Christmas Celebrations

Merry Christmas Eve to you and yours! I meant to post these photos earlier this week, but time got away from me. Last Saturday evening we had five couples from our street over for a Christmas Party; we hadn't done this before and decked out our basement. It was such a fun gathering; wish I had gotten photos of all the food on the table. Everyone had a great time catching up.  The food tables were eventually filled; I think I need to live at the gym for the next month.  All the neighbors brought appetizers or a dessert and I'm still full; don't think I can eat another sweet.

This morning all of us went and saw Frozen 2 and I liked it better than the first Frozen.  Our youngest granddaughter mentioned she wants to see it again; I think we will add it to our collection when it comes out for sale.  Tonight hubby and I will be joining our girls families attending Christmas Eve service; afterwards hubby and I will drive around looking at lights.
May your Christmas be blessed with peace, love, joy and 2020 be healthy and happy.
Blessings to you.
Noreen

The Countdown is On

Hello there and from our house to yours, Merry Christmas.  We are finishing wrapping one present and have to buy French Bread for another,  but everything else is done.  We had a great party on Saturday with 10 neighbors.  It was the first party we've thrown during the holidays and I am so happy it turned out well.  Tomorrow morning all 17 of us are continuing a Christmas tradition and going to the movies together to see Frozen 2.  Even the teens love going and I love it that we get to go as a group.  Tomorrow evening we will all go to Christmas Eve services together and then hubby and I will drive around our area to look at lights.
What a blessing to live so close to our girls and their families.  I've already started a goal list for quilting starting in January and I've still got to finish one granddaughter's quilt.  I've joined a monthly club at a local quilt shop and will work on small wall hangings once a month; add in the challenges from our mini group and I'll be busy all year.  I'm also going back to Southern California for a huge quilt show at the end of January; it should be an adventure and I'm meeting my best friend at the airport.  The very first road trip we took was to Road To California about 16 years ago; I haven't been back since, but she goes every year with her mini group.  I knew the gals in her group when we lived next door to each other, so it will be fun to see them as well.
I pray you have a wonderful Christmas and end the year on a positive note.
Blessings,
Noreen

Christmas Love

Happy Thursday to you! I know everyone is running around trying to finish getting ready for next week, but I can honestly say that other than two gift cards for two people that give us excellent service on a regular basis, we are done. The presents are wrapped and we have a neighborhood party Saturday evening that we are hosting and everything but the appetizers is taken care of. It feels so good. So somehow last week I forgot to post these photos of fun at my brother's and sister of my heart home.  We spent Saturday afternoon at their house and the kiddos got busy with different card games.  It still amazes me that all the cousins are so close, it's more like they are siblings. I love it that they all enjoy each other and there aren't any disagreements.

Our oldest Carrie and her hubby Brent.  They, as well as our younger daughter and her hubby, are a true  example of love.  The give so much to all of us; this trip was possible because of the generosity of Brent; he shared frequent flier mileage with each of us.  Such a beautiful photo of them; they are as beautiful inside as they are outside.

My Christmas tree; I love it!  I especially love that two granddaughters come over and help me decorate it each year.

Our little Hunter; we loved how he was up against our stuffed Polar Bear.

I've run errands this morning and planning on visiting a friend who had her knees replaced a week and a half ago.  I'm thankful that I haven't had to go through this!
Blessings to you on your day.
Noreen

A Quilter's Christmas Gathering

Happy Monday to you! Last Friday our quilt mini group met for our Christmas party and it was such fun. We started out making two crafts~one a sock snowman and the other a felt ornament.

One of our gals used to teach school and did this craft each year.  For some reason, I didn't get pics of the ornaments~probably because I was busy making one.

Aren't they just adorable.
Next came lunch time and we had a feast~we had grilled chicken, corn bread and mashed potatoes from a local restaurant, steamed vegetables, coleslaw, iced tea, water and punch.  Here are the five desserts that the middle gal brought. They looked incredible, but I couldn't taste since I'm gluten free.

There were only ten of us present and it made for a wonderful day.  We missed the two that weren't able to attend though.

After lunch we had our annual gift exchange; this year it was charm packs and we all have to make something with them.  Our fearless leader brought examples of items her other group made from the same exchange; this gave us inspiration and ideas.

There were several that caught my eye; right now I'm still focused on two projects I've got to finish, then I can decide what to do with the squares.  Thankfully, it isn't due until next November.

Love the charming fabrics on the table topper.

Look at all those dots.

Absolutely love this table runner; in fact one of the projects our group is going to do is seasonal table runners and we split into groups.  My good friend, another gal and I ended up with fall-I think this pattern would be lovely in fall colors.

This was our leaders project; she is an incredible quilter and teaches us so much.

Love these next two projects-I was hoping to slip them in my bag, but that didn't happen.  Just kidding.

