Happy New Year

Glory to God in highest heaven,
Who unto man His Son hath given;
While angels sing with tender mirth,
A glad new year to all the earth.

~Martin Luther

Spiritual Sundays

How can I say thanks..............

A special thank you to my top referrers of 2010:

A Stroll Thru Life

Between Naps on the Porch

A Southern Daydreamer

Hooked on Houses

Spiritual Sundays

Colorado Lady

Lady Katherine's Tea Parlor

Happy Cottage Quilter

All I can say is THANKS! I'm just a little blog, but without you I would probably not be here. It humbles me that people who follow these blogs come by and visit me :-)

Each of these ladies have fabulous blogs. I hope you will visit the ones that might be new to you and send a big hug to the ones that are old friends, they are all wonderful!

I also want to thank my faithful commenters. You make me feel like I have something worth talking about. I heart you!

And so to each of you I wish a very Happy and Blessed New Year!! I look forward to hearing from you in 2011.

Finding Treasures

On a day trip to a nearby town, my sister in love and I came upon a little antique shop. We browsed through rooms of china, pottery, primitive and retro stuff. But in the back of this little shop were linens, quilts and other textiles. I spotted this wooden box on the bottom shelf.

It was full of buttons, snaps, pins, and other sewing accessories. Of course I needed to add this to my sewing collection.

This is what was inside the box.

It was so fun to see the price of some items being 10c, 29c, 39c, 49c. Even the package of pink rick rack was only 25c for 3 yards!! The box appears to be handmade and has a name on the bottom.

Sewing has been a part of my life ever since I took Home Ec back in 9th and 10th grade. I no longer sew garments, but the skills I learned have been put to good use through my quilting experience. When I took my first quilting class 25 years ago, we were cutting fabric with scissors and making cardboard templates. Boy have things changed. And so much for the better.

I am joining Coloradolady's Vintage Thingie Thursday. Please stop by and take a peek at the other vintage things.

Family Christmas

Family Christmas is always a full and lively event. It's a time when family members gather at my in laws home for food and fellowship.

There are children laughing and singing...........

Grandpa's holding grandchildren.

Great Granny handing out treats........

And having a picture with all of her great grandchildren............

Love through the generations............

Yes that is what Family Christmas is about. We never know what next year will hold.

Joining Susan at Outdoor Wednesday for another peek inside this week :-)

Anything Goes

Marty at A Stroll Thru Life, is having a party. Anything Goes party. So I thought I would join her and share about some lovely parties we enjoyed over the Christmas holidays.

First one up is this lovely table setting. We were invited to my hubby's sisters house for dinner one night, and her table was festive and cheerful.

And in her formal dining room, she was ready for more guests with her Scripture dishes. (*update - I've had questions concerning the Scripture dishes. You can find them at this website -
http://www.feedontheword.com/)

Then we had a house full of company one night.

And my nephews wife brought this.............

Oh yeah! It really did taste as good as it looked!

Isn't that a pretty sight :-)

I hope you had a wonderful time over the Christmas holiday.

Merry Christmas

This morning, my sweet hubby read the last verse of this hymn as a prayer.

O holy Child of Bethlehem,
Descend to us we pray,

Cast out our sin and enter in
Be born in us today.

We hear the Christmas angels
The great glad tidings tell,

O come to us, abide with us,
Our Lord, Emmanuel!

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called …
Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God,
The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”
Isaiah 9:6

As we celebrate the Reason for the Season, I am wishing each of you a very blessed Christmas!

JOY to the World!

JOY to the World! the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;

Let every heart, prepare Him room,

And heav'n and nature sing, And heav'n and nature sing,
And heav'n and heav'n and nature sing.

JOY to the earth! the Savior reigns!
Let men their songs employ,

While fields and floods,rocks, hills and plains

Repeat the sounding joy, Repeat the sounding joy,

Repeat, repeat the sounding joy.

HE rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,

And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders of His love.

JOY TO THE WORLD!

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas!!

Joining Charlotte and Ginger at Spiritual Sundays.

Vintage Christmas

I love old ornaments. I used to collect a lot of the annual ornaments when I was first married. Plus there are a couple still around from when I was a child.

I can remember these ornaments from when I was growing up. So they are close to 50 years old. I have a few more, but when we moved they were packed away.

Betsy Clark early 80's.

And I always loved children on ornaments. For years I collected Ferrante ornaments.


