Oh the weather outside is....

Snow, snow and more snow! In case you missed the news, the east coast, in our case Virginia was hit with a major snow storm and we received about 19 inches of the white stuff. Now I live in the Seattle area where we panic if we receive a couple of inces. The whole city shuts down and we are all trapped at home. I have never lived in a place where it has heavy snowfall and this has been a blast. Truly a winter wonderland. It snowed and then it snowed some more.

Our two grandkids, Greyson and Sophia enjoyed the moment.

And Augusto is all bundled up for our walk out around the neighborhood. Look at the snowbank behind him, oh mercy.

And then the necessary work of shoveling out driveways and walkways. Corbin is shoveling like crazy but the snow keeps a fallin...lol

And yes, the obligatory snow fort is made with a wee head peeking out, oh the joy of youth!

My {View} is filled with white fluffy snow today

Catherine

Christmas past...

Look at these sweet felt ornaments from day's gone by. I made these when we were living in San Francisco and our two children were still babies. My husband was putting in long hours at work and so I would sit in front of the fireplace sewing and creating ornaments for our tree. Then about ten years ago I was cleaning out our Christmas ornament box, I believed these treasures were old and needed to be given away, when what to my surprise, my daughter saw them and asked if she could have them for her tree. Thus they were passed on.

We are celebrating Christmas with our daughter and her family this year and when she unpacked the boxes with her family's ornaments out came these "old" handmade felties which now always hang upon her Christmas tree. As I was sitting on the couch watching her hang the ornaments she turned around and held up one of the old felties and said, "Mama remember how you were going to throw these away? Arn't you glad I rescued them?" As I smiled and said yes, my heart was full of Christmas joy. It is indeed the little moments that I cherish.

XOXO

Catherine

December Daily Album: days one, two, three...

For a couple of years now I have been following Ali Edward's project of creating a December Daily Album to capture the 25 days leading to Christmas. This year I am using Carol Wingert's December kit as the base for my album, which I can then alter to make my own :) The beautiful cover is Carol's design...isn't it lovely?

Day One

Day Two

Days Three and Four...day four is tucked inside the envelope

Day Five....let it snow

Day Six...off to Mass to celebrate St Nicholas

The album is a hand sewn and assembled with velvet ribbon book and it is 6" X 9"

I love that on December 26th I have an album finished that chronicles our journey to Christmas.

PS...I took the photos befor adding my journaling, oops.

XOXO

Catherine

It just isn't Christmas without cookies...

One of my favorite parts of Christmas has always been making beautiful homemade cookies to share with family and friends. I am particularly fond of this "old" classic and I hope you will try them this year.

All ready to pop into the oven

My sweet little helper, Sophia, who was the official jam tester as well.

Quality control specialist at work. Greyson is evaluating our team efforts :)

Now where did I put the milk or perhaps the champagne...

Have a wonderful day filled with yummies and as Buddy says (from the movie Elf)

"I thought maybe we could make ginger bread houses, and eat cookie dough, and go ice skating, and maybe even hold hands"

PS...don't forget to visit Jessi's blog so you can see a list of all the Cookie Exchange players and visit their blogs as well. Have fun and don't eat too much along the way :)

XOXO

Catherine

It's beginning to look alot like...

I am playing along with Scrappy Jessi and her third annual cookie exchange. Hope you will drop bye for a yummy visit, December 3

I recently enrolled in Jessica Sprague's class, Holidays in Hand, and am going to attempt to follow the class promts during the busy holiday season. My goal is to stay focused on what is truly of value and important as I prepare for this Christmas season :)

December 1st, let the journey begin.

Catherine

Blessings to you and yours...

May your Thanksgiving holiday be filled with love and joy and perhaps some yummy food as well.
Catherine

The preparations begin...

Cinamon, allspice, cranberries wafting through the house, yes the smell of Thanksgiving is in the air. Pate brise to make for tomorrow's fresh from the oven apple pie and Grandpa's most wonderful apple crisp as well.

Today is preparation day and that means lots of cooking and double checking to make sure all the fresh ingredients are all accounted for.



Gratitude

Today I am grateful for the fact that our first grandson is home with us now from school. And that today is the last day of school for the little ones as well. Family together for that I am truly thankful!

With a little luck Cristina, Corbin and I may be able to sneak out and go to the movies to see New Moon, second on the vampire trilogy. What could be nicer :)

My {View} includes a fresh turkey, apples, and cranberries...oh my

Catherine