Christmas Day

Though this is for Christmas, and I hope everyone will be spending the day with their families, as I will, I am doing a Willy Nilly Friday Five that we can all enjoy on Saturday instead once the wrapping paper deluge has settled!  Hope you all have a very blessed and special Christmas Day!  And for those who do not celebrate Christmas, here's a post to enjoy on Friday! :-)

1.  Grandson's birthday was this week....we have two December birthdays and two January ones in our immediate family and that just adds to the specialness of the season!  I can remember our daughter and son-in-law bringing our grandson home from the hospital on Christmas eve.  In his little carrier he was the most wonderful Christmas present of all for us! :-)  Oh how much he has grown!

A very special gift from his great-grandmother back in Virginia

This mug has some significance with someone he follows on the internet

His Mom made a carrot cake...his favorite

 2.  The doorbell rang two mornings ago and I was sure it was just a salesman or perhaps the mailman but when I opened the door, it was our neighbor from next door, Frank and his sweet little girl, L. who is 5.  We have been neighbors for four and a half years, and always friendly, plus my husband and Frank have visited together on occasion.  We have seen their older children grow from kids to driving their own cars. :-)  The little one is brought to our door at Halloween in costume for treats, and she always yells hello to us when we come and go, if she is outdoors playing.  I have bought "still in the box" Star Wars figures, etc. from them when they've had yard sales, and our grandson has been thrilled with these when given to him.  Once when the boys (our grandson and great nephew) were weeding our front yard and walked over into Frank's yard to get rid of the weeds that had spread there, Frank came out with a "toy" for each of them and they were thrilled. 

Well, our visitors were bearing a basket of goodies!  "Merry Christmas!" they chimed in as I opened the door!  We invited them in for a visit.  I was amazed at the homemade banana bread, the cheese and crackers and candies in the basket.  And little L. was so cute in a little elf shirt, and her eyes were round as saucers, telling us about the package she got from the North Pole with a magic elf inside and how Santa knew where she lives and her name and even where she goes to pre-school!  Her joy filled our hearts with delight, because our daughter is a grown woman, and our grandson just turned 14, and well, that kind of Christmas wonderment is a thing of the past for us!  I told her Dad she was giving us a special gift!  What a delight this was!  The joy of Christmas, of giving to your neighbors, of receiving from neighbors, of hearing the delight in the voice of a child.  All this is priceless.  It was a visit I will always remember!

face blocked out to protect her ID

3.  We received a very special Christmas present almost a week ago of the tropical kind!  I bought a Bird of Paradise three years ago and much to my chagrin it has grown very slowly and had never bloomed.  Then about a month ago I noticed a spike with some color and realized a flower was going to happen!  I had brought the plant inside to protect it from the cold.  It took all month for the bud  to open (they seem to be the sloths of the flower world!)  but it finally did and boy is it beautiful!  Most people have Christmas Cactus....I have a Christmas Bird of Paradise!

Almost completely open....

In full bloom at last several days later!

This is the plant inside the house! :-)

4.  We didn't have a tree the last two years because we go over to the kids' house and enjoy their tree, plus it's very hard to find space for a tree in our living room.  But I had missed it and decided to get a smaller tree and make it a table top so I could enjoy our ornaments and I am so happy we did!  Oh, it has to be a real tree!  Maybe someday I will opt for an artificial one, but it's hard for me to "go there"....I'm just such an old-fashioned girl! 

5.  I also ordered The Nativity Story dvd....we have watched it every year through Netflix and I figured it was time to buy our own copy.  It's the best story of Jesus's birth I have ever seen!  That is the reason for this wonderful day....the coming of the Saviour of the World!  We celebrate Emmanuel....God with us!

Friday Five--a Little Holiday Share

Tanya's Willy Nilly Friday Five is a great place to do a little sharing!  Here are some of the special moments from last week....

