Christmas is Coming

As you can see from the photo (right), Lillie Pearl PTC is all decked out for the Holidays.  She's got her Rudolph Red Nose and Antlers all attached in proper style.  When I was in ATL last week (where this shot was taken...at my home-away-from-home Homewood Suites/Peachtree Corners), the desk clerk asked me where the tail was?  Swish, swish.  Of course, I wouldn't want to be too authentic as it might still be deer hunting season in GA.

In answer to the question/comments from a couple of you ("what are you working on these days?  You've stopped blogging about your projects..."), I'll have to plead the Fifth, I suppose.  Since Christmas is almost here, there's a good reason why I'm not talking about or publishing photos of my current projects:  all of them are gifts!  But trust me when I say that my needles are still clicking away, late into the night.  And, I'm really excited about one "group" of projects this year...can hardly wait to tell you about them!  It's a combination of crafts...but, that's enough of that.  I'll just have to wait until Santa delivers the goods before I spill the beans. 

I did work on a favorite Christmas project this morning (left).  I took some oranges that were a bit past their peak and studded them with whole cloves.  They are now sitting in their bell-basket on the hearth in the kitchen/morning room, where I hope their fragrance will continue to remind us of the Holidays for weeks to come.  I learned (the hard way) that an ice pick is the best tool to pierce the orange peel before you add the cloves...the hard way being trying to poke the clove-stems directly through the orange-skin = lots of broken cloves and really sore fingers.  Live and learn, right?  Some folks go another step and fix ribbons to hang these jewels, but I like for them to be near the fireplace, as the warmth brings out the scent better.

As I write this post, the temps have reached the mid-60's, and the wind is blowing extremely hard outside my window.  So hard in fact that it has almost dried us out from the rains of the past two days (over an inch in the rain gauge).  One would think that March had arrived!  I see on the weather map that our high predicted for today (66) is more than that for Phoenix (60)...remarkable!  Of course, tomorrow's prediction for HP's high is only 47...which is about the same as their predicted low during the week.  A winter storm is working its way through the middle of the country, and STL, Louisville, Memphis, and Nashville are all going to be well-acquainted with freezing temps this week...so, I'll certainly not complain about one beautiful sunny, blustery, warm day.

In my last post, I wrote about putting up my Sheep Tree in the den.  I forgot to tell you about the most special "ornament" on this tree...the Angel on the Top.  She's the one that we used for all of our trees when I was growing up, and I treasure her more than words can say.  She's certainly showing her age, but I think that is a part of her charm. I try to arrange it where a little light is tucked into her gauze-skirt so as to light her up from within.  Gives her a glow, don't you know?  (Yes, I have the lights twinkling on the tree...and the mantle...right now...:)

I also found some photos the other day, including this one of me with my dear Daddy at Christmas-time 1955 (right). It would have been taken on the front steps of our house on Lynbar in Memphis, I imagine.  I wonder just how long I kept that hat and those gloves on?

I'm presently looking for a snap of another Christmas...when I got just what I wanted from Santa:  a Jeep!  As I remember it, Brother J is also in the shot, so it would have been taken after we moved from Memphis.  I'll scan and share it, too, as soon as I can put my hands on it.

Oh, how I do love Christmas traditions and memories...