Hearts Full of Joy

cozy christmas

we are settling in for several cozy snowy, icy days at home as a family, through christmas. my perfect dream come true - snow falling outside, and nowhere we have to go. we have a few gifts to deliver, a few to wrap, some yummy baking, and lots of enjoying each other to do. and we're looking forward to it.
i'm catching up on some christmas sewing projects. i took these pillows (supplies purchased last year & left untouched) on my trip to utah and was able to whip them up by the time i returned. wool felt is so fast and easy. now i have other visions of sugar plum sewing to do, but only if it doesn't interfere with enjoying my family & feeling the spirit of christmas.

savoring the season

this year we are enjoying our christmas decorating more than ever before. we think that it's because we feel so happily at home.

and our tree is here.

i love having our nativities up and and the continual reminders of the savior's birth. the first presidency christmas devotional was everything it should be and even more. i am so grateful for this season and the opportunities to draw closer to the savior.

merry christmas from our house to yours.

family photos

gloria & i did a family photo exchange....our solution to heather not coming to quincy. and i think it worked out really well (hopefully goria thinks so too).
i took these in quincy last saturday, edited two different ways by heather:

and gloria took these for us yesterday at the john taylor home, edited by me:

it was bitter cold, with a freezing wind blowing. hopefully that doesn't come through in the photos.

such a blessing to have talented friends. but gloria is a blessing even without her talents, as all good friends are.
our christmas card is posted here, merry christmas.

christmas in old nauvoo

our weekend of "christmas in old nauvoo" is in full swing, and we are loving it!
last night we were treated to a fireside by our friend kim & her son who are descendants of joseph & emma - wonderful! i cried, and cried, (typical of me..tears flow easily, especially where emma is concerned) and hearing three of kim's songs arranged so beautifully on guitar, violins, and bass was amazing. she told the story of the smith family from the martyrdom onwards and emphasized the importance of unity, love, forgiveness and healing in families - excellent!
today brock and i are helping with "breakfast with emma" and a dinner with the pratts and others, both at the nauvoo house.
tomorrow the christmas walk, lexi sings at the tree lighting, baptisms at the temple & gingerbread houses with the rodenbergs, family photos by gloria, and more.

two days later, i'm adding photos of the dinner show rehearsal:

my drunkard's path quilt came out from under our tree to add to the nauvoo house decor.

 

princess feather & nine-patch snowball quilts were there too.

beginning to look a lot like...

we awoke on sunday morning to our first snow in nauvoo, and a power outage. so we started our first fire in the fireplace, and decorated our tree while snow fell quietly outside. our church meetings don't start until 2:00 (!), and so we had a wonderfully cozy morning at home.

some of my favorite antiques are gathered 'round the tree... 1850's princess feather quilt and 1890s nine-patch snowball baby quilt on the quilt rack, green baby cradle full of christmas books, and 1890s red & white drunkards path quilt wrapped around the tree. this year's tree is our all-time favorite, we all agree. it's warm glow lights up the house and almost takes me by surprise every time i come up or down stairs or walk in the room. the tree itself was my christmas present last year.
tashi took this photo of the tree in the foreground, and snowfall through the window.

and we enjoyed the "little people" thanksgiving set so much....

that we got the nativity set, complete with the inn, the stable, and the wise men. the kids are loving it, and i am too.

so long, no post

i think that five family parties over the holidays, all at least two hours away (four hours round trip) may have been too much for us. we loved it, really loved it, but it was probably too much. we have all been sick for two weeks, gracie starting it off with a nasty cold, and finishing it up (we can certainly hope) with stomach flu. she hasn't let us sleep much, poor miserable sweetie, and that slows our recovery. add to that: blue screen on our computer a week ago, and i haven't had much time to blog. i have spent any computer time i could snatch backing everything up, between many many blue screen episodes, and finally finished before the computer gives it's final gasp of breath. now we are waiting for our new mac to arrive. that will be a big switch and adjustment. we were mac people at the beginning of our marriage, and loved it, but made the switch to windows to get all the software options. now we are going back to mac. the day after christmas we got much faster internet, so once we have a new computer, things should fly.

i feel very out of touch with friends and family and anything outside of this house. but we were invited to a fun dinner last night with four other couples and their kids last night, and that was a breath of fresh air.

now that i've given you our recent low-lights, here are some highlights....

last minute christmas crafting: i made this for my sweet 6 year old who is struggling to come to terms and a peaceful understanding of her adoption. she and i have had several hour long talks in the wee hours of the mornings recently on this topic.

