Merry Christmas

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Recently, my hubby and I decided to take our granddaughter, Lily, out to cut down a Christmas tree, we thought it would be an amazing experience for her.  Although I grew up with real trees for Christmas and have always loved them, sometime through the years I converted to a fake tree.  It was just easier I guess and they hold the heaviest of decorations.  Every few years I would buy a real one but would convert back to the fake one again.  When my hubby and I moved to the country, we were determined to have a real tree.  Okay...so it took the third Christmas here to do it but we finally did.  I didn't realize until that day that although my hubby grew up with real trees, they were always purchased at a store.  He had never actually cut one down.  He thoroughly enjoyed the experience as did Lily.

The day was absolutely perfect.  The snow was falling all around us but it wasn't too cold.  We were way back on the farm with the forest surrounding us.  It was beautiful!!!  The only thing missing was a thermos of hot cocoa.  Lily had an absolutely amazing time.

Lily waiting anxiously for Poppa to pull her on the toboggan to see the Christmas trees.  She was sooo excited.

The determination of a 3 year old.  She was only able to pull the tree a few inches on her own before she asked Poppa for help.  Look at her form!  That girl knows how to get it done lol.

The tree waiting to be decorated...what do you see?

My Christmas Village.

Life has been busy and hectic again.  Not only have I not had the concentration to blog, I haven't had the concentration to visit all of your wonderful blogs either.  I was so looking forward to seeing what everyone was posting for the Christmas season and keeping up with your lives.  In the mean time, I think I need to catch up with mine lol!

One of the busy times recently was on November 17 when my daughter welcomed her second child, Morgan (a boy) into the world.  Lily is now a big sister and absolutely loves the role.  They are still living with us and it can be quite difficult some days as we're tripping over each other.  The original plan was for them to move out sooner but that has been delayed.  Needless to say, our home renovating has been placed on hold for the last 7 months and will have to wait a bit longer.  I can still dream though.

During this time period we also lost our water supply due to a hole in the line coming from the well, eventually the water stopped running to the house altogether.  We had many days of lugging water from the store just so we could continue to live in our house.  I have to say...it was NOT FUN!  Our plan was to put a new line in but after digging up the yard, the line to the house wasn't located.  There goes my lawn and garden.  Our neighbour was absolutely wonderful in using his backhoe and only charging us for gas as it could have cost hundreds of dollars otherwise.  We have quite the mess to clean up in the Spring.  In the end, the line could only be repaired.  I hope we don't have any other issues with it.

Our pretty boy with the Christmas candle.

I want to wish EVERYONE a Very, Merry Christmas.  May God bless you and yours through this holiday season.  Remember, Jesus is the reason for the season.

Tea Cup Exchange

Hi Friends,

I recently had another opportunity to take part in a tea cup exchange put on by Stephanie @ The Enchanting Rose  This is my third tea cup exchange and I have enjoyed everyone of them.  Stephanie works very hard matching people up and the tea cup exchange continues to grow with people taking part all over the world.  It's always exciting to open up the box of goodies and see all the wonderful surprises that your new tea cup buddy has sent to you and it's just as much fun to purchase items for the person you are sending to.

I received the following gifts from my new tea cup buddy, Lynda Ruth Bowers, in New Brunswick, Canada.  It looks like she put a lot of thought into all the wonderful gifts she sent to me.

Oh how I love Lupins.  We  have just a few of them in the garden and I have been wanting to plant more.  They are such a beautiful flower.

This is a pill case and it's absolutely perfect.  It's always handy to have one of these around.

    Lynda Ruth placed some pretty sea glass in the pill bottle, what a nice little extra detail.  It's also my colour.

I looked up the translation of the tea pot and google shows "the beauty of the beautiful".  For those of you that speak French...is this translation correct?  Or does it mean something a little different?  It's such a cute little single serving tea pot and tea cup.  I love the colours.

I was playing with my Ironstone in this photo, lol!!  I think it looks great together.

I also received some wonderful herbal teas.

My other new tea cup buddy is Andrea Ostapovitch @ My Everything Corner.  Andrea and I have been visiting each other's blogs for a while now, I always enjoy reading her posts.  I also love Frank.  If you want to know who Frank is, you'll have to drop in on her blog and discover for yourself lol.  He's a cutie!

Unfortunately, I didn't get the photos that I needed regarding what I sent to her, she does have everything posted on her blog though.  I did happen to take a picture of the pumpkin I made for her since she loves pumpkins.

I'm linking up this post at The Enchanting Rose so make a pot of tea and go have a look and see all the wonderful things that everyone received.

