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December 3

Today officially kicked off the holiday season for me. The 30th Annual Humboldt Artisans Craft and Music Festival, a 3-day event, opened at the Redwood Acres Fairground. I guess this was the 16th annual trip for me :-) Here is a pic I was allowed to snap of a potter I ooh and aah over every year.

Those waves just kill me! Not to mention those windblown trees. Even just look at how creative she is with her 'price tags'. A silver paint pen on flat stones. Aah. I love creative people. Today I finally bought a piece.  A bowl that is almost all waves all the way around (which may have helped warm her up for photo-taking). I adore it, and if I end up gifting it to 'someone' like I said I was going to when I bought it, I must like that someone an awful lot. ;-) Every year I buy as much as I can for people on my list. SOOO much better than mall stuff, right? If you live anywhere near here I urge you to go this weekend! The number of talented people represented there is mind-blowing. I'll probably have to go back tomorrow now that I think about it!

December 2

Well, it's still not even midnight on the east coast so I'm good on the daily posting, right? This picture currently represents the only spot of sanity in my whole house. I've let all sorts of stuff (literally and figuratively) pile up and I feel very out of control for the most part. Two days ago I found Caleb crawling into the Christmas storage closet under the stairs dragging out plastic storage tub after plastic storage tub saying, "No really, I can get it all out for you! It'll be fun!" and I didn't even have it in me to bark, "NO!" in a meaningful enough way for him to stop. So now I have ornament boxes stacked 5 feet high just inside the front door. But if you look over them you can see this somewhat serene mantle. :-) ahhhh. 

I really really am trying to get in the spirit. I thought it might help if I printed off photos from happy Christmases past to put in these frames. You know--they ALL ended up being happy ones. We are so very blessed, it almost makes my heart ache when I think about it. 

I made sure we were all represented in the photos. John, our four girls and our three grands. That's Kadence on my lap with the Raggedy Ann doll. Remember that year? I made RA dolls with matching dresses for three new girls in our world. Five years...WHOOSH! That's how it goes my friends. So very fast. 

See you tomorrow.

 

December 1

Hello and Happy December! I even changed the perpetual calendar last night (ok, so it was still in October) so I have every intention of not missing this holiday season (like I just missed the whole last month)! Maybe checking in here every day via my virtual advent calendar will help? 

I recently came in to a boatload of vintage jewelry. Seriously...a small boat load. It may take all of 2011 to work through all of it, but I've started by listing the Christmas pins over on ebay. If you or someone you know collects these old pins you might want to go check them out. (I'm keeping this one. It isn't 'signed' so might not get much attention and I'd just as soon keep it!) 

See you tomorrow. :-)