Happy Holidays!!

Christmas ornament by Hammermann

How do you celebrate the holidays at this time of year?  Do you have a big gathering with lots of food and hubub?  Do you do a quiet few days?

These days we spend our Christmas pretty quietly.  We do a little decorating such as displaying a couple of Christmas quilts.  One is here:

We usually spend our Christmas holidays with family.  No one gets too carried away with decorations.  Once in a while, we get a bit out of control with gifts (last year I made out like a bandit!). We visit and eat.  Then we open gifts and have some snacks.  Then we laze around and fix a meal.  I think you detect the trend here.

Holiday stocking by rikrak

It's a great quiet time.  It's a relaxed time that give us time to think and plan.  We enjoy the winter weather (usually from inside) and the time away from everyday life. 


Christmas is a time for love.  It is a time to love the ones you value most, think of the loved ones who have already gone, spend time with family and friends, and be content.

Enjoy good company and laughter and seek out contentment and joy.  Thank you so much to those of you who have provided me with great companionship, laughter, and happiness.  I look forward to more time and enjoyment with you.

Merry Christmas Chickadee by NatureMandalas

My Favorite Things

My online and Etsy friend from rikrak studio challenged her blog readers to list their 10 favorite things here. 

So . . . here goes:

Family by Renee's Funky Country

1.  Family and Friends:  I love my family and friends.  We get together when we can for the good company and good food.  And the support.  And the teasing. 

Double Chocolate Fudgy Cake Truffles by lollidreams

2.  Chocolate!!!  I love chocolate almost as much as I love my family and friends.  It's yummy.  It makes me feel good.  It soothes me when I'm stressed.  It gives me energy. 

Baseball Scrabble Tile Pendant by threescoopsoflove

3.  Baseball:  My dad loved baseball so I watched and listened to baseball the whole time I was growing up.  I listened to Vin Scully broadcast the Dodgers games until the Tucson radio stations no longer carried those games.  I used to keep score while listening on the radio or watching on TV.  Now I love baseball because it's fun to watch and listen to while I'm doing grown up tasks.  It's comforting (except when the Diamondbacks go into a slump).  I watch it with my Significant Other and we watch it with my mother when we go to visit her.  When I'm ready for a break from my work, I can sit and watch for half an inning (or so). 

Valle Vidal in northern New Mexico

4.  Getting Outdoors:  We love to get out of the house and into the great outdoors.  Hiking, backpacking, camping.  We like it when life gets simpler.  No TV.  No computer.  No convenient phone.  You concentrate on the next meal and what will we do today?

The Charlie Pirtle Memorial Raffle Quilt that I made for the 2010 Becoming an Outdoors Woman in New Mexico workshop.  It's based on the Dusk 'Til Dawn quilt pattern designed by McKenna Ryan. 

5.  Sewing and Quilting:  I love to sew and to make quilts.  I get to play with colors (see below) and fabric and textures.  When I get to do that, I make things that are pretty.  Sometimes, those pretty things are even useful.  And it brings some family and friends together, too. 

Super Ricohflex camera by collectorsville

6.  Photography:  I've always enjoyed taking photographs, starting with the Brownie that my parents gave to me.  This camera above reminds me of the cameras that my parents used when I was little.  I have those cameras now.  I have a new Nikon now and I took a brief photography class, so I know a little bit more than I did before.  I'm enjoying trying to put those things into practice.  Oh, but the remembering them is so hard!

Vintage Collection of Steinbeck books by scoutHOME

7.  Reading:  I started reading with my dad when I was very young.  I love the entertainment and the learning.  What pleasure I get from books and stories!

Beef Roast for Company by $5 Dinners

8.  Food and Cooking:  I LOVE to eat!  I love to cook, too.  I also love to cook on a budget.  I have plenty of cookbooks, but I enjoy getting ideas from the Internet, too. 
 

My friend Kim's calla lillies

9.  Color:  It soothes and excites and warms and calms.  I love Arizona sunsets and sunrises.  I love flowers and other bits of color in the desert. 

Map Envelopes by DrakonsLair

10.  Travel:  We love going places.  I guess I come by it naturally, as my parents loved to travel and I started before I was two months old!!  I like to see new places.  I like to eat new foods.  I love to get a taste of local culture.  And . . . I love being away from home.  And . . . then coming home again. 

So, what do you think of my favorite things?  And now I want to know--what are your favorite things?  Think about them, enjoy them, and then share them.  I'd love to hear yours.