19...Christmas Quotes

Days to go...

Here are some cute sayings/quotes that I really like:

Never worry about the size of your Christmas tree. In the eyes of children, they are all 30 feet tall. ~Larry Wilde, The Merry Book of Christmas

It is Christmas in the heart that puts Christmas in the air. ~W.T. Ellis

The Supreme Court has ruled that they cannot have a nativity scene in Washington, D.C. This wasn't for any religious reasons. They couldn't find three wise men and a virgin. ~Jay Leno

Last but not least...my favorite one of all!

And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more. ~Dr. Seuss

I almost didn't get to making this post. I have this stupid cold/flu thing that has been going around and basically feel like crap! I was sitting here, in front of the computer, hacking away, when Spartan came over, picked me up out of the chair (no easy feat as I weigh a little more than when we married) and plopped me on the couch. He tucked me in, with his blanket, kissed me on the forehead and told me to go to sleep! He's so sweet! He was also very right. (shh, don't tell him, it'll go to his head) I feel a little better. Anyways, long story short, I managed to make my post!

Have a great evening everyone!

20 and The 12 Pains of Christmas

Days to go...

I found this video on youtube and couldn't resist!!

21...Santa and His Tree

Days to go...

Here is a darling little santa that I made last week. I drew him up in my sketchbook, traced the image onto freezer paper, cut sewed, stuffed, weighted, stuffed and voila! I make cute little pins with faces kind of like this so thought it would make a cute stuffie! I'm going to make up a few Santa pins similar to this, so stay tuned for those...

The tree is a cute little project my Mom did with Baby Girl last weekend. Of course, Baby Girl had to come home totally covered in glitter...she is her Grandmothers Grandaughter after all!!

Don't they look cute together?!?

Here are a few links to some other holiday cuties for your viewing enjoyment (just click on picture to go to their site) Some are for sale, some not, I just happen to like them:

Sew, Mama, Sew's Giveaway Day and a bunch of giveaway links!

Wow! two posts in one day! What is wrong with me! Oh, I know...avoiding chores...cool! Anyways, there are bunch of giveaways to hit today as there are a lot of places participating in Sew, Mama, Sew's giveaway day. I am going to try to hit a bunch and also I will be placing links in this post to some of them. I will be updating this post throughout the day!

Daisy Quilts has a wonderful bunch of things in their giveaway!

Sandy at hopefully something rhetorical is giving away a darling button tree!

Edward and Lilly are giving away a darling little bird ornament...I want the lavendar one!

The most incredible giveaway! Go to the "This Is Life" site!

Mommy and Beyond is giving away four different things!

22...Advent Tree

Days to go...

I was inspired by the darling wall quilt advent calendar I saw over at Pink Chalk recently. I drafted up my own pattern using Kathy's directions. I'm fairly pleased with how it turned out. I'm not so crazy about my ornaments (which I am still finishing up on as you can see they aren't all on yet), but I can always change them... some other year or other...

One thing I really like are the buttons I sewed on to hold the ornaments. Some are new, the striped, spotted and snowflake ones. The solid green and solid red ones came from my Grandmother's button jar. I wish she had collected enough to use just her buttons, but since most of her buttons came from clothes she wore over the course of her life, and apparently red and green wasn't something she wore very often, I had to add to them.

So have any of you made your own advent calendars?

23...Tree Decorating

Days to go...



We put up our tree on Sunday. It was actually very relaxing for once. My oldest two decided not to fight and they actually hung around and helped with the lights and garland after we got the tree put together. This is not normal for my boys, they usually grumble about putting the tree together and then run off until it is time to put the ornaments on. Of course, they don't realize it, but by doing this, they made putting the tree up this year even more special!

Here's Baby Girl in her Tinkerbell Christmas hat and Runner's Michigan State Shorts. She was temporarily known as Fairy Gangster!

Speaking of Baby Girl (aka Fairy Gangster), she followed through on a tradition SHE started when she was 11months old! Since she was born on the 29th of December, her first Christmas was when she was almost a year old. I have gotten a special "Babies First Christmas" ornament for each of my children. For Baby Girl, I found the cutest pink pacifier. Well, when we showed it to her (at her first Christmas), she grabbed it and popped it in her mouth! The boys all thought it was hysterical! Boy Genius, then 7, was actually rolling on the floor laughing! Well, ever since then, with a little nudging and reminding from her brothers, Baby Girl has had to put the pacifier in her mouth before it can go on the tree. So here she is, my almost 8 year old, sucking on her binkie!!



Here's the whole family:


top row: Spartan, Me, Gamer
bottom row: Runner, Baby Girl with Boo & Boy Genius with Bowser

24... and a PIF!

I am setting a goal of posting SOMETHING every day until Christmas. Today I want to tell you about one of the best presents from my childhood.



When I was about 5 or 6 my Mother made me a nightgown that I got on Christmas Eve. The material had big red roses on a white background and she made me a mop cap to go with it. I seriously loved that nightgown! I wore it until I literally could not put it on anymore. My mother made me another one, I think the next year, out of some kind of blue material, but it just wasn't the same to me. The rose red one was still my favorite...and I was still wearing it! I'm surprised my Mother ever got me out of it.



On another note, I am participating in a PIF (pay it forward). I am really excited about doing this. Trudy over at Bits of Wool selected me to participate in this wonderful exchange. It is based on the movie by the same name.

The rules are simple.

1. You MUST have a blog.

2. You must place the pay it forward picture/button on your blog.

3. You must link back to my blog and this post.

4. You must commit to offering a handmade gift, sent sometime in the next 365 days, to the first 3 people to respond to your post.

5. You must post about it within 5 days of my contacting you...no cheaters! I'll be checking!!!

That's it! Easy peasy! Just think of the joy we can send around the bloggy community doing this! So, if you want to play along with me...just leave me a comment! I will contact you and ask you for your snail mail...oh, and I will post internationally...I don't want to leave out any of you great bloggers!