Snippets of Christmas

Pepper waits early last Saturday morning for the bus, gleefully enjoying the snow!

A random snowfall, makes our celebratory day white with fluff!
Bryan also waiting for the bus, amused with joy of snow!

My brother and his wife hosted a Christmas dinner on the Twenty second. Prime Rib which I'd not had in probably seven years! Hard to believe it used to be a weekly meal when I was a meat wrapper! I must say I probably enjoyed it most of anyone there!

My daughter and her cousin! Both girls are so much like my mom! Even though there is a seven year age difference, I know they will be great friends one day! You can see they do adore each other!

Here I am caught off guard in a very candid picture, practicing for the far future when I become a grandma. We all had instant chemistry with that little guy, he's my brothers friends son. He just turned one, but his eyes tell me he is a wise old soul a lot older than his age!

Pepper plays dress up with a few items one of the little girls received as a gift!
That hat really suits her too!

This photo is the mirror image of a 1950's photo I have of my aunt hamming it up! Why is she trying to bite her foot! I'm usually the one with my foot in my mouth!

More goofy girl syndrome!
Of course we have to capture it all in case we have to blackmail her down the road!

My sister in Law and daughter, playing girls gone wild without the nudity!

This is my Christmas eve dinner on the 24th. A friend brought over my favorite tea, my sister in law gave me some ribs from her work luncheon. And those turtles topped it all up! Yum... another thing I haven't had for years is baby back ribs! Aren't I spoiled. I think so!

All that scrumptious food is why I look like this!
Yes this is me getting ready for bed!

I have wings because at times I am an angel and dawn beautiful gold wings.
I hide my devils horns of course. Don't we all?

More big bummy mummy dancing with sugar plums in my head and on my butt

I usually wear panties, but I was just getting into the bath ( with my shoes on of course) and I wanted to show you my wings full on!
Aren't they pretty...yes I grew this gold set especially for Christmas!

My SIL bought this angel for her tree... I was surprised to see a chubbikin in their fat free house! I think that Angel might be smuggling in some goodies. Apparently Megan loves her, and so do I!

The True Spirit Arrives!

All photos accredited to my Friend Richard Wiebe
who has a wealthy spirit and knows the true meaning of Christmas!

Thats Richard speaking with a homeless man on the
Vancouver east side of Main and Hastings.
As he doles out the coat he collected for the homeless.

Theses photos speak for themselves, and although heart wrenching, make me more and more grateful for every morsel of love I get!

Richard loves art and can be known to collect it from all over the world.
I am sure he is admiring this mans piece with praises!

Richard has a way of making you feel special no matter who you are!

He can bring a smile to the loneliest souls with his kindness!

As some of you may already know my car broke down a few days before Christmas. The man who fixes it for me is extremely busy this time of year. Well no, he's not Santa, but he comes in at a close second! I called him up, asked a few questions so I could do a quick repair myself. Which I did, short term. I was suppose to call him back if it didn't work but I haven't! He doesn't need the added pressure! I'm leaving it to the New Year!

So my dear Brother who I love more than words, brought over his brand new sleek black car for me to drive. It's just a few weeks old . How many people do you know would do that? I'm not even sure I would. However when he was fifteen I let him drive my brand new car around our complex and he put a ding in it! I made him scrub the wax on my floors as restitution. I don't think I even got mad at him....Now thirty years later he is my Santa relinquishing his car!

We had a lovely Christmas on the twenty second, with my niece and nephew, and friends and family. Food and laughter delicious!

Christmas eve I was driving the kids to work, all bogged down with boxes of Christmas baking, and huge bags they would have had to take on the bus. They were going immediately to Bryan's family after work. Keep in mind it's a family of ten children. They draw names but give to the parents, as well as the two youngest boys. For the rest of the family they made a box of baking!

I was driving along Christmas eve when the true spirit of Christmas overwhelmed me! I was so grateful to be able to drive the kids to work. Grateful that my brother loves me enough to lend me his car. Grateful that I can be there for the kids. Then I realized that having his car for the week, is truly my greatest Christmas blessing!

