............It's Beginning to Feel Like Christmas

Can you believe that Christmas is almost here?  Somehow, things don't seem as hectic out there as they have to me in the past.  I was actually able to go out on Tuesday and finish up with the shopping and the crowds weren't disturbing at all.  There were no lines and everyone was pleasant.  Yeah!

We were blessed to have our two year old grandson for five days this week and we really enjoyed our time with him.  His birthday is actually next week - on Christmas Day.  One of the fun things that we did while he was here was to take our two youngest grandsons to brunch with Santa.  I must say that neither one of them thought much of the jolly old man. 

This one wanted to hide and pretend he wasn't at the table saying "hello"

and this one wasn't really sure about that lap thing that Santa likes to do.

Speaking of Santa......We have a roadside Santa statue that sits along the 101 Freeway near us.  We often pass him on our jouneys here and there, but this week I stopped to take a picture of him to share with you.  He once sat along the 101 Freeway in a beach community near Santa Barbara atop a faux chimney on Santa Claus Lane.  He had been a landmark there since 1948.  Although the Lane still remains under the same name, the community wanted to update it's look to a New England fishing village.  Out with the old and in with the new for Santa.  Fortunately, in 2003 he was rescued and moved to a new spot, still overlooking the freeway.  His upper torso is 22' tall and in the summertime he switches to sunglasses.  If you want to read more about it you can find some information here.

Two of the granddaughters came over for a sewing marathon of Christmas gifts for their friends and family.  We had so much fun together.  They were going through my fabrics and trying to figure out what material they want to use for their spring dance dresses while they were here.  Their lives will be forever enriched because of their ability to sew. 

My Siggy blocks were returned from Melissa and they are awesome.  After the holidays I will get to the task of putting them together and I can't wait.  Melissa did such an incredible job on this swap and even included a very cute strawberry stick pin with the blocks.

Another Siggy that I have participated in is sponsered through Annalies in the Netherlands.  It works on a one on one swap basis.  I have so far received four blocks and each are fabulous.  One of the blocks is from Dorine who was my swap partner in the Friendship Bag Swap.  I am looking forward to receiving many more blocks in the future.

I also worked on scarfs for the girls this week.  I made them with flannel on the outside and minkee on the inside.  They are so soft!  They will come in handy if we have another week of chilly weather.

We had a week of really cold weather (for us anyway).  We actually had two nights of freezing temperatures.  It is always so hard on the farmers in our area and we could hear the wind fans blowing all night.  We lost many plants in our yard and I am sure that the farmers are assessing their damages as well.  We can ocassionally get such cold temperatures, but it will normally occur in January.  This week it is back into the 70s which is the weather that I thrive the best.  I always have so much more energy when it is warm and sunny.  I know, I know.....we NEED the rain, but could it rain all night and be sunny and warm all day????

If anyone is looking for something to do on Friday night, Heidi and Bobbi are hosting another sew in - the last one this year.  There are a couple of small projects that I would like to make so I am going to try to participate, but we have a couple of grandchildren birthday parties this week.  I will have to see what the plans are first.

I hope everyone can slow down and enjoy this upcoming week.