Henri...

After a day of squirrel-watching...

 



 

Zzzzz.....



Heni, the watch dog

Each morning, after breakfast, Henri mans his post and watches (even when he's sleeping) everyone and everything that goes by the house.  He loves visitors and thinks that everyone who comes over is coming to visit him, but, oh boy, don't just walk past the house without stopping. 

Sometimes there's other visitors too, especially when I put bread out for the birds.  When the Bunnies come to nibble, Henri doesn't like that at all and also...

the Squirrel!

Merry Christmas

When they saw the star, they rejoiced...

December's full moon

The Long Night Moon of December 16th. 

Daylight is fleeting in the Northern Hemisphere now, but the December full moon helps light up the long, dark night.  www.earthsky.org

Again, I always like to read up on the full moons; don't know why as it was always scary to me, but my Mom loved everything about the sky.  I guess that's in my memory. 

and the next morning...

it was chilly, but a sunny, pretty day...

and after breakfast, we stayed in the dining room to decorate our biscotti.

 

 

Four kinds and each was delicious!

Then on to the Log Cabin to make snow globes...

Lots of fun, and Holly told us by putting a little glycerin in the water, that it makes the "snow" fall down slower.

The Fellowcrafters' Gift Shop had lots of holiday goodies too!

 



Soon we were ready for a walk to The Pines to gather sticks and treasures for the baskets we were going to make in the afternoon.

Angel and her bag of gatherings.

And here's Julie with her friend, Jeanine, and Jeanine's mom, Diane, with their load.

 Pretty stuff!

 

and on to work...

 



I mean...play!

 



 

 

Beautiful!



and after supper...

we oooo-ed  and ahhh-ed at the beautiful Christmas tree in the Great Hall.

Blanche presses hundreds of Queen Anne's Lace every year to decorate the tree.

It is most beautiful!

The room has such a welcoming presence. 

Then it was on to biscotti-making in the dining room.

Four kinds and we would all bring some of each home.  And it's easy!  Delicious!

After that, we went outside to take a night walk to "look for St. Nick".  At each stop there was a note...

and a gift from him...

pretty little gifts for trimming our trees at home...

Soon it was time for bed and sleepy dreams of Christmas...

 

and look what St. Nick left in our shoes during night!

More to come...

Going back again...

Still catching up with December, I'm back to thinking about the Christmas Retreat at The Center; a must for me every year!

The Fireside Room is always so warm and welcoming.  A good place to connect with old friends and meet new ones.  We began the evening with making pomanders.  The oranges and cloves smelled so good and looked so pretty.

Then we always trim the tree that is waiting for us in this room...

We made garlands with fresh cranberries, pasta and cut paper shapes.

Being very creative, some made angels and whirligigs.

A fun idea to remember to do with my granddaughters...

O Tannenbaum! 

Soon it was time for dinner and singing to Holly..."Happy Birthday to you!"

more to come...

A Christmas Tea

Getting into the Christmas festivities yesterday; first was the girls' Christmas program at church and then off to be one of the hostesses at a Christmas Tea at The Center.  A cold winter day, but the Art Log Cabin is so pretty during these teas, all dressed up in it's holiday finery.

 

And oh!  The icicles!  And.....now how did I do that?  Looks like a tall skinny elf's legs with somehow lining up the bow ends with those tree trunks.  ha!  Oh, I bet it was Jack Frost wandering in our woods.

The table looked so pretty with all the choices of goodies.

And after everyone was done, Lois read some heartwarming Christmas stories.  Ne'er a dry eye.

Some new ones and always the traditional "A Cup of Christmas Tea" by Tom Hegg.

 



Meanwhile, Jack Frost was busy...

 

 

And soon it was time to go...

 

 

Each of us bringing home our little bag of potpourri to smell and remember this day.