Countdown to Christmas

I am thrilled to report that as of 3:00 this afternoon all the presents that I have bought are wrapped and labeled! Yippee! It was while wrapping gifts yesterday that I decided I needed to buy two more gifts to somewhat balance things off. So, at 9:00 this morning I headed to the Derby Street Shops in Hingham. It was cold, not overly crowded at that point, and the holiday music was playing. Most everyone was  wearing a mask. I was able to make my purchases in short order.

It’s a shame that there is so much glare in this window photo as it is a lovely display. Here’s another beauty.

One more  . . . 

I have always loved holiday window displays. Locally, Remicks in Quincy had the prettiest windows when I was young, and in the days before malls and plazas, everyone would also take the train “in town”  (to Boston) to shop. It was always a delight to see the windows at Filene’s and Jordan Marsh. Usually, it was coupled with a visit to see Santa and the Enchanted Village. Some of you, I know, will remember those days. ;-()

Did you know that on Youtube you can view programs featuring store holiday window displays from all over this country and other parts of the world? The windows from Harrods in London used to be spectacular but now are little more than vehicles for product placement. 

I also managed to get my Christmas cards out on the 13th. Quick story - I was driving to the East Weymouth Post Office when I spotted four turkeys going around and around and around the base of a tree in someone’s front lawn. It was mesmerizing as they just kept circling it and occasionally flapping their wings. Only a turkey would have pulled over to watch their antics, so I kept going. At the post office there was a large poster illustrating the various holiday stamps available. I asked the clerk for the religious stamps, but she said they were all gone. Okay, I thought,  I’ll go with the Santa ones… no luck as those, too, were all gone. She informed me that they had had a large shipment of holiday stamps, but they had flown out the door in a matter of days. I guess that bodes well for the postal service. They had only one holiday stamp still available, an otter in the snow!!! Yes, siree, nothing says Christmas like an otter in the snow! I bought the flag stamps instead. Oh, on the way home I spotted the turkey quartet carrying out their same maneuvers around a tree across the street from where I had previously seen them. Things such as that make me smile and heaven knows we can all use a few smiles at this point.

 Bye for now…

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Things appear to be going south rapidly. Last night some people were already in their seats at Radio City Music Hall to see the “Christmas Spectacular” featuring the Rockettes when an announcement was made that due to Covid, that performance and all remaining performances for the season would be cancelled. Hamilton and other Broadway shows have temporarily closed down as well. The NFL and NHL have had to postpone a number of games. On tonight’s news it was reported that Harvard has told its students not to return to campus after the Christmas break. 

I’ve said this before, but I’m about ready to crank up the drawbridge and remain in my castle to spring. Please stay safe.

Christmas in the Kitchen

I am thrilled to have finally finished the stitching on a Sue Hillis Designs pattern, “Christmas in the Kitchen.“

It was great fun to stitch, but it took a l-o-n-g time. There were so many color changes; for example, the pie probably had four or five different shades of tans and browns, and the whole piece had lots of backstitching. 

Since the topic is sweets from the kitchen, I thought I would share a favorite recipe for chocolate coconut bars with you. My mom always made these bars for family gatherings, parties, and cookouts. They are definitely a crowd pleaser! My cousin asked for the recipe which is hand written in an old notebook, but I also found the original recipe booklet in a drawer

A search showed a number of copies of this booklet available on Etsy and on eBay. The copyright date is 1955!!! Here is what they look like. I never add the nuts, and I always double the recipe. Notice the tiny spatula; it is perfect for removing the bars from the pan. It came from a Betty Crocker Junior Baking Set that Santa once brought me. The set had child size pans, utensils, bowls, a cookbook, and mixes to make and bake. It was a great present. The spatula survived and is still in use to this day. 

Try this recipe for these moist, yummy bars when doing your Christmas baking and be sure to let me know how you like them.

The recipe booklet also had an advertising insert.

 I’m curious . . . when was the last time you ironed your finest lingerie???   :-)

Okay. Fair warning: you might want to stop here rather than read the staggering, grim statistics below. 

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Tonight the National Cathedral in Washington is tolling its mourning bell in remembrance of the 800,000 lives lost to Covid in the US.  It was on October 5, 2021, when they tolled the bell for 700, 000 lives lost and June 11, 2021 when they tolled the bell for 600,000. It seems inconceivable. We have at this point surpassed the number of deaths in the Civil War; historians believe that number to have been about 750,000 lives lost.

The seven day average of Covid deaths in our country is now 1,300 daily. The Omicron variant is spreading rapidly and health experts fear for the months ahead.

I have had the two course Moderna vaccine and the booster, but I am still very afraid. Yesterday, I did not attend a holiday guild meeting nor did I go to a neighbor’s annual cookie swap. I’m trying to be as careful as I possibly can be. I am continuing my flute lessons, but it means wearing my mask into my teacher’s home. She then sits in her dining room while I sit in her music room about eight/ten feet away. At this point, I do not think any of us can be too careful. I did have to do an errand this afternoon and noted a dramatic increase in the number of people wearing masks. 

