WREATHMAKER

This morning we lit our first candle of Advent at our church. We are anticipating the celebration of the world changing event which occured so long ago. My collection of bells seen here is one of the decorations I will be putting out.

One year we decorated a small live tree in a tea theme, using my bone china cups tied with red ribbon, peppermint tea bags, and red berries. Melissa at "the Inspired Room" is hosting a Christmas ideas event.Check out Melissa's site for more ideas: http://theinspiredroom.net/

Mildred, of http://nalleyvalley.blogspot.com/ recently tagged me with a MEME award. Thanks so much , Mildred. The rules of this Meme are: 1. Link to the person who tagged you. 2. Post the rules on your blog. 3. Write six random things about yourself. 4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them. 5. Let each person know they've been tagged and leave a comment on their blog. 6. Let the tagger know when you have posted your entry. So here I go!!! Six random things about myself: 1.I started school when I was 4 years old, and graduated from high school at 16. I enjoyed every day of school. 2. I am afraid of heights. 3. My hobbies include gardening, floral arranging, and reading magazines on home decor. 4. My hubby and I have been married 51 years! 5. When my daughter was in kindergarten, I went back to work, and discovered that I loved accounting, so I have always enjoyed my work. 6. I believe that God has a plan for everyone, myself included. I will postpone tagging oth...

I am sending special Thanksgiving wishes to all our American friends, and would also like to say that I am thankful for all of you who welcome us warmly when we venture South of our borders.

Here are a few more photos of the home tour we went on yesterday. This jolly snowman was on a shelf in the mudroom pictured below. What a cheerful mudroom! There was a whole wall of red cabinets across from this bench. Oh, to have all that storage space! The bureau in the main entrance had this display. The "desserts" were really cute, actually sherbet dishes with a large football mum, with a strawberry in the center. They looked just like whipped cream. Another nice table vignette ...popcorn anyone?

Today 3 generations in our family took a tour of homes . We would have had 4 generations, but my Mom wasn't feeling well, so my daughter, daughter in law, granddaughter, my sister-in-law, and myself headed out to homes in the City and out in the country. The first 2 photos are of a bathroom decorated in a woodsy theme. The bathtub surround was piled with pine and birch, and there was a fairly large stack of birch logs beside the tub, giving the impression that there was a wood stove in the bathroom (there wasn't!) An old sled, or possibly a reproduction, was crafted into shelves for towels, decorated with more pine. We helped ourselves to packages of hot cocoa mix, from this little vignette of candy canes, etc. We received a small gift at each of the homes, ...candy, a small barn star, etc. Nice touch! The fireplace pictured below was in a home decorated in the theme of "country with a twist"...a very cosy and livable home situated on an acreage. There were lots of ...

It's time to start bringing out the decorations again. Every year I attempt to change things up, and every year it all looks so familiar! The following photos are of the dining room, 2007. I usually "remodel" the wreath on the fireplace wall and last year I left it quite plain. I'm not crazy about the little table on which the small tree is placed. I would rather have a nice cabinet for that. During the rest of the year we leave the space in front of the window open, so we can enjoy the view of the back yard.

I haven't posted for a few days, as my mind was elsewhere, although I did stop by some blogs to keep my spirits up. And no, my posting today is not about redecorating or refurbishing, or any of that, much as I love doing and reading about those things. About 9 days ago, our family was here for dinner to celebrate my birthday. After we had eaten, our son in law said he thought he would go in to the emergency dept. of the hospital, as he wasn't feeling well. The evening before, he had experienced shortness of breath and chest pain while out walking.Needless to say, our daughter, grandson, and all of our family were very concerned about him as he awaited an angiogram. The end result was that today he had several stents put in, as he had blockages in his arteries of up to 85 %! We spent the greater part of today in the hospital waiting room (which for us became a praying room!) Many people were praying for his situation, and we are so thankful that this was caught before he had a h...

This weekend I am participating in a craft sale at one of our historic Winnipeg houses. Many folks come to the sale just to see the house, which is now operated by the University of Winnipeg Womens club. The room I am in is called the "taupe room", and has some lovely antique furniture. If you look closely at some of these photos, you will be able to see the lovely wood finishes and carving.

We are very proud of our niece's husband, Nathan, who has served our country in Afghanistan, twice. Thankfully, he returned unharmed.In this photo he is being interviewed by a reporter. Today we think of those who gave their lives for our freedom

Today the ground is covered in white. Sandi, in her blog: http://sandimyyellowdoor.blogspot.com/ did a post on white, which inspired me to do the same. The large tin ceiling tile is from Eatons, a now-defunct Canadian department store. It was a landmark in downtown Winnipeg, where I spent most of my lunch hours, as I worked right next door. When the building was torn down, my hubby bought one of the tiles for me.

We are expecting snow tonight or tomorrow.... Because I needed some moss for my floral arrangements, we headed out to the shores of Lake Winnipeg where there are lovely moss carpets in spruce groves. The leaves are almost gone, so when I saw a patch of bright orange, I was delighted. A fairly large tree was entwined with bittersweet. I resisted the temptation to cut some, and instead picked up 3 little sprigs which had landed on the ground. I put them on a bed of moss and took the photo to remember the nice drive we had, and the little surprise.

We have this plaque mounted just inside our back door. I don't know how many people actually read it as they come in, but it is our hope that the conversations in our house are based on noble, bright, pure and lovely thoughts. With all the negative news about the poor economy, loss of investments and jobs, not to mention the horrible negative political ads on TV right now, it is difficult to maintain a positive outlook on things. When I saw the way the photo turned out, with the "ly" missing from the right side of it, my first thought was to re-take it, but then I got to thinking...maybe it's fine the way it is..a reminder that LOVE is what propels us to think the way we should.