a stocking for gracie....so fun to make! the center block is a reproduction of an antique christmas card. "here's santa in disguise to give you a surprise" the appliqued patch on the top left says "gracie" and is from a judie rothermel  "aunt grace" fabric line. i have lots of that fabric in both pink and blue and plan to use a ltitle bit of it in most things i make for my gracie. the fabrics are moda's "roman holiday" line.

our christmas eve nativity

christmas morning...the stripey jammies are a seven year tradition for us. we all wear them for christmas.

we FINALLY finished the remodel of our 1940s home, and got a great renterupstairs! lexi models the kitchen on christmas eve. love those cabinets that great grandpa built!

not sure why this is sideways....try to fix it later.

and finally, tashi's photography in the snow:

(mia in the background)

 

candy canes & silver lanes aglow

"looking a lot like christmas"

we have had snow on the ground for all but one december day. so magical!

the noel blocks are a vintage find

darling boy armed with light stick  (from tokyo disney sea) and snowball.

baby kitten finds the ribbons to be the best part of a christmas party with her cousins.

hallelujah

tonight i did a truly wondrous thing. i was able to participate in the chorus in our community performance of handel's messiah. i am not a singer, not by any stretch. in fact, when i took chorus in high school, (be warned that this is a pathetic and painfully true story) in an attempt to become a better singer, the teacher assigned a friend to sing into my ear, and then eventually gave up and assigned me to be the pianist. most of my attempts to sing, even in a chorus, have been simply an exercise in frustration. but my parents have been participating in the annual presentation of the messiah at christmastime for about 30 years, and it has become part of me. i thrill at the complexity of the music and the beauty and deep meaning of the scriptural passages. brock and i own several recordings of the messiah and it is beautiful, precious, and sacred to me. to my delight, the music flowed joyfully through me tonight and it didn't feel strained at all, but easy and graceful. i absolutely love this miraculous music, written in a mere 24 days, and felt tearful as i thought about the meaning of the scriptural passages that i was singing. although our community is small, they manage to pull together a sizable chorus and orchestra each year, with the support of other nearby communities. i can accompany a choir singing on the piano without a great deal of effort (thanks to my high school music teacher, and numerous church callings), but although i have tried to learn the messiah accompaniment, i have been unsuccessful, and stand in awe of those who can play it. i love my saviour, and am grateful for beautiful music that praises him, and my opportunity to participate in it. it was made more meaningful by lexi and tashi singing too. brock wanted to participate, but someone had to watch the three little ones, and he volunteered. next year, his turn to sing.

it's beginning to look a lot like christmas

i like to bring my christmas out a little at a time, and savor it as we go. so our tree is usually up for several days to a week  before it is completely decorated, the stockings come out on their own special day, and i tweak and rearrange things as we go. to me, it seems to help the season linger longer.

this year i finally got smart enough to just turn the gingerbread house decorating over to the kids, and i was surprised by how well they did with it. i should have done this long ago (instead of making everyone crazy while trying to make it fair and cute and enjoyable and perfect all at the same time). noah was the most excited his year - anything involving this much candy is on his list of very favorite things.

i made a new advent calendar from a fabric panel designed by nancy halvorsen. tashi helped me one night as we shared some "one-on-one" time and chatted about her life as we worked - so much funner that if i had done it alone. she had wanted to go somewhere together for her special time, but i was too tired. this was spontaneous, but turned out to be better than we could have planned. just a few of the ornaments are pictured.

these two quilts, a runner, and a topper/wall quilt, were made on comission for the local gift shop. the ginger bread men are a project i have long planned, and the stars were begun last year, and continuing on this year. i can't decide wether to make garlands or tree ornaments of the stars and gingerbread men. i would like to do both.....better get busy and make some more.

thank you santa!

thank you santa! it's so, so lovely and has so many, many more sparkley lights than we've ever enjoyed before. it's just what i wanted....how did you know? and it arrived just in time for us to put it up for family home evening. our old tree was abandoned, well, given away, with so many of our belongings, when we left japan. it was a large tree for japan, but in reality, quite small. so we needed a tree this year. and (i'm sure you know this santa) every year we have experienced some amount of family tension in getting the lights strung on our tree, which isn't at all conducive to the christmas spirit. so for several years i've been dreaming of this very tree. it isn't decorated yet, but still so lovely - so lovely that it doesn't need much by way of extra decorations.  i will endeavor to be a good girl for the rest of the christmas season, to be deserving of your early present to me. (stock photo from christmastreesgalore.com).

yesterday i found gracie discovering its magic.....as soon as the camera came out, she was joined by two more.

i like to keep our favorite christmas stories & books under the tree. yesterday the four of us enjoyed "the grinch" and "rudolph the red nosed reindeer". mia says its so much more fun to read under the tree (preferably completely under the tree, lying on your belly). who could argue?