My good friend Loretta and I hosted the party at her house.  It was a lot of work and Loretta is an incredible hostess.  I'm glad it's over and we aren't doing it next year.  Now we are getting ready to have five couples from our neighborhood in on Saturday night for appetizers and wine to celebrate Christmas.  Lots of work still let to do; I will say that we only have one gift left to purchase and hubby is wrapping the two items that came last night.  Once we have it all together, we can relax and enjoy.  Each evening we've been watching Hallmark Christmas movies and love them.
Blessings to you!
Noreen

It's Beginning to Look A lot Like Christmas

Hello Friends and Family, I know it's been so long since I posted~somehow life just gets in the way! I think because Thanksgiving was so late this year, then we had guests from Idaho and then the whole gang flew out to northern California to visit my brother and sister of my heart. They hadn't been able to make it out here this last year and we just all needed to love up on them. My brother is retiring and we never thought that would happen, as well as  Sue had a birthday on Sunday and both have had some health issues this year. One thing led to another and all 17 of us boarded planes for the weekend. Hubby and I arrived on Thursday and  after getting to my brother's, we headed to Santa Cruz to meet our dear friends from Carmel Valley. It was such a wonderful dinner on the wharf! Rich and Sue have known Dave and Aletha for the last 41 yrs and Aletha and I went to high school together.  Friday all four of us headed to Half Moon Bay for lunch at Sam's Chowder House and it was so good.  Susan and I went shopping in Los Altos in the afternoon. The rest of the gang had various activities on Friday and our plan was to meet for brunch on Saturday.  On Saturday morning we all met at a restaurant called Buck's of Woodside; can you imagine the patrons looks as we all entered the place. It was wonderful.

Next we gathered back at Rich and Sue's for a day together, which included lots of photos.

Back row-left to right-Rich, Sue, myself and hubby.  Those kneeling from left to right-Brent, Carrie, Kim and Eric.  Love this photo.

All the grands.

On Friday, Carrie's family went up to Armstrong Woods north of Santa Rosa-where we used to live.

It was a whirlwind trip that included going to Tech Interactive and seeing a dog movie at the IMAX theater, have lunch at In & Out, then spending more time with our loved ones, including going to church with them.  Finally, we all headed to the airport-we took up a whole area as you can see. Our flight was delayed and we didn't get home until about 4:45 AM Monday morning.

The rest of the week was busy, including breakfast Monday morning at my neighbors house(which I made it to), then on Friday my quilt mini group's Christmas party that a dear friend and I hosted. It was wonderful, but so glad it's over. Next weekend we are having five couples over for appetizers and wine to celebrate. I'd love to say I'll be back this week, but no guarantees.
Snow has returned, but we have almost all our shopping done and can spend snowy days wrapping presents.
I hope you are enjoying the season!
Love,
Noreen

Snowy Day

Happy Snowy morning to you all. So it probably isn't snowing where you are, but here in northern Colorado we are having a big storm. The good news is that we are on the tale end of this one. Last night hubby went out right before ten and cleared the driveway; we knew what was coming and he wanted to get a head start on it. This morning, when we finally dragged ourselves out of bed, we got in to start the lengthy shoveling time. I haven't shoveled in approx. 2-3 years due to the fact I didn't want to slip and injure myself. Let me tell you I forgot how much work it is. I worked straight, alongside of hubby, for an hour. He continued clearing our elderly neighbor's sidewalk and driveway. He worked for another hour doing that as well as clearing our driveway two more times. Before I finally asked him when he wanted breakfast, he was over helping another older neighbor. One neighbor took these photos to document I really did help hubby today.

Trying to give my back a break.

Our outside lights look like Mushrooms.

Hubby decided to see just how much snow we got; I don't remember having this much last year.

In case you can't tell, we have 15" on our roof outside our kitchen and it's still snowing.

I'm glad we don't have anywhere to go today!  My heart goes out to those traveling for Thanksgiving.
Be safe, where ever you are!
Joy to you!
Noreen

Christmas is Coming

Hello Friends, Just about the time I'm ready to head down and sew, I see a friends blog who is posting about dishes. I almost didn't go by, because the last thing I need is more dishes....however I'm so glad I did. For the last several years, I've picked up some of these plates, just because I love them. This year, I'm not making quilted gifts for the neighbors, but thinking a plate of some goodies would be really nice for the holidays.

I also love the chargers that are underneath the first dish-so cute.  So tomorrow when I head to Walmart, guess what I'll be getting.
Yay!  I'm so anxious to get out house decorated and was going to wait until after our Thanksgiving weekend company comes, but now I'm thinking we might have to move it up to next week.  I just arranged for our two oldest granddaughters to come over Wednesday afternoon and help put up the tree. They love it and it helps the with Christmas expenses.
So now that I'm inspired, I will need to get downstairs to work on a special quilt project; it's the perfect day because there is snow on the ground.
Hugs,
Noreen

Monday Monday

Hello and happy Monday to you.  I hope you had a great weekend.  Hubby and I had such a great day on Saturday; for the last three years or so, we've gone down to Denver to the Performing Arts Center for a production.  The last two times we went we saw the Nutcracker Ballet; once my sister-in-law Sue joined all of us girls(except the youngest who was so little to enjoy it) to attend the Nutcracker.

