Promises, Promises.........

Okay, I promised pictures of my Christmas trees but I have so much stuff to do and life things going on that my tree decorating is sporadic to say the least!! But finally, at 2:50 a.m. on Friday morn, I finished decorating my big tree in the living room. Ta da and here it is............


I took the photo at night and the lights don't really show although you can see there are lights by the reflection in the window. Our tree is 20 years old this year and it's loaded with about 300 ornaments that we either collected on trips, that I made or received as gifts and such. I love getting out each ornament and recalling the trip, or the person who gave me the ornament or the sentiment behind ones that I made. No gifts under the tree yet. Haven't had time to wrap anything yet. Busy with details for our library Christmas tea event (just finished 50 little bell ornaments as favors for each guest - more on that tomorrow), we went to a Christmas party last night and this afternoon we finally hung the garland on the front porch railing and took down the fall wreath and hung a Christmas wreath. It'll still be hanging at Valentines Day, I can guarantee it! Actually, I should clarify the "we finally hung" line because I was the one who hung the lights and garland and my husband added the extension cord. Then I told him that next year, he would not get off so easy and that if he has to start before Halloween, I want to see lights along the rim of the roof. He promised me there would be Christmas lights and we even had the builders put plugs in appropriate places for strands of lights. But promises sometimes get put off and I am the first one to admit that happens. We all get a second chance and thank goodness for that!!
Time now to get to bed as tomorrow is a busy day. I could use a day of just plain sleep and am thinking that one day during vacation, I will set aside a day for just that purpose! :-)
Sandi

An evening of music and more.......

I had planned to attend the music and creche celebration that was being held this past evening at Centennial Lutheran Church here in Henderson. I could not know what a lovely evening it would be! I had not planned to share any of my creche scenes but when my friend Joanie called to ask if I had any I would share, I said sure, I have some. It was fun to get them out and a bonus was to write the significance of each and now I will keep it with them when I pack them away. Here's a little tour...........

While the set above is not in a manger, I loved the detail of the creche figures.

These two scenes are two that I shared. The one on the left is a set of ceramic figures that I painted in 1971 during the time we were stationed overseas in Japan. I made the manger from wood scraps and almost every year it sits under the Christmas tree with the star propped up by a tree branch. The little set of figures is one I bought at the Dollar Store and I like it because my grandson enjoyed playing with it when he was just a toddler. I bought a set for him that he could have to take home, too.

The lovely blue lights don't show up on the trees and when you looked at the scene in the dimmed lights of the display room, you didn't see the cords! This one looked lovely in person. My favorite thing is all those sheep. Aren't they just too sweet!!

I have several ornaments with manger scenes and that's what you see in this collection. The two blue and gold egg ornaments on the right are made from real eggs. I have a clever trick for doing these eggs and am going to do a tutorial sometime next year on how to make and decorate real egg ornaments.

The manger in this scene is really cool and would be simple to construct from wood scraps and twigs. The figures are incredibly detailed and the work is very fine.

My "awww" moment came when I saw this little scene..............the cradle was made by a 12 year old boy and belongs to my friend, Joanie, who was one of the ladies who coordinated this event.

There were many more creche scenes but I selected just these few. After viewing them, everyone was invited to the sanctuary for a carol sing that was presented by Dr. Jeffrey Burkart a professor and associate dean at Concordia University in St. Paul, MN. Also with him were a flutist and soloist. I will have to get their names. They were very talented and the music that they shared and that we also sang along to, was just beautiful. Sometimes they had just the men sing, and sometimes just the women, sometimes just the flutist played or the soloist sang. It was really, really lovely.

When the program was finished, there were goodies and coffee and cider for everyone and an opportunity to purchase CD's and a children's book by Dr. Burkart titled The Hidden Prince. I took the opportunity to purchase a few items for Christmas gifts as they were specially priced for the holidays. And the money goes toward scholarship funds at Concordia. Earlier in the evening an offering was collected that will go to the local food shelf. It was a lovely evening all around.

I promised I would share photos of one of my trees each day. I got side-tracked onto the creche exhibit and the tree I was going to share is still waiting to be finished. In it's place I share this picture of the tree in the sanctuary at Centennial. It was so much more lovely than what my camera captured. Tomorrow, I'll get back to my own tree decorating.

night all.

Sandi

Having a great week!

Oh, wow, busy, busy but having a great week. So much to share but don't have time right now but wanted to post that I'm here. Thanks to those who have comment on my stocking giveaway post. A couple of you e-mailed private thoughts that warmed my heart. I have to share one from my friend, Gretchen and then I'll be back later with pictures and more stuff.

