Merry Christmas to all......

May the spirit and peace of the day be in your heart all year!

Blessings, Cathi

I hope the birds like me.....

Dear Son #2 and I made filled the orange "bowls" tonight with homemade suet.

He's concentrating really hard.

Here are a few of them finished and ready to hang. There are 14 in all.


A not too clear picture of the tree after I put the orange cups on it. It was dark and my camera doesn't take pictures too well at night.


And finally a picture of the cups at work. The mix has lard, wheat flour, corn meal, sugar, bird seed, peanut butter and dried cranberries. Who could refuse a meal like that?! I hope we have some visitors soon.

Blessings, Cathi

Holiday Tour of Homes .... Day 4

I'm finally feeling better enough to post more pictures. These are some of the upstairs trees. I never did put up the tree in the boys room. Dear Son #2 hasn't cleaned his room enough for me to make my way to the other side of the room without the possiblity of breaking my neck. But I just refuse to clean it for him. He's 19. Let him live in the mess....I'll just shut the door.


This is the upstairs landing. These stockings I made for the kids about 15 years ago. I only fill the last 3 since Dear Daughter #1 is married now with a home of her own. But the others use theirs. The key to a good stocking is making it LOOK big but in reality doesn't hold very much. They don't get anything exciting, just a Christmas pez, cracker jacks, some other candy and socks usually. Dear Son #1 asked for fingernail clippers in his this year. I mean really, son. They are only a couple of bucks at just about everywhere. Kids are funny.


Here is a close-up......


This is the tree in our bedroom. I don't have a tree skirt on this one yet. On the list for next year (that's what I said last year!)

I did spend the weekend baking. I made 20 dozen cookies. I don't think I ate any real food this weekend, just cookie dough. I think I need some real food. Tonight I put tree #7 out on the back deck with lights. I cut 7 oranges in half, scooped out the inards and dried the shells in the oven. I hope to make some suets tomorrow night after work, put them in the orange shells and hang on the outside tree with some red bows. I think the birds will like it and the cat will enjoy the entertainment.

Blessings, Cathi

Holiday Tour of Homes .... Day ??

Sorry I didn't post the past two days like I thought. I've been fighting a cold for over a week and the cold finally won. I was out of work all day on Wednesday and had medicine head all day Thursday. I did make it through the whole day at work (trying to save my vacation time for next week). I hope to post the last of my pictures this evening or tomorrow.

Blessings, Cathi

Holiday Tour of Homes .... Day 3

This one will be a long post. I have so much stuff in the living room and I love it all. I just didn't know where to stop! I have really mixed up the decorations this year which is why it took me so long to decorate. I just didn't know where to put it. But the light bulb finally came on.

Here is one end of the living room.......

And here is the other........

And the mantle in between..... Notice the big white spot in the middle. That's where the famous (or is now infamous) snowman wallhanging goes. Still not quilted. I'm still having faith in myself that it will be done by Christmas Day!

And all the details for you to enjoy.....

Dear Hubby made the dry sink and the shelf above it. The Noah's Ark bird house was a gift from Dear Hubby one Christmas. He is so talented ;>)

This great looking guy was a gift from my mom many years ago. She got him from a craft show in Pennsylvania. His coat is made from an old quilt. He is my absolute favorite Christmas gift ever and my most favorite decoration.

This snowman was a gift from Dear Daughter #2. What I like the most about this little vignette is that Dear Hubby made it all by himself. I asked him to put something together to put over the tv cabinet and this is what he came up with! And he says he isn't creative.

Don't quite remember where I got this little guy but I do remember the sleigh was bought at the state fairgrounds in Raleigh. If you are ever in North Carolina on Thanksgiving weekend, make an extra effort to go to the Christmas Carousel Craft show that is held at the fairgrounds. It's one of the best I have ever seen.

This stocking doesn't look too primitive but it is sentimental. The fabric came from Dear Daughter #1 and is my favorite newest color, "grinch green". The ribbon is from her, also. But what is sentimental are the buttons. They all came from Sweet Granny's collection. She passed away over 10 years ago now. She had quite an extensive button collection and it all came to me.

Another Saundra White pattern.......

I just love working with wool........From one of the Need'l Love Books

You can't see him in the bigger overall pictures but he is to the left of the french doors guarding the rubber tree plant.

Over the computer cabinet.........

And finally my new little woolie pillow that Dear Hubby fell in love with. I had made it for a boutique sale at our quilt guild's quilt show but Dear Hubby asked me to keep it instead of selling it. How could I say no?!

