A Christmas Carol

I went with April’s family to the play, “A Christmas Carol” tonight. I adore this story for so many reasons–but seeing it live this way is my favorite thing of all. I feel like I learn something new each time I see it.

We even spotted some sweet friends that I hadn’t seen in 5 years. At first I was embarrassed because some of us have changed so much in the last little while. I honestly was ready to hide. But when they saw us and were so happy–all that sillyness flew away. It turned out to be lovely.  I learned something new there too.

Merry Christmas.

 

 

 

This Cute Town at Christmas

One of the adorable things I love about living in a small town…

is all the attention they pay to the simple, sweet things…

like Christmas lights.

They are everywhere…filling the parks…

lining the streets…

and decorating the city buildings. My pictures aren’t so great because I was trying not to crash as I drove by–so you’ll have to use your imagination.

We have a beautiful Bedford Falls look about us in this little town.

Well, we would have if we could just get some…

snow.

Fingers crossed.

 

 

 

Our Gingerbread House Party

We do this awesome thing each year.

We gather and make the most adorable gingerbread houses–started for our family my my sweet daddy–Grampa to most of these folks–when I was only 16. Now, the very smell of the cooking honeycake will send many of us back to Grampa’s bake shop out back.

It’s a beautiful, sweet thing.

 

 

What the…?

Yesterday it was just a plain-old, simple, green plant.

Today, we wake up to bright red and pink flowers ALLL over the place!

And now, my lovelies, we know why it’s called the Christmas Cactus.

Clever little thing.

Crocheted Wind Spinners

I’m going to start this by saying that my daddy was a pastry chef.

He passed away about 17 years ago and we’re still at this very moment, trying to figure out what to do with some of his things.

That’s always the case, right?

You want to keep a thing but there’s really no room for it.

Or you don’t want to get rid of a thing but have no idea what to do with it.

Well, that is exactly the dilemma I was faced with. So many of daddy’s cake things that were a billion years old and not really usable but still had so much of him in them. You know?

That’s when a lovely idea struck me.

My dad loved decorating cakes.

Not me.

I’d rather poke myself in the eye.

But give me a crochet hook any day and then we’ll talk.

What if there was a way to smush the best of both worlds into something clever and unique for my entire family?

Could I possibly doooo that?

Turns out, I can.

Everyone chose their favorite color and POOF!

A little bit of Grampa and a little bit…

of me.

See those pretty wind spinners? Me.

See those ancient piping tubes turned into sweet little bells?! Grampa.

April–our color expert–didn’t tell me what colors to use. She sent me a few swatches so it would be perfectly perfect.

Lyndi chose green and blue. Kind of Earth Day-ish colors.

Jillian has always loved pink and yellow. They were even her wedding colors.


Of course Dane, our very patriotic patriot chose red, white and blue.

And Rhen–the die hard Vikings fan picked purple and yellow. The green and black are a nod to Bob Marley, no doubt. Haha.

Merry Christmas my sweethearts.

With love from Mom…

and Grampa.

 

 

Note: The pattern I used for this is Anemos Wind Spinner by Brunaticality