Merry Christ-mas!

All is still and quiet in the house.

The freshly fallen snow outside is glittering in the blue night-light of winter.

We've watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and still have A Christmas Story to look forward to.  My bro and I had a "light-saber" fight with the wrapping paper rolls, and my tummy is telling me that I ate too much chocolate and sugared popcorn.  But I don't care, because it's Christmas Eve!

What can I say?  A Muppet Christmas Carol is one of my absolute favorite Christmas movies. :)

But through all of the warm feelings of peace on earth, goodwill to men, I pray that I will never lose the wonder and awe of what Christmas truly is...it's the celebration of the birth of my Saviour, Jesus Christ.

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will towards men.

and it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said on to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.

And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.

And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.

: : Luke 2: 8-18 : :

During this season of celebrating Christ's birth, my church has been focusing on the wonder of His birth.
Just a wee babe born in a stable, yet...
Jesus was God.
Jesus was man.
Jesus was a servant.
Jesus was/is our Saviour.
Is that enough wonder for you?!  I can't even begin to fully take it all in.
Let's take the shepherds, who were the first to hear of Jesus' birth, as our example and share the wonderful news with everyone we meet!  Our Saviour is born!  Glory to God in the highest!


Merry Christmas everyone!

Miscellany

After several days of silence, we now have our internet back.  Hooray!!  Due to the wonderful, snowy weather we've been having lately, our internet was knocked-out for a bit.  In all honesty, it was rather pleasant not having access to the internet for a few days.  It definitely made the day less busy.  More time for reading, crocheting, spending time with my mom and watching movies.

Ah, yes - movies.   I have official broken my record for movies checked out from the library in one day.

24

I repeat, 24.  Before you look completely shocked, it was not my intention to take home twenty four movies.  No, that was the library's idea.  All of my requests (some of which I have been waiting for for months) all decided to come in on the same day.  Thank you, library dear, I love you too. *sarcasm*

I felt like sinking through the floor.  My brother said it was embarrassing, walking out of the library with me toting two bags full of DVDs.  I it makes it look better, I also took home five more books.

One of those books was titled Teach Yourself Visually: Knitting.  This book finally unlocked the mysteries of knitting for me.  I can now knit.

*applause*

And I completely recommend that book.  Very clear, easy to understand instructions and pictures.

Now to invest in a few more knitting needles and I'll be off and running.  Who knows, you may be seeing some knitted items in the shop soon.

About a month ago I received a chain letter in the mail.  The old-fashioned kind with a stamp on it.  It was from one of my new church friends, and it contained two, purple quilt squares.  The idea is for me to pass on copies of the letter with quilt squares of my own to four people and eventually I'll have enough squares to make a Purple Charm Quilt.  How fun is that?!  The only problem is, I've run short on people to send them to.

So, I had an idea - would any of you ladies be interested in receiving and passing on this quilt chain letter?  If so, please send me an email here:

edithmacalpine{at}gmail{dot}com

And our power just went out...but we have a HUGE generator which kicked in after 30 seconds.  Thank goodness for that!

Our church's Christmas Program last Sunday was excellent.  They took the story of the census, Mary and Joseph and turned it into a Channel 7 News Report.  Very, very well done.  Especially the hilarious inn keeper who kept popping out of his "inn" and saying "Helllloooo".  His inn was a small cubicle about 5'x2'.  Very roomy.  My favorite was the "commercial".  The shepherds came up on stage and were beating their socks on rocks to clean them, and then a guy comes on and sings a catchy jingle about Star Beam, the #1 detergent for cleaning socks!  It was awesome.   I think the best part was seeing all of these adults and kids from our church up on stage in costume.  So much fun, especially the pastor's cameo as a wise man.  My bro and I sat with a friend and whispered and chuckled through the whole thing. ;) 

Who all has seen The Hobbit already?   I keep telling myself, "You waited a whole year, you can wait a few days more...", but I cannot wait!!  Hopefully this Saturday we'll be able to go.

And that's all I have time for now.  I've got to get outside and do some snow removal from the top of the chicken coop ASAP before it collapses.

Have a wonderful day and Merry Christmas!

Outfit | Winter Orchard

It's a beautiful wintry day here with fluffy clouds floating through the sky - the snow dusted trees looks so lovely against the blue sky.

The lovely Grace asked me to do a guest post for her Old-Fashioned Homemade Christmas event, so I did.

I shared both my Ruffle Scarf and Bow Belt tutorials.  Check them out here!  And you'll definitely want to look around and see what other Christmas inspiration and goodies are in Grace's Garden Walk.

Along those same lines, I concocted a rather lovely crocheted creation this morning.  It turned out so beautiful, that I immediately decided to list it for sale in my shop...

: : The Knotted Headband : :

original pattern found here {but i tweaked it a bit - can't leave well enough alone, I guess}

I've been wearing this all day long, around the house, to town.  It is so comfy and keeps my ears nice and toasty when I'm outside!  I love that it looks a bit like a hat, especially if you're wearing your hair up.  It's hard to find winter hats that work with long hair.

| o u t f i t |

knotted headband - made by me, available from Wool & What-not

scarf - gifted {Belk}

purple cable knit sweater - Kohls {Croft & Barrow}

purple t-shirt - Fred Meyer

denim skirt - made by me

boots - no idea

Happy Trails y'all and Merry Christmas!

12/12/12 & New in the Shop

This is it folks - the last repeating date that any of us will see.