You may recall that when our girls were little we would join my sister Dee and Sue to attend a holiday production in San Francisco. This outing was always one of the highlights of the holidays; we would go to lunch and then to the Opera House.  We have so many precious memories of those days!  So several years ago we invited Sue to come out and go with us; something so special for each of us.  Last year both daughters families attended the Nutcracker; it was fun, but our teen grandsons felt that they didn't need to go again.  So on Saturday, hubby and I went to see Phantom of the Opera in Denver.  It was fun, but again we remembered how incredible the SF Opera House is.
Yesterday after I got back from church, hubby and I put up the Christmas lights on our tree in the front yard; they won't be turned on until Dec.  It was such a pretty day that we also took Hunter on a walk. Can you imagine our surprise  when we turned on the Broncos-Minnesota game and they were leading; it's like watching our old team.  Go Broncos.
Have a  great week!
Hugs,
Noreen

Happy Monday to you!  It is so hard to believe that Thanksgiving is right around the corner and then Christmas will be following shortly.  Thank you all for  your comments about my missing diamond from my original wedding set, that is now 41 years old.  Unfortunately, I did not find it; hubby was surprised that I spent time searching, since it was such a small stone and that I was blessed by our daughters and 10 of our 11 grands coming over to help me search for it.  I will say that they all thought it was my ring from our 25 wedding anniversary that popped out.  I am going to be more diligent in watching the prongs on my rings from now on.  At some point we'll go to our jewelers and have the center diamond replaced.  It was a very inexpensive set we got when we became engaged,  but more importantly it was the sentimental value it held.
We are back into our routine of getting to the gym and it feels good, but it is still work.  This week is fairly open, expect for sewing and our mini group meeting on Friday.
Our snow is gone and sun is out-yay!  I hope you have a wonderful day.
Hugs,
Noreen

A Good Day Until

Happy Thursday to you!  I hope your week has been blessed and that today you are counting your blessings.  I've had a great week, one filled with spending time sewing inside due to the two storms we got earlier in the week.  Last night hubby and I had his annual dinner with the other seniors that he works with at the golf course.  It was really nice.  Today I was just sitting down to write this and glanced at my right hand, specifically at my original wedding band.  I had noticed yesterday that one of four prongs we bent upward and we talked about going to the jewelers to have it fixed.  Can you imagine my shock this morning when I looked down and saw that the center diamond was missing.  Mind you it wasn't a huge stone at all, but after 41 years it is still very special.  I've gone through what I wore last night, my pj's and have crawled around the floor looking for it as well as checking in our bed.  Of course, I've prayed that the Lord would lead me to it.  It is not the end of the world, but makes me disappointed I didn't take the ring off when I noticed the prone was up.  I never take my rings off at night-just when I clean them.  So I'll go check downstairs, we had to wipe the windows down from the condensation this morning.  If I don't find it, I'll be fine...it's just the sentimental value that it holds.  So girls, check your rings and fine jewelry.   I still have so much to be grateful for~a wonderful life, an incredible husband that has been by my side through thick and thin, two incredible daughters who are best friends plus their hubbies who are more like sons than son in laws, 11 grandchildren who bless me continually, countless numbers of friends who I delight in, pups that bring me joy, an incredible home to live in, a beautiful state that is not suffering the wildfires like California.  It's a great life filled with blessings from above.  Count yours today!
Blessings on your day!
Noreen

When It's Cold Outside

Happy Tuesday to you; here in Colorado we are getting more snow and believe me when I tell you it's cold outside. Dear hubby is out shoveling the walkway, driveway and sidewalk; he said it was easier to shovel three inches now and three this afternoon. I didn't even try to go out; I'm getting too leery of slipping and breaking something.

I bought this beautiful Mum at the beginning of the month and it is the only one I have that is still alive.  One I planted in the garden and I have another in the sunroom, but it's very wilted; once the snow stops, I will try to plant it.  This beauty is my favorite this year and I've brought it in when its been freezing or snowing.  I will plant it too in the front yard; just can't bear to put it out there and watch it die.

I realized that with my lack of blogging lately, I hadn't shared any of my harvest decorations.

I have started making small Snap Bags for my granddaughters stocking stuffers; they are small bags than can hold gloss or lipstick.  I received one at our Guild's mini retreat in September and it is perfect for a large purse or travel bag.  I will continue to work on those and hope to start a new quilt for one granddaughter; I can't say I'll have the quilt done by Christmas but I'm hoping for the new year.
To all those in California, many are praying for relief from the devastating wildfires.  We have friends and family who've had to evacuate; it was just two years ago that they had the Tubbs fire and it destroyed much of our old home town.
Blessings~
Noreen