1.  Our grandson turned the big 13!

2. The boys came over to our house and we made sugar cookies:

 3.  A beautiful tree. (Do we have enough presents?)

This grouping of ceramic carolers was something my Mom had that our daughter always admired, and Mom gave it to her right before Christmas.

4.  Christmas morning with our kids (son-in-law,daughter, grandson) and our great-nephew and SIL's brother:

 

Not only did our son-in-law Jack surprise Yvonne with a new washing machine on Christmas eve day, he also gave her the digital Nikon camera she had been wanting for years! 

What a super sweet hubby!

Dad helps Yvonne learn how to set up things with the camera.

And look what the kids surprised us with! Our first flatscreen!

 And later that day we had a delicious meal of steak tenderloin with sides and yeast rolls (prepared by our chef in residence, our son-in-law Jack!  He doesn't like to go for the traditional holiday meal) and then even later enjoyed our pastry chef daughter's delicious piled high apple pie topped with streusel, and served with vanilla ice cream. (I also prepared a pumpkin pie).

5. And night before last, on New Year's Eve, we were blessed with a little snow!  Yes, it actually snows in Tucson on rare occasion. :-)  The first photo was borrowed from a friend....the second two were taken the next morning as the sun was rising on a new day and a new year!

A dusting in the back yard.

A dusting on the Santa Catalinas.

Thanks for bearing with me with all this family sharing stuff! :-)  Hope you all had  as wonderful a Christmas week as we did!  And have a very blessed New Year!

Friendship & Birthdays

When I showed my new teapot earrings to our preacher's wife, Vickie, she told me she had a necklace that would match...and the next time I saw her, she gave it to me!  It's lovely having such wonderful, precious friends!

Last Fall when my friend Kathy was here visiting, we went to several yard sales.  At one house, an older couple was selling mosaic pieces she had made.  I really wanted this bowl to make into a bird bath, and Kathy offered to pay half so I could get it.  Like I said...precious friends!

Since I decided last year to start celebrating my birthday with my hubby later in January and we were both gone over his, we ended up having the birthday dinner, etc after our return from the trip.  It has become our tradition now to always eat at a steak place, and for two years, El Corral was the steak place of choice.  For a previous birthday celebration there, click HERE.  But this year, on the SIL's recommendation, we decided to move the birthday party to Pinnacle Pete's.  It's located ........

  Well, it is quite a place to go!  Not only was it like Disneyland's Wild West area, with lots of things to see and do, the food was also excellent!  There were actual shops, and even a carousel and other kiddie rides! I forgot my new camera!  DOINK! :-(  But here is one from the website.

On the grounds of Pinnacle Pete's there was a museum we will have to check out on another day! 

First we went to see the new Hobbit movie, The Desolation of Smaug.   Been dying to see it!  The grandson and I read The Hobbit last year, and for his birthday I made an almond paste Smaug the dragon for his cake.  Check that out HERE.  So we all thoroughly enjoyed the movie.  Then it was on to Pinnacle Pete's for our steak dinner.  I won't tell you of each gift, but I do have to add this one bit of delight that I received from our daughter and SIL.  Another pair of earrings, and this pair also VERY special!  I have wanted lapis jewelry for quite some time, and they chose a gorgeous pair of lapis earrings!

It was a lovely day.  We were all together as a family, and that felt great!  Family and dear friends....special ones to be truly thankful for!

A Lovely Day

We've been having the Missions Conference at Desert Spring this past week, ending in Sunday, and it's been awesome!  I wasn't able to go every day but I was so inspired when I did go.  I was finally able to go work at the Quilt Show Sunday afternoon then, and though I didn't do much to help out, at least I made an effort.  (If you want to see photos of some of the amazing quilts from the show, go over to my quilting blog piece-fulness and check them out!)  I also met Candy from Lazy J Bar C Farm so we could view the show together.  It was great seeing her again.  Hadn't seen her in months!  We are going to try to catch the Quilt Show in Tombstone together next month too.  The weather is beautiful here, and I feel so sorry for those of you suffering in minus-degree temps!  I have some interesting 35mm shots to share-- when I get them back from being developed-- of my gardening this winter! :-) 

Here are a couple of shots from my day:  I won an Honorable Mention ribbon for my "New Member Challenge" wall-hanging.  It's applique, machine pieced and quilted.   That's Candy and me.