Writers Island " Relinquishing Hope"

Writers Island " This Season"

So after droning on for one long page I decided to write a poem instead. Even though I have been sharing many of the seasonal highs lately, there is so much, as you well know, goes on behind the scenes. Sometimes I need a few days to separate myself from emotional upheaval so I can be more objective.

Relinquishing Hope

It’s not always what it appears

The beauty of the lights

Bring memories of stolen strands

Dad felt were rightfully his

The Christmas trade off

Turns into the Cinderella nightmare

Without the catered Ball, or the prince

To rescue her from the bad memories

It’s the day that hope turns into angst

Of past disappointments

him not really knowing who she is

Or what she needs

Christmas is not always pretty

Like the glitz of the garland

Instead it’s a false promise

A ruthless eternal lie

Every year she anticipates

That childhood Christmas

Every year she unwraps

A broken heart

Still she believes in the kids

Charity, generosity, love

The music, the baking

The decorations, her mom

One year her giving heart exploded

Finding perfect Gifts for everyone

Excited to watch them opened

She waited, but no one came to get her

It’s a time when finding a card

Is like having a root canal

Without the freezing

Hours go by and still nothing but pain

Nothing can explain the relationship

Nothing authentic anyway

Invisible ink brushes the page with

“I hate how you continue to hurt me”

“When will you finally understand me?”

“Why can’t you defend my rights?”

“Why do I always feel like less

When I’m with you?”

Written over it in blue ink

“I wish you happiness and laughter”

“Hope all your dreams come true”

“I love you, your daughter”

Picks up the pen

with invisible ink!

“Oh yeah,

and thanks for the sperm!”

A bit of this and that!

Found another Mary Naylor Mug in the dog series....this one is a skateboarder...I love her humor!

I went to my Cousins Annual Christmas party on Saturday. She has renovated her kitchen and living room, so it was all open! It's now the perfect party house. And party they did!

One of the guys who lives there has a bearded dragon, and this little hedge hog. What a sweet creature. The onslaught of the crowd sent Savannah scurrying up Jeff's sweater sleeve where she nestled in!

My Christmas celebration is approaching quicker than most. Because of divorce we have to find a suitable date for everyone. Which is no longer the traditional twenty fifth! I'm off to tie up some loose ends and see if my car works! Have a great day!

Ladies Christmas Craft Night at Violettes

Merry Christmas to those who Celebrate, and Happy Holiday to the others!

Please take a peek into my artistic world of a Night of Crafting with other artists! Violette took seven hours to edit this wonderful video of us making a Crow ornament! I think she did a beautiful job. If I remember correctly this is also Violette's favorite Christmas Carol!
So glad she used it to block out our goofy chatter! Enjoy!

If you want to view this video without the little interruptions then click straight through to youtube! For some reason it seems not as smooth on secondary websites!

Violette sent us home with these lovely hand crafted collaged candles that she made. She took "mother daughter day" pictures from my blog and printed them off!

Then enhanced them to commemorate our special day together adding a few words, lots of glitter and I suspect a little love is nestled in there somewhere too! We were thrilled and Pepper lit them as soon as we got home! This is a nice gift of love to share with friends! I plan on embedding a tea light into the wax so we can savor the art as long as possible!

Pepper has collected special buttons since she was a wee child, Violette surprised Pepper by producing an image and button maker so that Pepper could make a button which doubles as a key chain! With persistent I was able to get some photos of the candles and button. It took way too many tries!

Nicci gave us these two original brushedwithmagic designed Christmas trees that she made! Aren't they adorable? We love them too! Life it GOOD!!!

Making Crows!

i Nicci and Joanna are not being Nasty! They're honestly holding up their burnt middle fingers. These seasoned artists managed to burn themselves with Violette's hot glue gun, to the point of blisters. The swear pot could definitely have been full by the end of our Crow making night!

