santa baby . . .

Hello, I'm so glad you're here!  (Who am I kidding??  I'm so glad *I'M* here!  Hahaha!)  

Welcome, welcome to the first post of the annual Online Advent Calendar, hosted by Jo at Serendipitous Stitching! Each day she'll update the source post to reveal the day's guest poster!  It's loads of fun and a wonderful way to count down to Christmas, stitchingly!  Every year, Jo chooses a theme—this year it's Santas—and asks her bloggers to share a theme-related tidbit, and a Christmas stitching! And this year, I'm very honored to be December 1; Day ONE!  So on to it!

I've been a Santa-lover my whole life.  In other words, I still believe.  :)  I used to have an extensive collection of Santas of all sorts, shapes, and sizes, but when we moved from the house to the RV, I pared down a lot, and have continued to do so over the last fourteen years that we've been fulltime RVers.  Still, I have my very first Santa, who's nearly as old (aka "vintage") as I am . . .

Isn't he beautiful?! I also have two beautiful Jim Shore Santas, but would you believe, I haven't decorated yet?  I'm saving that for this weekend!  So they're not out to take a photo of, to share.

We also have lots of Santa traditions in our family.  For example, there's the visit to go see Santa.  Joc has done that with her kiddos from Ellie's first year . . .

Ellie and Santa 2012

Ellie (with Sawyer) and Santa 2013. Love Sawyer's holding his ears!

Merkel Girls and Santa 2014

Merkel Girls and Santa 2015

Merkel Girls and Santa 2016

These just get more hilarious as they go. My-oh-my, what a handful they were with him!  And he was the best, most patient, and hilarious Santa ever!  This year they took everyone including Ezra, and I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it sure wasn't this . . .

Merkel Family and Santa 2023

All I can think of is that Ezra equates men with dark beards to his dad, and men with white beards to his Pawpaw!  LOL!

On Christmas Eve, one of our favorite traditions is to go down to the main circle through Joc's community, and catch Santa coming through on the fire truck!!  

The kids (and this adult, as well) are delighted by this charming service (check out Edith's rapt little face)!

Then there's always the Galaxy of Lights tour at our local Botanical Gardens.  I've done the walking tour the last couple of years, and it's so much FUN to see all the lights and special effects!  But my favorite display is—yeah, you guessed it—Santa and his sleigh!

I think an elf is holding the reigns while Santa slips down the chimney!!

I gave a lot of thought to what I'd share Christmas stitching-wise in this post.  To be honest, other than this cross-stitched tree I shared in August . . .

And this 2008 BOM Christmas Quilt that I finished and shared last December . . .

I haven't done a lot of Christmas stitching over the past two years.  So I decided to share this darling ornament that fits the theme . . .

I loved creating this little fellow! I didn't use a pattern (so I don't have one to share).  He's based off of a tin Santa ornament I had and wanted to replicate in felt.

Such fun!

Glad tidings to you, dear reader!  I wish you a Merry Christmas and a joy-filled New Year!  Don't forget to check in with Jo at Serendipitous Stitching each day, to count down the days until Christmas!  Thank you, Jo, for always doing such a lovely job with your blog hops!

And to all, a good night.  :)

hop hop hoppin . . .

Hello!! Welcome to my contribution to the Hallowe'en Trick or Treat Mystery Phrase Hop, hosted by Jo at Serendipitous Stitching!  I'll scare...errrr....share some spooky stitching with you, along with a letter, and a link to the next blog!  You collect all the letters and guess the mystery phrase!!  Doesn't that sound like fun?

Fall has definitely found its way to the camp . . . 

I love the changing leaves!  We have such a variety of trees, we get all kinds of color when the season arrives!

I love to decorate seasonally, and this is my favorite time of year for it.  I've gotten to the point where most of my decor is hand made!  And while I'm not really into scary stuff, a tad of Hallowe'en "fright" can be fun . . .

This hexi table topper is spooky enough with the owl and the black cats and spider webs!  But stars and candy corn temper the ring of fire!

Full moon . . . adds to the spookiness of the season!

Tell me though, how spooky can a jack-o-lantern really be, with a great big grin like this one is wearing?!

This was a fun wool felt project that I really enjoyed stitching up!

I haven't done a lot of stitching this fall . . . my Nook is a mess (and needs a dedicated week of tending), and what with Todd's treatments and retiring, life has been crazy!!  I did get over to visit the grands last week for a paint day . . .

We had a hauntingly good time painting spooky little touches on pre-printed pictures!!  Of course, any day with the grands is going to be the best!

Okay, okay . . . enough of all that and let's get to the alphabet!

My letter was "G" (just in case it was hard to tell).   Now be off with you and hurry on over to Beth's Needlework Stash for your next clue!  And be sure to stop by Jo's blog — she's such a fantastic hostess!!

I'll be back soon with a proper update!  Happy Hallowe'en!!

:)

battlecry: retreat . . .

