On the 14th day of Christmas!? And goodbye to a very special lady...

According to the church calendar, the Christmas season lasts until January 10th. This little fact makes me very happy. It drives me nuts that all the shopping centers start shoving christmas down our throats before I've even carved a pumpkin, but as soon as the clock tolls midnight on Dec. 24th, they're done with Christmas. Bah humbug!! I want to enjoy every moment of Christmas that I can! That's why I outright refuse to take down a single ornament until Jan. 11th.

Friends of ours moved recently and didn't want to take their artificial tree with them, which meant that I got to decorate a tree in the living room with some special ornaments that used to get lost on the family tree.

Tomorrow I'm going to the funeral of a very special woman. She had 8 wonderful children, among them is my husband's mother. She loved to sew and several decades ago (I'm not sure how many!) she made these sweet needlepoint ornaments...

How sweet is this little birdie?!

a christmas stocking...

I think this one all in white is my favorite...

we sure will miss you, Grandma Theresa!

My husband and I were married on Dec. 13th and we had a 12 days of Christmas themed reception. These bisque ornaments depicting the 12 days were given as favors to our guests.

And I made this little birdie from the tutorial Edie gave on her blog. I haven't sewed on her eyes yet, but I think I love her. I planned to make half a dozen or so with the scraps of all the fabrics from my living room, but that little project didn't get finished before christmas. I still plan to finish them to sit on the built-ins in my living room.

BTW- do you love this red felt lasercut snowflake trim as much as I do?! I got it at tarjay. Anybody know if they have any left at like 70% off? I bought two rolls and used it to trim the tree with just enough left over to wrap around the three candles on my booksellers table.

PS- notice anything different about my living room? Details to follow... SOON! I promise!!

PPS- Thanks to Amanda at Serenity Now for giving me just the kick in the pants I needed to get my blog on!

Love,