A Quiet Evening Before Christmas

 This little church belonged to my husband's parents. I found it in the buffet he inherited from them. I remember them having it out on display during Christmas. There is a hole in the back of the little church so it can be put into the tree with a Christmas light inserted. Since the church is cardboard I am unwilling to risk the fire hazard it could be, but maybe once in awhile I'll put little fairy lights in it for a few hours. The light shining through the tiny faux stained- glass windows is so pretty.

 I am still not finished decorating our home. Maybe by December's end I'll be done, just in time to take it all down and pack it away. The fireplace mantle is always a challenge because we use the wood-stove all day , every day this time of the year and anything hanging below the mantle gets way too hot ( so must be fire-proof ) and also gets in the way of adding firewood and stoking the fire. We don't usually put our Christmas stockings out until Christmas Eve but I am thinking about new stockings for us this year and putting them up early. Yeah yeah, I know a few days before Christmas doesn't qualify as early for many of you who had your homes decorated and stockings hung the day after Thanksgiving, maybe next year I'll have it together . ( I say that to myself every year )

 Try decorating your mantle with all these furry nappers to maneuver around. My husband & I have a tradition of watching our collection of A Christmas Carol DVD's every December as the days draw close to Christmas but tonight the TCM network was showing them.( Our favorite versions are the ones starring George C. Scott & Patrick Stewart. ) My husband and I had a quiet evening tonight, and this is just what we have needed. He baked his Berry Butternut * cookies while I decorated and wrote Christmas cards, which will be mailed out on Monday, too late for Christmas delivery. I am so behind in my Christmas duties ....

...but as Tiny Tim says..." God bless us everyone " .

Busy Days, Fun Days~

~Three of our grandchildren playing on the bales of hay. Who needs a playground structure when there is hay to climb? ~This weekend we enjoyed our grandchildren when their Dad, Mom, and baby brother went on a short trip. The grandchildren got to play with us for 3 days ! What fun we had. Besides playing in the leaves and on the hay........~There was dress-up !(below) Here #2 Granddaughter has put together a fairy outfit. The dress she is wearing was my Sunday school dress when I was little. It is made of real silk my father had made for me when he was in Thailand ( courtesy of the U.S. Army). ~The red thing in front of our granddaughter is our new wood stove. Yes, we had a busy weekend. We put in our new wood stove, after taking out the old one. You know, wood stoves are heavy. ~#1 Grandson poses for me in front of our new wood stove.I love it. It is pretty and functional. I have a fire in the stove right now, as it is about 45 degrees outside. ~I re-arranged my living room so the children could play Disney's Video Bingo. This is a crowd pleasing game, I have witnessed grown-ups enjoying this game. Plus, every so often the bingo game halts to play blurbs of favorite Disney movies. The children request this often, and love to play it. ~In the evening there was more game playing. #1 Grandson won the game of WILDCRAFT twice ! He is the little naturalist in the family. Take him to the zoo and he'll tell you more about each and every animal than you might ever want to know, and then some !WILDCRAFT is a teaching game and the premise is : some children need to climb the mountain to gather herbs for their Grandma.Of course there are some pit falls, and set backs, and the children need to be home before dark. So they are also encouraged to help each other out for the benefit of all. The game teaches herbs, their uses, cooperation....and is fun! ~We all had a wonderful time. This time I was careful not to give the children too much chocolate, and put them to bed at a reasonable time. I don't know what got into me !Can't wait to do this again, even if I do wear them out !

~#5 Granddaughter smiling for me because she LOVES to play on the hay and now she is a big girl and can climb it without me lifting her !~