Christmas, IHSW, More Gifts, & One Last Exchange

I trust that everyone had a happy & blessed Christmas!  Our's was filled with love, peace, contentment, & way too much food as shown by the extra 5 pounds showing on my scale! That's okay though ... it's Christmas   : )   I received some lovely gifts from my sweet babboo & will show you some stitching gifts in a moment.

I noticed this year that way too many people were saying they would be glad when Christmas would be over.  In fact, I wished one woman a Merry Christmas & her response was a sour "I'll be glad when it's over!"  Although I understand that not everyone is surrounded by happy circumstances at this time of year, it's still the time we celebrate the birth of our Savior!  Of course it's possible that these people do not give any thought to that   : (

I know that many of you are waiting to hear what Christmas book John chose to buy & read to me this year.  It is The Legend of the Candy Cane by Lori Walburg, illustrated by Richard Cowdrey.  It's a lovely story about a man who comes to a small pioneer town to open a store.  The townspeople wonder what type of store it will be.  A little girl knocks at his door to ask if he needs any help & discovers he is opening a candy store. While helping him unpack a crate, she finds a package of candy canes.  She has never seen this candy before.  This is when the man explains the meaning of the colors & shape of the candy cane.  Afterward, they visit every townsperson to share the candy & story with them.    

This year we had not one book, but two!  A small wrapped package came in the mail from Jo with instructions to open it on Christmas Eve.  Inside we found a book titled Jesus' Birthday Party.  This is a delightful story of the birth of Jesus, hilariously told from the point of view of the inkeeper who just wants a good night's sleep   : )   John & I thoroughly enjoyed it!  Thank you again Jo   : )

Last weekend was IHSW.  I made sure to take some stitches in my Dames of the Needle ornament which I showed you in my post on December 4th.  Here it is then ...

... & here it is now.

The color of the fabric in the bottom photo is truer to life than it appears in the top photo.  I didn't add all these stitches last weekend, but I did stitch the snowman hat & nose on the right as well as the hat & what you see of the snowman on the left.  I had to frog two branches of the tree because I had added one stitch more than I was supposed to & I couldn't fudge the snowman to accommodate it.  I'm really enjoying stitching this despite what to me is the fiddly-ness of it   : )

A few more gifts I sent have been received.

This was a freebie & I don't remember where it came from.  If anyone is familiar with it, please let me know   : )

Fabric:  32 ct evenweave (I think)

Floss:  Gloriana Luminescense 

Stitched for Vicki

Finished by Myra

Designer:  Foxwood Crossings

Designs:  Snowman - Snow Friends Sleds

Quaker - Quaker Sleds

Snowman stitched for Kevin

& for Robin (no blog)

Quaker stitched for Annette

Finished by me

Designer:  LHN

Design:  Peppermint Twist

Fabric:  32 ct linen

Floss:  DMC

Stitched for Sharon

Finished by Myra

     Designer:  Pine Mountain Designs

Design:  Let It Snow

Fabric:  14 ct blue Aida

Floss:  DMC

Stitched for my friend Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota

There's a wee bit of a story behind why I chose to stitch this for Mary.  When I lived in Bismarck, I would wake up on wonderfully cold winter mornings to find it snowing!  I would then call Mary & when she answered the phone, I would start to sing "Oh the weather outside is frightful ... let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!"  Yes, she thought I was crazy.  She undoubtedly still does   : )

My exchange package for Sarah finally reached Dubai   : )   You might remember seeing in my December 8th post the lovely ornaments & other goodies she sent to me. Sarah does not celebrate Christmas & instead wanted an exchange package with a patriotic theme.  I sent her a Bent Creek kit called Land of Liberty, a My Big Toe needle threader, & I stitched a pinkeep for her from a design by Country Rustic Primitives ... Liberty Hanging Pinkeep.  I stitched this on osnaburg fabric using DMC floss.  I stuffed it with clean sawdust & finished it myself.   

I received a few more gifts as well.  Vicki sent me this delightful Christmas Joy ornament.  I know you will be as bowled over as I was to learn that this was Vicki's very first attempt at finishing an ornament! I think she's a natural, don't you?  

I received this wonderful tea bag holder & some delicious tea from Sally.  Sally shares my love of tea   : )   The holder is stitched from a design by The Little Stitcher.  

Jen sent me a little wool applique pillow with a holly design & also a little punchneedle pillow featuring a pair of ice skates.  Jen is extremely creative & I think she designs 99.99% of the things she makes so I'm sure these 2 pillows were stitched from her own designs as well.  I am forever encouraging her to market her designs.  I think she was blessed with a real talent!   

I had hoped to leave you with some photos of our Christmas tree.  I actually took a few photos on Christmas Day but they turned out a bit blurry for some reason.  I was going to try again today but time got away from me.  Hopefully I'll be able to share some tomorrow.