And MERRY CHRISTMAS once again, LOL. If you read my TIP BLOG, then you already received my greetings, but you can never say it enough, LOL. Even my favorite radio station is playing non-stop Christmas music to get us all in the mood!

Like all of you (I'm sure), we're busy getting ready for Christmas (or whatever holiday you may celebrate this time of year). I'm pleased to say that all my shopping is done - though not all wrapped yet - our tree is up, and I've already been to a Christmas party and a Christmas lunch, (GBG). Thursday our guild is having a stitch-in day - a chance to relax from the bustle of the holiday and enjoy stitching with friends!

Bill is home day after tomorrow (so I better get HIS gifts wrapped tomorrow), and we'll have his HUGE family Christmas gathering on Sunday - which means I'll spend all day Saturday baking homemade buns (mmmmm LOL). I not only make enough for the meal, but a dozen EACH for my MIL, two SIL's, and a couple nieces - and I better not show up w/o them (GBG).

On Christmas Eve I'll make a few more dozen buns for our own dinner, as well as gifts for our minister and church pianist. Our oldest will be home in time to make our famous family trifle (another MMMM, layers of chocolate pudding, bananas and crushed chocolate cookies, with a layer of cherry pie filling in the very middle, and whipped topping and chocolate bar shavings on top). Boy oh boy! LOL Good thing we only make this once a year, or we'd all be big as houses.

I'm going in to the church office this week and do up the final 2 bulletins for the year, so I can have the next couple weeks off to spend with my family (did I mention I'm the church secretary? It's a part time position, only a few hours a week). One of my favorite traditions is the whole family attending the Christmas Eve Service at our church... and if I'm lucky it will be a candlelight service! So nice to sing the old carols, listen to beautiful music, and enjoy a quiet time with family and friends in the midst of the hectic activity that too often surrounds this time of year.

Usually I put the turkey in the oven late on Christmas Eve, to cook slowly over night, but I get a break this year, as Mom has decided she's cooking the turkey (and if we're lucky, she'll make her yummy cocoa cakes - white cake cut into cubes, frosted with chocolate icing and rolled in crushed peanuts - (another goodie we only get at Christmas). My sis is making pies, so all I have to do (besides the buns) is veggies... so I'll do the Christmas breakfast as well - French toast with strawberries...a family favorite. Though since it's Christmas I'll probably do up some bacon on the side as well *wink*. Can you tell that food is a big part of the celebration for our gang, ()GBG)?

As I mentioned earlier, our oldest will be home for Christmas, and my sis and BIL will come and spend the night on Christmas Eve, which means we'll all be together to open gifts on Christmas morning. You may remember that our youngest lives in England, but we will skype while we open gifts, so she and her family can share in the fun. We even do up a gift bag for Miss Mollee (our dog), and it's such a hoot to watch her pull out the tissue paper and discover a stuffy she can carry around and pull the stuffing out of while we open gifts, LOL.

I'm trying to find time to work on new designs (oops, sorry, LOL, that's biz talk!), but there's so much going on each day, I don't seem to be making much headway (sigh). Ah well, it's lovely this time of year just to get out and see the lights, and watch the people so busy, but still smiling and sharing holiday greetings with strangers... Please take some time to relax and enjoy this festive time of year, to get together with friends and family, and from my family to yours, all the best wishes for a wonderful holiday season! Happy stitching, and I'll talk to you next year!