Fa-la-la-la-la, La-la-la-la

Christmas is almost here! And the weather has turned off wet, windy and bitterly cold......well, bitterly so for the mid-south. We don't do cold very well. With the first half-dozen fluffy snow flakes, schools close down, and Wal-Mart sells out of bread and milk, as if we expected to be snowed in for weeks. If we get any accumulation at all, it's usually gone by noon the next day. I only remember one White Christmas in my whole life, and I'll tell you about that soon. It was magical, one of those Christmases we keep in our hearts for life.

But I'm still adding little Christmasy touches around the house, haven't put up the tree yet (except for the Charlie Brown tree, a ficus hung with gold balls, the ceramic tree, 3 wire mesh trees, and 3 tiny green trees decorated with miniature ornaments on bathroom lavatories) or wrapped all the presents, but Lord willin' it will all get done. And I'm praying that this isn't a snowy or icy Christmas because we're having the family at our house this year, and it's about a 2 hour drive to get here.

Jim brought me some live mistletoe from the ranch were he hunted in Texas. He always touches my heart with the little gifts of plants, rocks or branches he brings me, and the fact that most of the leaves blew off in the back of his truck made me love the bedraggled little green clumps even more.

Decorating with Friends

Rita asked Sybil and me over to help decorate her house for Christmas. (That's them in the pics.) Amid all the goofing off, silly talk and laughter, we actually did get a lot accomplished, and then she took us out for lunch and a quick trip to a local florist (note the lovely turquoise wreath) where I stole, or uh borrowed, a few ideas and bits of inspiration. That's why God created pocket cameras, for goodness sake.

Not much to report in the way of technique, but I promised I would share photos. Behind the house is an old red barn, trimmed in white, built by Rita's grandfather, and we made a huge green wreath with a red bow for it, but then we wimped out on climbing the long wooden ladder to hang it. That's why God created husbands.

Deck the Halls

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! I started my Christmas music Playlist today, hope you like the songs. I love Christmas decorations, and I've begun adding Christmasy touches here and there. I would rather decorate a little at a time than try to do it all in one day, and I'll share some of it with you as I go along. Then maybe you'll come help me undecorate after Christmas. Right.

My friend, Bonnie, gave me my first glass block gift, which I thought was simply gorgeous, and since then I've made 2 others, with at least one more in the works. You either have to drill the hole in the side where you insert the lights or buy pre-drilled blocks. I've bought a glass drill bit, and the block on the right side of the mantle is waiting to be drilled........If I don't get around to it this Christmas, chances are there will be other Christmases. It's best to frost the 4 sides of the block so that the lighting wires don't show so much; I used etching cream, but there are lots of ways to frost glass. Then tie the block up in some beautiful, wired ribbon, and you're done. I've bought a few actual Christmas gifts, but they're not wrapped yet. Don't you just love this time of year??