Thanks for stopping by.

~ Kelly ~

The First Snowfall

Hi Friends,

Well...here we are, the first snowfall of the season.  It's supposed to warm up again tomorrow so the snow will soon disappear.  That's okay with me, I'm not ready for it yet.  It sounds like it will actually be a nice weekend so I'm looking forward to that.

This house is just a few minutes down the road, isn't it gorgeous? 

There are actually quite a few field stone houses in this area.  They're all so beautiful to me.  We tried to buy a field stone house days before buying the one we have.  It wasn't meant to be I guess.

I love seeing the leaves on the fresh fallen snow.  Most of the trees are close to being bare now but some leaves are still hanging on.

Our yard.

My daughter told me that when Lily woke up this morning and looked outside, she was really excited and said "Poppa and Gammy got snow for me!"  She makes us laugh.

Thanks for dropping by, I always enjoy your visits!

~ Kelly ~

A Scarecrow Invasion

Dear Friends,

I thought I should get this post out before winter is upon us.

About 2-3 weeks ago my daughter, Lily and I stopped to see the annual Scarecrow Invasion in a nearby town.  It really is amazing seeing scarecrows all through the downtown area and extending out of town.  They are literally everywhere, and I do mean everywhere.  As I pass through this town on a regular basis, I'm able to enjoy seeing them for a little while.  They also have a scarecrow parade which I've never been to.  Maybe next year, I know Lily would love it.

In the park.

They had many musicians in the park, one of which was Michael Jackson.

Willie Nelson

The Beatles

On the day I took these photos, I had decided to take Lily to a roadside stand to buy some pumpkins and gourds for decorating and also some fresh picked apples.  I wanted her to experience the joys of Autumn and all it's splendor.  The first place we stopped at I bought some gourds and apples.  The owner was so pleased with Lily's manners that she gave her two small apples, she helped her squeeze one of these apples into her pocket.  I also bought Lily her own personal tiny pumpkin (gourd).  She was absolutely thrilled.  She has actually slept with it a few times lol.

Lily had never seen a scarecrow before, or at least remembered seeing one in her 3 short years.  We tried to get her to stand beside it for a photo but she was scared of it's arms blowing in the breeze.

With some encouragement, we were able to convince her it wasn't going to hurt her.

She was hooked, she now wanted her photo taken with "every" scarecrow. 

Since we were only able to buy baking pumpkins at this roadside stand, we decided to drive onto the next market.  As we went through town, her mom and I decided to take a few photos of the scarecrows (seen above).

Then, onto Grandma Lambe's we went,  We went into their sweet, little store first and Lily was just in awe of everything.  I love watching her enthusiasm and excitement.

After leaving the store, I proceeded to place a purchase in my car.  Lily got very concerned and said, "but I don't want to go in Gammy's car".  LOL.  Normally it's not a problem but she had spotted the pumpkins.

Lily trying to pick up a pumpkin.  That didn't work!

I hope everyone enjoyed a touch of Autumn and a tour of the Scarecrow Invasion.

~ Kelly ~

As I am finishing up this post, my husband came to me with a half eaten apple.  He found it on our bed.  Hmmm...I wonder who put it there??????

Another Year Older

Hi Friends,

Today is a special day for me...it's another birthday.  My wonderful hubby gave me Ironstone pieces and a vintage cake pan which I'm going to use for something...craft supplies maybe.   He also cooked me a nice dinner and made sure I sat down while he waited on me.  How nice is that?  He also surprised me with a birthday cake which makes my birthday complete.

I have always loved having my birthday in October as it's such a beautiful month.  The Autumn leaves, the crisp Autumn air, the first frost, Thanksgiving a few days before my birthday (Canadian Thanksgiving), etc.  This year it has actually been a lot warmer though.  We're in a warm period with temperatures around the low 80's which includes the humidex.  I'm not sure what we're doing with a humidex in October but we'll take it.

We also celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary 4 days ago.  Although it's just a small number compared to many of you, we still can't believe how quickly the time has passed.  The last 4 years haven't been easy with so many challenges thrown at us.  The loss of my Mom, a job change, a relocation, the unexpected surprise of becoming a grandmother, etc.  But here we are going strong and I'm so thankful for that.  He makes a good birthday dinner too so I'll definitely have to keep him lol!!

These are the wonderful Ironstone pieces he gave me.  The vintage cake pan is heavy duty and will be perfect for decorative uses or with my crafts.  It was something I wanted so he was kind enough to get it for me.

Thank you for dropping in to say hello.  I love to have you visit!

~ Kelly ~