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Happy New Year!

Wishing all of you much LOVE, PEACE and JOY in 2009! Thank you for sharing another year here with me, and for the gift of your friendship. :o)

Holiday Glow...and Secret Santa

Hello, my friends!  Many thanks for all your lovely holiday greetings here, by email and by cards in the mail for us.  These has been so wonderful to see and come back to!  After many days of Christmas cheer and visiting in the USA, we arrived back home here in Norway on Sunday afternoon, a safe but very long journey.  The jet lag lingers and we are still getting settled in.  I am very slow getting here to write, as the air travel seems to have aggravated the cold I had while we were away, and so I feel like I'm getting the cold all over again and not feeling too fantastic.  This and the jet lag makes for a very strange combination... Dear Husband is on the mend though, and almost over the cold. Charlie is very happy we are home again.  And now it's one big cuddle-fest here!  Since Dear Husband has off for the Christmas holidays until 2nd January, and I have the shop closed, we can stretch the holiday glow a few more days and recover, which is very nice to come home to.

We had a beautiful Christmastime back home in America with my family.  Christmas Eve with my parents and a lovely feast.  Then another happy feast and merriment at my sister Kimmie's & her boyfriend's place for Christmas Day (the glittery Christmas tree pictured here is theirs).  Sweet niece Anya snoozed off and on, so Kimmie and I opened her gifts for her--LOL!  (I'm sorry I have no baby photos here.  Kimmie really doesn't want that, so I respect her wishes.)  Dear Husband and I felt very slow and not too well much of the time due to having colds, and so there was not much chance of any extra outings or day trips, etc.  So not many photos to share here at all this time...*SIGH*... Not even much fun shopping either--GASP!  But all in all we had the best time.  Already I am missing everyone back home and in a way wishing we could do the trip over--feeling better would have been great.  Saying goodbyes were hard... They usually are, but especially this time, what with baby Anya now in the family picture. 

Today is my birthday... 36... No big plans, as I prefer a quiet day.  Tonight we'll light some candles, eat some chocolate and have a cozy evening watching a film and cuddle with Charlie.  Today I've also been finishing the last of the unpacking and doing laundry tidying up... Looks like vacation's over--LOL!

But there's been some extra Christmas fun here by way of some gifts... This year was the first time I participated in Donna's, of Chookyblue, Secret Santa Christmas Swap (SSCS).  It was fun creating some special handmade goodies for someone, and then to receive something in turn from a "mystery Santa".  Many thanks, Donna, for hosting, organizing and showcasing such a terrific, creative event!

These are the gifts I made for Tammy of Ginger Patches--a patchwork pouch of my own design and hand quilted (this was fun making!), a cross stitch Christmas ornament, a pincushion made of vintage-inspired fabrics and vintage embellishments, a fat quarter set in shades of red, and a swap wouldn't be a swap without some chocolate.  I heard from Tammy during Christmas, and was so glad to learn she was very happy with her gifts.  Tammy is a quilter extraordinaire.  Do stop by and see her beautiful quilts and play with fabric.

My own "mystery Santa" was Karen of Merry Little Quilter, who surprised me with a wonderful package of treats, and who also is a splendid quilter.  She sent me chocolate and sweets, a spicy-scented candle, lovely set of Moda charm squares, and the tremendous highlight of this gorgeous handmade, quilted table runner!!  Such beautiful work... Many thanks, Karen!

I hope very much this finds all of you good friends well and happy and enjoying the merry holiday season, if you are celebrating.  With the busyness of Christmas, visiting, and some days not feeling well, I just did not get to post here much while we were away, or do visits around blogland... So I look forward very much to catching up with you in the days ahead and in the New Year!  See you soon... Happy Days! :o)

Happy Holidays!

The joy of the holidays is in the love shared with family and friends... LOVE and JOY to all of you!

We Light Four Candles...

Vi tenner fire lys i kveld
og lar dem brenne ned,
for lengsel, glede, håp og fred
men mest allikevel for fred på denne lille jord
der menneskene bor.

We light four candles tonight
and let them burn down,
we light them for our heart's wish, happiness, hope and peace
but most of all for peace on this little earth
where all the people live.

(My translation from Norwegian of "Adventslysene", The Advent Lights by Inger Hagerup)

Let us light candles tonight, one each for a wish held dear, happiness, hope and peace in our lives, and especially for peace and good will to all on Earth!

We arrived safely to America on Monday, and have been drinking in as much time with family and friends as possible!  And I've been trying to hold sweet niece Anya as much as possible too--LOL!  I know that many of you have been looking forward to seeing photos of Anya here, and I don't like to disappoint, but  I must respect my sister Kim's wish in that she does not want photos of her young child out there on the Internet.  So sorry, no photos... Anya is a sweetheart... to be with her is to be visited by an angel. I believe she is an angel sent to us all.  It has been wonderful having time to catch up with family and friends here in Pennsylvania.  Dear Husband has been very under the weather with a cold though, and I have a touch of it myself, so this has slowed us down as bit.  Some messy weather of rain, snow and icy conditions some days has made being out and about not much fun.  So this time, so far anyway, we've not ventured too far afield by taking a day trip.  But there are some days yet, so we'll see!  For Christmas we will be with family, and very much looking foward to that next week.  Hope all of you good friends are well, happy and anticipating the holidays--may your days be merry and bright! :o)

We Light Three Candles...

 

Så tenner vi tre lys i kveld
for lengsel, håp og glede.

We light three candles tonight
We light them for our heart's wish, hope, and happiness.

(My translation from Norwegian of "Adventslysene", The Advent Lights by Inger Hagerup)

Let us light a candle each for a wish we hold dear, hope and happiness in our lives!

We leave on a jet plane very early on Monday for fun days ahead...see you on the flip side across the ocean! :o)