It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....
And I love it. I've been slow to warm to the season
this year, but yesterday I started to wrap presents
and to make gift tags out of my old Christmas cards,
and I started having FUN!! Recycling last years
cards into this years gift tags is a great way to reuse
paper (good for the environment) and get the
creative juices flowing. Not to mention the Christmas
spirit.


I'm in the final hour or so of stitching Kitty Cottage. I back
stitched the stool cushion and the fence to make them stand
out and the walls and roof of the cottage are in place. And
just in time too, considering the winter weather that we've
received in the past few days....but more on that later. I
think that this will be my last finish for this year.


I've also been working on Waxing Moon's Halloween Short
Stack. I finished most of the cat, except for the eyes and
the whiskers, and have started stitching the ghost. It sort
of looks like the cats got wings in this picture, doesn't it?


Every other year at Christmas DH's church choir performs a
cantata to celebrate the season. This year was an extra special
occasion as the church was also celebrating it's 50th anniversary
at around the same time. The cantata, called Ceremony of the
Candles, was a bit of a complicated selection and the choir has
been working hard to "get it right" since the beginning of
September.

Last Sunday evenings performance was the culmination of all
their efforts and it was a rousing success. DH claims that there
were a few minor "flubs" that the audience wouldn't have been
aware of, but all in all they were well pleased with how things
went, and very relieved that it's over.

The church was filled with an appreciative audience that enjoyed
every note of the music, and expressed their appreciation at the
end with loud, enthusiastic applause. And then we adjourned to
the reception area for hot apple cider and cookies and good cheer
to end the evening with.



Last night was the annual dinner for members of DH's other
choir Kahilla and their families. It was held at a choir members
home and was a sit down meal with real china, real cutlery and
real glass wine glasses. No paper plates and plastic cups and
cutlery for this special evening. And a lot of work for the people
who put it on. But they seemed to enjoy doing it, and do it
every year, and the rest of us truly appreciate their efforts and
hard work. Considering there were over 50 of us, including the
kids, that made quite a crowd.


It was a fondue dinner, with chicken and beef and potatoes
to put into the pots of hot oil to cook. And desert featured two
birthday cakes (for Jesus) made into the shape (sort of) of
Christmas trees, with jelly beans and coloured sprinkles for
decoration. There were other home made deserts as well
which were so delicious and got scarfed down pretty fast.
After dinner there was singing and lots of laughter and
good fellowship.


This picture shows our birch trees full of gold finches eating
the little seedlings off of the branches. The cats love watching
them from the back door. Click picture to make it bigger.

Today may be the first official day of Winter, but Friday was
the unofficial and much more visible sign that we're into the
cold, white season again. We got hit with a storm that
dumped about 20 cm of snow and caused raging chaos around
Southern Ontario. It began to snow around 7:30 in the
morning, just as DH was dropping me off at work, and within
a few hours it was a whirling, whipping, white world outside.

We were allowed to leave work as soon as our work was done
so I was out the door at 2:30, bundled into coat, scarves,
sweater and mittens, to try and keep as warm and dry as
possible during the trip. And what a trip it was. I got home
at 6:50, just as the storm was coming to an end....of course.


One of the side tables in our living room, all decked out
for the season. My friend Linda made the big hearts for
me many years ago and I hang them on my lampshades
every Christmas.


Here's the other end table, which shows another of the hearts
plus the Christmas "Profile" bear family, which Linda also
made. I love these so much. The arms and legs move so the
bears can sit or stand, and they can be posed. Linda is an
extremely talented crafter/sewer and all her pieces are
finished to perfection. Again, click on pictures for close ups.


I started wrapping gifts yesterday, as previously mentioned, and
the first ones done are for DH since he has a tendency to walk
in on me when his things are spread out on the bed waiting to be
wrapped. Above is one of my efforts, using one of my home made
bows for decoration. I need to learn how to make smaller bows.
I'll spend this afternoon wrapping the rest of the packages, which
should be fun. Note: this gold paper is so pretty, but the sparkly
bits are flaking off onto everything and the tape won't stick to it.
I just noticed that Rupert's walking around here, glittering from
nose to tail. Hmmm.....



We had more snow last night, although we're not getting as much
as was originally predicted, thank goodness!! Just a few more
centimeters to top off the 20 cm from Friday. Supposedly there
is another storm coming for Tues/Wed which may be a mix of
both snow and rain. Hope not. I want to keep the snow that we
have for a white Christmas.

DH goes out just about every day to fill up the bird feeders and
now that there's so much snow on the ground he's even more
vigilant about it. We get quite a herd of Goldfinches, who can
empty a single tube feeder in less then a day. We also have
Mourning Doves and Juncos that eat whatever falls to the
ground. DH also puts a heating coil in the bird bath to keep
the water from freezing and keeps a low level of water in it
so that the birds can drink, but won't be encouraged to try
and bath in it. You can just make out the feeders in the above
picture, I hope.

Mom is being moved back to the rehab facility on Tuesday,
hopefully before the weather turns nasty. She's recovered
well from the latest bout of C-Dificile, but is rather down
about being in the hospital for so long, and missing
Christmas back at Mountainvew Residence. We'll be
visiting her on Christmas day, of course, and taking her
presents to her to open.

I guess I should go do stuff now. So much to do, so little
time to get it all done. Hope to make another post on
Christmas day, but in case I don't have the opportunity...

MERRY CHRISTMAS to all who visit here. Your
visits and comments, and your blogs, have given me such
pleasure, laughter and inspiration this year. It's a joy to
know you all. May you and your families have a great
Christmas and peace and happiness in the New Year.

Love from Judy and Phil, Rupert and Phoebe