". . . ♫♪ it's the holiday season ♪♫ . . ."

". . . ♪♫ so whoop~dee~doo,

& dickory~dock,

& don't forget to

hang up your sock ♫♪ . . ."

{times twelve for our family!}

. . . today's tour begins in the kitchen

where you'll find this

entire village of snowpeople . . .. . . honestly, you could

feed the national guard

with the amount of

treats you could store

in these cookie jars . . .

. . . moving on to the kitchen table . . .

{we don't have a dining room any more

because we don't "dine" ~ we just "eat"}

. . . this is the beginning of

what you will see is a theme

{or an obsession, as my family likes to think of it}

colorwise & candywise . . .

. . . now for the family room

in a counter~clockwise rotation . . .

. . . this is, i believe,

the oldest christmas decoration

i own . . .

. . . handmade when i had

one fifteen-month-old little girl,

making it exactly

twenty-six years old

this season . . .

. . . see all those tiny pieces of felt

and blanket stitching

around each two~inch ornament? . . .

. . . i almost hate to say it out loud,

but, over the years,

we have managed not to lose

any of the twenty-five decorations,

YET . . .

{i put them all on the tree at one time for your viewing pleasure.

now they're all back in the bottom pocket,

waiting for the beginning of december,

to be placed, one per day,

on the tree ~~ you know the drill . . .}

. . . the sofa table

{away from the sofa, temporarily}

in it's seasonal finery . . .

{remember the theme?}

. . . bookshelves in everyday life . . .

. . . bookshelves christmas-ish . . .

. . . "the stockings were hung

by the 'chimney'

with care" . . .

. . . except, we don't have

a chimney any more,

we have a built~in

entertainment center

where our fireplace used to be ~

and that's where

we put these pretty red things

at this time of the year . . .

. . . for 11/12ths of the year,

this is what our

green hutch looks like

{except sometimes it's dustier} . . .

. . . but right now,

this is how it looks . . .

{these are some of my favorite christmas things ~

many of them are

cherished gifts from friends i love

[you know who you are!]}

. . . and in my opinion,

appreciative admirers

make all the time spent

"decking the halls"

well worth it . . .

. . . coming soon . . .

the tree and remember the quilt? . . .

{they're done . . .

i'm just too tired to continue this post . . .

and you're probably too bored!}

money well spent . . .

. . . see? i told you . . .

. . . they love to play

with this nativity set . . . it kept addi & halleigh busy

for quite a while last night,

although tate,

at times, seemed more interested

in boogeying to

the sounds of duran duran

. . . it's "hands on" playtime . . .

. . . here's mary on the donkey . . .

. . . overheard conversation

went something like this . . .

{joseph speaking}

. . . "angel, you stay here

& watch the baby.

we need to go out

& find animals to

kill for food." . . .

. . . here's joseph on the camel . . .

. . . now, we don't know for sure . . .

. . . *maybe* he borrowed it

from one of the wisemen

and took it out for a little spin . . .

. . . we might need to work on

a few of the story details . . .

i'm thankful for grandkids!

i need a little christmas . . .

. . . right this very minute . . .. . . first things first . . .

. . . the nativities . . .

. . . this one by none other than fisher price . . .

. . . my favorite thing about this set is

the angel perched

right atop the stable . . .
{and the fact that my grandkids love to play with it}

. . . this set was a

young women's gift

for amelia a few years ago . . .

{perhaps it should live at her house now}

. . . mary is my favorite figurine . . .

. . . i love the way

she looks down her baby . . . . . . this mary engelbreit

set just tickles me . . .

. . . it's little kids dressed up

for pete's sake . . .

. . . i love the stable

and the fact that

mary looks just like

mary engelbreit herself . . .

{sorry about the blurriness}

{i think i need mary's glasses}

. . . this set was a

gift from my parents

many years ago . . .