Here is what Gretchen wrote..........

Hi Sandi,

I remember reading in your blog that you were asking people to send you recollections or stories about Christmas Stockings (as a way to be entered in one of your drawings)............

Here's my story. My Dad and Mom, my Dad's sister and her husband and Bronwyn and I have been together for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day since we were itsy bitsy girls. All those many years ago, mom made the six of us our own Christmas Stocking made out of red flannel and decorated with tacky sequins and other decorations. A number of years later, when MacTavish, our dog, joined us, he had his own stocking, too. We used those stockings every year. When our dog died, he was buried with his own stocking. When Mom and my Uncle Joe died, they were buried with their stockings. Dad and Boo and I will also be buried with our Christmas Stockings. Our stockings hold so many wonderful memories of the many Christmas times the six of us were together to celebrate our Savior's birth and the love we have for each other. Have a wonderful Christmas, Sandi. Hugs, Gretchen


Isn't that just the sweetest story? I am fortunate to have such wonderful friends as Gretchen and those of us who know and love her feel ourselves blessed. Her memroy brought tears to my eyes when I read it along with others that many of you written. I want to thank all of you for the lovely memories you have shared and to let you know that while I was blue when I wrote my stocking giveaway post, I am absolutely brightly colored by your comments, memories and encouraging words!! The day after I posted about the stocking giveaway and my blue memories, plans began to fall into place for a slightly different Christmas celebration and my dad would think it is fun knowing what we have planned for my mom. He would say "Just wanta make Ma happy." So, yes, Christmas will be different but it will be okay. I will miss my dad but now I'll share a memory as Pat (a member of Pat Sloan's Yahoo group and more on that connection later) encouraged me to do.............

My dad had the same sense of excitedness, curiousity, whatever you want to call it that I do which means I got it from him!! Ha ha! Anyway, I remember the Christmas when I was 18 and my folks got me my very own sewing machine for Christmas. My dad was so excited about it that he had to give it to me three days before Christmas. By that time, I knew he was Santa :-) and I laugh when I think of that Christmas. I put that machine to good use and I'll bet I'd still be using it today but Hurricane Camille did a number on it and my husband could not save it. The memory is still there and that's all that counts!

Now I must run for I received a call that Creche's are needed for a program at the Lutheran Church and I am off to help my friend Joanie by adding a few of mine. I will be back later with more stuff and pictures!
Sandi

Christmas in Miniature

When I was a kid, I collected Cracker Jack prizes. That was in the 1950's and the prizes then were really cool. One of those prizes is a tiny motorcycle that is less than an inch long and it has a working kickstand! I kept my miniature treasures in a shoebox covered with black and white floral fabric. When I got married, I brought the box with me. I still have it in another box in the basement. When our daughter came along, I made doll clothes for her dolls and then she was given a dollhouse from the 1940's that had belonged to her Aunt Linda. I began making furniture to fill the house. Then I made dolls to live in the house. I loved making tiny things so I began making miniature room boxes and scenes in plastic display boxes. I thought you might like to see some of them so here is one of my favorites.

The tree is made from chenille stems that are inserted into a balsa wood post and is between 6-7 inches tall. I made "t" shapes with the chenille stems in a variety of sizes and glued them into the post and assembled it just as I did my artificial tree at the time. The "garland" is a piece of gold chain and the ornaments are paper cut-outs and beads. The gifts surrounding the tree come from all over the United States. I made this scene in the late 1980's and was part of a group that exchanged our miniature delights. I wrapped all the little packages and by a process of weaving, I created all the little bows on the packages. All the items in the scene are on a 1" = 1' scale. I decided to share photos of views from all sides. The lamp that the tree is sitting next to is one of those small table lamps, only about 12" high. I love this little scene and all it's tiny toys. It's a tree that I never have to undecorate and so I can "keep Christmas all year long" with this little tree! Just "double-click" on the photos for close-ups of each view. )

ChookyBlue is wondering if anyone else has as many trees as Jacquie from TallGrassPrairie. Go check her blog as she has 28 lovely trees in her "Festival of Trees" post. I am not sure I can come up with 28 but it might be close. By the time I get done decorating (around Valentine's Day at the rate I am going), there will be a tree in every room of the house. So, stop in and see how I am doing as I will post a tree a day and we'll see how many I have by the time Christmas Day arrives! Oh, and don't forget that you can leave a Christmas stocking memory or any Christmas memory on any post up to December 24 and you'll be entered in the drawing for my stocking filled with 24 fat quarters. Go here to see the original stocking post. Tell your blogging friends as I love reading the memories that are being shared!!! And, by the way, if you follow my blog, you know that last Monday I was pretty blue but this Monday I'm not. Reading the memories boosts my spirits plus we have made some fun plans for a different Christmas celebration so the holidays will be just fine. I'll be missing my dad, but it will all be okay. In fact, I'll be thinking of him next week when I sing at the local VFW Christmas party. I guess they liked my rendition of the Star Spangled Banner I did for Veteran's Day and they invited me to come again. I even get dinner so I will in a way "sing for my supper"!! :-) My dad would think that is just great!!!