12/12/12

That makes me kind of sad.   I was going to do something really cool to commemorate this date...but I couldn't think of anything.  So, instead I'll share some new items from my shop.  Not sure if that's a good substitute or not, but nevertheless...

Three new colors of Ruffle Scarves!
real teal // deep purple // sage green

four feet of delicious ruffles

: :

And three new Granny Square Laptop Sleeves!
grey, yellow & lavender // mint green & perfect pink // lilac purple, lime green & aqua blue

Merry Christmas!

p.s.
Make sure to hop over and check out Kellie's new Etsy shop, too!

It's awesome.

It's awesome...when you can step outside in your pink kitty pajamas and there are no neighbors to see or care.   And let me tell you, I really rock the mud boots, jim-jams, barn coat, bed-head look.  At least the chickens are impressed!

It's awesome...when you start to get up from the computer with your headphones still on, but you remember to take them off before you drag the speakers off the desk and onto the floor.

It's awesome...getting a letter from your friend who's currently in the Philippines working at a clinic as a midwife.  You can read about Sarah's adventures here!

It's awesome...watching The Swiss Family Robinson with your family and being able to quote every line almost word for word before the characters say it.  We've watched that movie more times than I can count, ever since we were little kids at Grandma's house.

It's awesome...remembering what a crush I had on Fritz (James MacArthur) when I was 8-years-old.  I still just love that character - he's so manly. ;)

It's awesome...driving in the rain.  Not torrential rain, just enough to count as rain.  I love it.

It's awesome...doing the dishes while your brother sits at the computer and reads you the rough draft of his latest kids book.   Talk about laughing so hard you can't breath.  My brother has such a talent for putting words together.

It's awesome...hanging Christmas lights from the ceiling in your basement "playroom".  They make it look so festive and special!  I just love twinkling lights.  I think they're my favorite decoration.

It's awesome...when the 94-year-old man at your church gives his testimony and then sings all four verses of How Great Thou Art during church.  It was so beautiful and he still has a great voice!

It's awesome...looking at the beautiful nativity scene your neighbor puts up every year.  It's so lovely in the snow.

It's awesome...when you're at a friends house and suddenly you find yourself part of a back-rub "train" with seven people in it, all giving each other back-rubs.  Yeah, we do things like that.

It's awesome...when you're at the same friends house and suddenly find your height and "wingspan" being measured and then helping to measure everyone else in the room.  The length of your wingspan is supposed to equal your height, and we wanted to see how many of us had long arms.  My wingspan is 3 inches longer than my height.   And yes, all of this took place after 9:00 at night...we were well on our way to an extreme case of the Midnight Sillies. ;)

Merry Christmas!

Question: What is one of the silliest things that you and your friends or family have done late at night?  I want to know!

Lately, life...

If they were giving out prizes for the best screen scream, Janet Munro as Roberta in The Swiss Family Robinson would get my vote.  A very close second would be Faye Wray in the original King Kong.

:smile:

My life continues to be full of wonderful busy-ness this month.  Good times with friends and family, decorating for Christmas, wishing for snow (finally got some again!), shipping Etsy orders, sipping hot cocoa, and crocheting while watching The Bishop's Wife, Christmas in Connecticut, and White Christmas (among other Christmas favorites - we haven't watched my very favorite yet, It's a Wonderful Life).

Life also includes looking for my first "real" job.  I've never worked outside the home, and after much thought and prayer I've decided it would be beneficial for me to have the experience of "going to work" under my belt.  Right now, at the suggestion of a friend, I'm looking into working at a florist shop.  Doesn't that sound perfectly delightful?!  It's so me, too.  I love designing things and I love flowers.  So, last Monday I drove downtown, took a deep breath, strolled into a shop and asked for a job.  They don't have any openings right now, but they did give me an application to fill out and return.  I'll admit to being ridiculously proud of myself for being so brave.  That sounds rather pathetic, but it was a big deal for little, formerly homeschooled, shy me.  And do you know what?  It felt good.  Being stretched beyond your comfort is a good thing sometimes.

:grin:

Enough talk though - here are a few pictures from our last Game Night, thanks to Kellie and Algy.

This was during our "snack time" when we sang Happy Birthday to Mandy and Matthew.  Alex found this frankly awesome Incredible Hulk children's board book at the used bookstore.  He thought it would be the perfect gift for Matthew.  And it was.  Especially when Alex started reading it aloud to him.

"Ooh, see who's peaking through the window, Matthew?  It's Captain America!"

My brother is awesome.

Kellie has this knack of taking candid pictures right as I'm "chewing" in my lip.  I've got to break that habit...;)

We had a marvelous evening playing Pictionary, a new game called George, and Balderdash. 

The Lord has blessed me with so many wonderful friends.  Each and every one of them are so special.

Happy Trails, folks!

Question: What are some of your favorite games to play with your family or friends?  Do you prefer board games or action games?  I want to know!

Doctor Who Pendant Giveaway Winners..finally!

I'm sorry.  I'm so sorry.

No, really.  I am.  

I don't generally apologize when I'm late sharing something on my blog (because it's my blog and I make the rules;), but this time you all deserve an apology, because this stretched out far longer than it should have.

And now that I have that off my chest...

Just to refresh everyone's memory, the three winners of this giveaway will win two pendants/keychains from Doomsday Studios - one with the design of their choice and one from the amazing selection in the shop.

And the winners are...

KatySue Pillsbury

&

Alexandra

&

Darby May

Congratulations, ladies!  Leave me a comment with your email addresses (which will not be published) and I will alert the shop owner. =)

Allons-y!