needing longer days!

or the ability to function on less sleep!

since Thanksgiving, it's been pretty busy around here

because we have a whole new space to decorate for Christmas and because we brought 40 years of collected Christmas "stuff" with us, we had decided early on that we would open and go through

Every. Single. Box.

a process that has taken us a while to do

so far we have put up 5 trees and I have 2 other small ones to finish

and yesterday we took TEN boxes of usable Christmas decor to the local Humane Society's Thrift Shop and donated it

here is what we have up so far

the outside of the house got done first -- we had not done this for the entire time we have been back in Colorado -- largely because the neighborhood we lived in before this year included some teenagers that thought it was fun to walk off with outside decorations and I wasn't willing to let them have the nativity scene that the DH and I made out of plywood (he did the cutting and I did the painting).  Glad to feel safe putting these out again.

the crystal tree and the Russian tree are in the living room -- many years of collecting just one or two crystal ornaments a year have created all that covers the crystal tree, and the Russian tree is decorated with real eggs that have been blown and painted, hand blown glass ornaments and a number of other hand made pieces from artists we've met in our show travels

the bear tree has ornaments that are all bears - including a lot of Coca Cola ones

the family tree is covered with hand made ornaments from our daughter, our dear friend that was just here visiting with us, and this year an ornament made by Mr Cute!

the Radko tree is all hand blown ornaments

there are a lot of fruits and veggies on those trees!

the family tree was decorated by the family -- it was a lot of fun to have Mr Cute here to help with the project (here I'm holding him up so he can reach a higher branch to hang an ornament)

once again I'm reminded how sweet it is to have them close enough to be part of our daily lives

my big nativity set covers the top of the buffet -- no baby in the manager yet -- that happens on Christmas Eve and the kings won't arrive until the Feast of Epiphany in January -- they are at the far (east) edge of the display


there are a few more odds and ends to be finished, but the house looks like a Christmas fairy land

earlier in the week I packaged up this year's hatz and mittnz and shipped them off to the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation in South Dakota

most of the hats in this year's box were made possible by my sister giving me a bag full of wool/mohair yarn that she acquired somewhere -- yeah!

right after the beginning of the new year I'll start on next year's batch, right now I'm knitting mittens for a name I pulled off of the local Giving Tree

another shed door is finished

I'm still marveling at how well the use of the silk organza over the background worked to tone down the color

just a few more of these to do!

and one of the ways I keep from just falling asleep in my chair during TV time in the evening is to work on some beading

this piece is coming along nicely

yesterday was the last of the MANY dental visits I've had since we got here -- in that time I've had 3 teeth pulled, several fillings, major cleaning -- the result of no dental insurance for years and years that kept me from going when I should have --- I'm really happy to be through all that, and now it will just be the ongoing visits for cleanings and minor stuff -- feels good!!

time to get moving -- there are still things to do, and I might even get into the studio this weekend!