In love with the little things...

My friend Sue is hosting a table at our church's annual Women's Christmas Brunch.  Sue is the Area Coordinator for Dress a Girl Around the World, so naturally nothing but a DAG theme would do for the centerpiece...which I readily volunteered to make for the table.

Because my daughter is so crafty, I invited her over to help out. We had so much fun making the miniature sewing tools and supplies needed to make the perfect little dresses - just like the real ones we make every month at DAG sewfests.  The main part of the centerpiece is about 12-13 inches tall, but what's a DAG centerpiece if it doesn't have a globe representing the places where little girls live?  So our centerpiece is a little over the legal height limit, but no one will notice because it's so darn cute!!!

A jewelry stand, little doll clothes hangers and other miniature stuff, 

add a few Christmas touches and a wield a mean hot glue gun...

I printed tiny images of bias tape on sticky labels...

The tiny dresses brought back memories of sewing doll clothes...tedious, but fun.

 

My favorite items are the tiny bolts of fabric...

 

Cuteness Overload!!!

Thanks for your help, Amy!!!

Laurel. Michael's is my friend.

Whining child: "Mom, it looks like a Macy's Tree!"

When Dave and I merged our two families some 29 years ago, we bought a two story home with a pool, and large enough for four kids, two adults, a dog, some hamsters, and a cat. We had the modern day version of the Brady bunch, warts and all. We learned quickly that when you combine two families, there are a lot of steeped traditions that somehow have to be merged...and it can be very painful.

As a married adult, my artsy/creative nature pretty much ruled how my home would be decorated for the holidays. Because we didn't have a lot of money growing up, my grown-up aesthetic morphed into a rather glitzy, Pottery World-ish look and that love of "beautiful!" was reflected in my Christmas Trees every year.

Dave was used to the Christmas Tree traditions that he had established with his family - the kids hanging the ornaments, stringing the popcorn and paper garlands, tinsel...the whole works. So imagine their total horror when I announced the first year that I would decorate the tree. We had just bought a new sofa (remember "dusty rose"?) and so nothing but burgundy, rose and gold would do for the family tree.

"It looks like a Macy's tree, Mom."

"Yes, it does," I said smiling and thinking that they intended it as a compliment of sorts. 

But to my chagrin, the kids didn't like the massive 10 foot artificial tree bedecked in ribbons and gold.  I had a small fortune invested in it, and I must admit as I look at the old photos, it might have been a little garish. After that first Christmas, we reached a compromise: They would decorate the tree one year and then I would get to do it the next year. The funny thing was that as they got older, their attention span on decorating Christmas trees waned, and I would end up finishing the project anyway.

Over the years since they have all grown up and left home, I guess I'm stuck on "over-the-top" trees.  I alternate between my shamefully ridiculous supply of ornaments and decorations, so my tree never looks the same. And even though I try to cull my collection every January, the stack of boxes to go back into the garage never seems to get any smaller. Despite my love of Christmas in general, I will admit that the older I get, the more I dread putting it up. It stays up longer too, because the only thing I hate more than putting up the tree is taking it down.

This year, I went with the forest look, opting for berries, branches, snow and only a few beloved ornaments. I added the music ribbon because it goes with my sheet music wreath...and it just makes my heart sing. It may still be over-the-top, but what can I say? I guess I still love a "Macy's" tree!

In the end, it's not about the tree anyway. 

For me, Jesus is the reason for the Season. 

Laurel. 

Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukkah, Feliz Navidad, 

Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Winter Solstice, etc. 

Whatever your tradition, share joy and peace with others.

Feeling Crafty...

What's with the late Thanksgiving Day this year? I should be up at the tree farm getting my pine boughs and wreaths and getting ready for Christmas.  But because this year's turkey day falls so late in the month, my internal holiday prep clock is all out of whack.  I want to start preparing for Christmas, but we haven't even thawed the turkey for Thanksgiving.

Here's the dilemma: My house is rather Southwest/Mediterranean in style - it can't make up it's mind if it wants to be decorated for the Cowgirl or the Tuscan wino in me.  Both personalities apply when it comes to my decorating style ( I think they call that eclectic).  Either way, the only time that I get to decorate with red (my favorite color) is at Christmas, so I impatiently wait for the Thanksgiving weekend so I can drag out all my red stuff.