In the late 70's I took a ceramic class. I made this nativity set. It has a few bumps and bruises, but I still love my Nativity scene.


I'm joining Coloradolady at Vintage Thingie Thursday.

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year!

Outdoor/Indoor Wednesday

Susan at A Southern Daydreamer hosts Outdoor Wednesday. For the month of December she has posted our indoor trees.

Come, let me take you around to visit my greenery.


It's been fun decorating two trees this year.

And as we slip away from the house..........

keep in mind that sometimes reindeer have been found landing near palm trees.

Because on December 26th, the sleigh gets exchanged for this..........

Yep, everybody needs a vacation once in a while :-)

Please join me at Outdoor Wednesday.

A Kitchen Tablesetting

Our eat in kitchen is very spacious and although not as formal as the dining room, we still enjoy setting a Christmas table.

Joining Marty at A Stroll Thru Life for Table Top Tuesday
and Susan at Tablescape Thursday.

Mary, did you know?

Mary did you know that your baby boy will one day walk on water?
Mary did you know that your baby boy will save our sons and daughters?
Did you know that your baby boy has come to make you new?
This child that you've delivered, will soon deliver you.

Mary did you know that your baby boy will give sight to a blind man?
Mary did you know that your baby boy will calm a storm with his hand?
Did you know that your baby boy has walked where angels trod?
And when you kiss your little baby, you have kissed the face of God.

The blind will see, the deaf will hear and the dead will live again.
The lame will leap, the dumb will speak, the praises of the lamb.

Mary did you know that your baby boy is Lord of all creation?
Mary did you know that your baby boy will one day rule the nations?
Did you know that your baby boy is heaven's perfect Lamb?
This sleeping child you're holding is the great I AM.

(Mark Lowry)

Spiritual Sundays

Soup for a cold day

If you want to warm your tummy with a fast and delicious bowl of soup, try this quick and easy recipe.

I found it on the back of a package of Swanson Chicken Broth.

Sensational Chicken Noodle Soup

4 cups Swanson Chicken Broth
Ground black pepper
1 medium carrot, sliced
1 stalk celery, sliced
1/2 cup uncooked egg noodles
1 cup shredded cooked chicken or turkey

Heat broth, black pepper, carrot and celery in 2 quart saucepan over medium-high heat to a boil

Stir noodles and chicken into saucepan. Reduce heat to medium. Cook 10 minutes or until noodles are tender, stirring often.

3-4 servings

That's it! For my family we increase all the ingredients and add some crushed garlic. It sure makes a great bowl of Chicken Noodle soup on a cold day.

Vintage Thingie Thursday

Today I have a couple of Vintage things to share.

Sitting on a little shelf in my daughter's room are a pair of mirror birds. They look like parakeets.


Believe it or not, they were actually given to me as a wedding gift in 1973. Now even then, I was baffled about them. Were they supposed to depict love birds?? Needless to say, they have been hidden away in my china hutch until we moved this past summer. Almost all of the little mirrors are still in tack. I think there are a couple missing.

And if you look behind the little birds, there is a vintage fan that belonged to my Mom. The stems are all wooden with some kind of fabric at the ends. It appears to be hand painted. I have no idea how old this fan is, as my Mom had it for as long as I can remember.

My sweet daughter scoffed up these items and made a very cute display in her room.

I'm glad someone likes those little love birds :-)

Please stop by and visit Coloradolady's Vintage Thingie Thursday.

Outdoor Wednesday

A couple of years ago our family traveled to West Virginia to Snowshoe Mountain for some skiing and snowboarding. It was a winter wonderland.

And of course there were a few falls along the way.

Ouch!

And on the last day we were there, a blizzard was moving in.

We had to make a quick getaway, or else we would have been stranded on the mountain. And although my children would have loved that, it was necessary for hubby to be back at work.

Please join me and visit the other Outdoor Wednesday posts.

Coastal Christmas

While visiting friends recently, I was delighted with their Christmas table setting. They own a home right on the inter coastal waterway, so the big windows have a magnificent view of the water. But their Christmas decorations were very charming and the red just made it all sing.


Don't you just love these red chairs?


It was such an inviting home to visit. And the fireplace added warmth on a very cool evening.


And we can't forget the Real Reason for the season :-)


Today I am joining Marty at A Stroll Thru Life for Table Top Tuesday,

Lady Katherine's Tea Time Tuesday

and Between Naps on the Porch Tablescape Thursday