LOL!  Sometimes you just need to retreat . . . on a retreat . . . to a retreat.  That's exactly what I did last weekend! But it was my favorite kind . . . the kind I don't have to drive to.  A Camp MACOBA retreat! This was my Sassy Affirmation Sisterhood Sister's (SASS's) third annual summer retreat at the camp.  It was originally scheduled for July, but Todd's surgery happened, so we pushed it to August.  GOOD thing those cabins have A/C!!

It was Gail's (center) birthday weekend, so of course the appropriate signage was put in place!

I didn't even bring my machine this year.  I worked on getting my two wool tubs and my tub of floss in order, finished up several handwork projects, made some acorns, kitted some wool applique projects for fall, and started *and* finished a delightful Christmas tree cross stitch.

Wool Candy Corn bowl filler (in front of my fabric bouquet)!

 

LOVE this finish!!!

Acorns!!  :)

 

We took a field trip into town on Friday and visited Patches & Stitches and had dinner at a fabulous pizzeria, Sam & Gregs.

Saturday we took a field trip down to the creek! We splashed for a bit and took the requisite "feet in the water" photo!

And we all took a ton of pics of the creek, too!  ;) My idyllic spot!

There are a TON of assorted varieties of mushrooms/fungus around the camp right now . . . it's been so hot and humid! There was one 'shroom that was way bigger than my hand!  But this was a fungi I'd not seen before . . . 

It's called a Wood Ear Fungi. Aptly named, right?  That's exactly what it looked like on the tree bark!  So cool! The woods have ears . . . they're listening all around . . .

Sunday we all felt relaxed and rejuvenated!  It was Gail's actual birthday, and since we'd done the 'feet' shot in the creek, we decided to do a party hat shot parting shot . . .

We're so silly!  I'm glad I have a circle of friends like this.  They're the BEST!  :)

 

I'm ready for another long weekend . . . yay for Labor Day!  We'll try and head out on the boat on Monday, with the Merkel crew.  So look for lake pics next week!

Arrivederci!!

:)

right on time . . .

You would not think that I'd have much to share, seeing as I just posted four days ago ... but, surprise! I have another photo-laden post, with a variety of content! 

Thursday evening was our guild's last meeting of the guild year ... our birthday party, so to speak. It was decorated beautifully!

There's always a shot of the outgoing board.  You'll notice me at the very top, right. I won't be on the 2023-24 board; my plate is rather full right now.

The quilt behind us is our 2024 Fanfare Quilt Show opportunity (raffle) quilt.  Isn't it beautiful??!  Created by one of our members (with help from other members). It's so beautiful it deserves a solo photo . . .

Chance tickets are $1 a piece.  I've already sold twenty.  Ha! I haven't even bought my own, yet!

Friday, Todd and I got up super early and were on the water again at sunrise.

It was a beautiful day! < insert beautiful lake photo here >

The temps couldn't have been more agreeable, with a lovely breeze out of the west.  We didn't stay out terribly long, but we enjoyed the time we had.

Saturday I picked up Ellie and we headed to L'Etoile Patisserie!  

It's a sweet little French bakery in town, owned by a dear couple (the wife is in my book club).

After much deliberation, Ellie chose a pain au chocolat with a mug of tea.  She looks very sophisticated, non?! From the bakery, we visited an LQS - Patches & Stitches - because I needed a skein of floss.  Ellie informed me she needed a new beading needle, so we picked up a pack of those, too.  That's what Neesey's are for, right?! Then we headed to the grocery store, then back to the camp. I helped Ellie make a cheesecake . . .

She did a great job with it! And then we tooled around the camp for a bit. 

This is inside the new outdoor chapel.  It's nearly finished ... they just have to run the electricity to the building. I can't wait to see it clear of scaffolding!

Here's a shot from the outside.  It's so beautiful.  Our Campers on Mission volunteers got the building up in May.  A small group of volunteers have continued to work on it and the landscaping. It's almost there!

Ellie and I watched movies and worked on our respective hand work projects. 

She's almost finished with hers, and I'm just getting started! After dark, we headed over to the Firefly Cabin to spend the night. 

We push the bunks together and pull the mattress down from the top for a little extra padding! It was a true Camp MACOBA adventure!  Ellie even spotted this beautiful cicada:

Not that she'd get anywhere close to it.  LOL!!  Sunday morning while we waited for it to be time to go to church, Ellie finished her pumpkin stitchery . . . 

This is another stitchery that she came up with the concept, and I drew it out for her approval and traced it on fabric for her.

Isn't it wonderful?!  She does such lovely work.  I promised her that when she finished it, I'd stitch it up into a pillow sham for her, so I guess the ball is now in my court!

We ended our sleepover weekend by dropping her home, and celebrating her dad's birthday (which is why we made cheesecake)!

His birthday was earlier in August, but schedules have been crazy, so here we are!  And anyway, month-long birthday celebrations are a thing, right?  Well, they are for me, anyway.  ;)

Sunday evening a made some progress on *my* stitchery:

Another sweet cross stitched piece from Pinker 'n Punkin Quilting.  I love her little freebie designs and I was just itching to do something with pumpkins!

So this is me, on a Monday, all caught up; have a fabulous week!

Cioa! 

:)