Ho, Ho, Ho!

My time in Washington is winding down. Yesterday was a full day. I got my roots taken care of by my favorite hairdresser in the Seattle area. I wrote the Christmas letter, addressed the Christmas cards, and now all I have to do is stuff the letter in each one and we’re good to go. I took out the decorations that are going to go up this year and they are all in place. A scaled down Christmas for us. On Saturday morning I fly to meet Dear in San Francisco. We are going to celebrate our anniversery dinner at Scoma’s on Fisherman’s Wharf. We’ll take the trolley from the hotel. Most of my time in San Francisco I’ll be exploring on my own as Dear is busy with a conference there. I’ll let you know what I see next week. Enjoy your day everyone…

Trim the Tree Thursday

****If you clicked here for Trim the Tree on December 11th this is the wrong spot!! Please click here to see my new current Trim the Tree.

 

We’ve always gone with the traditional red and green theme for our Christmas tree. We have thrown in some gold with the red and green. If I’m going to change up anything for Christmas it will reflect itself in our table settings and not the tree. There are so many ornaments we’ve collected over the years that we’d miss if they didn’t appear on the tree. I really love my Beatrix Potter ornaments. These are Hunca Munca and the Amiable Guinea Pig.

Here are some of my vintage Christmas goodies that we inherited from Dear’s mother Verna…

 

So here’s my dilemma this year. I live most of my days in Southern California because of my husband’s job but we celebrate Christmas where all my Christmas goodies are, in my home in Washington. My children all live in Washington. The last couple of years I’ve been home in Washington the whole month of December so I can decorate and get ready for Christmas. This year is an odd year because we decided it was time for our kids to come down and spend Christmas Eve with my extended family in Southern California. My parents (their grandparents) are 85-ish and we haven’t spent Christmas with them since about 1990!! So I’m only in Washington for 10 days which included Thanksgiving. I leave for California on the 6th of December. My kids fly down on the 23rd of December and spend Christmas Eve with my family. Then we jump on a plane Christmas morning at 6:30 am to fly back to Seattle for 10 days. Josh and his wife Laura will need to spend Christmas Day with Laura’s family since we hijacked them on Christmas Eve. So in typing all this out I have come to the conclusion that a Christmas Tree is just not going to work out for us this year. I’ll put up all the other decor and we’ll just concentrate on Christmas Stockings and forget the tree.

So…any photos you see of a tree will be my tree from last year!

For more Trim the Tree Thursday Posts visit Brett at The Southern Hostess.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage and demanding a ransom for me to access them. I’m slowly cleaning up many of my posts where PB have added ugly black and grey boxes where my photos used to be. So frustrating!

Happy Birthday Dear Laura!

 

We are so glad that God brought you into our lives. Josh is blessed to have you for his wife and we thank God for you! Praying God’s continued blessings on your life!

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage and demanding a ransom for me to access them. I’m slowly cleaning up many of my posts where PB have added ugly black and grey boxes where my photos used to be. So frustrating!

Sepia Scenes ~ Relax…

 

A reminder to myself and anyone else who needs it. Take time to relax and enjoy today…

For more Sepia Scenes visit the Sepia Scenes Blog here.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage and demanding a ransom for me to access them. I’m slowly cleaning up many of my posts where PB have added ugly black and grey boxes where my photos used to be. So frustrating!

WFW ~ Matthew 2:9-12

 

Matthew 2: 9-12 ~ …and the star, which they had seen in the east, went on before them until it came and stood over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. After coming into the house they saw the Child with Mary His mother; and they fell to the ground and worshipped Him. Then, opening their treasures, they presented to Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

For more Word Filled Wednesday visit Amydeanne.

I always spell Matthew wrong with only one t instead of 2!!

Here’s the full size version of this great Nativity I saw in a store in Bellevue, Washington…

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage and demanding a ransom for me to access them. I’m slowly cleaning up many of my posts where PB have added ugly black and grey boxes where my photos used to be. So frustrating!

