When we lived in Australia, we were surprised by the custom of celebrating Boxing Day…..the day after Christmas.   It was a wonderful day off to help transition from the holiday to the work week.   While there, we would often watch the start of the Sydney – Hobart Regatta….such a fun tradition.

Now here in the US, I normally celebrate the end of the holiday season by un-decorating my house.  Face it, I decorate on the day after Thanksgiving which means that all of this stuff has been up for over a month and I am ready to clean it up and move on!!

This year I had a wonderful time taking everything down and packing it up in my new boxes, in my new house. 

The problem arose when it came time to take down the Christmas Tree….you remember it…..the TWELVE foot tree!!!   After much discussion, we decided that the easiest way would be to saw it in half so Michael climbed the ladder and started sawing…..

 

Half of it goes out the door……

Followed by the lower half……

Hooray….that was VERY easy!!!!

 

To each of you, I wish a very Merry Christmas and a most joyous New Year!!!

At Christmas time, we love to make lots of Christmas goodies that we carry to various friends on Christmas Eve…..one of Jenny’s friends calls it the “Arnold Sleigh”   This year, Michael is going to be in Scotland from the 15th thru the 22nd of December, so we were worried that there wouldn’t be time to cook and deliver.

Instead, we decided to have an Open House to invite friends into our new home and enjoy some Holiday cheer!!!

I spent two wonderful days making fudge, cookies, Truffles, Peanut Brittle, Peppermint Brittle, Chocolate Pretzels…….

and baking a delicious Hummingbird Cake……

On Saturday, I added the savory items to the menu including this wonderful idea that I saw in a recent magazine…..

…..skewered tomatoes and marinated Mozzarella cheese balls….YUMMMMMM!

We took a few photos just before the guests arrived…..

….and then enjoyed a wonderful 4 hours of talking, laughing, eating and generally having a  fun time with some very special friends…..

 

…..is that you have to write them!!!  Lately, things have been happening at such a fast pace, I haven’t had time to sit and write about the small things.  Then, when I have time to write, I am completely overwhelmed with where to start.  SO, let’s get started…..

First of all, I  GOT TO SEW LAST WEEK!!!  I was working on another piece that was originally started to give my Mother some hand work to do.  She is 89 years old and does wonderful hand work.  Anyway, I found this pattern….

….and thought it would be good for her to work on.  I put together the applique and embroidery blocks and left them with her on October 31st, thinking that it would keep her busy for a long time.  Exactly 10 days later, I had them in my hand and she was ready to move to the next task!!!  AAACCCKKKK!!!!

So, my first project was to piece the alternating blocks, and I did not get off to a good start.  I was able to make all of the half-square triangles without much effort, but when I starting putting the blocks together, I kept doing things wrong.  For a few minutes, I thought that I had forgotten how to do patchwork!!!

After a bit of ripping and re-sewing, I got into the groove again and was able to enjoy feeding the fabrics into my machine, pressing the seams and arranging the blocks. 

I finished the top on Wednesday…….

….just in time to move the tables against the wall, move in the Futon mattress and turn my studio into a bedroom for our daughter as she arrives for Thanksgiving. 

My Mother-In-Law will carry the top back to my Mother and she is planning to hand quilt it.  I am looking forward to having it to hang on my wall next year.  Of course, as fast as my Mom works, I may have it this year!!!

…..OK…..the blog floodgates have opened…..more posts to come VERY soon.