I live my life in technicolor!!

Where has the time gone?!! I have gotten off track of posting every week. So, this will probably be a rather long post. But that's OK! I have had a great Thanksgiving and Christmas season. I think it's the best yet. Our Thanksgiving began with a regular old Thanksgiving dinner. We ate our "dinner" at lunch. Mr. Handsome wanted to do it this way and it was a terrific idea!! We had the whole kitchen all cleaned up by 1:00. That left the rest of the afternoon for sewing and relaxing. For dinner we had a Snoopy Thanksgiving. Robert was so excited over this!! He was making me laugh. He took out our fold up table, put up the chairs, and I put on a tablecloth. Our dinner was complete with popcorn, jelly beans, pretzel sticks, and toast of sorts. I made tiny hotdogs wrapped in crescent rolls. We had a terrific time. Robert declared it the best Thanksgiving EVER! Around 8:00pm my sister-in-law came over and we started our Thanksgiving/Black Friday shopping Adventure. We started at Walmart. We crossed Toys-R-Us off of our list because it wasn't worth the savings to go there with police officers in the parking lot and extremely rude people. We will be crossing Walmart off of our list the next time we go. After Walmart, we went to Game Stop. Then we went to Waffle House to have an after midnight snack. From there, we headed over to CVS, then to Belk. Belk was a little bit dicey, too. people were jumping the line! Finally, some Belk workers came out and kept an eye on the line to keep line jumpers from succeeding. After Belk, we headed over to Michael's then Brilliant Sky Toys and Gifts. From there, we went to Big Lots, then World Market. The internet said Barnes and Noble was open at 8:00am but they didn't open until 9:00am. So we went home and I slept from about 8:30am until 1:30 in the afternoon. Did I get some good deals? Oh yes! And it was a great  time with my sister-in-law and Maddie. This was her first Black Friday shopping experience. She fell asleep about midnight and did not wake up until we got home. I definitely saved a lot of money and am thankful for that.

After the Thanksgiving weekend, my goal was to finish my mother-in-laws' napkins. I finally settled on a present for my mom but knew I needed to give it to her early because it was a Christmas-themed gift. I found a pattern for a woven basket. Cotton cording is wrapped in fabric strips then sewn together to make a basket. It is really easy to make and I had fun putting it together. We started this week at one of my friends' houses showing her how to make a bear costume. She did great!! And she helped me to finally get over being sick. I have to take claritin in the morning and zyrtec at night. While we were there, Robert stepped on a nail. By God's grace, there was no serious damage. I also had to prepare for my sister-in-law's cookie exchange at the end of the week. I made neapolitan cookies. They are one of my favorites!! :) We had a fun time until I heard one of the children (mine, of course!) screaming. Erin, and our two friends jumped up and I just said it was Beatrice yelling at Lindsay. Well, after about 10 seconds, I realized it was LINDSAY yelling; no, SCREAMING in agony and pain. Nothing curdles a mom's blood like a child screaming in pain. I knew it was serious because Lindsay never screams. She was holding her hand and clearly there was some type of cut. I looked in her hand and saw it, ran her to the kitchen sink to rinse it off, and realized she needed stitches. Erin thought she lost her finger so she was outside looking for it. I grabbed Tom, he grabbed a towel, and we got to the Medac as fast as we could. I had to call one of my sister-friends and have her husband go to our house to tell Taylor to call me because Robert had put Taylor's cell phone in a tissue box! And the phone was on vibrate!! Taylor had two kids and Erin had two so I was relieve the other four were taken care of. We waited about 30 minutes before they took us back. Then another hour because some man came in who was having a heart attack! Yup. So it was pretty much a comedy of errors. Lindsay's hand got fixed up, we got home, missed our church Christmas party, put everyone to bed, and I sat down to rest.

Now we are on this past week. Lindsay is healing nicely. Monday and Tuesday were spent making new banners for Christmas for our church sanctuary with one of my sister-friends who doesn't mind my adventures. By God's grace, they came out great! Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday were spent getting ready for my inlaws visit today. We also went on Friday to the nursing home with our homeschool group to sing Christmas carols and then had a big party at a church nearby. The children had a great time. One of my dear friends gave me an orange tea kettle for Christmas that matches my kitchen fabulously. I guess the proper term is, "complements" because it is the color orange in my curtains!

Kristinie the Great, Rachel, and Beatrice. These three LOVE each other!! Can you tell? Rachel is my brother's daughter. (Tom)

Beatrice was the LONE winner in our family this year at our AWANA Thanksgiving dinner. 

Mr. Handsome carving the turkey. He did a great job!

Our table setting!

The Snoopy Thanksgiving food!

Happy Thanksgiving!

OH! And one of my friends' won the turkey I made - at the request of one of OUR friends!

I woke up to this cutie pie! She is waving an American flag!

At the mall on one of Taylors' days off.

Here is the Snoopy Thanksgiving food table. I didn't throw the food though.

At the nursing home. Beatrice and her baby Sara reading the Bible.

Maddie and one of our nursing home friends, Mrs. Everett. She is good friends with C. Everett Koop. Remember him? America's Doctor? He was the surgeon general during Reagan's administration. (Aunt Betty Jean, you bought me his autobiography. I still have it and it is one of my favorite books!)

Preacher and Mr. Jerry helping Beaker get her shoe back on. 

My mil's finished napkin.

My reupholstered kitchen chairs. The green matches my walls.

The pink matches my curtains and complements my walls! :)

My mom's basket - from right after fabric is wrapped around cotton cord.

The bottom of the basket. 

Almost done!

Trim added - finito!

The finished basket with a bread quilt. My sil made a matching table runner for Mom's table. She loved both of them.

Here is one of the banners not sewn out. The other one says, "God with us" which is what Emmanuel means.

One of my sister-friends made this scarf for our Ladies Christmas party gift exchange. I loved it and in a round about, trade-off way, ended up with it! :)

Neapolitan cookies.

Beatrice and her furry vest.

Poor Lindsay waiting for the doctor to come in and stitch her up.

Can we get out of here already!!!

They brought her food which made her happy.

Lindsay watching the Wisconsin game with us. Wisconsin won! Yay!!

John, Rachel, and Beaker! We are eating at the new McDonald's in Hampstead. That place was hopping!

I end with this: my Christmas skirt. A long time ago, I would make a Christmas skirt or jumper every year. I haven't done it in a long time, and saw this fabric. I knew I needed to make one. I know, I know, it's not very reverent. But I love flamingoes and my Christmas attire has never been serious natured anyway. I am thankful for Christmas. It is a great reminder of what Jesus did for me. And the children and I spend our morning Bible lesson studying verses that talk about Jesus' coming to earth as a baby. I am a rather silly person and the people who know me best call me Lucy. This skirt is me to a tee! :) Especially the pink rick rack. I live my life in technicolor!