Advent Calendar Blog Hop - Day 24

I was gifted by both Jo & Sharon with Day 24 of the Advent Calendar Blog Hop this year.  Thank you both again sweet friends ... a gift I will always treasure   : )

Jo has asked each of us participating in the Hop to share a bit of our Christmas stitching.  The ornament I'm sharing below is not something I've stitched, but it is one of my very favorite ornaments which I received in an exchange with Lisa last year ... O Night Divine, a design by The Sampler Girl which appeared in the 2013 Just Cross Stitch Ornaments issue.  Tonight is indeed a very special & holy night ... the night that Christians all over the world celebrate the birth of our dear Savior.

I suppose I should share a bit of stitching I've done myself as well ... lol!  There is a lot to choose from, but I've picked these three designs I stitched for my own tree over the past two years, & they were finished to the utmost perfection by my friend Myra.    

Good Tidings to You

The Sampler Girl

Peace on Earth

The Primitive Hare

His Gift

My Big Toe Designs

In addition to a bit of Christmas stitching, Jo wants each of us to tell about the best Christmas present we've ever received.  Well, like most of the other ladies it is difficult for me to decide which one present to tell you about, but for the purpose of an interesting story, it's got to be my 1914 Singer treadle sewing machine.  When I was in junior high school (1965-66), I had a friend, Anna Marie, who was given her grandmother's old treadle sewing machine.  I thought this sewing machine was the coolest thing I had ever seen, & throughout the coming years I always remembered it & always hoped to have one of my own one day.  Flash forward to the late 1980s.  My husband's job made it necessary for him to do a lot of traveling throughout the state of Tennessee where we lived at that time, & during one of these excursions he went into an antique store & spied a Singer treadle sewing machine.  He immediately asked the store owner if he could pay for the machine that day & pick it up before Christmas.  The owner said yes.  John left early Christmas Eve morning to make the 2-hour drive to the antique store to pick up the sewing machine & bring it back home.  We knew some rain & storms were possible, but little did either of us know that a tornado was going to occur!  It came close to the route where he was driving & he experienced quite a downpour with high winds accompanying it, but thankfully neither he nor our vehicle were in any way hurt or damaged.  Others that day were not as fortunate.  Anyway, John made it to the antique store & he & the owner carried the treadle out to our Toyota Corolla only to discover that it was going to take a small miracle to fit it into the back seat!  After some lengthy negotiating, they were able to wedge it in there & then John made the drive back home.  He was unable to remove it from the back seat himself, so rather than me finding it waiting for me next to the tree on Christmas morning, he had me come out to the car when he arrived home to help him pry it from the back seat & carry it in.  I have enjoyed sewing on this treadle machine ever since. It always mystifies people who have the fancy Berninas, Husqvarnas, & other high end machines when I tell them that I prefer sewing on a treadle. I think of the woman or women who owned that machine before me.  What were they sewing? What were their thoughts as they pumped the treadle up & down?  Did they ever for a moment think that a woman 75+ years in the future was going to be loving their machine as much as they had?  It takes me back to a simpler time.  I like that.

Thank you for visiting my blog today.  I wish you & your family a most happy & blessed Christmas!