. . . it has lots of pieces . . .

i remember being so surprised

that it had three camels

{also surprising is the fact that

we seem to be watching over it so closely}

. . . here is my favorite set ~

the piece de resistance . . .

{sorry i don't know how to type in french}

the year that i bought this set

i started displaying it in october

is that too early?

i think not

. . . my favorite figure

in this set

is joseph . . .

. . . i love the lantern

and the staff . . .

. . . and please look at this

kind, loving, patient face . . .

. . . it feels good to start decorating . . . . . . and in keeping with

the fact that

it's still only november,

i'm so thankful

for the real meaning

of christmas . . .

what are you thankful for?

readin', writin', & 'rithmetic . . .

. . . HARDLY!

. . . though not officially a "student",

i do ♥love♥ to take classes . . .

. . . but only classes I choose.

. . . just say "no" to

math, science, etc . . .

now if we're talking

sewing or crafts,

{occasionally cooking}

i'm in! . . . well, peg & i

have been working hard

in our quilt class

over the past six weeks . . .

. . . & this is my

first completed project . . .

i really enjoy the process

of choosing fabrics,

cutting & piecing

the quilt top together

{those small pink pieces are 1 inch squares}but, this week,

our homework was to

straight-line machine quilt

one of the three projects

we've done in class . . .

. . . that part was not my favorite . . .

{good thing i know where to send it to have that part done!}

. . . here's the back . . . last step . . . binding

& voila!

DONE!

{peg thinks it's a good idea

to name each quilt you make}

please leave suggestions

for names

in your comments. . .

thanks in advance!

leftovers . . .

. . . as long as

the mess

is still

all over the place . . .

. . . & there's

extra ingredients . . .

. . . might as well

whip up

these little goodies . . . . . . one more thing
to cross off
"the list" . . .
{you don't even wanna know
how far i was behind
on wedding gifts}

extreme makeover home edition update . . .

. . . just a couple of things:

1} R.I.P. little

gerbera daisy . . .

. . . i only knew you {alive}

for a couple of weeks, but

sleep well knowing that . . . . . . you were replaced

in the blink of an eye . . .

{for free - thanks to home depot's $ back guarantee}
. . . with a new greener/brighter specimen,

and after a little drink . . .

. . . you're good to go . . .

{or hopefully - to stay!}

2} this is a spider mum . . .

. . . but, this . . .

. . . this seems to be

a mum with spiders . . .

{by the way, this lovely plant

was left on our doorstep

with no card

a couple of weeks ago.

thank you so much

to the nice person

who did that . . .

we ♥love♥ you}
. . . however,

we don't ♥love♥

whatever critters

are making their home

in your blooms . . .

so . . . this is going to hurt you

more than it hurts me . . .

{wait - isn't that supposed to be the other way around?}

. . . decapitation -

"it's 'capi' was 'detated'". . .

. . . i think that was a funny line

from an old episode

of 'the office' . . .

. . . a much needed drink of water, too . . .
. . . and a more permanent

{though decidedly less prominent}

location . . .

. . . just another lesson

in the circle of life . . .

. . . more updates to come . . .

thanks a million . . .

. . . really . . .

. . . that's an exaggeration . . .

. . . but, honestly . . .

. . . thanks a couple dozen or so. . . . . . dear blog . . .

. . . please accept

my humble apology

for neglecting you

this whole week . . .

♥steph

. . . but, i've had

this little project

hanging over my head

for almost two months now . . .

. . . and it feels really good

to cross it off "the list" . . .

. . . and put it

firmly in the hands

of the

united states postal service . . .

. . . wait . . .

. . . maybe that part

doesn't feel so good . . .

{my sincerest apologies to any offended postal workers!}

with a little luck . . .

. . . this . . .. . . plus . . .

. . . this . . . . . . equals this . . .
{with a little help from an

amazing machine quilter

in washington}

. . . even

the back

turned out

cute . . .

. . . is it too early

to hang it up yet?
merry christmas