Monday, November 30, 2015

Finding My Christmas Spirit . . .

I spent the Thanksgiving weekend
in Massachusetts with my family.
I love Thanksgiving because it's all about food and family.

I usually leave on Sunday morning, 
but this year decided to stay an extra day.
So I was included in the cutting of the tree.

I have never done this before.
This "city" chick used to get her trees 
at an already cut lot.


So you can imagine my excitement at the prospect 
of hiking into the "woods" to find the right tree.
 

My Uncle grabbed a saw and off we went.
 

He has a very scientific way of measuring
to make sure the tree will fit in the living room.
 

We actually had one of the guys on the lot
cut the tree.  
We old people can't get down on the ground anymore.
 

They carried it to our car  . . . 
Hoisted it up.
 

 We tied it down.
No needles all over the place.
If this had been a tree from the lot,
my car would be strewn with needles already.


 With a bit of trimming and heaving and hoeing,
that baby made it into the stand very easily.


And it's right in the doorway of the living room
and den, so you can see it from both rooms.
Brilliant!


 Getting the tree was fun,
but I needed more to get my spirit going.

 I brought my sewing machine along for the weekend,
because you know, who doesn't travel with a sewing machine?
Hehe.

The chiclets wanted to learn how to sew.
My cousin took to it quite easily.


She made an anchor pillow out of heavy felt.
It was great to machine applique on, so easy,
althought she might not agree on the easiness. 
 

My Aunt made two pillows,
one from an Alaska apron, and one from a piece of an old Pendelton wool blanket.
She put wool antlers on that one.  Pretty cool.
A successful day of sewing.


 And as the Christmas decorations started coming out,
 I realized that I had made some of them over the years.

A tree skirt with our favorite Door County fabric.


A tree full of my tiny animal ornaments.
 

A bean bag Santa.
 

A wreath.


You see, 20 years ago, I belonged to a craft group
with the most talented ladies.
We called ourselves, "Cottage in Das Trees"

We made things all year long and then had a two day sale
in the cottage of one of our members.

It's so fun to see all these things and remember all the fun we had.


Here is part of our group.
Haha.  They are going to kill me.
 

I must admit, I have been a scrouge the last few years,
No decorations up in the Penthouse.
Time to remedy that.

My family really helped me jump start my spirit again.
I think I'll go see where my boxes of 
Christmas decorations are hiding.


Merry Christmas Everyone!




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