Dear Santa, All I want for Christmas...

Now that my girls are adults the one thing I love the most and ask for whenever I am asked, "What do you want for Christmas/your birthday/Mother's Day?" is, their childhood memories in writing. I absolutely love it when they do this for me! They have no idea how happy it makes me to read about their childhoods from their perspective. I am surprised and delighted by the little things that meant so much to them. My DH even gives me a memory once in a while too! Sometimes I add a picture to go along with the memory, or an embellishment. Usually I just slip them into the plain binder I have for them. Very simple, but definitely my most treasured possession.

{It is the simple joys, the simple pleasures the heart remembers and dearly treasures ~ Hadin Marshall}

(Santa & Rachel circa 1978)

What do you LOVE about your Holiday Home?

We're invited to a blog party over at Karla's Cottage! Do you remember I went to her last party, "What Do You Love About Your Home?" in September? What a treat to get a peek into so many well loved homes. I can't wait to see them dressed in their holiday finest.
I hope you will think about joining in on the fun. All you need to do is post some pictures of your Holiday Home and leave a comment December 12th on Karla's blog. She'll take care of the rest. Then grab a cuppa and sit back and enjoy :) I hope to see you there!

simple holiday mojo

Zina Wright shared this idea for recycling old Christmas cards on her new blog, messyart. It's not a new idea and it's super simple, but I had so much fun with it that I forgot all about doing my morning chores and made nine. Best of all I felt creative and I discovered that sometimes simple makes good mojo.

Hooking, not scrapping

The last couple of weeks I spent my spare time dying and stripping wool in preparation for this hooking retreat. All of the ladies from the Dyed in the Wool hooking group are so talented! I'm hoping that some of that talent will rub off on me someday. I can pull a loop, but choosing my colors totally stumps me.

SoCal revisited, page one

My little brown paper bag memory book is getting fuller and fuller as I continue to add memorabilia, pics and journaling. I love the way it is turning out :)

Here's some of the journaling for this layout.

October 11, 2007

I was able to find my grandma's old house without any trouble! Amazing! And I was pleasantly surprised to discover that it hadn't been torn down for an apartment complex as I had thought. It had just been remodeled. That was probably 40 years ago so it looked pretty run down, but it was still great to be able to see it after all these years. I just wish it had been light enough to get some good pictures of it and the neighborhood.

Some random things I remember about my Grandma Lucy and Grandpa Joe's house:

• There was a huge avocado tree in the front yard
• Grandma always had Ice Milk (not cream) in the freezer
• She always made handmade flour tortillas for me
• Grandpa rolled his own cigarettes (he died from Emphysema)
• The front porch was covered and large enough to hold many potted plants
• Grandma and I would play records or watch Lawrence Welk during dinner
• She had a wind up clock that you could hear everywhere when the small house was quiet
• The room I slept in had a picture of Jesus praying in the garden of Gethsemane
• She would walk to town to do her errands. I don't know if she could drive
• There was a tiny room no bigger than a closet off the kitchen. I loved that room
• Picking geraniums to decorate the dinner table
• Feeling special

{The heart hath its own memory, like the mind, and in it are enshrined the precious keepsakes. ~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow}

Every family has one...

And every time I go visit my daughter and grandsons I have to put up with this guy!

'Cause he's part of the package.

Our family clown, nut, joker...

It's a good thing he's also an all around nice guy!


And here's the whole famdamily dressed in their Halloween finery.