If you read this far, I’m sorry to end this on such a somber note, but I do want to keep a record of these dark days. Stay safe. Enjoy the holidays as best you can.

TREE-mendous Disaster Averted

 

My cousin Linda came on Sunday to deliver a wreath that I had purchased from her son’s scout troop. It was a lovely visit, and while here she brought up this tree in sections from the basement. I had originally had two fake trees but two years ago, I had tossed out the older one. ( I used to have one in the living room and another on the sunporch.) Last year, I didn’t have the heart to set up a tree, but this year I was determined to do so even if I would be the only one to see and enjoy it.

On Monday, I decked my halls. The place looks very festive with all my Christmas quilted wall hangings and other decorations. There is a small tree with my White House ornaments and another tree for my cross stitch ornaments which you will see in an upcoming post. So, yes, it is all quite festive. On Tuesday, I hauled out my dad’s old wooden sled and fastened it to the lamppost. I added a big red bow and some ornaments. I also set up a spotlight focused on my red front door and attached more ornaments to the railings. Festive. . . 

Today it was time to decorate the tree. I love pulling out and hanging each ornament. Things were going swell and I was nearly finished when I got the uneasy sense that the tree was beginning to slightly sway. I leaped for it in the nick of time as it began leaning toward me. I steadied it and began removing the soft ornaments and tossing them on the floor. Thankfully, the Lord blessed me with long legs so I was able to stretch out my leg to drag the cover of one of the boxes over next to me. With one hand holding the tree upright, I gingerly removed each glass ornament and placed it in the box cover. I am ecstatic to report that not one ornament was broken!!! Whew!!!

I mentioned that I used to have two artificial trees and while the other tree was gone, the second stand had not been thrown out. I thought I had the right stand, and all had been fine until I began adding the ornaments. The other stand will definitely get tossed tomorrow. :-)

So, I took the tree apart, switched the stand, put the tree together again, replaced all the ornaments, and, you guessed it, it looks very festive!!! :-)

Thanksgiving 2021

 I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day. I sure did and because this blog acts as my personal journal I decided to write about it here. My cousin Brian and his lovely wife had invited the family to his home for Thanksgiving. His son was to play in a morning high school football game. Then last Monday morning my cousin texted to let us know that he had had to go to the school to pick up his daughter and his son as his daughter had tested positive for Covid. His other daughter had already been at home not feeling well. He was taking them all to the doctor. My cousin Kristin then offered to host Thanksgiving at her house.

On Wednesday, he texted the news that the original test had been a false positive and that everyone was fine. Thank God! So, Thanksgiving was back on at his home. Some members of the family went to the early morning game which my cousin’s team won. I arrived later as it would have been too long a time to leave Emma. (She could, of course, have gone with me, but I decided against that.)

When I arrived, my older cousins were outside relaxing around a fire while the seven young cousins were inside working in teams to make and decorate graham cracker gingerbread houses which the adults later judged. 

I have two favorite moments from the day. After saying grace, by tradition we go around the table and each person tells what he or she is most grateful for. It started with the sixteen year old football player who was thankful for his friends, his family, and football. Next up was the youngest, age nine, who told what he was thankful for. The kids went first so they were not echoing what the adults had said. It was so refreshing to know that they were all genuinely grateful and happy to be with family on this special day.

Since they were toddlers, there have always been Christmas pajamas given out on Thanksgiving. On Thursday, some cousins wore them all day. This year there was a new wrinkle as the adults received pjs, too! We took a terrific group photo of the whole family wearing the festive, holiday pajamas. (If you see me, ask and I will happily show you the fun photo.)  

Remember I said my cousin Kristin had offered to step in and host the dinner? She had rushed out Monday and bought all the food, so we had another Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday!!! Delish!!!

So, what am I thankful for this year? I am thankful to be part of this wonderful family. I love my cousins, their spouses, and my seven young cousins, and I am so thankful that we could all be together for Thanksgiving.

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Now the frightening news  . . . On the day after Thanksgiving we learned of a new Covid variant, Omicron. At this point, not much has been determined about this variant. President Biden issued a statement saying it is an issue of concern, but not yet time to panic. He continued to urge all to get vaccinated and to get the booster. It is inconceivable that there are so many against getting this vaccine to protect not only themselves but also those around them.

Travel restrictions involving international travelers entering the country have been issued and mask mandates have been extended on planes and trains to at least March. 

Having received my booster, I had begun to feel a tiny bit more secure though I still wear a mask in church and in stores. Now I am wondering if the time is coming once again to crank up the drawbridge of my castle and stay put.

Please friends . . . Stay safe.

 Death Toll:         Worldwide . . . 5.22 Million           United States . . . 780,000+

Two Thanksgiving Cross Stitch FFOs and a Bit of This and That

I’ve added this Gobble Gobble pillow to this year’s Thanksgiving display. Here, too, are the vintage Gurley candles mentioned in a previous post. I used a scrap of upholstery fabric and a couple of fun buttons on the back.

This afternoon I ‘finally finished’ this second piece. Both cross stitch patterns were by Priscilla Blain of Stitching with the Housewives. This was the bottom section of a larger pattern, Gather. The pumpkin picture frame was from Hobby Lobby.

