Merry Christmas!

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and Peace on Earth.

From the Marmelade Gypsy...

And Jeanie (here with Greg, Kevin and Rick) at a divine pre-holiday dinner last week!

See you in a few days, once I recover from too many cookies and (never) too much merriment!

Christmas -- all this and more...

Posting things I love all month, Christmas things that make me happy, is tons of fun. But to me Christmas has lots of meanings.

Christmas is the celebration of new traditions with the men I love most -- here we are cookie decorating on Christmas Eve, an annual tradition.

Christmas is getting together with friends. Here are two pix of us at my house last week.

Christmas is snowpeople -- real...

And of the decorative variety!

Christmas is remembering special childhood moments -- looking at the creche...

Christmas with my best childhood pal, Major...

And those great Christmases with my mom -- the ultimate Christmas Queen!

Christmas is recalling carols by the piano with my uncle and cousins.

Christmas is entertaining...

...and setting a lovely table (with Christmas dishes, of course!)

Christmas is special ornaments. The gingerbread man atop the tree in the photo above was made by my dad for mom in an "original wrapping" contest we had. He sewed it by hand and stuffed a pair of earrings in the space he left in the seam!

Christmas is making things -- projects done (and many more, undone!)

Christmas is a cup of tea or hot chocolate with Christmas cookies from this teapot...

Or this one!

Or this right jolly ol' hand!

And little marshmallow snowmen!

Christmas is my next door neighbor's lawn decorations! (This is only a wee corner.)

Christmas is a chatty orange boy who loves sitting under the tree.

And of course, there is the spiritual component of Christmas, one I can never forget.

I wish those of you who celebrate Christmas a merry one, and those of you who celebrate other things -- Solstice, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and of course the New Year, many happy moments this holiday season.

O Tannenbaum!

These are a few of my favorite trees! This year I have 14, I think. That counts the wee ones. I think nine or 10 are three feet or more. I like trees even more than ribbon!

The Living Room tree is the biggest.

It displays a variety of ornaments... some handmade, some purchased, some rather old, many are gifts.

The oldest is Grandma's beaded ornament.

One of the newest is by my friend Beth, part of a collaged ornament exchange. She did this using a photo I'd posted on the blog of me and my first dog, Major.

I have to say that everything on this tree is a hodgepodge. Lately on morning shows while getting ready for work, I keep hearing "pick one or two colors and work with that." This tree has everything. Stimpy's collar. My Barbie doll (holding down the back of the tree as ballast, since I didn't have enough kitty litter boxes to anchor the legs). Poor childhood art. Framed photos over the years. Ornaments picked up on trips to Canada, Japan, and all over the US. Things my friends have made so thoughtfully and beautifully. Stuff I bought because I loved it. Lots of cats...

My big tree is my life story in ornaments.

Generally, I have a tree that is the Winter White tree -- maybe a few Santas, but mostly snowflakes, snow-people. It stays up through February.

This year I decided to feature some of my antique postcards.

But I did leave a few Santas and ornaments!

This is the Solstice Tree -- suns, moons and stars.

The ATC tree is in my art room -- all ATCs from various swaps. It's a wonderful tribute to original art in miniature.

Gypsy always gets a tree, but this time it's on the kitchen counter! I'm hoping he doesn't visit it!

In my bedroom, there are two trees. The Snowpeople Tree has wee snowfolks.

Dad's memorial tree includes ornaments related to fishing, nature and the lake.

In the family room is "Mom's Tree." This has ornaments she collected, as well as old favorites from our family tree like this "winter wonderland ball," which was always the first ornament on the tree! (I'm hoping to later post a children's story illustrated with her storybook ornaments, so I'll save those for another time. Probably May.)

And here is a tree not at all my own -- it belongs to my friends Mark and Jan. It's enormous and simply breathtaking. No photo can bring its magic into clear focus. And it is my favorite!

Here's my blogaversary drawing item -- felted bag, big enough for a small craft project or a book.

Speaking of comments, thank you all for the wonderful kind and lovely thoughts you have shared with me on my blogaversary post. They mean so very much to me -- as do you!