On the "swap front", I've received a couple more swap packages in the mail and sent some out but can't really share til they reach their destination and then I will share pics of what was sent and received. :-)

I mentioned in an earlier post, that I was going to set up a table at our local "Holiday Showcase" table and here it is. This is the first time I have set up a table at anything for more than five or six years!! It was fun and I enjoyed showing folks my penny rugs and telling them the history behind them.

This was more of a "let people know about your business event and say thanks" than an opportunity to sell event. I did bring some kits for my Christmas ornaments but sales were almost non-existent. Attendance was down at the event due to our cold weather and snow swirls, plus there's that gloomy economy thing at work. It was a horribly cold day but made warm by visiting with the folks who stopped at my table to chat. I was near an area that was not far from the doors so I was glad to get home to warm p.j.s and a hot cuppa my favorite Hazlenut Belgian Cafe mix. More snow has arrived today! And more is falling tonight!! So, I decided to make a change in plans..............Pictured below are the final stockings we made to donate to the toy drive and I planned to deliver them tomorrow. With more snow in the forecast, I decided to box them up and deliver them to a neighbor that will be helping deliver the toys. Now I don't have to worry about going out tomorrow. Thank goodness, it's just light snow, not the icy stuff that they are getting in Wisconsin and parts of Iowa.

The white stuff you see out my family room windows is the lovely fluffy snow that is falling. It's so pretty. Too bad, I can't say the same thing for the tired but evidently indestructible sofa we've had since the 1980's! Just realized, it's been around as long as my little Christmas tree! I'll never give up the tree, but I would gladly part with the sofa. Hee hee!

That's all for tonight. I'll be back tomorrow with another tree photo and story.

Stay warm and safe if you are where the snow is falling!!

Sandi

A belated "Blog Pick of the Week"

Well, you can tell it's the holidays because there is so much to do that some things just get missed. I forgot to post my "blog pick of the week" so she will stay in place for two weeks just so you can all go check out her blog. I have chosen Chookyblue as she is the one who held the Secret Santa swap that I have talked about. She kept lots of us ladies "on our toes" making sure we got our packages sent on time to our Secret Santas. These large swaps have got to be a lot of work so I give praise to Chookyblue and thanks for all the work she did to allow all of us to have a Secret Santa. And I forgot to mention who my Secret Santa is - it's Shelley at Angels Come to Play! You'll find her blog here. She's the one who sent me the ten lovely little tissue wrapped gifts that you saw in my last post. I have unwrapped and rewrapped two of them now. Sorry, I just have this awful sense of curiosity! :-)
That reminds me of a recent news story on WCCO about kids and marshmallows that went like this.........Young kids (think they were all pre-kindergarten) were given one marshmallow by an educator conducting this little test and told that he was going to leave the room but if they waited til he got back, then they could have two marshmallows to eat, not just one. But they had to wait patiently and could not eat that first marshmallow. It was really interesting to see the results! Some kids were very patient and waited successfully to get that second marshmallow. Others, one little boy in particular, said he was going to eat the first marshmallow right away and he did!! It was a funny piece!! I would probably have been the nibbler, kind of like I'm nibbling away at that stack of ten little tissue wrapped packages!! Hee hee hee!! I better get busy. Lots to do. I laughed when I got an e-mail from my friend Barb this morning that she has called in the "decorating fairies". Wouldn't that be nice if there were little "fairies" to hang those high ornaments for us?!! Since there are none, I best get going and do the work of the "decorating fairies"!!
Sandi

So what's keeping me so busy..........