Ruby Tuesday ~ Molbaks Woodinville

 

Today we enjoyed Dear’s last day in the Seattle area with a trip to Molbaks in Woodinville, Washington to see all their beautiful Christmas poinsettias and displays.  The photo in front of the Poinsettia tree is of Dear, our daughter Katie and me, ellen b. We are looking forward with anticipation celebrating Christmas with our family and friends.

For more Ruby Tuesday Posts click over to Mary’s at Work of the Poet.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage and demanding a ransom for me to access them. I’m slowly cleaning up many of my posts where PB have added ugly black and grey boxes where my photos used to be. So frustrating!

Tablescape Tuesday ~ Celebrations!

Before I dive into some old and new Christmas Tablescapes I have a couple fun tables from the long Thanksgiving Weekend. I’m at my home in the Seattle area instead of at the Condo in Southern California right now and we’ve had some fun celebrations with my kids and extended family. My brother and SIL from California have been here with us in Washington for Thanksgiving Weekend.

 

My SIL Letty is Mexican and she was cooking us a homemade Mexican meal so my sister Lana G! and my daughters decided to create an impromptu Mexican themed scape. We had a lot of good laughs creating this one. We went with the red, green, and white colors from the Mexican Flag. The cervesas were mandatory for a good Mexican scape according to my SIL Letty! The red and black center fabric on the table is actually one of my daughters skirts.

 

Here’s proof that people sometimes even sit and eat at my scaped tables :0)

 

My DIL Laura is celebrating a big birthday this next week and before our company and Dear and I left town we decided to do a birthday celebration on Sunday night. We went with a simple tablescape. I hadn’t made a turkey yet because we were invited to friends on Thanksgiving so I made the turkey and all the trimmings for Laura’s birthday dinner.

 

For those of you who were wondering if I’d ever get around to cooking while I was home here’s the proof. We enjoyed another meal around our table and for Laura’s birthday cake I made the Pumpkin Praline Trifle that I posted before on the blog.

It’s been wonderful to be with my adult children during my time in Washington. I’m here until Saturday the 6th of December and then I head back to California.

For more Tablescapes visit Susan at Between Naps on the Porch.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage and demanding a ransom for me to access them. I’m slowly cleaning up many of my posts where PB have added ugly black and grey boxes where my photos used to be. So frustrating!

When Shades of Night Around Us Close ~ Advent Hymn

When Shades of Night Around Us close

When shades of night around us close,
And weary limbs in sleep repose,
The faithful soul awake may be,
And longing sigh, O Lord, to Thee.

Thou true Desire of nations, hear,
Thou Word of God, Thou Savior dear;
In pity heed our humble cries,
And bid at length the fallen rise.

O come, Redeemer, come and free
Thine own from guilt and misery;
The gates of Heav’n again unfold,
Which Adam’s sin had closed of old.

All praise, eternal Son, to Thee,
Whose advent sets Thy people free,
Whom with the Father we adore
And Holy Ghost forevermore.

Words: Charles Cof­fin, Par­is Bre­vi­a­ry, 1736 (In noc­tis um­brâ de­sid­es); trans­lat­ed from La­tin to Eng­lish by the com­pil­ers of Hymns An­cient and Mo­dern, 1861.

Tea and Fiesta in Washington

After our very successful trip to Goodwill the ladies arrived at Madame Fifi’s Tea Room at Country Village in Bothell for an Afternoon Tea.

 

Madame Fifi (Christine) had our lovely room all ready for us. The usual after Thanksgiving Goodwill shoppers were in attendance and this year we inducted Pat (my DIL Laura’s mother) into the group.

 

We each chose our tea and enoyed a relaxing time.

 

Our sandwiches, scones, clotted cream, lemon curd, and sweets were divine! After all this loveliness one would think we didn’t need any more food on this day but…

 

My SIL Letty made us a fabulous Mexican dinner. She made refried beans, Mexican rice, salsa, and carnitas for us all to enjoy. YUM! Ejola it was muy bueno!!

 

We capped off the night with a movie all cuddled up on the couch!

I don’t know how much longer I can keep up this pace but I’m enjoying every minute of my time in Washington with my family. Have a wonderful weekend…

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage and demanding a ransom for me to access them. I’m slowly cleaning up many of my posts where PB have added ugly black and grey boxes where my photos used to be. So frustrating!