Merry Christmas!

My husband had surgery Dec. 1 and ever since then, the time has just flown by!  I've always respected nurses but now so even more after I've been doing dressing changes, etc. at home.  He's doing well...and even has baked some Christmas cookies for me.

I've scaled back a bit on Christmas prep but here are some of the things I've done:

Living room tree.  The crochet angel on top and the tree skirt were made by my late maternal grandma.  I usually cram more ornaments on it but downsized a little this year.  On the mantel you can see one of the pictures I display of our kids when they were little.  I enjoy getting those pictures out every year.

Snowman tree in the foyer

Dining room tree.  Included on this tree are some little ornaments the kids made when they were in school and also some photo ornaments they made.  The kids laugh at me every year when I unpack these because often tears are shed.  (They grew up so fast!) The angel is one that was made by my sister-in-law for our first baby.  I put it on the post of the crib as a guardian angel for all our babies and now like to use it as a tree topper. Years ago, I made a latch hook tree skirt that I use for this one.  The dog thinks it's for him and likes to rearrange it whenever I'm not looking.

I also have tabletop trees in one of the bathrooms (decorated with sea shells we collected from a nearby beach) and the computer room (music theme).  I have a ceramic tree that my mother made on a table in the foyer too.

I stuffed our poor dog into a Santa outfit that was just slightly too small for him.   I'll send it to my sister so her dog can be humiliated by wearing it next year.

Grandma also crocheted lots of snowflakes.  Since we almost never have snow here in SE TX, I like to put them on the glass doors that lead to our backyard and the lake.  This is not a great picture, but you get the idea.

Here's the haphazard display on my jelly cupboard.  I love that little wall quilt.  One year I cross stitched a bunch of bookmarks for a woman who made this quilt for me in exchange.  It's one of my favorite things to take out for Christmas.  Also more pictures of the kids when they were small and some stitched ornaments on the wire tree.  The snowman tree is to the left of the cupboard so I put some more snowmen here too.

The mantel:

I finished my youngest child's stocking late in the afternoon of Christmas Eve that year.  lol!  Newman is the dog.

We've been busy baking cookies....2 kinds of biscotti, date nut pinwheels, spritz trees, rustic nut bars, pizzelles, and tomorrow I'll finish off with some raspberry thumbprint cookies.  I'll be making Louie's pie (what my late MIL called a rich vanilla cream pie topped with a layer of golden raisins soaked in rum, banana slices, slivered almonds, and meringue.  The other pie I like to make is Crimson Pie with a filling of cranberries, oranges, and blueberries.  DH will also make some more sugared pecans.

We had a Cookies and Carols celebration at church last Sunday where all the singing groups and the bell choir performed and everyone there sang carols together.  Every family who came brought their favorite Christmas cookies, candy, or other treats.  The tables looked so festive with all the treats!  There were even a couple of trifles.

I sing in the choir and also a little faith band and got to sing a verse (solo) of Mary's Boy Child with the faith band and a solo part with the choir in Not That Far from Bethlehem.  It was so much fun to sing and also listen to the other groups.

I've not been stitching as much but I've been working on a baby afghan for our grandchild who's due to be born next March.  I'm a very beginner at crochet but the baby motivated me to try to make an afghan.

Here's something I'm excited about...(it doesn't take much).  We tried planting a potted poinsettia in a flower bed after last Christmas thinking it probably would die.  It seemed to like it there and we thought we'd enjoy the foliage.  Recently I noticed it changing colors.  Cool!

My stitching has taken a back seat but I'm hoping to work a little more on Nikki's (Country Cottage Needlework's) Silent Night.  I was the model stitcher for that one and want to stitch it for myself too.

Only 2 of our 4 children will get to be here for Christmas but I'm very thankful for Skype and Facetime.


Merry Christmas and.....

Happy stitching!