again Jennifer is offering a set of toile notecards for leaving a comment on her blog. Drop by and check out the notecards.
Merry Christmas!