 

I hadn't taken a picture of a fun mailbox in a long time and on my way out, I took this shot.  The neighbors put this up a few months back and I see it almost every day!

 

And finally, I have to add this...my Mom's gift for my birthday had gotten mixed-up with the manufacturer and she had to re-order so it came late...the day before the Sunday I worked the Show.  I actually had told her I'd like to wait and celebrate along with my hubby later in the month so it was no big deal it came late.  But, I had to try to take a picture of this wonderful gift to show you!  Sterling silver teapot earrings!  Aren't they wonderful!

December Birthdays..and Some Decorating

I haven't posted much yet...today was the first day I removed the memory card from the new camera to save the pictures onto the computer so I can use them!  Still have a lot to learn about the settings! :-)  But, we are getting there.  December and January are birthday months for most of us!  It makes it even more hectic as Christmas approaches!

The cake I made our daughter.  The gumpaste lilies were a little rushed, but turned out ok.

Our grandson always has carrot cake, his favorite, and his Mom always makes it for him.  This year I made a fondant Smaug the dragon for the top, and sprinked it all with edible glitter to represent the treasure.  He and I just finished reading The Hobbit and we plan to go see the new movie soon.

Another angle of Smaug

Close-up of his face.

Grandson with the cake right before his Dad lit the candles for him to blow out.  He brought his new Abomination toy with him to be in the picture. :-)

Our daughter made this wreath and was inspired by one she saw on Pinterest.  You can see their tree in the background as the door is open, but I am waiting till all the presents are under it before I take its picture for a post.

The orange pomanders she made.

And this was a huge project for the two of us!  We decided to make salt dough fruit.  In the past we had made apples and dipped them in red parrafin/crayon for these trees, but this time she wanted to make all different fruits and do them all white.  We didn't have enough white crayons and added a few light grey and greyish blue crayons to the mix, and the color turned out beautiful!  We sprinkled them with a little glitter and used silver sprigs of greenery to put between them and were very happy with the results!

My Dad

Dad left us two years ago last month.  Today would have been his birthday.  He was such an awesome man...tender-hearted, kind, full of fun, easy-going, gregarious, devoted and hard-working.  He was raised in a very poor family, eldest of 11 children.  His mother died when the last child was born.  He was his mother's dearest heart, and after her death  he became the one all the smaller children looked to for a sense of stability in their difficult lives.

These are just the girls...Dad and one brother are older, and there is a small boy that belongs on the end of this stairstep.

Here is my Dad and his closest brother sitting on their Dad's lap.

Dad loved to foxhunt all his life.  Here he is again with his brother and a string of fish.

Dad joined the Navy, and was in Korea at the Inchon landing, bravely setting up the radio communication  on the beach while others cowered.  After he married my Mom, they traveled a lot and they started their own family of  three girls and two boys (one boy would die as a baby).

My young Seaman father.

Mom and Dad and we four children.

My Dad was a firm believer in the importance of education and he returned to college and got his degree after he retired from the Navy (encouraging each of his children to also attend), continuing with a new profession as a teacher at a Trade School until he retired a second time. He moved the family to Golden Horn Kennel in Alabama where he raised hunting dogs and cows.  He served on the water board in his county and was an active member of the Lion's Club.  Dad also loved to grow vegetables.  He had an extensive garden for much of his life, and I think I inherited my love of gardening from him.

He was a loving father to his four children. (Here he is with my brother)

And made us proud of him!

He was a devoted, loving husband....

and an awesome father (here he is with my youngest sister)

(and with me)

He was a sweet, loving grandfather....

and great-grandfather

I miss you Dad!  Happy Birthday!