Christmas 2010

Christmastime is for telling favorite family stories.  We love to sit around and reminisce about good, bad and ugly Christmases past.  We retell our parents' stories to our children ("In my day," my Mom used to tell, "we got an apple and an orange in a stocking. And we were grateful for it.") and relive our own 23 year history of Christmases together.

Case in point is the tale of Jeff's and my first Christmas.  We'd been too poor to get an engagement ring before we married, so he took me to the local jewelry chain and picked up a little diamond ring to go with my wedding band.  I knew that was my Christmas gift, but I hoped for something else under the tree.  It was our first Christmas after all! We'd been married exactly three months to the day.

Imagine my chagrin when I eagerly pulled open the wrapping of a gift he'd placed under the tree for me....
and inside was a penguin shaped ice scraper.  And inside that, a bottle of Scope.

It was something we needed.  It was on the list. He'd picked it up and thought, "Hmm, I'll just wrap this and put it under the tree."  Knucklehead!! :-D    The story lives in infamy; it's brought up every year.  He's spent the next 22 years trying to do better (and mostly succeeding! LOL  How could he not!?!).

This year's Christmas was a little different.  Thanks to the wonder of technology, we were able to open gifts with Jeff in Afghanistan by way of a Skype video call.   He had no gifts to open...in the remote village where he is stationed, there is little room for excess baggage; and whatever we send he'd have to carry on his back out of the country when he leaves.  But he joyously watched as our three children opened their treasures and we celebrated together.

Mary, from Quilt Hollow, sent me a gift specifically for Christmas morning.  A military wife herself, she knew Jeff's deployment meant very little under the tree for me.  She sent me a Willow Tree angel...the perfect touch to let me know that not only is the Lord (and the friends he's given me!!) watching over me, but the spring (and Jeff's return) is not so far away.

I'm amazed that even in these little things -- a video visit, a gift from a friend, the stories of Christmases old and new -- the LORD is faithful.   Jesus told his followers, "Are not two little sparrows sold for a penny? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father's leave (consent) and notice.  But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.  Fear not, then; you are of more value than many sparrows"  (Matthew 10:29-31 Amplified).

This is a Christmas to remember.  Will's iPod touch, Sam's cymbals for his drums, Emily's video collection of "Boy Meets World." :-D  The gift of a Savior, Christ the LORD!

And husbands and friends too marvelous for words!

Blessings!

Anticipation!!

Anticipation!
Anticipay-yay-tion! Is making me late!
Is keeping me way-yay-yay-yay-yay-a-tin'!!!

(Thanks, Carly Simon! :-D)

OH! I'm getting excited!! I added another three Circuit Rider blocks to the wall today!! That makes 24 of the 42 blocks completed.  They are moving right along!!

Doing the prep work for several blocks -- cutting templates and fabric out, getting the overlays ready and so on for my needle-turn applique -- has really speeded up the process!!  And you know what that means...?

I'm THAT much closer to being able to start a couple of other projects calling my name -- The Roseville Album by Kim McLean and the Civil War Bride quilt!! (There are others, too, but I don't want to freak you out! LOL)

I can't wait!!!

There's more to anticipate, too!

I've decided to quilt along with Bonnie Hunt's latest mystery quilt at Quiltville -- "Roll Roll Cotton Boll."  Bonnie has done hers in shirtings and neutrals, pinks and poison greens and browns with an interesting red "constant"  fabric. 

I think I'm going to use browns, teals/turquoises and pinks with a "roony" red for my constant.  I've got a ton of old civil war repros in these colors and I'm going to dig in and use them.  I don't think I'll use them ALL, but a dent is a very good thing!!  The mystery is scheduled to begin on November 19th.

I can't wait!!

I'm doing the Moose on the Porch Layer Cake Quilt Along, too.  Actually got two of 'em going, mostly because the second layer cake was drawing dust in my sewing room (you know I'm allergic to dusting! -- not DUST, mind you, but dust-ING. :-D) .  The first two blocks are finished and in a couple of weeks, the pattern for the second block of the series will be posted here.   Fun!

 

And there's more!!
I feel like Oxyclean's Billy Mays (may he rest in peace)!!

Today in the mail, I got two precious unexpected gifts!

First, a honey bun and 2 1/2" charm pack of Charlevoix from Minnick and Simpson.  They blessed people who bid on items to benefit the Semper Fi Fund for injured marines.  How cool is that?!

And Mary sent me a fabulous gift pack with glow tape (I love that stuff! LOL), a wonderful notepad (my friends laugh about my obsession with containers and notepads! LOL), bobbin minders, and two fabulous charm packs of Kansas Troubles Butterfly Garden.  So I'm flipping through my Snibbles Times Two book to decide which quilt I'll make with those.  Fun, fun, fun!!!  (and thank you so much, Mary!!)

I can't wait!!! LOL

There's a wonderful scripture about anticipation in Romans 8.  Romans 8 is an awesome chapter in the Bible that starts out with the assurance that there is no condemnation in Christ -- in a guilt-ridden, blame-placing world, that alone is a great word.  The chapter ends with the assurance of God's love -- that neither height nor depth nor anything!! can separate us from the love of God.

Smack dab in the middle of the chapter is this little gem:

"For [even the whole] creation (all nature) waits expectantly and longs earnestly for God's sons to be made known [waits for the revealing, the disclosing of their sonship].  (v. 19, Amplified)

The image is almost like childbirth, isn't it?  The whole creation is aching, longing, praying for the blessing to come (as it did for Mrs. Goodneedle!) with all the anticipation and wonder it brings.

When we show who we are -- people who've been transformed (v. 29 of the same chapter! :-D) in the image of Christ demonstrating the love of God (they will know we are Christians by our love, after all!) -- it is the most exhilerating and challenging promise of all that could be in a person's life -- and all creation is waiting for that revelation, in "eager expectation!"

So what are you birthing in your sewing room these days?  In your relationships?
In your life?

Don't stop now! There's so much more to do!!! :-)

I can't wait!!!

Blessings!