Decorations Ready For A Long Winter, Spring, Summer Nap

Nighty, night, decorations.... I WANT MY SEWING ROOM BACK!!!

(This is where I placed them all as I pulled them off of shelves and counters.)

Happy New Year!!!

Are you like me, and love the flipping of the calendar to a new year? I love it! It's got that flavor of first day of school, which I always totally dug... new pencils, papers, binder, lunch box... OH!! DID I SAY LUNCH BOX and just reveal that I am as old as the hills? Sigh... I did. LOL. My favorite metal one (which I have tried and tried to find on the net) was Beanie and Cecil, one where Beanie's little hand is clasping my very same lunchbox in front of his school. I used to think... "Hey, this never quits because inside Beanie's lunchbox, is another one and inside that one is... yep, another one." Ya... I think too much, even as a kid!  :)

Anyhoo, how was your Christmas? Merry? A downer? Well, a new year is just around the bend and it's gonna have more of both, but let's hope more merry than downer times!

This is our little fam on Christmas morning. Though we do brush our teeth, that's about it, and my kids said, "WE can't take a fam pic looking like this!" But you know what??? It's now one of my favs.

Place your trust in the Lord, cuz off we go into 2011!!!!

I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. ~ Jeremiah 29:11a

I KNOW ~ Jeremiah 29:11 very a.

Trust Him! (And I'm talking to me, too!!!!!)  Grab my hand and let's jump into this new year together! See you sooooon!  xo

Soooo Good To Moi!!!!!!

Merriment galore arrived on my doorstep today! What a terrific treat to come home to. I had gone out for a lovely (and bootie-kickin') bike ride... and there it was  ---- Secret Santa blessed my socks off again this year (two years in a row.... i'm surprised and elated!!!! - I love surprises, dong' you?!!!!)

Whoever YOU are, my Secret Santa  ---- 

THANK YOU, AND I BET YOU ARE SOMEONE I LOVE!!!! I KNOW THAT YOU LOVE ME.... You are sooooooo good to me!!!

and I am very, merrry, merry GRATEFUL!!!!!!! The fabric is my all-time favorite - MODA (it has the yummiest feel and colors) - and it is called Giddy, and how apropos because it is soooo totally describing me right now!!!!  :) (can't wait to giddy-up and create with it! Okay, that was hokey, but enthusiasm knows no bounds).

LOOKY!!!!!  I am simply filled with GLEEEEEEEEEEE!

And everyone, all my wonderful and kind Bloggerinas  --- MERRY CHRISTMAS, and ho HO ho, and be sure to step under the mistletoe --- blissful things happen there!!!  :)

For unto YOU, this day, is born a Savior...

Thank You, Jesus!!!!!!!!!!!

More and More Christmas Blessings....

My wonderful Bloggerinas (any Bloggerinos???)- you just have to read my list of blessings this month (please)....

1. Still praising God our son Tim is alive after his motorcycle accident.
2. My sorta son (a friend of my oldest who calls me 'mom') got stabbed, three times (one in lung), and almost died, but didn't. Three days in the hospital fixed him and his collapsed lung. (I could cry over and over again with such a thankful heart for 1 & 2 & 3.)
3. My daughter found her wedding dress and had "that" moment of knowing it was the one. She beamed. Her matron of honor and we drove to Beverly Hills to find her gown. Oh my. She is beautiful, the dress is beautiful, and we had a blast!!! However, I prayed and prayed for just such a day for her (and us) and God was faithful, not letting her buy the "almost one". Yayayayayayya. Pray about everything! He cares!!! 
4. This is trivial compared to things 1, 2, 3 but as I said - God cares for it all, big or small - and I prayed today for Him to help me find my favorite Christmas CDs. I told Him, "Lord, I know I bug you all day long with a myriad of things, but You are the One who knows it all and knows exactly where my CDs are. Three minutes later - they were found and popped into my CD player. He is good (yes, even in the yukky times).
5. For surviving the dentist this morning. I almost had two panic attacks, but that assistant knew and patted my hand and talked me through it. Little did she know I had prayed the entire time. Whew, it's over. 
6. And last - that though it is just a few days before Christmas, I get to bake and wrap gifts today - finally - with my fav Christmas music serenading me!  :)

Here is everyone's fav cookie of mine.....  Enjoy and Merry Christmas wishes.

I'm In Love.......

....See if you are too, after listening to this Christmas song. As I listen, my eyes close and my body begins to gently sway to the beat... all in praise and adoration of our great King of kings. This song is called How Many Kings? by Downhere. I love the lead singer's voice - awesome!!! Go to their official website for a free download and to listen to lots of their songs... HERe.

