Happy Holidays!

This is the winter moon as I saw it last night from my back garden. Yesterday was winter soltice and the moon always seems so special to me at this time of year. It's that one time of year when we've gotten the shortest day of the year  in the northern hemisphere. It all gets brighter from here. The days get longer little by little, I start to feel that sense of renewal that comes with a new year and with spring on the horizon. It seems such a time of great hope and anticipation.

We are off this morning to spend the weekend with our daughter in law and grand daughter. Our daughter is working in Hartford, CT so we won't see her. But we've sent her a little Christmas in a box. We'll celebrate a late Christmas in January with her.

  But we will be able to spend our first Christmas with our son's new wife and daughter. We are over the moon happy to begin this new journey of family with Tammy and Alyssa. We'll be bringing up family Christmas ornaments, baking cookies, and decorating a tree together, cooking a special dinner. 

We've been asked to stand in as Santa for my son while he's away in Afghanistan. So we've got a sleigh full of stocking goodies packed up and ready to go. We've even got the stockings that he ordered and had sent to us along with a very special teddy bear for Alyssa's stocking. I don't think I've looked forward to Christmas morning this much since my children were just little. I'm not sure that there is anything more magical than littlies opening stockings on Christmas morning.

That's my grand daughter modeling her new snow pants form Nana. I am hoping we won't actually need to have snow pants. I can have quite a nice Christmas without any snow, thank you very much.

Wishing you peace and joy.

Happy Holidays!

Christmas in Afghanistan

 As many of you know, my son is in Afgahnistan right now. He's stationed on the border of Pakistan in the very rugged very high mountains in Kunar province. This photo is from a recent mission where they were dropped off by Blackhawk helicopter onto a mountainside. There was no level ground and they had to drop (fall) out of the helipcopter and roll away until they could find footing to stop the tumble down the mountain. In the middle of the night. He retreived his gear the next day 'half way down the mountain.'

That's my baby. He's looking a lot thinner than the last time I saw him. I think we can fix that up with some home cooking when he comes back.  By the way this mission was deemed cold and boring. This mum loves to hear that a mission is boring.

This little vingette warms my heart.  Soldiers go in taking vey little and leaving with very little when they are deployed. So sending Christmas presents is a challenge. We've sent two disposable Christmases now. Bright colours because one of the things soldiers say over and again is how much they miss all of the colour at home.  Favourite treats, like Tim Tams and cashews. I send toys because I feel like everyone needs a little whimsy in their life. Really, doesn't everyone need to juggle a slinky or launch a wooden air plane once in a while? And they can always be passed on to children when he leaves.

This photo arrived in my email not long ago with the message that he'd spent 'a quiet evening decorating his little shelf while 'drinking the cocoa from his wonderful wife and a tree from his awesome parents.' Did you catch that? I am awesome :-) I think I got my Christmas present early because it's not too often that I am referred to as awesome. Oh, and he's the only soldier on his FOB with Christmas lights. Probably, that is why I am so awesome.

Waste Not, Want Not, and All Those Cards

I love getting Christmas cards. It’s the time of year when we hear from family and friends, distant and near. We catch up on all of the family goss with the Christmas letters. We line the mantel with cards in a colourful row of good cheer.

And then, the inevitable happens. Christmas is over, the tree is taken down, the stockings are stowed, and there are all of those beautiful cards. What to do? I am basically a pack rat but there is probably a limit to how much can be stored away. In fact, I don’t think I need to save the card from the insurance agent, beautiful though the card is. But I really do hate to throw them away.

So I took the front of some of my favourite cards and made them into little pillow boxes. They turned out a perfect size for earrings, pendants, and small stocking stuffers. Yes, there is one in every crowd who starts prep for Christmas in January. Usually, that is not me. So I’m feeling quite virtuous now with my creative re-use & advance Christmas prep. These little boxes are folded flat and put away where I can find them next year. In the closet with all of those Christmas bags that I saved and the little bits of wrapping paper that were still good. Once a string saver, always a string saver. And if you’d like to feel virtuous too, you can find instructions and a handy template here.

Holiday Sneak Peak

It's hot here today, 85 F and windy. It's kind of hard for me to get into the spirit of the winter holidays when it feels like summer. But now's the time to get that winter spirit out and get my holiday act organized. Particularly given I've got 10 day till the first of the 'holiday' shows. A while back I snagged these vintage chandelier crystals from an estate sale, a set of 10 each. While I wasn't immediately overwhelmed with love, I had a vague idea that they might be transformed into something with some holiday spirit.

I spent part of today creating these large porcelain 'lentil' beads, 18 in all. Completed, these will be about 2" in diameter. Yep, those are styrofoam balls up there, split in half, being used as drape molds. I haven't touched a piece of styrofoam in many years but it is truly amazing what the craft store will yeild up in terms pottery tools.

And voila! This is what those beads will become (hopefully). This is the prototype ornament. I think of it as a little jewelry for your tree. I disassembled those chandelier crystals and brass wire wrapped them back together in a combination of clear and red. Frankly, those chandelier connections are just about as ugly as they come. This was clearly an exercise in honing my rosary bead, briolette wire wrapping skills. I've got 18 sets done, and even though my hands ached, it really made me want to work more with wire. It really is addictive. Maybe there is a jewelry maker buried deep inside me? And for those of you who were counting, there is no number 20 set. One of the crystals was chipped so that left me with 18. Just as well. I haven't the time right now to do 2 more.