~*Christmas Time is Here*~

Hello Dear Friends! This is our tree... simple, but so sentimental. We put it up last night. Tony and I put the tree together and string the lights... but Trinity puts all the ornaments in place. No, this probably isn't a 'magazine' display... but it is ours and it is just the way we want it. Heartfelt and joy-some! It is in the corner of our small living room. We set the tree in my old goat cart to make it a little taller... and so we don't have to find somewhere to store the cart for the holidays!

Christmas presents seem to have started for us yesterday too. My buddy Joanne got my name in the Christmas Exchange for our online Ebay group, AAPG. And oh my goodness did she spoil me... and Trinity... and Tony too! My 'big' gift was this beautiful tree skirt...

She sent me the kit to make the wool feather tree some time ago. I made it shortly after the kit came... but hadn't made anything to put around the base. And now I'm glad I didn't do it 'cause I wouldn't have made one as cool as this! For our exchange, our other buddy Deirdre, donated two patterns for us to choose from. We could work the patterns anyway we wanted to give to our exchange partner. Joanne adapted the tree skirt from the two patterns... and it just turned out wonderful!

The tree skirt wasn't all... she also sent all this!

A snowman hooked stocking, a penny-rug pinkeep, a gingerbread man ornie, some cute Christmas kitty socks, some brown shoe polish ('cause she knows how I love to use it to age things), and this really KEWL Woolens sign! In the group, we were talking about a neat Woolens sign... she must have read that I would LOVE to have one to put next door in the studio! I'm so excited about putting this over there... gosh I wish I was ready to begin decorating over there now! (The base coat of paint is finally on the walls... texture paint will be done in a day or so... then the trim & floors... and then I can move in!)
But this isn't all she sent! She also sent all of this to Trinity... and he shared some of the candy with Dad...

There were a couple of pouches of hot chocolate in the box too... we fixed it last night and also read "The Night Before Christmas"... what a great evening!

Joanne... thank you so much for the wonderful gifts... and for adding to our family Christmas memories!

On the crafty side... I have these stitched up... and they are now waiting to be sewn into some finishes.

I'm thinking needle books for the larger pieces and a simple Christmas ornie for the Noel. The kiddo has started basketball practice. So now two evenings a week are basketball practice and two evenings are tae kwon do classes... so busy busy busy. Thankfully, I can pack small bags of handiworks to take along for stitching while I watch.

Wishing you all warm smiles...

Betty