It's Here Once More!

To all my dear family and friends...I wish for you a wonderful 2012, good health and happiness...

Christmas 2011

It has now come and gone but Christmas was lovely and full of family time.
I am blessed that we are all healthy and happy this year and so very grateful for the love of my Savior Jesus Christ in my life. It is so easy to forget these things with all the hoop-la of what we think would make a good Christmas and allow stress and impatience rule our lives.
God Bless Us, Everyone!
Above me with the lovely arrangement my sister sent as a welcome Christmas gift. It brought the smells of Christmas into my home I miss with the fake tree!

Mr Creative, Belle and I just home from church Christmas morning...as you see I made sure I had my Christmas quilt in the background! LOL

Me and my grkiddos Christmas even in our new Christmas jammies!

A Change is as Good...

Mr. Creative and I took the chance for a quick get away to Midway, Utah just over the mountains from our home.
With all the stress of work for him and getting ready for Christmas for me it was a welcome 3 days in a lovely condo and setting.

If you remember the X-Country skiing at the Salt Lake Olympics in 2002, then you saw Midway, or at least the area around Midway. Usually this time of year they are enjoying snow and skiing but as you see there is NO snow! I have to admit that I was kind of glad but it did make the ambiance a bit flat.
I enjoyed doing some sewing and reading and Mr C watched some DVD's and carved a bit on the balcony. Our unit was on the second floor to the right in the picture on the top row right above. Just in time for us to leave on Wed it started snowing but didn't follow us home. LOL

Christmas Trees and Grilled Cheese

OK, so when you eat low carb and or gluten free anything that would normally require bread us usually not allowed, right?
Well one of my online friends Jennifer Eloff has come up with recipes to make subs for usually forbidden foods. I make her Low Carb-Gluten Free Artisan Buns which are not only healthy for me but tastes incredible! So now it's time to see what I can make with them and first up was grilled cheese! As you see it worked very well.
They aren't low fat by any means but I just love the crunch of the outside and melt-y cheese on the inside. YUMMO as Rachel Ray would say!

OK the tree is all decorated with as many weeds as I am going to gather. They have been getting damp from the inversion fog each day and it is hard to snap the stems without a pair of scissors or pruners and I am not taking them on my walk where the weeds grow
I like my simple tree this year but I have to admit I miss all the flashing, talking and colorful ornaments we have collected over the years. Next year I have a plan so hope I can work it out so that I get the best of both worlds.

A Few Morning Pictures

Got up this morning early and thought it looked "white" outside and sure enough some surprise snow! As of about 9:30am it is still snowing. Bummer this is a day I have things to do in the car and I HATE to drive in the snow.

Here are a couple of pics of my tree showing the "weeds" I added. As you see they look like dried baby's breath and I like the softness and fill it gives the plain tree. First is without the flash and second with the flash

Christmas Helpers

I usually try to get my house ready for Christmas right after Thanksgiving but because I was sick for a couple of weeks I spent last week doing it all!
I have to admit to often "redecorating" my home with holiday stuff but for this year I decided it didn't have to be quite that elaborate and have gone more simple. Since my grandson I is there and now enjoys helping me we went to work.
Pic 1 shows his new 2011 ornament and it is the only collectibles on the tree this year. That is one of my simplifications. All the Hallmark, Star Trek Ships, trains, Frosty Friends, Barbies and on and on are being left in their boxes. I still plan to try and collect the ones we love but not have them on the tree.
Pic 2 (rt top) is my kitty helper in her hat. As usual once all the decorating was done made herself at home under the tree and often is found sleeping there. I tried to get a pic of her in the Build A Bear hat but she wasn't very interested LOL
Pic 3 (lower left) Grson I helps me plant an Amaryllis bulb. I love that everything is in the box and it is happily growing on the counter right now.
Pic 4 Another thing I did put out is my Jim Shore nativity. My dd and dh gave it to me several years ago and I always enjoy looking at it each year. Grson I helped me put the pieces in place and he loved that I added a hidden light .
I will try and get a picture of my tree with the addition of weeds...now aren't you curious?

The Ten Year Christmas...

Quilt!
I bought this pattern 10 years ago intending to finish it up for Christmas that year...
Yeah, right!
As the years went by I would work on it a bit at a time and then finally I determined that I could finish it for this year's display.
I put the last stitches in on Friday night after machine quilting it. I love the fussy cut cardinals and subed out a block I didn't really like and put in one I have wanted to do forever called Dove in the Window.
So my Quilt's name is Cardinals in My Christmas Window