Violette and Joanna
Violette generously treated us five women to a wonderful evening of ornament making. I say "treated" because she took time to make templates, set it all up and then we used all her supplies except for the piece of boa, a few ribbons that I brought. Plus she hosted it, and we made one heck of a mess with modge podge and glitter!

Unfortunately I didn't snap a photo of Linda before she left. But the head of her crow managed to show up in one the of pictures. Linda put two eyes on her creation. We all deviated from Violette's original template. But thats' what you get with six artists in a room. A different flavor from each one!

Me, Joanna, Nicci and Pepper

Violette bravely stood on a very high chair so she could take a flattering picture of us holding our masterpieces! We had appetizers, baking, a bit of holiday cheer and loads of giggles.

Are we having fun or what? If you were a fly on the wall you'd be surprised how raunchy a bunch of crow making women can get! Violette will be presenting a youtube Video of us creating our crows. It can take four to five hours to edit the video so it may be a few days before it's posted. I'm hoping she blocks out the sound, but again I'd never want to hold back the creative process!

Joanna the Labyrinth lady poses her crow with the labyrinth influenced halo! Joanna added a little gold ribbon in with the boa, she also used hair spray to hold the glitter onto the crown of the crow! I followed suit using an iridescent glitter.

Nicci presents her lovely blackish blue crow, done with her distinctive eye and glitter squiggles!

Years ago my friend Chris decorated a gift with this large chunk of purple boa that Pepper, Joanna and I used to embellish our crows.
Note that Pepper did her Crow facing opposite to ours!
I was wondering if that was a left brain action.

This is my crow but it's not a very accurate photo! Looks very pretty on the tree. Thank you Violette for hosting such a wonderful evening! For taking your precious time, (which I know is very rare these days), to set up such a great project for us! You will never quite know how much this night meant to my daughter who had an extremely disappointing Sunday! You were a real Christmas angel when you made her that button. Sometimes it's those small gestures of love that really make the difference!
Love to you Violette for giving so much to so many!
Violette feel free to use any of these photos on your blog!

Sunday Scribblings " Dance Affair"

Sunday Scribblings Prompt "Dance"

Dance Affair

Tiny girl

On daddy’s toes

Balancing

Like a drunk soldier

Fell in love

With whirling

Twirling

To resounding

Melodic tunes

While he

Serenaded along

Parents rendezvoused

A Little brother

Anxious to move

To teen beats

Followed sisters lead

As they danced

In the fancy

Forbidden

Living room

Lit with obscure grid light

From a red Spanish lamp

Married

Thursday night

Dance trysts

With a stranger

Spectators gazed

In envy

Hourglass figure

Flounced with ease

Melded with the floor

Void appeased

She scurries home

Winner

Unfortunately we went to a moonlight madness last night, then I was off early this morning to do a few errands. So sorry the name didn't get drawn until now. I'm happy to announce the winner of my 500th post is Kai from kaibluecreations! Thank you for all your loving support and playing along! I 'll post her prize in a day or two . So much going on this time of year I find it hard to keep up to it all! For now I'm off to play catch up!

Mug Fetish

I have a terrible mug fetish and this was my favorite of all times. It's been well over a year since I used it because of the three chips on lip area. I have searched high and low to replace this very special Mary Naylor mug to no avail!

Finally on our Wednesday shopping trip I found another mug that I loved instantly. Of course it was the lonely only too! Remember my rule, I can't buy it unless I love it! After flipping it over to check the artist I wasn't surprised to see it was also a Mary Naylor piece. Funny how we just fall in love with a artists work.

Steve Madden shoes are another favorite too! ( Three days left to enter his contest!) Even when I'm searching for shoes for Bryan I will randomly pick a pair of Steve Maddens! Art really can be found everywhere in daily life!

Do you think picking that mug is a sign I'm getting ready to have a dog again? The dogs kind of look like they're in heaven don't they?

Later today I will announce the winner of my 500th post contest. All the names on the comments for the past week will go into a hat. I have to run around a bit today but when I get back I'll do that! Have a Fantastic Friday!