Happy New Year! I hope these days find you nice and cozy after a sweet Christmastime with friends and family. It's good to be cozy here right now. After some up and down warm temperatures in December, we are now at a lovely, blustery 33 degrees expecting 23 overnight. For South Carolina, that's cold, baby! The kids and I spent a nice wintry afternoon watching a movie I received for Christmas, Agatha Christie's, The Mirror Cracked. It is the 1980 version with Elizabeth Taylor and Angela Lansbury as Ms. Marple. We topped the time off with hot, just out of the oven, homemade macaroni and cheese and meatloaf -- and, of course, chocolate. Since then, we have all been slugs and can't get off the couch! School begins tomorrow, and we are looking forward to getting back into the normal schedule.
See the Little House above? That was an ornament Dana sent me in a personal side swap. Isn't it great? It's a tight woven wool with little windows made from a silvery plaid fabric. I love it. I sent her these little ornaments. I can't believe the snowman in the scarf turned out so well. I just followed the instructions in a holiday craft magazine from a couple of years ago. The colors are so vivid. Click on the picture for a close up and see! Again, I love the birds. I mentioned them in my last posting. I think I'll just keep making ornaments for a while so I don't forget all the great ideas I have seen this season, especially the ones I have found while blogging.
I found this great little tree at my friend's store, Old Barn, in Lexington. It looks like an old fashioned feather tree and sits in a ceramic star stand. I knew it would be perfect for displaying my little swap ornaments. Too bad my photos don't show it off to the best advantage. Here is a full shot, though, and next is a close up. The "JOY" ornament is too cute. I'm just so excited to have received all this swap art over the last few months. Because the swappers are from all over the place and have such a varied set of skills and ideas, the art received is so diverse and each gets its moment of adoration when it arrives.
So, another Season ends, and I'm packing it all away looking forward to seeing it again next fall! Our family had a stressful and emotional year, but, interestingly, this time of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and meeting the New Year has been remarkably peaceful and calm and enjoyable. We remember my grandmother whom we lost just recently and are grateful she was so much a part of our daily lives. We are thankful for successful surgeries and healing and even the hospice experience we went through this year and for the talented physicians and staff who provided such. We appreciate our good jobs, awesome school for the kids, and the great opportunity that hard work and diligence brings to us in America. We are blessed with a devoted family, fantastic friends, and a network of interesting and compassionate acquaintances, clients, coworkers, teachers, and neighbors who looked after us during emotional and scary moments and cared for us like their own. We pray for the Peace that Passes All Understanding to cover us while our country is at war across the sea and during the political swell that will sweep over us this fall. It will be good to remember that it is "In God We Trust" and not the TV political pundits. It's good to be free.
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