December 26th...ALREADY??

Oh, no....Christmas is over already??  We worked  so hard at it!

 At our house....First, I decorated the whole house.  Put the tree up, decorated it, got all my Christmas candles out, hung the wreath.   Then put all the lights up.

                             


 Next I got out my cards that I bought the year before,  You know, the ones that go on sale the week after Christmas.  I took my time putting special messages in each one, addressing them, then took them to the post office.  Then we went shopping for the perfect gifts to match everyone on our list.  WOW,  The prices..."STICKER SHOCK"!   Then waited in those long lines to pay those prices.

Pulled onto our road and it started raining hard, just in time to unload the car and bring all our presents in the house.  Wrapping paper, my husband asked if we needed any and I remembered we had some from last year so I said "no". Phew, for once I was right.  I had just enough to wrap all the gifts.  There was just a little left over.  (Guess I will have my eyes open for the after Christmas sales again this year.   I need paper and cards.) 

Oh, how pretty they look under the tree.  Do you save the little things to put into your stockings??

Now, we live far away from our family, so this year we had to pack everything up in boxes and mail them.  But had to get them out before the specific date to make sure that everyone got their presents before Christmas.  Luckily I could print my labels and postage out on the computer.  Those lines at the post office can be long this time of year.

OK, presents are wrapped and gone.....Time to bake my cookies.  I just love baking cookies and passing them out to everybody.   This year I baked 14 different batches of cookies.  I like to start early in the morning by putting on my Christmas music, then my apron and I was set for the day.

                                  

So, next was to make my trays and pass them out to everyone.  The post office, mail lady, Santa's Helpers, neighbors, etc.  This is the part I enjoy, going around with my cookies and wishing everyone a Merry Christmas.  I passed out 15 trays this year.

    

      

Then comes Christmas day, it was only my husband and I this year.  Unfortunately the kids all had different plans, working mostly, anyway, it was OK, we talked a long time to ALL our family members.    Our grandsons were all excited and well, we heard all about their day and what Santa brought them.

                             

                             

Good we all got Cell phones. (what did we ever do without them?)  

So, for our dinner, I set out table festive like, and made us a large Steak Stromboli, with my own sauce with chips and cookies on the side.  (yeah, have lots of cookies left over but they are going fast!)

Now, with everything else going on, like all quilters, I had to make something special, something new for us.  I was making so many things for others, I had to make the most appropriate thing for AFTER Christmas.  

I seen this picture in a magazine and even remembered seeing it at the quilt show last year.  So I drew Santa the size that I wanted.  I appliqued him on the machine onto a pretty blue background.  Then framed it with a darker blue of the same fabric.  Total size is:   23" X 26 1/2"

Isn't he cute?  He is just kicking his heels up and glad that he got everything done, all the gifts were given to all the children.  I quilted snowflakes all over then in the ditch in the boarder.  If you look close, I outlined the white fur of his suit with silver glitter fabric paint.  Then green glitter paint in the letters and numbers and just a hint of glitter in the quilted snowflakes to help show it off.  

Well, I don't know about anyone else.  It is a lot of work getting ready for Christmas but I had fun doing it.  I always do.  This is my favorite holiday.  I am just sorry that it is over already.  Even though our family could not be together, we were in spirit and have lots of great memories from the past.

I sure hope you all had a Merry Christmas.  Time now to sit back and relax, enjoy yourself.....we have a whole year to do it again.

BUT WAIT!!!              Don't sleep too long, got to get sewing again.  The new year is coming and there is a new blog hop ready to go.   It is called "In Your Words"  It starts on January 7th and will run thru till January 16th.  You will not want to miss a one blog. My day will be on January 11th, and I am having a BIG GIVEAWAY.....so please come back.....   

So, mark your calenders for January 7th and go to  Madam Samm at http://sewwequilt.com and get the full list of all the blogs.  Big things are in store for 2013....

till then..........

                         

 and

HAPPY QUILTING EVERYONE!!

To get special designed quilts or to see my gallery, check out my site at: http://janesquilting.com