Because we are having guests in from the East coast for a short visit before Thanksgiving, I guess that I will NOT start the Christmas decorating until next weekend. But in order to satisfy my holiday craving, I decided I could at least do a few crafty things for Christmas - and besides, don't pumpkins and poinsettias look pretty together???

Crafty Project No.1: A Wreath.  My great grandmother was evidently better at playing the piano than I am.  She had all kinds of sheet music, some of it dating back to WWI and WWII. My mother gave me a stack of her sheet music, much of which was deteriorating - we call that "vintage". I decided to make a paper cone wreath out of the pages that seemed less exciting - like the finger exercises books!

I cut the ragged edges from each page and rolled them into cones, affixing them with a hot glue gun.  When I had enough cones made I glued them onto a round piece of foam board.  I then made a second layer of cones that were slightly smaller and glued them on top of my first layer.

I used some black satin ribbon to make a hanger for the finished wreath and hung it in my living room near my grand piano. Note that I did succumb to my red Christmas fetish and brought out my red pillows for the love seat.

Crafty Project No. 2: A pillow to go with the wreath.  I had a small piece of fabric with musical notes on it. I decided I could add a poinsettia applique (in RED!!) on top of the music fabric. The finished pillow would coordinate with the new music wreath in to my little corner.

To make the poinsettia applique, I cut petal shapes out of a red and metallic tablecloth. I used a green print to add a couple of leaves for my flower. I appliqued each petal and the leaves onto the music background using a blanket stitch on my Viking.

Too cute...and it just set off the wreath on the wall behind.

Crafty Project No.3: A Table runner.  So back to Thanksgiving! My friend Micki wanted a Thanksgiving table runner for her very massive dining room table, and being the girl I am, I told her we could make one that would fit, knowing full well that the "we" is really just me.

She chose a gorgeous tapestry fabric and it had been sitting in my fabric closet for at least a month and a half.  Since Thanksgiving is next week, I thought perhaps she might like to actually have it for her dinner table.

Making a table runner involves simply cutting the fabric to the length you need and hemming it. Micki purchased half the length needed to fit her table.  I cut it lengthwise in half and matched the two pieces with a seam in the very center of the runner.  I serged the edges of the runner, turned them under and top stitched the hems.  (oh, and yes, I did miter the corners, but only because it was for her and not just for me! LOL!)

Looked great on my pool table...but I gave it to her this week!

I did have Dave drag all my plastic bins of Christmas decorations down from the attic...but they will wait patiently until next weekend...after Thanksgiving!

Happy Turkey Day

Laurel

Grandpa's Cookie Day

The hubby has a sweet tooth.  He is the only person I know who gets up in the morning and eats a cookie, cuts a slice of that nasty fruitcake he likes, or whatever else SWEET might be laying around. So it should be no surprise that he invented his own little "holiday event" for the grandchildren: Grandpa's Cookie Day.

Now, we're not talking about the typical confections that one could bake at Christmas - you know the ones I'm talking about - fudge, bourbon balls, thumbprints, lace, etc.  There's only one kind of cookie that is on the agenda for this day - SUGAR COOKIES...with lots of soft gooey icing and sprinkles!

The fun starts the night before...somebody has to make all that dough!  The two oldest grandchildren (19 and 17 years) come over and start the baking in the evening. Grandpa and Kyle are a team, and Kellie and I team up. We make 4 batches of dough, as there are 9 grandchildren who love sugar cookies too! Did I mention that Kellie and I make prettier cookies and...we are faster too?? Duh!

We use a tried and true sugar cookie recipe that Dave got from my nephew's wife Roberta:

1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2/3 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp baking soda
6 cups flour

We chill the dough for about 30 minutes before rolling it out to 1/4 inch thick and cutting the shapes.
We bake for 9 minutes in a 375 degree oven. They look rather pasty, but they make a nice soft cookie.





Over the years I have collected a lot cookie cutters - tin, copper, plastic...all shapes and sizes.  I even found some alphabet shapes, so that each grandchild can have there own initial in cookie dough!

