After Christmas

Although we had a very relaxed holiday I have been so tired! There is no reason, just tired....

My Santa Dennis deserved this cat nap after cooking a wonderful dinner. Considering all that has happened this month, he is doing very well.  I thought the hat suited him well. I am looking forward to a left over dinner with the roast we enjoyed......don't you love the left overs after a good meal? I received some wonderful exchanges and a surprise gift....
First exchange was with Cindy

lovely pin pillow and a Mill Hill Santa kit...along with PS Santa and LHN pattern. Thank you Cindy for my goodies. Then there was from Sherry

I love that she found an Ana Lee Santa...and the ornament was made with her grandchildren while visiting at Thanksgiving...the pin cushion is beautiful...thank you Mdm Samm for hosting this exchange. If you haven't visited her blog, please do...you will love it.
Then a surprise gift from Lynda Ruth

Look at the lovely handmade parasol....it will look lovely on my tree...and a marshmallow snowman....yum Love the Santa pattern. Thank you Lynda for thinking of me. Lynda has been participating in our year long card exchange.  Once again my dear sweet Lu sent me

an Ana Lee ...look at his face then go back and look at the face of the snowman from Sherry...exact! Lu (she visits my blog) this guy will be with me all year long in the sewing bookcase...and I will think of you and Stan....I do anyway!
I guess that covers it all....hard to believe the year is almost  to the end....In some ways I will be very happy to see it off. Mr H and I are looking forward to the new year putting this latest medical "to do" behind us. Glad you visited to see my gifts....thank you for the kind words and of course your friendship. Have a great day.

Merry Christmas

Dennis and I send wishes for a wonderful Christmas day to all of you. Johnny Mathis is signing and the roast is in the oven thanks to Chef Dennis and I will return to my stitching. Have a wonderful day.

Making a list...

I make a list constantly...list of to do, list of to get list for this and that....The list I just made was for baking supplies. I have never been as organized for event baking as many of you are...baking ahead. I like to do the baking just before. First of all, when I have baked before, the goodies were eaten rather quickly. Even with just the two of us they would not be around for long. Mr H has a very sweet tooth.... okay, I do too. Speaking of Mr H, today is the day for the staples to be removed..and there are a lot of them. I am hoping we get a good report from the doctor. Yesterday they really worked him long and hard at PT.  I just wish he would not do a few of the not to do things right yet. I, by the way, have been busy...
First, have you ever visited Todolwen's blog? Her creations are divine. Anyway, she recently posted about Drop Cloth Christmas Tree ornaments.....so although I do not have drop cloth, I did make one, my version.

I had a print of strings of lights and thought why not...and then I saw paper snowflakes so of course Iwanted to try them too...

I liked making them using card stock. I prefer the smaller size so I will make a few more even though we do not get snow in The Valley...and I do not miss it. These will be the only snowflakes I will have around me! They will be up and around for January.Then I decided to make

place card angels for me and Mr H for Christmas dinner. I have some old sheet music and thought why not. I used a metallic gold pen for the outline...hard to tell, but it does look nice. I like playing with paper in between stitching. I think these angels will make nice ornaments for the tree too. Finally I gathered my next project and it did not come out of the craft closet...but from the bookcase....

I have the fabric measured, basted, and now on stretcher bars ready to go......a bell pull from this book. It has been some time since I have done a project like this, but I am sure once I get going it will come back to me. This book has excellent directions.All the packages that I mailed out have arrived, with the exception of one   as it was not delivered yet yesterday when I checked. So I will be off to check on it now. Glad you stopped by today. Thank you for your wonderful friendship and you kind words for me and Mr H too. Have a great day.

Getting a bit more festive

I looked around this morning at 4AM and needed to see a bit more Christmas.....

so....out to the garage to see what I could find and this is what I found. The ballerinas were already swaying across the mantel. I think when nighttime falls I will get a better look at how it looks.

a few mason jars filled with lights and giant and small ornaments and of course a bow and it pleases me. As I said, I can tell better tonight as the light dims around the room. I guess I am still not resigned to the limited Christmas decor. Had I known how well Mr H would be doing with ambulation and such, I would have put up the bigger tree. Yes there is still time, but for this year  is what it is. I will get over it. Maybe it is why I am not stitching...no motivation....I spent one hour putting about the craft closet trying to find something to interest me to no avail. I suppose I will try again today.....
Today, well now, it is the 25th birthday of my 2 great nephews...cousins. My Nephew's son Joseph was born in the morning and my niece gave birth to Nico in the evening...same day 2 different hospitals. So hard to say it has been 25 years. I think I need a cup of coffee to sit and remember all the years in between. Good memories of these 2 grown men. So nice to have you stop by for a visit...thank you for your friendship and your kind words....have a great day.

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.

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.