About Me

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West Virginia
When I started my retirement travels in 2009, I wanted a way to share it with family and friends as it was happening. Hence, "My Travel Journal". However I realized I wouldn't always be on a trip and wondered what to do with the blog in between times. My daughter pointed out, wisely, that travels can also include trips to the kitchen to try a new recipe, trips to visit family, trips to my neighborhood Starbucks, or a fun day trip with a friend. You're welcome to join me on any of these journeys! I've set up individual pages for each of my major trips (see tabs above).

Also, I have an Etsy shop where my current needlework resides. The last pieces I posted here were in 2013! So if you'd like to see what I have accomplished recently, go to (and I apologize for having to copy and paste):

www.etsy.com/shop/thedollhouseneedle

I recently added an "Italian Word a Day" thingie which shows up at the bottom of every page. You see the word and can click to hear it pronounced. I've been enjoying it and I think my accent is improving as time goes by.

December 28, 2011

Images of A Merry Christmas, 2011

Still in Virginia, but another Christmas is now history and a very pleasant and happy one it was.  I've taken photos most days and am just going to post them with bits of explanation.  The first batch, taken at January and Maggie's delightful new-to-them home, were taken on Christmas Eve.

First are some pictures are of a little miniature scene I made as part of a club project quite a few years ago. When I moved into my apartment and told my children to take what they wanted of my Christmas stuff, January took this scene and it's always nice to see her at Christmas and get to see this again.










Next is a little Christmas village my sister made for me years ago and January now has that also.  You can just see in the first picture the names of my three children on the cars.  Then there is a Simpson Garage and an Oney (street where we lived then) Market.  



Chris took my tree when I moved and I was very glad about that too because I absolutely love this tree.  When you see it "in the flesh", the trunk is thick and covered with "bark" and the branches aren't full of needles - there are bare places which makes it very natural looking.  Also, it is a nice slender tree for how tall it is.  I'm posting a number of close-ups of it partly hoping the trunk shows a little but also to show some of the crochet and cross stitch ornaments I made.









I didn't make this wonderful bird - just had to take his picture.


And here is one of January and Maggie's two cats (Booty and Dandelion) posing for a Christmas card to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!

The next photos are from Heather and Alex's home.  Not as many as there should be (no dinner pictures, no good present opening pictures, etc.) but we were all having too much fun and things were a little too hectic to remember to take pictures!

In fact, this is the only present opening one I'm using but it's pretty special, isn't it?  Sophia is holding a mug she made for me in her kindergarten class.  She drew and painted the chicken herself and then her artwork was applied to mugs, pencil cups and such so everyone got a chicken present.  The other side of mine I am compelled to tell you says "the world's best grammy". :)  She is certainly the world's sweetest grandbaby!

Next come Johnny and Sophia grooming their new miniature horses out in the barn on a very cold night after Christmas.  These weren't Christmas presents - they've been in the family for a few weeks now.




And, the last one from Heather's house... a too-late-for-Christmas but early enough for New Year's gingerbread house that the kids and I made today.  It was a kit, thank heavens - I didn't have to do all the baking.  But it was a fun little project and for how I struggled with the darned frosting bag (my first-ever experience with one), it looks pretty decent ... in the picture!  LOL!!


And, last of all, a sight I saw on my way up to Heather's on a very bright sunny day but wasn't able to get a picture from the car and then saw it again on the way back today and was stopped by a red light so took this very quick shot which doesn't do the scene justice:

The three trees are wrapped in tinsel garland and in bright sun really make an impact.  The snowflakes and the snowman are also very glittery.  First time I ever saw trees wrapped in tinsel!!

So that is an incomplete picture show of Christmas this year.  Chris took myself, January and Maggie out for a very nice dinner on Friday evening and Heather took me out for a very nice dinner last night but I couldn't very well take pictures of that.  Both were wonderful, though.

I won't post again before 2012 so I hope everyone has a great New Year's Eve (and safe, please) and a healthy, happy, hopefully prosperous, and just generally great 2012!

6 comments:

Elga said...

I love all your photos, Mary Lynne, I am glad you had such a good time with your family, it is good to have nice memories. Have a wonderful 2012!!!!!

Christopher said...

'twas wonderful, wonderful! I like the photo of the miniature horses in the barn, too... Sure glad you came up and we all got to get together in our various combinations!

January said...

Great pictures, Mama! And Booty is delighted to have been included in the blog post. I'm pretty sure she's going to lord it over Dandelion for a good long while :)
Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow before you head home!xox

Mary Lynne said...

My yet-to-be-met friend Marlene in California sent a nice note:

"I got to experience a bit of Mary Lynne's Christmas with her family -- yay!! Such great photos and explanations, Mary Lynne -- thank you for posting."

and I say thanks to all of you for always checking in and letting me hear from you. :)

Ashley said...

Your Christmas decorations are phenomenal! I would love to be able to decorate a tree as nicely as you do. It seems like you had a wonderful time with your family, and I think it's great that you all got chicken presents :)

Mary Lynne said...

Thanks Ashley! Although I can't claim credit for the tree. It WAS mine and I USED to decorate it (nicely, I think :) ) but January and Maggie decorate it now.

To other readers, Ashley has a delightful blog, practicalcookingforone.com that I've been following for a while now. I think I've mentioned it before but this makes me realize I should set up another page for cooking links cause there are several sites I really enjoy. But Ashley's (and my recipes) are the only two blogs I've seen so far that are geared toward cooking for one.

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