Merry Christmas

Our Christmas starts tomorrow morning. Chris and Monica are going to her parents for Christmas this year. They live in Spokane, which is about 6 hours East of Seattle. They wanted to have Christmas with us before they leave, so 9am starts Christmas for me. We're having breakfast and presents and then off they go. In the afternoon, we'll head to my Dad's house for Christmas Eve with my Dad and his girlfriend and my brother and his family. Christmas Eve dinner is always casual for us .. spiral ham and all the fixings to make ham sandwiches, oyster stew (Norweign tradition on my Dad's side of the family), augratin potatoes, veggies and dessert .. along with hot buttered rums and egg nogs. My only concern is the snow that is hanging around here. This is definately the coldest winter we've had in 18 years. I definately hope we can make it to my Dad's .. but if not, we'll just have to move Christmas Eve to another night .. as long as I'm with family ... doesn't really matter what the calendar day is.

Christmas will be quiet for us. We'll have a relaxing morning and than will head to my father-in-law's about 1pm. We'll open presents and then off to dinner ... yep, ever since my mother-in-law passed away, my fil really doesn't like to cook or have anyone else cook. It's ok, we've all gotten used to it .. not what we like, but it's what he enjoys and that's what really is important. Spending time with him is what matters .. not where we are spending the time ... make sense?

We usually don't stay late, he gets tired pretty quickly .. maybe DH, Rob and I will take in a movie in the evening. Soooo that's how I'll be spending the next few days ... as long as the weather cooperates!

Merry Christmas to all my online friends near and far. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday full of all that warms your heart.

I'll leave you with a few winter pictures from this week ... thanks for visiting and all your comments, I really enjoy reading them :)

Saturday night the snow started ...

This was about 11:30pm Saturday night ...

Sunday morning ...

and when it stopped sometime Sunday evening we had about 10" of beautiful snow ... I say beautiful, even though I've been housebound since last Thursday, for the most part. We don't have a car that is very ice/snow worthy ...

Maddy LOVES the snow!

think they look a little tired? We were out in the backyard for about an hour of hard fun play .. they love to chase snowballs and try to catch them in their mouth! lol

I'm grateful for family ...

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone! 2007 has been a very good year for me. Stitching wise, I finished 30 projects .. I still need to frame/finish about 10 projects .. but getting 30 designs stitched is huge for me and I'm looking forward to stitching at least 30 more in 2008. Currently I have 10 WIPS and one UFO that I really want to finish up in 2008. Of course I have about 50+ designs that I want/need to stitch next year lol Should be interesting to see how my stitching goes for 2008 *smile*

This year has been tough for a couple of my dear friends .. 2008 will be a year of healing and new adventures for them.

2007 was good for my family .. Chris and Monica are doing well and looking forward to a trip to London in May. Robert ended 2007 with a 3.2 grade point in his 2nd year in college and is all excited about the football playoffs! lol I had a great time attending stitching retreats last year, and hope to continue the fun next year.

I really don't like making formal New Year's resolutions .. but there are a few things I want to work harder on in the coming year. One is to continue to get my health issues under control and to keep losing weight. I would like to get more consistent with exercise, either at a gym or just getting outside and walking. I also would like to read more and travel more. And of course I want to stitch more and more and more! lol

I've been reading blogs all week and it sounds like everyone has a wonderful Christmas. Our Christmas lasted 2 days and was great as well. Christmas Eve was nice and quiet with my fil, sil and bil. C&M came over to have Christmas morning with us and then we went to my Dad's for Christmas with my DB and his family. It was a fun couple of days with family .. lots of presents, food and laughter .. what could be better than that? lol .. I didn't get any stitching stash, which was fine since I buy all year long *smile* .. but I did get a few coffee maker and watch from Terry, a lovely sweater from Monica and a toaster oven from Chris and Robert.

Oh and everyone that received fleece blankets LOVED them! It really was fun seeing how excited everyone was with their blankets .. I really do enjoy giving my family/friends something I make *smile*

What's everyone doing for New Year's Eve? For the last 15+ years, we've spent New Year's Eve with Lisa and her family .. having our Christmas together, margaritas and enjoying a steak and lobster dinner and playing games all night .. this years I bought a new game, Scene It Music edition .. sure hope it's fun! lol

I have really enjoyed this blogging community of stitchers .. thank you for sharing with me your lives and your stitching ... I look forward to 2008 with all of you.

I'm grateful for time off during the holidays ...