Chocolates for Breakfast; Stitching for Lunch

Hello, friends!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas day and that it was as happiness filled as ours.  The truth of the matter is, I never thought Christmas would be as special as it was when our boys were little. The magic of the day was always amplified by their laughter and the sparkle of belief in magic, in their eyes.  They were the most special times and I treasure those memories.  This Christmas was every bit as special, and every bit as memorable.  Christmas day with my Rob, my boys, my dad and my mom was a gift that I will forever treasure.  We do not know how many more Christmases we will get with my mom where she will be able to understand what's going on, so we all did everything we could to make it a perfect day for her.  The happiness and surprise in her eyes, as she opened her many gifts, was the best gift I could have gotten.  It was special.  There are so many days where she is confused about everything around her and words just don't come very easily and it is heartbreaking .  But this day, oh, this day was wonderful!  

Look at that face.  That beautiful, joy filled face!

                                                 

   🌺 🌹 🌸 🌺 🌹🌸🌷 🌺  🌹🌸🌷 🌺 🌹🌺🌸🌷 🌺 🌹 🌺 🌷🌸 🌺 🌹 🌺🌸🌹🌷

I
 do have something stitching related to show you!  I know I showed you my finished PSS 'A Yuletide Welcome', but I didn't show it to you framed.  Did I?  Anyway, here it is.  If I already showed you this, I'm sorry.  I love how it turned out and as I planned, I will leave it out year round.

I also want to show you a beautiful gift I received from my friend Judy.  She is an amazing stitcher and always makes the most beautiful things for our guild auction.  I was flabbergasted when she made this for me.  Isn't it beautiful?  It is an old Carriage House Samplings pattern, 'A Quaker Stocking', and she finished it beautifully!  It will also hang in my home, year round.

Finally, thank you to all of you that sent my sweet mother a birthday card for her 80th birthday.  She was overwhelmed by how many of you sent them and at how pretty they were. She received over 100 cards from most of our states and many foreign countries.  I can't tell you how fun it was to go to the mailbox everyday and receive so many cards!  You all wrote such sweet notes and she was just giggly about it.  You all are the best and I appreciate it more than I can tell you.  Her 80th birthday was special because of you We had a great meal with a few close friends and family.

My parent's good friends Bob and Nadine on each end of the sofa, my mom, her brother Charlie and my dad are in the center.

We had a wonderful meal with the table surrounded by a canopy of 40 balloons.

Finally, we set off Chinese paper lanterns for a little love and luck.
Everyone tied a special wish onto their lantern and we let them go.  It was a clear, beautiful night and the lanterns soared and looked like their own constellation.

Those are all lanterns in the distance except of course, the moon.
Spectacular!

 The lanterns were made of entirely biodegradable material so it was not only pretty in the night sky, it was safe for the planet when they landed! 


Thank you for your friendship, your comments and your support as I go through my stitching and life journey.  I appreciate you all more than you can know.  Here's hoping for a healthy and happy and prosperous New Year for all of us.


Be well,
Peace,
Terri