Merry Christmas everybody!

I can't believe we're so close to Christmas already. It's sunshiny today in Hattiesburg, and after a few days of rain and gloom, it's nice to look out the window at the blue sky. I have been stitching off and on this week. I finished stitching two Brightneedle ornaments from 2007 over-one (they were in the Just Cross Stitch pre-ornament and ornament issues). I stitched them on white opalescent Belfast, so the sparkles will be so pretty on the tree. I'll probably finish them this weekend and post a picture soon. But in the meantime, here's a picture of my family taken on Thanksgiving outside. That's Harrison (my college freshman) on the left, me, Graham (he's 13 and holding our 2-year-old cat, "Kitty"), and Steve. I've got a nice big hammock stretched between two pines out back, and you can see, we all fit.

The exciting news this week is I get to spend Friday, Saturday and Sunday with my local friends stitching. We're having our own holiday stitching retreat. It'll be at my house on Saturday, so I'm deciding what to make for food. I'll probably work on the Carriage House Samplings Quaker stocking I started this week. I'm stitching it over-one on cream Belfast with Au Ver a Soie in navy, blue and gold. And then I plan on antiquing it. It's going to be gorgeous! And I feel like I can hang it all year, because it's not Christmas, per se.

I hope whatever you're doing to celebrate the season this year, you're having FUN and not doing things just because you "have to." We'll soon be making cookies, listening to holiday music, lighting candles, spending the day in our slippers, and just enjoying each other. Blessings!