Oh Christmas...

Hello friends....

It's been a while since my last post and I have been stitching as much as possible. I have finished some Christmas ornaments and also my Angel Band Sampler, although I have not framed it yet. I will show you the final result soon !!.

(Peg, if you are reading this, I missed you on Wednesday at stitching night and I wish you had been there to see my beautiful sampler. I am so proud of it !! You and your husband are in my prayers and I hope to see you next month.)

Christmas is such a special time for me. Every year, I start thinking about it way before the month of December... I get that cozy feeling thinking of snow, fireplace, the smell of spices, baking cookies, wrapping gifts, sending cards, and of course, time to cuddle up and stitch (hopefully while snow falls outside). I promise myself that this year it will be different. That I will read the story of Jesus' birth and focus on the true meaning of Christmas. But every year I fail miserably, does the same happen to all of you.? No matter how much planning I do, by the end of november, I get so stressed out about the many thing there are to do, that I even have shortness of breath, can you believe that???. Needless to say that all those thoughts that brought that cozy, warm, peaceful feeling turn into little devils nagging at me: I need to figure out what gifts to buy for whom, when to mail them, what's a good time to bake some cookies, oh gosh I am running out of time !! Maybe if I take a couple more days off work I'll be able to catch up. Oh my gosh, I have to send the packages to Spain so they make it there on time... How about the Christmas cards, I need to add that to my to do list so I don't forget, how about decorating the house.. oh well, maybe this year I can do just a little decorating, and that will save me some time, but no, I do like the house fully decorated.... and on and on and on.

So tonight, as I write this, I am stopping this hectic pace and promising myself to re-focus. I will think of the true meaning of Christmas every day and I will thank God for sending his son to die for me. How amazing is that love and mercy? What am I without that? It is hard to grasp the huge meaning of what our Saviour did for us, and yet, we have to try. We owe that to Him, so that's what I commit to doing. Gifts, cards, decorations, even cookies :-) will take a second place this year and that's my promise. I hope you guys will be able to stop the frantic pace also and really enjoy this special time with your loved ones.

Oh yes !!! I do have a few things to show you :-) Below are some little ornaments I've been working on. The first one is called Be Ye Merry by Threadwork Primitives and I stitched it over one. I love it and it will be given as a gift soon.

The ornament below is from the 2009 Just Cross Stitch ornament issue, and it will also be given as a gift :-) Believe it or not, this is the first year I have stitched ornaments to give as gifts and I am loving it. Isn't it nice to give without expecting anything in exchange? Give, give, give... that is also part of the Christmas spirit. It is so rewarding to think of those that don't have as much as we do and give to them as God has given to us.

This is the basket I made with some of the Little House Needleworks ornaments. I love the end result although the pictures are not that great. It sits in the center of my dining room table.

Well my friends. I do thank you for stopping by and reading my blog. I love your comments and I really treasure them. I wish you a Christmas full of blessings and joy for you and your loved ones. You have blessed me this year with your friendship and I appreciate it very much.

Merry Christmas !!!