Jo's Christmas Blog Hop

Today is Day 12 of Jo's Blog Hop and it is my day  to post. I really enjoyed stitching my Canyon Santa this year

I love Mill Hill kits. Stitched on all the provided materials on perforated paper. Jo asked that we share Christmas traditions..... Since moving from Rhode Island to Arizona, 3,000 miles from family and traditions, Dennis and live a very quiet holiday life. We have a nice simple meal for Christmas Eve and usually a ham dinner for Christmas day. I bake cookies, although not like I did when the family would gather, but still we need our cookies too! It still seems strange to be dressed in shorts and sandals for Christmas, but I do love it after so many cold and snowy Christmases. Would you like to see a picture from my childhood Christmas Eve?

See the date in the left bottom...December 1950. I was 3 years old, and I am the little face that looks like I have a flower for a nose...that is my sis Linda reaching down to me with my mom and all my cousins (dad's family) All the ladies, mom aunt Easter and aunt Lena were all married to brothers and only my mom is still with us. Of the cousins, one has passed some years ago. This was the children's table in the kitchen of Grandma's house...the adult ate in the dining room. Such wonderful memories. I treasure this picture......Whatever your holiday plans and traditions are, I do hope you have a wonderful holiday. Thank you for visiting and I hope I have made a few new friends. Now remember to stop by Astrid's  tomorrow for day 13. Catch up on the other days at Jo's.

Tree is decorated

Seems funny to have a small tree in the living room.....

This is the tree we bought when we first moved here to Arizona. That first year we were in an apartment so a small tree was best. It sits atop a table giving it height. This year with Mr H needing to be able to get around safely I thought this would be better than the full and tall tree. So, I chose specific ornaments to display since I was not going to unpack the large box to find ornaments. This year one of the new ones is the Southwest Canyon Santa, had to include one of the Mexican senoritas, and an origami star and for added sparkle the beaded pillow. My tree is not complete unless the Christmas Spider is included. A couple of years ago I made and sent out as gifts several spiders. Several days ago while visiting with blogger Heather I spotted one of the spiders I had sent out in her tree....it brought a smile to my face. That year I also sent Heather's little man some reindeer food. the offer for Reindeer Food is open this year for any child...if you would like a packet sent, email me the name and age as well as the mailing address and I will happily send some. I would like to say thank you for all the good wishes for Mr H who is doing splendidly. His therapy went well yesterday and he is starting to go outside to walk. I might add no more walker and he really does not need the cane. There was a special package in the mail yesterday. I received my exchange from Sherry. It will wait till Christmas to be opened. Hopefully my package to her will arrive soon. Well my friends, that about does it for today. So glad we had some time to chat....thank you for your friendship and kind words. Have a wonderful day.

Day of Infamy

On the morning of December 7, 1941 my dad was just coming off guard duty 8 AM Hawaiian time, He was just 22 and remembered looking up to see the Japanese planes coming over Fort Shafter. He ran for cover under bushes until he was able to run to get his gun out of lock up. The initial attack last around 90 minutes but it was a day to change many lives..... 2,403 Americans died  and 1178 were wounded that day.

In this photo you can see a copy of the news paper coverage. The inset of a newspaper is an article that a local paper ran about my dad and a snapshot of him as he was then. The map shows the location of Oahu in the Hawaiian chain. Now living in Arizona, I also remember those aboard the USS Arizona which sank with many of it's crew aboard. For me, the story of this event is as fresh as it was on the day so long ago that my dad and I talked about it. The story of how he enlisted, the time of the event and the years that he spent in Hawaii. In those days news from the "front" was slow to reach the states. My dad's family had a hard time at first learning whether my dad (Army) and my uncle John, dad's brother (Navy) were okay. Grandma Piccirilli told me once that when knew that her boys would be come home she cried for those who would not. Still today we are not really at peace in the world. Thank you for stopping by and reading my thoughts on this which has always been dear to me. Have a good day.

Things are progressing...slowly

Can it be already a week since Dennis had surgery? He is doing well, but needs some prodding to do the PT. He obviously got hungry after 10 PM last night while I slept, cause there are dishes in the sink...he had some soup. Now, how did he manage to get it out of the fridge, heat it in the micro and then get it to the table? Since he is still asleep, I will have to wait for the answer.

So obviously he did go into the garden to feed the fish....(lower right, one of 3 that are around 10-12 inches!) as you can see they are still okay and then checked the plants and as you can see they are fine...that is a sunflower growing in the window box?! Hope today will be a good PT day and I will not have to threaten him! with telling the PT people tomorrow. I know it is painful, but it needs to be done faithfully. Have you made your own ice packs yet? Well...

You take equal parts water and alcohol then add some dish detergent and voila, an ice pack that does not freeze but stays very cold. To be honest, I did not measure just mixed and it is fine. I used a quart freezer bag, then put that in a gallon zip lock and another one for safe measures. Insert into a pillow case and you have a great ice pack. The detergent is for safety..adding a color so you know not to eat or drink I suppose. I recently finished a Christmas ornament but it will be posted on the 12th as I am taking part in Jo's Advent calendar blog hop. Very little decorating around here but I did put up one of the trees... I will take a picture later for posting. Some lights are outside but not our usual display.I managed to get to the Post Office yesterday...more to mail this week and a few to complete packing for mailing. I seem not to have any time recently.....anyway, I am so happy you stopped by today. Thank you for your friendship and encouragement. It really means  so much to me. Hope you have a great day.