Transitioning Between Thanksgiving and Christmas - The Last Weekend of November

 My New Butter Dish!  Want one?  I think I can still get more!

Yes, My New Butter Dish is On Display - Not sure When I Will Use it For it's Intended Purpose

Christmas Card for a Swap

Another View

Jake is Home!  Well, until tonight. But it is nice having him 'here'.

Hmm.. I just noticed how tall he is!

Happy Thanksgiving Weekend!

We had a beautiful Thanksgiving with our friends. One of Phil's daughters came to visit from Utah, with her boyfriend, and we took them with us to our 'Red Neck Friendsgiving' celebration.  You have to remember I live in a very rural area, and we celebrate at a friend's ranch.  We eat in the shop, and 'celebrate' by blowing up pumpkins - outdoors.  Serious fun. This year I managed to make my chocolate pumpkin cheesecake, which was a big 'win' for me, personally.  My only 'setback' (health issues related) was I almost fell trying to get it out of the oven.  My balance is not 100% yet. Sometimes I forget I am temporarily 'off' my normal. 


I'm trying my best to not start decorating for Christmas, and just savor these last days of Thanksgiving.

 However, crafting is another story.  This is prime crafty time!

My 'December Daily' group (online) is hosting a Christmas Card swap, so today I made my two cards to get sent off tomorrow.  One is going to Washington, and the other to Australia. 

The other 'Christmas' things I have been doing are uploading all of my favorite 2017 photos to Snapfish for a few gift projects.  This was a two-day project!  I had to download all my camera photos first, sort them by month, then upload the ones I wanted.  Ha. Hours.

And, on Friday, I received my family Christmas Card - also made in Snapfish.  I know, right?   I have my cards!  Last year I didn't get them until December 20th.  This year I wanted to make sure I got them out early!

Right now, I am just taking it easy, recuperating and getting my health back, one day at a time. And, since walking and bending and any 'up and down' movement with my legs takes a lot of effort, it is easy to 'not' decorate.

Speaking of movement, last night I went to church with Phil.  We went up and down the 'back' stairs, because there are less stairs than at the front of the Cathedral.  And, I did it!  I made it up, and I made it down.  Stairs have been my enemy.

 I love our church, St. Francis de Sales Cathedral in Baker City, Oregon. Both of my children were baptized in this church, about 18 years ago.  And, a repose for the soul was said for my mother, Grace, which happened to be on my 55th birthday.  I have cried in this church when my soul ached, and, I have cried in this church with tears of joy when I was thankful for everything in what I consider a full and happy life. 

So, there you have it. 

Here's to savoring all we have to be thankful for. 

xo

Giving Thanks - A Card for Auntie Rachel and #dailymarker30day

Thursday Morning Before Work:  Bright and Early Project! I colored the background

Saturday - Worked to get the card done

Pens, Ink, Washi Supplies

Final Card: Giving Thanks for You

As mentioned before, I am following Kathy's #dailymarker30day challenge.

The first photo is from coloring the Hero Arts background stamp on day #17 of the challenge, with Thanksgiving in mind. 

And, today, day 19, I finished the card. The background morphed quite a bit, eh?

I used Vintage Photo Distress Ink to turn it brown.

This card is actually getting sent to my Aunt Rachel.  She sent a beautiful box of my Grandma Marina's treasure to me: a knit sweater that my Grandma made (it fits beautifully), one of my Grandma's crocheted doilies, another recipe of my Grandmothers (to add to my collection), and a lovely letter from my Aunt on how all of these things made their way to me.

What a treasure.  My Grandmother died earlier this year, in January, at the well lived aged of 104.  She was one amazing woman.  I traveled to California  and was able to see a lot of my Campos relatives, including my mother Grace.  The time and celebration spent with everyone will be treasured for many, many years.  We celebrated in Monterey, right on the ocean.  And we did a lot of story telling, many while drinking martini's in my little cottage room. 

Anyway, here are the supplies used for getting this card done!
Ranger Archival Ink - Potting Soil (used for stamped images)
A variety of Copic pens
Micron .03
Precision Pen .05
Doodlebug Designs 'Fall Flurry' Washi Tape
Hero Arts CG679 Graphic Leaves Background Stamp (Found out this was part of a Basic Grey collaborative - there used to be matching patterned papers!)
Paper Smooches Fall Sampler stamps: Leaf, and sentiment
Simon Says Stamp Giving Thanks Steel Craft Die
Bo Bunny Farmers Market journal card (behind the Giving Thanks die image)

Our Happiest Thanksgiving

Setting the pre-dinner Appetizers
Our snacks were at noon
Dinner? Oh, about 1:30pm.
Yeah.. Not very good planning.
We were stuffed!

They boys were in charge of the snacks
We had Brie Cheese with French Bread
Picked Okra
Shrimp
Assorted Olives
Perpercinnis
and special drinks

Making My Apple Pie

Sami working on her Pumpkin Pie Crust

Some of our favorite Decor
The paper turkeys are the kids creations from days long ago

Our Bartender

All Day In the Kitchen!
Love my Apron..

The Pie Girls
Love Sami's Apron!