I think the pool table in our family room gets more use as a buffet table, a place to fold the laundry, a nice big surface to cut out a dress pattern, rather than a game of 9-Ball.  On Cookie Day, it gets covered with brown paper.  I mark off a square for each child and as they make their little creations, they put them in their own designated square.

I also cover the kitchen table with a plastic table cloth for the decorating.  I used to think that the older the kids got, the neater they would be.  Not so...by the end of the day, the kitchen is a disaster...there are sprinkles everywhere and frosting in places I wouldn't expect, etc.

The morning of Cookie Day, I make the icing. I use a recipe that I have always used to frost cakes (even my wedding cakes back in the day!) as nobody seems to like that hard crusty frosting typical of store bought sugar cookies.

2 boxes XXX sugar
2 cubes butter
2 tsps vanilla
1/2 cup milk
pinch salt, if the butter is unsalted
Beat the crap out of it!  I also add a touch of corn syrup to thin as necessary.

I make 4 batches for all those cookies, as I hate to run out...and because much of the icing ends up sticking to fingers, smeared on the chairs and down in the tummies. I use Wilton's cake colors of red and green, along with some white, pink, blue and "brown". The icing goes in bowls with little appetizer knives for the little hands.  I also fill some plastic cake decorating cones with icing for "squeezing" on added color (be sure to close them at the ends with rubber bands, otherwise the frosting is all over the place). I also collect sprinkles of all kinds, but this year I decided to use what I already had on hand.
 

As the kids have gotten older, the intensity has gone up a notch or two.  They work very hard on creating unique designs and colorful combinations.  That is, until they start getting bored with it all. Parents often jump in to help.

After several hours the pool table is covered with sweet confections...colorful and imaginative cookies that they get to take home!!  Of course, the price of admission to Grandpa's Cookie Day is that Grandpa gets a square on the table too, and every child must "donate" one of their creations.

 

After all, tomorrow morning is Christmas Eve, and the sugar high will have worn off, and Grandpa will need a fix!!!

 Laurel. Leaving the mess for Grandpa:)

 

sharing with

 

Shopping..check! Decorating...check!

Thanksgiving weekend is a big weekend for me.  Besides having family and friends over for the "All you can eat" marathon, the entire next few days are packed. I mean, we have TRADITIONS!!!

What would Thanksgiving be without watching the Macy's parade over breakfast?

The day after Thanksgiving starts early by downing some orange juice and a couple of Tums, then heading for the stores...it's Black Friday!!!!  Though I peruse the 100 pages of ads from Thursday's paper, I rarely set out to find the bargains. My goal is to follow my daughter and daughter-in-law through the stores of their choosing, let them show me the bargains and what what the grand kids want for Christmas. 

"Ooh, Kellie would like that..." my daughter exclaims.  I snatch it out of her hands, and throw it in my basket. One present...check!

"Owen said he wanted that," my daughter -in-law says, as she contemplates spending that much money.

"I'll get it."  I throw it into my basket. And so the day goes. I got this Black Friday thing down..no hair pulling, trampling or rushing. I leave the stores, bags of gifts in hand and head for home. I rock...my shopping is DONE for 9 grand kids!!!! Bonus - leftovers for dinner!

Saturday is Christmas Tree Cutting Day with the fam.  Even though I have a stunning artificial tree, we go to watch everyone else saw down trees.  It's Small Business Saturday, so after some biscuits and gravy, we head for Cool Forest.

Many friends an families join in this annual event. The forest was crisp and beautiful this Saturday morning.

The day is topped off by gathering at a local pizza place for a few pitchers of hearty ale and lots of pizza. We chat and laugh and watch all the kids beg for quarters for the games. Dave dauddles over his brew because he knows what's waiting at home....that's right, big boy...CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS need to come down from the shelves!!!!

Sunday is my all-in decorating day.  Out with the Fall decor and in with the RED stuff!!!  It usually takes me two days to finish everything, but it's worth the effort, because 

I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!!  I LOVE RED!!!



 

Laurel. I'm ready...how 'bout you??