Ray Conniff Singers Christmas Album (yeah, I said it) :)

Christmas is a lot about memories. Back in the day when I was growing up, they were especially fun. All of us cousins would run around the grandmas' and play our heads off to the likes of Dean Martin and the rest of the Rat Pak (yep, no spring chicken here- except mentally...annnnnd... I can still back dive into the pool with my young friend whom I force to "dive, dive". oh yeah baby). 

Anyhoo, I have bought this Ray Conniff Christmas CD a billion times (or two) and now... EBAY here I come. I lost my entire binder with my Christmas music. That makes me so dang sad. No wonder it doesn't seem like Christmas this year. No Amy Grant, Garth Brooks, Jewel, Vince Gill, or my ultimate fav -- the Ray Conniff Singers. This is probably because it reminds me of my mom, who died from cancer in 2001. It's like a tribute to her to listen to it (and anything Doris Day). Oh, though I did buy from Target cute little Taylor Swift's short-version Christmas album. I love her! It seems to me that she often sounds a bit of key, and I find it (with her only) totally endearing!

So.... thanks to YouTube, I can listen to at least one of the songs. If you listen to this video, be sure to listen to the end, because it's a medley and the best part is at the end....  :) And thanks to moi, you can listen to it, too!!!

Oh, man... and since I have many days to make up, I must tell you about Superman!!!! He is --- FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME EVER IN MANY YEARS OF MARRIAGE --- giving me a gift each day for the last 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS!!! i KNOW!!!! --- EAT YOUR HEART OUT.

It's really quite darling, because he drove flew his cute little elf-self to the dollar store and chose 12 gifts for me, his not-so-new bride!!! I love it!!!! After all, it's the thought that counts, and I love all the thought it took to come up with this idea and hit the store with his busy, stressful life.


Oh, so, this wasn't on my mind till just now, but I must say... It took him 31 years of marriage. And it took me 31 years of endurance to finally get such a treat. Moral of the story ---- BE OF GOOD COURAGE AND WAIT ON THE LORD!! YES, DO WAIT ON THE LORD. (Liz version.)


Anyhoo, so, that is very fun and I am loving it!


Now, do you know what I am thankful for???? My youngest son - my baby - got hit by a car on his motorcycle and flipped up in the air like an acrobat. I spent over half the day in the hospital with him - AND HE IS A-OKAY!!! (If you are a relative or gal in my town reading this, do not utter a word to him, cuz he thinks I talk to much (can't figure that one out lol) and he is sick of having to tell the story again and again...). He went to work the next day, and thinks it was the lady's fault. I'm sooooooo thankful he is alive and well. Thank YOU, Jesus!


And then, my niece in Oregon said all the homes/apartments around her duplex have no roof, but hers is snugly glued still. Praise the Lord!!!!


So... I'm counting my blessings!

Over the River and Through the Snow...

I really am going over a river today, but not through the snow... and I hope not through the fog! 

 

My hair appointment is later this morning, and I'm pretty excited because I decided to let my darling hair gal give me bangs. She cut them once, but I was feeling too old for them, and quickly reverted back to swooping them over to one side. 

But now? 

I want them and do not care how old I am!!! 

Isn't it a great feeling when confidence finally wins over chicken-ness?

Merry? Christmas

 

 Love and faithfulness meet together; 

righteousness and peace kiss each other.

Psalm 85:10

And then? Through Jesus, the lips of God's kindness touch our lives. Amen! 

We need it!

And... if you are being a little too merry and forgetting that Jesus, God incarnate, squeezed into a little baby's body.. unto you and me... so that we taste the love of God and not His deserved wrath, then join me in remembering.  :)

As happens all too often - life - sometimes stuff makes us very unmerry... maybe for a minute... maybe a month... but no matter how long it is or lasts, I have one thing to say -- InHEAVENthereWILLbeNOmoreSORROW.

UN-IMAGINE-ABLE!

but yippee!

So, for you... in case the merriment is not with you today, listen to the wisdom of Andrew Murray....

It is okay to ask God "Why?"... Jesus did - read Mark 15:34. Even if God doesn't answer you immediately, He still has the answer.

Ho Ho Home!!!

Today I am home ---- with absolutely NO APPOINTMENTS, funerals, decorating, shopping, cooking that has to be done or gone to. And I am soooooo merry about that! Thank You, Lord, for getting us through busy times and then leading us besides the quiet waters. You are our Shepherd, we shall not want.