Wellllllll, let's start with the Christmas tree lights. We'll have to back up to Sunday when my husband and I carried the tree upstairs from the basement. Simple enough. The next day, Monday, I got it all put together. It's a large tree, about 8 ft. tall. We've had it since 1988. Again, simple enough. Then he got out the lights, three boxes of some fancy "fade-in, fade-out" lights in green, red and frosted white that we have also had since 1988. He made sure they worked. And then he went off to bed because he has to get up to go to work. I'm the nightowl. I stayed up to put the lights on the tree.
I picked a string of lights and began at the top and got them just right on the top third of the tree. Plugged them in and the white lights didn't work. I was not in the mood to fiddle with the lights so I went to my sewing room to work on ornaments and I sent him an e-mail that he would find when he got to work the next morning - the lights don't work.
So, on Tuesday, I worked on ornaments for my swaps and stuff to go in the boxes and assembled the supplies I needed to take for the card crafting project at the correctional facility. Then when he got home we ate a delicious meal (buttering him up so he'll happily fix the lights). He checked all the strings, found the bad or missing bulbs (I think the dog ate one because I heard a crunch - he has a stomach of steel and has eaten worse) and declared them "working". So again, he goes off to bed and I am ready to place the lights on tree, hum carols and enjoy the night.
I put the lights on the top third of the tree and "bingo", they worked. I was very pleased. I moved to the bottom third of the tree and strung those lights. Plugged them in and no white lights worked. I tested every white bulb. Spent an hour doing it because I tested them twice. I gave up and strung the middle third of the tree. I plug them in and the green lights don't work. I am not happy at this point so I go to my sewing room to watch my soap opera (yes, I watch a soap opera).
On Wednesday, after the card-crafting sessions, my friend Barb and I went to get a sandwich and have some time to catch up on our kids and stuff. We tried one place that makes great sandwiches but we discovered you can no longer order them in the evening so we had to go elsewhere. Taco John's Steak-to-Go got our business, not Panzanella. I got home then about ten minutes before the light man. After he read the mail, he looked at me and said "what"? He knew by the look on my face that something wasn't right. "The lights don't work, do they?" he said. "That's right", I reply. So we go into the living room and he can see that the green ones don't work on the middle strand. He touches a green bulb, jiggles it, and the string of lights spring to life with working green lights! I'm like, no way! You come in and touch them and they work! Not fair. He adjusts the bulb to make sure it's secure and moves to the bottom string to see what white light is not working. He reaches in and removes a white bulb and puts in another one and again, the lights work. Now, remember, I spent an hour checking these bulbs and he walks in and they work in less than 5 minutes. Unbelievable!!

So the lights work but I couldn't decorate because I had to bake goodies for our church women's group project. Made 2 dozen peanut butter kisses, then four dozen thin chocolate oatmeal cookies that I frosted into sandwich cookies and I made a batch of brownies with peanut butter chips in them. The cookies were for the "goodie bags" that will go to those in nursing homes or confined to their homes here in our area.



In the photo above, you can see (from left) Carol, Raye, Carmen (our president and a very good one!) and Philly stuffing candies and such in plastic bags. Then we took them out to the table where the bags were lined up and filled the gift bags with all the candies and cookies. That's Joann on the left and Lorraine on the right. Those goodie bags are so full of good stuff that it'll last a month! Well, maybe a week. ;-)

Earlier I made a Spanish Rice casserole to take along with the cookies because after the "goodie bags" are filled, we all enjoy a potluck. You know the food was good, of course. There was a short meeting and then home to more ornaments and some laundry. Then I frosted the brownies because in the evening, it was our annual Crazy Quilting Christmas Potluck. After that I made a spinach pasta cottage cheese with chicken and cream of broccoli soup concoction that I topped with cornbread stuffing crumbs. Baked it up and it was still hot when I arrived at the Historical Society for Crazy quilting.

But I'm getting ahead of myself because when I got home from the church here's the package that was laying on my front porch. On the back it said SSCS. Oh, yay, it was the package from my Secret Santa in Chookyblue's swap! I opened the box and inside there were ten little packages all wrapped in white tissue paper. Good grief, and I'm supposed to wait til Christmas to unwrap these. I'll never make it!! And I didn't. This afternoon, I just had to unwrap a little one that the bow had fallen off and so I felt it should be unwrapped. It was something cute but I'll wait to show you when I open all the packages. ;-)

We do an ornament exchange at our Crazy Quilting gathering and here are the three I chose to put in the little gift bag that I made for them. Two are chenille stem ones that I made with my grandson and if you want to see more you can check out the photo on the blog that I've set up just for me and Jacob. It's here. I set up the blog sometime ago but haven't really tended to it. Same for one for crazy quilting. I debuted the Tea and Stitches blog this week and also have the Sew and Share blog.

