What .. more reindeer? lol

Hope everyone had a great weekend .. mine was great, mixed with some sadness, but I'll get to that soon.

Friday I took the day off and went Christmas shopping with my Dad. It has been a tradition with us that started back in my teens when he and I would go Christmas shopping for Mom. When mom passed away he asked me to shop with him for the grandkids .. for the years it's grown to a full day of shopping with him, starting with breakfast and ending sometimes after dinner .. but he gets almost all his shopping done and we have some special father/daughter time together. We had another successful day of shopping and I was home in time to meet up with Lisa for a late dinner. She told me at dinner that she was laid off on Thursday .. no warning, no notice, nothing .. 5 employees were let go that day. What surprised me the most, and her, is that she's was a manager of her department. Guess there's never any guarantees these days .. she'd been there 14 years. Very scary to be 53 and having to start over again. She has great skills, very sellable, but well age I'm afraid will be an issue. Keep her in your thoughts please.

Saturday was spent finishing up tying the last of the fleece blankets .. they are officially done! woo hoo!! and it was fun too and of course I came up with about 3 or 4 more people I'd like to make them for lol .. there's always next year. After the blankets came the usually weekend house stuff and then dinner and a movie with my friend Joan (she lives across the street). Joan and I have known each other for 22 years. Her kids are Maia (18) and Derek (22). Our kids continue to be very close good friends. Even though she lives across the street, we don't see each other as often has we'd like .. so every few months we try to get together for dinner and a movie. We went to see Enchanted Saturday night .. omgosh was a fun movie! Have you seen it? It's just a delightful movie and who can't enjoy watching Patrick Dempsey for 1 hour 50 mins? *drool* After the movie we went to dinner .. talked for almost 3 hours .. it was soo nice to catch up with her. And here's the other "sadness" .. her fil is dying .. her DH left this morning for Maine. Her fil was diagnosed with cancer 3 years ago and at the time they didn't expect him to last a year .. so the joy in all this is that the family got 3 extra years with him! That is such a blessing! He and his wife celebrated their 60th Wedding Anniversary last August .. God's Speed Bert, you will be missed ...

Sunday the boys went to the Seahawk football game .. so I had the house all to myself, well except for the 4 legged babies .. and it was a lazy day. I stitched a bit on my F&S exchange, played on the computer, and took a nap! lol .. gotta love lazy sundays :)

Thought I'd share a few more Christmas decorating pictures with you ... every Christmas I have old kid art work that I scotch tape up on the walls here and there .. now when your kids are 19 and 24, that art work is old and showing its wear and tear. Last year after Christmas, I took some of my bonus money from work and took my favorite art work to have framed. It was expensive, but I am so glad I did it ... look ...



This has got to be some of my favorite reindeer *smile*

Here's a picture of our piano that is in our living room .. I have family/friend Christmas pictures in the frames on top of the piano. Above the piano are our family Santa pictures. I saw this idea in a frame store years ago and loved it. We took Santa pictures every year and I was running out of ideas of how to display them .. this is perfect! I have 4 or 5 years that I need to get into the last frame .. I'll have to do that after Christmas before I pack them away.



and here's some new stash I received yesterday .. It's from Tanya, Sampler Lady's Esty Shop. Of course I HAD to have it! It came all wrapped in red tissue paper what that adorable snowflake ornament hanging on it .. what a lovely presentation it was .. sorry I forgot to take a picture before I ripped it open!




Thank you all for your comments about my reindeer herd and S&P "pots" (love that term Sally!). In answer to a couple of your questions .. no I don't keep the reindeer or the Christmas S&P's out all year .. although I've been tempted some years to do that. I find it makes them a bit more special when I get to see them for only a month every year. I have non-holiday S&P's that I display the rest of the year .. it's a nice combination of antiques, vacations and just everyday S&P's.

Sue, I'm still chuckling about "wayne"deers! I don't name them .. but I think I must find a "wayne" in the collection!

Marie, another January birthday friend :) We'll have to celebrate long distance! Wish I was going to be 48 again *grin*

Hope the week is treating you well and you are getting lots of stitching done .. stressfree right??

I'm grateful for being there for my friends when they need me ...