Holidays

With Thanksgiving behind us, we now look forward to the Christmas holiday, but before we move on to all the frenzy, I want to reflect on the wonderful Thanksgiving we had this year with our family in Pennsylvania and also the fact that Galen and I.....

held our granddaughter (from NY) for the very first time.  

What a joy she is and we just couldn't get enough of her....

our little Esmé Catalina.  

On Thanksgiving day we ate a big delicious dinner, played cards, took a walk and enjoyed catching up with family. 

Later in the week we enjoyed Lancaster City Market (mmmm, woopie pies and sticky buns!) and drove around the Amish countryside.  No matter how often I've seen them, I still love the horse and buggies.  

Amy, Bruno and Esmé at the downtown Lancaster square.  

It was good to see everyone and so hard to leave.  

Oh, and Otis and Riley enjoyed the trip... 

but they were glad to get home.  

Happy Thanksgiving!

Forever on Thanksgiving Day  

The heart will find the pathway home. 

~Wilbur D. Nesbit 

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!  

~ so much to be thankful for...  

December

Hello my dear family and friends. Can you believe it's December already? We had such an enjoyable Thanksgiving holiday, a busy time it was, and here we are in December, and still busy busy. Happy Birthday!! to my oldest daughter, Jen, (today is her birthday. While my youngest daughter, Amy, was here from NY over Thanksgiving she ran a 50K race (32 miles) and we cheered her on to the finish line! Congratulations again, Amy!

Galen and I are getting quite a few orders for wooden toys for Christmas and I just finished two pet paintings and another one to be done. There is a cookie party at my sister's on Saturday, family coming to dinner on Sunday, and decorating for the holiday which might have to wait a bit longer.

I haven't had much time to spend on the computer but I am anxious to get around and visit each of you and see what you've been up to, and I can't wait to see all those wonderful Christmas decorations! Hope you are all doing well!

Oh, and by the way, my amaryllis is in full bloom! It's beautiful, and I am enjoying it! Will it make it to Christmas? not sure...

Happy Thanksgiving

Wishing all of you a Happy Thanksgiving!

Our youngest daughter is flying in from NY this week. We are all preparing for a feast to enjoy at our oldest daughter's home on Thanksgiving Day. I hope all of you have a good week and I'll be back after the holiday.

Happy Turkey Day!

A Pennsylvania Dutch Holiday

This year for Thanksgiving we traveled back home to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania to spend the holiday with family.



Otis and Riley love a road trip so they were in their glory sitting right up front where they could see everything.

Traveling up Interstate 95 we passed the beautiful clock tower in Richmond, Virginia (below).

We noticed the farther north we got the trees were more bare and the fall color was gone (colder too!).

We had Thanksgiving dinner with hubby's (Galen) family. The table was set for 15 and we enjoyed a Lancaster County feast of pig stomach (a Pennsylvania German meal) and all the trimmings right down to the delicious pumpkin pie.

On Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, we took a drive to the Amish country and Intercourse where Galen grew up.

I always enjoy seeing the clothes lines full of wash. Evidently this was wash day ~ and a good one too, because it was very windy that day.

Zimmerman's Hardware store where Galen helped with the Saturday auctions behind the store.

Below is the home where Galen lived until graduation. It's now a Bed and Breakfast.

This is the one room school house where Galen attended third and fourth grade.

There happened to be an Amish school that just left out when we were passing by, and below you can see the children walking home, pulling a wagon filled with their lunch boxes and books.

We stopped by an Amish broom shop and I bought a hand made broom. I like the Amish brooms (I think they sweep better) :)

We passed by the Red Caboose Motel (which looks like a fun place to spend the night) ~I've always wanted to but we never did,

and as we waited at the railroad tracks, we saw the Strasburg train filled with tourists and visitors that were at the Strasburg Railroad Museum.

On the way home that day passing through Ronks, this covered bridge looked beautiful as the sun was setting.

We had a great Thanksgiving holiday with family in Pennsylvania, but it's always nice to get home.

Happy Thanksgiving

Paintings by Grandma Moses

folkartist

1860-1961

Wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving!

Donna

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing everyone a very happy thanksgiving day.

Holidays

We enjoyed a wonderful, relaxing Thanksgiving day at our daughter's home this year. What a treat! We had the traditional dinner with a big juicy turkey and all the tasty trimmings and it was SO delicious! ~ I think I won't be able to eat for a week!

I am truly thankful for my family.

~~~~~

And now that Thanksgiving Day is over we move on in a flash to the next holiday. Isn't it funny (or sad) how there are Christmas decorations, Christmas trees and even Santa in the mall before Thanksgiving.


In the past we've always put our tree up about two weeks before Christmas. This year I'm in the holiday spirit early. I've been dragging things down from the attic and started decorating.


Below is a small tree I put in the study on top of the desk. It gives such a warm glow to the room at night.



The mantel is decorated with garland and our granddaughter's Christmas stocking.




Some old Christmas song books on the coffee table.

A little sparkly decoration for my paperwhites. The paperwhites are budding already!




And some new little holiday projects for my etsy shop.



Only 26 more days till Christmas!

Thanksgiving Day

This Thanksgiving day our family gathered at my sister's home in Chapel Hill for a wonderful turkey
dinner. When we arrived the table was set beautifully, as usual.




Spending time with family is a blessing in itself and one realizes how much there is to be thankful for. After filling ourselves to the brim with delicious turkey and all the fixins, we played games and caught up on all the latest news and enjoyed each others company.

Later in the day we took a walk; the weather was warm and the leaves were falling, and we got a chance to walk off some of that big yummy dinner!

A good Thanksgiving Day filled with many blessings!

Thanksgiving

Hope everyone has a good week and a very Happy Thanksgiving Day!

Weekend photos

This weekend was spent catching up on some of my holiday magazines,

watching a movie,

reading,

baking a pumpkin pie;

and enjoying the outdoors.

Otis and Riley found a nice warm spot in the sun.