I could share all the photos and such in this blog but I think they need their own "space" so that's why I chose to set up individual blogs for these things. When I visited the "Webmaster" site recently, I learned a bit about "categorizing" and it's something that I need to do here on my blog. It will help new visitors find old posts that might be of interest. Having seperate blogs is also another way to "catagorize" topics. I will be making some changes during the next few weeks, just a little tweeking so don't be surprised if something doesn't look quite the same. It's still just me - long posts and lots of chatter and photos!

Sometime next week, I'll post photos from our Crazy Quilting potluck and also some big news about an exciting exhibit coming up in March. In the meantime, here's a photo of the wrapped ornaments that we "swapped". You'll get to see what was in the packages when I post the photos next week. You'll find them here , so check it out so you won't be surprised when the link takes you to a black screen.

Today, I was exhausted because I couldn't sleep last night and then my husband and the dog were snoring so that meant a noisy night. Heading off to bed in a few minutes and it's all quiet tonight except for the howly wind that is blowing outside. So fellow Minnesotans, can you believe how cold it is for early December? Sure glad I have no place to go tomorrow. I'll be doing more tree decorating and ornament projects. Just four boxes to mail that I should have taken to the post office today but I never made it to the post office. I am a week late in getting them out and hope that when they are received those who get the packages will be happy with all the goodies they find inside and won't mind that the package is a little late. I got the doll swap and the SSCS and Stitchers Angel swaps out by their deadlines but the ornament swaps have been a challenge for reasons I don't need to bother you with. I do love making ornaments and this evening I opened up the boxes that contain my collection of close to 500 ornaments that go on my trees. I'll be sharing photos and stories all this next week on the ornaments and where they came from or how I made them. Time to turn out the lights and snuggle up with an extra blanket tonight!!!

Sandi

Busy Day and even busier tomorrow!

Oh, my what a busy day it was! We got snow last night or early in the morning and my but the road was treacherous when I headed out of town. By the time I hit the main highway, it was clear but sideroads are really no fun in the winter!!

I had a great afternoon, although not everyone would think it was great to go where I was today. As I mentioned earlier, I was off to do some volunteering at the Women's Correctional Facility in Shakopee. I started volunteering there about ten years ago. It's an interesting place that sits in a regular neighborhood in Shakopee, MN and not far from an elementary school. The facility has a unique feature - no fence, just a hedge around it. I passed it frequently to get to my local JoAnn Fabrics. One day I made a call to see if they had a need for volunteers. I was thinking of quilting but at the time, someone else was a paid instructor teaching quilting. So, I started teaching clay-crafting. At the time, I was teaching classes in our local community ed program and taught lots of kids classes. I began teaching many of the same things to the women in the correctional facility (I must attend a training session once a year to be a volunteer). The clay-crafting was fun but was time intensive and costly and I couldn't serve as many women in that craft. So, I thought of felt Christmas ornaments and then card-crafting. Sharing my time and talents in this way, makes me feel good to know that these women - who rightly must serve their time - are able to make a little something personal for their kids, moms, and loved ones. I could only imagine what it would be like if I were seperated from my kids and could not share something I had made with them. My friend, Barb, now joins me and we both feel good because, as the saying goes "there but for the grace of God, go I." My friend, Arlis, has also come along to help. This may sound strange but it is truly rewarding work. Each and every one of the women is exceptionally grateful and repeatedly thank us for sharing our time and supplies (I have a friend who donated a huge supply of cardstock and I shop clearance all the time for my supplies). And the end result of our afternoon was that 27 women created 70 cards to send off to family members. So, while we went to the facility and served 27 women, in the end we reached even more folk because of the cards that they will send out.

I had an e-mail from Nanette today that said she had been inspired to volunteer at a local senior center because of reading about some of my volunteer ventures on my blog. I thought that was so cool. We've never even met but we are affecting each other's lives. And on Monday, I had an e-mail from Nihal regarding an article posted in our Star Tribune about Turkey that connected us. And today, she posted a rose to my mom and me on her blog! And then tonight, I got an e-mail from my friend, Sue, that she had posted about me on her blog. Now Sue and I have met and know each other personally but she's right that we have come to know each other even better through blogging. I am touched by her comments about Christmas memories and encourage you to go check out her doll "Ellen". She's just a click away on Sue'sBlog. I have really enjoyed the Christmas stocking comments and memories. Keep 'em coming. Post your memory on any post now and up to midnight Christmas Eve. I think I will do the drawing when Santa pops in around midnight on Christmas Eve. ;-) You now, I may have had a blue Monday but, friends, I have had a great and colorful Wednesday!!

Time to call it a day (or night)!! As I said above - busy today and busier tomorrow. I'll be back tomorrow night to tell you what's got me so busy.

Sandi