Hope you enjoyed the packed living room. Tomorrow the upstairs.....

Blessings, Cathi

Holiday Tour of Homes .... Day 2

I hope you are enjoying the tour so far.....

Today is the kitchen, guest bathroom and the foyer (which I should have included with the dining room).

We remodeled the kitchen last year between Thanksgiving and Christmas (what we were thinking!!). The decorations look so much better in a newer kitchen!

I love this cabinet which I think I mentioned during the Fall Tour of Homes. It's always changing.

This is the foyer, quite different from last year. I moved what was on here to the top of the new computer cabinet. I wanted to make gingerbread men to hang on the Swedish tree (made by Dear Hubby, of course!) but haven't gotten to any baking yet. Maybe soon. The wallhanging is from one of my favorite designers, Cheri Saffiote-Payne. And, as usual for me, the snowman is a favorite of mine.....the uglier the better!

The guest bath.....

Another one of Saundra White's I Done My Best patterns. Too bad you can't find them anymore. I have a bunch of them. And if anyone has any they are willing to part with (hint, hint)

And yet another shelf made by Dear Hubby...aren't I a lucky duck. Completely changed from last year so still a work in progress.

Tomorrow will be the living room.

Blessings, Cathi

Holiday Tour of Homes .... Day 1

Over at the Magical Holiday Home Forum, we are having a tour of homes for Christmas just like we did for the Fall. Head on over to Cathy's blog, Pumpkins and Reindeers, to see the links.

I plan on showing you a few pictures at a time. I decorate a lot. I have tried to cut back before but some people complained that it wasn't Christmas unless I put it all out. So here goes......

First the dining room

This table centerpiece is new this year and special to me. My grandpa was a carpenter by trade. This was one of his original tool boxes that he used.

Of course, all of this looks much better in person and wonderful at night.

Tomorrow, the kitchen and guest bath.

Blessings, Cathi

A wonderful gift from .....

....my ornament exchange pal. I belong to another Christmas forum (surprise, surprise) at My Merry Christmas . I signed up for an ornament exchange and got mine in the mail today. Isn't she cute?



Thanks so much, Lindsey!

Blessings, Cathi

My MHH Card Exchange.....

I belong to a Christmas forum called Magical Holiday Home (MHH). A bunch of us are exchanging Christmas cards. I thought I would share some of the cards I have gotten so far. There will be a total of 40 in all, some from as far away as Scotland, The Netherlands, Australia and Canada! Really cool.

Blessings, Cathi

Monitor and adjust ..........

Dear Hubby's favorite motto.....monitor and adjust. Just what we had to do to get the tree up this year. I think I had mentioned that we have a new computer cabinet in our living room this year. Right where the Christmas tree was sitting last year. If we were ever on one of those HGTV shows where we are trying to sell our house, the first thing they would ALL say is........Way too much furniture in this room! Well, I can't help it. Dear Hubby makes the nicest furniture for me and I can't part with any of it. I think we just need to double the size of the living room. But that's another story.

Anyway, we couldn't figure out what to do with the tree. After about 30 minutes discussion with Dear Hubby and Son #2, we decided to just put half the branches on the tree and shove it up against the wall. If we had let it stick out farther, the person sitting on the end of the love seat couldn't have seen any of the bowl games. AAGGGHHH! So here it is.



The picture isn't too good. Still having trouble with the settings on my camera. The popcorn garland isn't finished and I have another "cheap" ornament in the works but you get the idea. I will beat this camera thingy and have a good picture in time for the Tour of Homes (more on that later).

Blessings, Cathi

Eight little trees .........

Okay, so they are not all little but I will put up a total of 8 trees this year. I had hoped to have all the decorating finished by last night. That didn't exactly happen. Friday I went to work but that afternoon did manage to get the wreaths up on the windows. Thank goodness I did. Here in our neck of the woods, it turned cold and rainy all day Saturday and Sunday. Saturday we got the big tree in the living room up, the feather tree in the foyer and the small tree in the guest bath finished along with several vignettes here and there. Sunday, I was lazy. Dear Hubby and I decided to venture out in the weather to Target and the mall......just to wander. I took a nap when we got back to the house. I finally started around 6:00 pm. UGH!!

The camera is not behaving right now so I hope to have pictures up tonight or tomorrow if I can get the camera to cooperate. It actually works but it's not giving me what I want. Why can't it read my mind?

Blessings, Cathi