Speaking of cross stitch, a new needlework store has opened in North Attleboro, MA. Yippee!!! Pam of the always enjoyable flosstube, “Stitching in the Land of Good Enough” and her husband recently opened Stitch New England. Here is Pam in front of a wall of floss. This cross stitch shop is only thirty-five minutes from Weymouth, so my wallet could be in big trouble. :- ()

On a visit on Saturday, I purchased some floss and three patterns featuring Christmas ornaments. While shopping at Lowe’s the other evening, I had bought on impulse a small Christmas tree solely to display my cross stitch ornaments.  Let’s hope I get more then a few completed in time. ;-)

My plan had been to continue to stitch autumn themed pieces for the rest of November, but that plan didn’t last; it’s full on now to Christmas stitching!!!

Could this be the last perfect rose of summer? 

Finally, for Emma fans . . . Cuteness alert!!!  Here she is sporting a new jacket. It is lightweight, perfect for our daily walks. I just couldn’t resist when I spotted it while picking up her food at the pet store.

I wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving.

Stay safe.

Halloween Finishing Palooza - Part 2

At our last in person meeting of the Herring Run Quilt Guild in March of 2020, we had two lovely ladies wearing lab coats and with stethoscopes draped around their necks talk about how to “doctor” or improve problem quilts. The premise was entertaining and instructive, but what struck me the most was one of the pieces that was shown during their trunk show. One of the ladies had taught a class at a local quilt shop on how to embellish a panel. Wait!!! Had she said embellish??? I was all ears. (My middle initial is E for Elizabeth. When I taught, the E stood for enthusiasm as Lord knows I had to have a ton of enthusiasm to sell some of my lessons to my eighth graders. It won’t surprise you to learn that grammar and punctuation rules which were part of the curriculum were tough lessons to hold the interest of thirteen and fourteen year olds. :-) In recent years, the E has stood for embellishing. ) Anyway, once I saw one of the presenter’s pieces, I could not get home fast enough to try online to track down the panel. I did find one, and when I received it, I immediately starting stitching and making beaded spiders of various sizes around the web border.

Then . . . the world started shutting down and stitching spiders seemed a bit too frivolous. I didn’t pick this piece up again until last month. I started quilting the panel at that point which was easy as there were so many lines to follow. Of course, I outlined stitched each raven and its wings and the pumpkins. . . lots and lots of quilting but so so easy.

Then the fun began. What treasures would ravens collect? Well, the one in the cage would certainly need a key so he or she could come and go at will. Anything shiny or colorful was added. In fact, yesterday while walking Emma, I spotted a red pop top from a can, and that was added last night. There are all kinds of bits and bobs, colorful yarn, charms, and a broken dangling earring. It was great, great fun working on this piece, and hopefully, it may give you some inspiration for having fun with fabric panels. 

I also finished two sweet little cross stitched pillows for my tiered tray. The patterns were from a set from Puntini Puntini.

On the top tier there are a couple more vintage Gurley Halloween candles that had belonged to my aunts. 

These little candles were always displayed on their mantel for Halloween; I also have their Thanksgiving set.

One of the Thanksgiving candles still has the original price sticker of ten cents. Because there were duplicates, I had sold a few of the Halloween candles on eBay a few years back. I think that I sold four and the high bid was $28.00!!! I could have sold the rest, but I kept them for sentimental reasons.

One last thing . . . Lucy, one of my young cousins, recently asked me to be her sponsor at Confirmation. We attended a special Mass together Saturday afternoon followed by a dinner for sponsors and candidates at a local restaurant. The Confirmation ceremony will be in the spring. Of course, I was super honored that she had asked me to be her sponsor, and super doubly honored to learn that if I had declined, she would have tried asking her second choice . . . Beyonce!!! Imagine that! I beat out Beyonce.  ;-()

Keep smiling and keep safe.

Halloween Finishing Palooza - Part 1

With the storm that we had on Tuesday, I didn’t get around to fully finishing this piece until today. Speaking of the nor’easter, we were very lucky here. The wind was fierce, but no limbs or branches landed on any wires or on my roof. Lots of limbs and branches came down, so clean up has kept me busy for a few days.  We are used to nor’easters in the winter, but the fact that the trees were still fully foliated caused major headaches for many. I lost my lights, phone, cable, and internet intermittently for a day or two, but folks further south down to the Cape were without power for several days. 

 This piece is Fright Night by the Fat Quarter Shop. I started it quite a while ago and stitched on it off and on. Let me just say that the house section took forever!!! Though Halloween is over, I’m going to leave it up for a week or so to enjoy it.

Just Cross Stitch magazine puts out a special Halloween issue each year, and these two pieces appealed to my sense of humor. Each took about three or four nights to stitch. 

I stitched two other small Halloween pieces which I will show you in my next post along with a quilted piece.

Here’s Emma waiting patiently to go on our morning walk. 

Have a wonderful week. Stay safe.

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Covid Update as of October 31, 2021:

Deaths in the world . . . 247 million

Deaths in the United States . . . 746,000

Deaths in Massachusetts . . . 18,996