Our Non Traditional Thanksgiving Dinner

Everyone had a 'voice' in what we would have
Leg of Lamb
Caesar Salad with anchovies, garlic, Parmesan cheese
Yukon Gold Mashed Potatoes with Garlic
Brussel Sprouts with Garlic
Special Drinks

The Evening Festivities
We went to Sami's BFF's Grandpa's 'Park'
Rick is a great rock and roll lover!
(And reminds me of all my friends from 'the gang'!)
(aka the PigFests)

See Stevie Nicks on the TV?
He has three TVs set up for his music videos
And lots of lights

First, we listened to Arlo Guthries 'Alice's Restaurant'
A family Thanksgiving Tradition in their household..

Laser light shows
Bonfire
An outdoor kitchen
A yert
Lots of play zones
It is party central

The Bonfire Crowd
For some reason our host is missing
His daughter, Andie is the one on the right holding the babe

Some of the Sledders!
Sami and her bff Hannah
This is Hannah's Grandpa's Place

The Yert Crowd
Notice my guy is snacking?
That would be why he was not hungry for dessert when we got home!
All these guys took breaks to snack then sled.
Snack. Sled. Snack. Sled.

Dick and I ate THIS when we got home!
Sami's pumpkin Pie
My Apple Pie
Home whipped cream

Woke at 3am
Too much shuga!

***************

Yesterday's Thanksgiving was just one of our best yet!

It started with a very stress-free day in the kitchen. Even though I was 'there' from 6am until 2pm - it was fun.. Seriously.. fun fun fun!

• I made an apple pie - with our own apples, and had fun playing with the apple/corer/slicer.. Which, is one of the best kitchen inventions yet!
• Sami made her own pumpkin pie - crust and all! It was a joy to have her with me in the kitchen. Someone to work with, talk with, play with. How lucky am I?
  
• Our meal consisted of Leg of Lamb (our own), Caesar Salad, Garlic Brussel Sprouts, Yukon Mashed Potatoes, special drinks
• The boys were in charge of putting together our appetizers and drinks

After we ate, then we took naps, followed by chores, and then....

Off to a bonfire party!

The kids sledded and snacked.

The adults stood around the fire, laughing, story telling, embiding.

When we got home the kids were too tired (or full) for pie...

So the parents ate dessert while the kids were snug in their beds.. reading!

My heart is full.

Thankful for great friends, my little family , and our cozy and simple life.

Really really Thankful.

Just One Thanksgiving Pic before We Launch Into Christmas!

Thanksgiving Games
Dick and Sami racing
Life is to be lived, don't you think?

Our Thanksgiving tradition is spent with our neighbor friends.. We are a group of 'misfits' who don't have family within a 500 mile radius, so we get together and enjoy a drama free day. Yep. Drama free. We potluck it and have a great late afternoon of eating and playing games...sometimes poker, sometimes board games. Oh.. and you can't forget all the fun desserts! Yum! In addition to my garlic mashed Yukons I brought a very decadent plum ginger cheesecake!!!! Oh yeah, baby...

This year was no exception...for the fun and games and great food and great atmosphere!

We had two new games this year. But the above photo shows the one that had us all in stitches.

This game involves smacking a flower 'form' box with an orange, that is stuffed into one leg of a pair of pantyhose, that are tied around your waist. You can not touch the pantyhose when you are trying to move the orange. And, you have to be careful that the back swing on the pendulum doesn't move your block backwards! Which did happen quite a lot!

Lots of hip action.. and lots of swingin'.

And boy, was it hilarious! Our group ranged in ages from 9 to 80ish.... and everyone played! The tallest boys won..a father son team that actually went against each other and just about took out my husband in the foyer! They were hilarious!!!!

We have one guy who we call 'little Bill' that is about 6' 6" or taller. He is big. And he won! His dad almost caught up to him... Too darn funny. The dad is a brand inspector.. Got to love the hidden talents of all these guys!

OK.. Now back to your regular scheduled Christmas programming!!!

Time for Some Thanksgiving Cards

Hmm.. What's This? OH!

A Side View of Eight Cards Getting Sent Out Tomorrow!
Eight fun Thanksgiving Cards. I have a few people
on my 'thank you' list - people who have made me feel special and I want
to do the same for them!
And some of them do (perhaps) read this
blog. So most of them are top secret!
( I promise to show them all at the end of the week!
I really really like these cards!)

But I'll Show You This One
Stamps are Purple Onion Designs and Hero Arts.
Patterned Paper is Cosmo Cricket (LOVE that stuff!)

And Here are Three Cards Made for This Weeks Hero Arts Challenge
This week's challenge was to use your stamp scraps to create
some Thank You cards. I made Happy Thanksgiving Cards instead.
Sometimes I'm just not good at directions!!!
And, I'm always wanting to kill two birds with one stone!
I need Thanksgiving Cards!

*******************

As you can see, I had a very productive weekend in the card making world.

I came down with a 24 hour bug (aka food poisoning!) Friday Night. Which is a real bummer. We went out to dinner to our favorite brew pup. I had a very 'hoppy' dark beer, and a fancy hamburger and onion rings. Not sure which of these three cardiac attacks did me in.. But let's just say, at 10pm, my dinner decided to come back up, and I was the only one in the house who got sick! So, since yesterday was a saltines and water kinda day I decided to 'just' work in my crafty zone... inbetween the ususal mommy and wife duties.

Thanksgiving is this week! Amazing how fast these things happen. Right now I have 2 kids wondering when dinner is going to be, what it is going to be, and I gotta go and tend to the troops (sorry, can't do 2 things at once right now)!

Catch you all later! Thanks for stopping by....