~Tis Simple Things for Christmas~

Please - come in from the cold and visit with me for a moment - take a break from your Christmas preparations and let me pour you a cup of warm hot chocolate. A very heavy picture post for you all this time that I have been promising to share - so enjoy the Christmas Music and visit with me for a moment. If you want a close up of any of these photos, just double-click on it, then hit your Back Arrow to return to my Blog. Enjoy -




My small 'thrift-store' pewter collection -

A pillow I made several years ago -


An antique Santa my mother bought me many years ago when I was a teenager - I hold him near and dear to my heart -

A new Christmas display this year - all wooden 'makeovers' finished by me or made for me by dear friends - some that have passed on this year -

Remember this 'Illinois find' Firkin?




A counted cross-stitch from a pattern found in a 1980's Country Living Magazine -


Our half bath downstairs -

One of my favorite punch needle patterns I have made -



My great-grand parents were married December 15, 1914 and their wedding portrait hangs in our entry staircase -

Our dining area -

View from the kitchen through to the family room -


and back again to the kitchen-


A homemade ceramic ornament from a class I took with my mother when I was a senior in high school. I made a dozen and happy to report 28 years later - none broken!

The tree coming home in our daughter's pickup -


This year our tree is decorated with 'car parts' - long story..........
I hope this season finds you with loved ones. People keep asking me if I am ready for Christmas and I keep thinking to myself, 'Christmas is more than just THE day, it is the whole season. And I guess I am ready, even though my packages went out a little late and my Christmas cards will be received by acquaintances in January, but, I do know one thing - this is Christmas, the time we celebrate the birth of our Savior, in whom I am incredibly grateful and that is really what the season is all about. So Merry Christmas my friends, and I wish the season's choicest blessings to be with you all. In the immortal words of Tiny Tim, "God bless us, every one!"

Happy Christmas -

Shanda