Christmas,Quilts & More

Hi Everyone....well, Christmas blew in and out as fast as usual. The entire month is one big blur with the usual hussle and bussel of shopping, parties, visiting family & friends, etc.

Craig's company had their annual Christmas party and last year we had a ball with dinner, the raffle, drinks & dancing. This year, of course, was a bit different with everything going on with him. But, Craig wanted to go and at least make an appearance at the party, even if it was just for the dinner & raffle. We left immediately after the raffle, and he promptly fell asleep the minute he got home and changed his clothes. But, all in all, we had a nice time. He never left the chair. All kinds of people came up to Craig & I wishing us a better 2008, saying so many nice things to me about Craig and how much he is well-respected and well-liked in the company; from the head guys, down to the people under him. I almost cried from all the wonderful things being said about Craig to me. Someone at the party snapped this picture of us.....





After the party it was the usual shopping spree and decorating to get ready for Christmas. I actually made some time to go over to Joy's house and help her decorate her 1,568,477 cookies (kidding on the amount but not by much...ha, ha, ha) that she and Michael delivered to all of our doctors, his clients, family, and friends. We had so much fun and they were so good. Thanks to my bestest buddy for letting me share this with her !


Finally Christmas and Christmas Eve were upon us...We had a nice few days visiting with family and friends. Craig was able to make it for a few hours on Christmas Eve and on Christmas Day.


Christmas Eve we went to my brother's house for our traditional "pizza". Matt & Junior were there along with Melissa and Adam (my niece and nephew) in addition to my mom, aka Grandma Dorie. The only ones missing were Tricia, Aaron, Andrew, Benjamin, Scott and Audrey (my brother's kids / grand kids). Tricia & her family (Aaron, Andrew & Ben) moved to North Carolina this summer, and they were just here for her baby shower at the beginning of November so they couldn't make it out again. She's very pregnant and is due in three weeks with baby Kate. You will remember I made Tricia the Bambi quilt, and she finally sent me pictures of it in baby Kate's nursery...



Here is a picture of it in the crib. Look closely at the bumper pad and then at the quilt. I inadvertently matched the bumper pad material PERFECTLY !!! I found the fabric on E-bay and had never seen Tricia's nursery before this. WEIRD, huh!!!



Anyway, the nursery turned out really, really cute and I'm so happy that the quilt matched so well too.


Christmas Day we went to Uncle Dave & Aunt Cheryl's for Christmas dinner. Bob made our traditional "prime rib", done to perfection!!! I brought my usual 7-layer salad (recipe given to me years ago by Craig's mom, thanks mom). Cheryl made practically everything else: ham, green bean casserole, and a delicious peppermint and brownie dessert!!!

After dinner we finally opened presents, and I was just busting at the seams to give Taylor & Lexie their "memory" quilts. Their daddy passed away this past June. Anyway, I told Nicole (who has the same name as my niece) that I had brought them. She said....."Their here! You finished them!" She knew I was making the quilts for the girls but had never seen them. Nicole's sister, Angela, provided me with the greatest digital pictures, which I was able to print on fabric and turn into quilts. Anyway, I told Nicole I really wanted to give them to the girls because this was the first year without their daddy for Christmas, and it was important for me not to take too long in getting them done. God just had a way of making it possible for me to get these done in time for Christmas. I think they turned out really nice; thanks to teacher extraordinaire, Ms. Janet!

Here are Taylor & Lexie opening up the bags with the quilts.













Here is Lexie with her quilt, after finally getting it out of the bag and opened...













Here is Taylor looking at the picture of her with her daddy....













and here is a picture of Nicole sitting next to Taylor (in the white shirt) telling everyone sitting around what was happening when the pictures were taken. It was SO SPECIAL !!! (sorry I only got the back of her head).





Little Lexie came up to me, hugging the quilt, with a big smile on her face and then said to me, "I cried for my daddy last night." I fought back tears and told her that whenever she wants to "hug" her daddy that she can hug the quilt. I hope she hugs it to pieces !!!


Anyway, it was one of the most special evenings in my life. Looking at those little girls' faces and listening to the stories Nicole told about the pictures.....I just got that warm fuzzy feeling inside....you know !!! Here are a few more pictures from Uncle Dave's house at Christmas dinner...

Amie and Angela....














Nicole (my niece) with the "traditional" Boyd's Bear from Auntie, which by the way is appropriately named Amy Quiltberry!!!

















Lastly, here are a couple more pictures of Christmas morning at home!!!


Craig wearing his beanie from Matt & Junior















Grandma Dorie & Matt















And Junior !!!




Love to all our family and friends !
Karene

Miss Priss !!

Ok, ok....I know it's way, way too early for me to update my blog again, but I just had to !!! Due to the enormous amount of transcription I have had over the last several weeks and everything with Craig, I knew it was going to be tough to get any decorations up this year. Also, knowing that Craig would not be feeling up to decorating for the holidays, I wanted to make it nice for Matt & Junior....so I, (AKA: Miss Priss), decided to do a few things around the yard to decorate for Christmas. Anyone who knows me, knows that being a born-and-raised Southern California girl, I have always relied on my dad, my brother, or Craig to do stuff like this for me. But, my bestest buddy likes to play with power tools and always teases me that I should be doing some of this stuff myself, so I took on the task of putting up Christmas lights.....ALL BY MYSELF!!! However, Matt did offer to help (when I was practically all done) but he did offer a couple of times.

As you know, I used to paint (before I quilted), and I made this snowman and Santa. They have been collecting dust in the garage for years. However, I found them and cleaned them up to put along the path to the front porch.





Last Saturday, I had managed to get the reindeer up and put on the yard but wanted more.





Going on a mission, I went out and found the kind of lights that go over bushes....well, they were too small to go over the big bushes in the front, so I put them over the two small trees and the bush by the front door instead. It actually worked out well. But, I miss the colored lights that my dad used to put up every year. So, I managed to find them in the garage in opened boxes. Being the Priss that I am, I was very cautious about black widow or brown recluse spiders being inside those boxes and I pulled the top wire out until all the lights came out one by one so I could see if anything was going to "jump" out at me.....thank goodness nothing did!!! Anyway, I got two strands of lights out and decided that I was not about to climb a ladder and try to get the lights under the eves. I had already done that a couple of times to get the power cords to the outlet, and let me tell you.....I don't like heights, (again Miss Priss) !!! However, I put them around the front window in the yard.....It's just enough to make it festive and it was the best I could do all by myself.





So, here is the final outcome of Miss Priss and her decorating skills.....




Also, my good friends, Joy & Yvette, thought I was out playing with "Bernie" (my new sewing machine) instead of working today. I was even "LAUGHED" at and told I "was not a true quilter" because I didn't have a quilting project to work on !!! ...I politely mentioned I have TWO QUILTING projects in the PLANNING stages...not all of us have three-day weekends or a sewing room to retreat too (just teasing you, my friends, you know I love ya) !!! However, after another 2000 line day, I took breaks to try to decorate and rest my hands. So, now I've blogged it too and have to finish the rest of my 2,148,7999 line day.....ha,ha,ha !

Love, Karene