Joy in the Journey - Every Day

Just so we can get it out of the way, yes I did - again! - immediately think of pop music references when I started thinking about JOY this week: this one and this one. I know, I'm such a dork. Really, I promise, I don't plan it this way!

Anyway.

Joy just seems like a very particular kind of happiness, don't you think? Joy is something you jump and shout for, cry tears of and get completely filled to bursting with. Everyone finds joy in different places, but wouldn't it be grand to find it everywhere? I thought of that as I folded the small mountain of laundry that somehow got lost in last week's busyness. And then I thought again, as I have many times since he said them, of the words of our prophet:

If you are still in the process of raising children, be aware that the tiny fingerprints that show up on almost every newly cleaned surface, the toys scattered about the house, the piles and piles of laundry to be tackled will disappear all too soon and that you will—to your surprise—miss them profoundly.

And then I went back and re-read all of his words that day, and remembered that it is possible to find joy everywhere, if only we will see it and be grateful. Lately, and especially in the last few weeks, it's been my prayer and my goal to sort out the important things from, well, everything else. It shouldn't have been surprising that as I've put those most important things at the top of my list, I've found more joy in every day:

This is our one and only chance at mortal life—here and now. The longer we live, the greater is our realization that it is brief. Opportunities come, and then they are gone. I believe that among the greatest lessons we are to learn in this short sojourn upon the earth are lessons that help us distinguish between what is important and what is not. I plead with you not to let those most important things pass you by as you plan for that illusive and nonexistent future when you will have time to do all that you want to do. Instead, find joy in the journey—now.

We all find joy in different places, but we all find it in the same way:

... realize what is most important, [...] express our gratitude always

and thus find joy in the journey.

Merry, merry Christmas! May you find joy in the season and then keep finding it every day.

Finding JOY

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Where do you find JOY during this Christmas season? 

I'm going to admit right now that I have had a harder time this year finding that special feeling because of a very busy schedule.  My days are packed with meetings and violin lessons to teach plus a home to take care of and all that comes with trying to create a meaningful and special Christmas.  I find myself so caught up in what has to be done that I forget to stop and feel why it should be done and my reason for doing it.  Then there is trying to decide if it even needs to be on my list.  Even though the busyness is always going to be there I have found that in order to find JOY in what I am doing I need to make sure the task is meaningful and from my heart. 

I found JOY this year:

• the moment we began to play the Hallelujah chorus for a large sing-a-long audience and could hear the JOY coming from every voice.
• after creating my list of things to make for gifts and imagining their reaction.
• dropping off cookies to neighbors and friends.
• seeing the Young Women I love open up their Christmas gifts and love what had been made for them.
• spending an entire weekend with my family just playing in the water.
• dancing in the kitchen with my kiddos to their favorite Christmas tunes.
• making Santa cookies and caramels with my husband.
• decorating our tree and seeing it sparkle.
• finding Payton stuffing our stockings with love notes and secret messages.
• standing next to my husband and my sister while we caroled to our neighbors.
• sewing up over 300 stockings  for those in need in a small room filled with women who love to serve.
• any time I sit in front of my fireplace and stop to think about what's really important.
• playing my violin in church.
• listening to our prophet speak.
• cooking for people I love.
• having guests stay in our home and seeing them be amazing with our kids.
• creating a Christmas card with my dad and seeing him work his magic.
• seeing a family who is hurting be uplifted by voices who love and pray for them.
• "White Christmas"
• finishing something for a new special member of the family.
• making plans to see family.
• shopping for our kids
• seeing magic happen every time a Ho Ho Ho fills the air.
• smelling a Christmas candle and wearing cozy socks while working on a gift.
• knowing what I believe and why we go through this craziness to make things so special.
• being still and seeing JOY just appear from everywhere.

What brings you JOY this time of year?

 

Ornament Overload

When I was growing up, we used a figure of speech in our family that basically said "You're using/you have too much _______!" It went something like this. My dad likes lots of salad dressing on his salad, so my mom would say, "Why don't you have some salad with your dressing?" We'd all chuckle about it and that was that. I recall hearing "Why don't you have some cereal with your milk?" (I love milk - especially a lot on my cereal) or "Why don't you have some hair with your hairspray?" (it was, after all, the 80's). We sometimes still say it just for old time's sake. So, do you think I should have some tree with my ornaments?

At dinner tonight, my husband said, "We don't have a tree with ornaments on it. We have a mass of ornaments with a tree somewhere underneath." Decorating the tree is probably my favorite part of "decking the halls." That and setting up my nativity on the fireplace mantel. I know I have a ton of ornaments, and I get more every year, and every year when I get them out I think I should leave some off. But how do I choose which ones to leave in the box when the rest of them get to come out and show off their cuteness/beauty/funniness/sweetness? I can't choose, so they all come out to play.

This poor tree has been around a long time...at least 10 years. What say we spring for a nice big one at a day-after-Christmas sale? Then I'll have to get more pretties so I can "have some ornaments with my tree."

Looking Good Last Minute

This is what my dining table looks like right now (okay, make that two days ago when I started writing this post), in the middle of making a bunch more of the ornaments I made for our exchange. I don't have a photo of a finished one, alas (I didn't have one two days ago, and since then have been down-to-the-wire finishing them before rushing them off to my daughter's school for her teachers so I still don't have a photo of one finished)!

Here's the best I could do ... you get the idea, yes?

Super cute, super easy, and totally not my idea. Go on over here to find the tutorial, along with completed-ornament photos.

Things I did differently:
- I zig-zag-stitched the bottom of the skirt, because I love a raw edge but I don't love the thought of the whole thing unravelling.
- I used my sewing machine to make the gathering stitch - just set it to the biggest stitch, gently pull the ends of the thread, and voila!
- I also stitched the skirt together at the back, with right-sides together and then turned it right-side out. Then I stitched the top of the skirt closed, mostly to hold the gathers in place.
- I didn't use any beads, just embroidery stitches to embellish the top. I also just stitched a loop of yarn to the top for hanging, because I'm too impatient to spend time on fashioning a tiny hanger out of wire.

These can be made quickly and you can do many at a time - they're a great last-minute gift for a friend, teacher, hostess, or for an ornament exchange. Hooray for last-minute holiday crafting!

White

I love this time of year!  I love the smells and the sparkle and the bustle of it all.  I love the anticipation I see in my kids...okay, in me... and the gift giving process.  I love the shopping and the making and the tons of decorating.  Is this starting to sound a little bit Dr. Seussy?  Sorry!  I have Christmas cards on the brain.   What I really love is the entertaining.  I get all silly and Jennish about setting a pretty table with dishes that make me swoon. 

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I adore all things white.  I have it in every room.  I remember looking at pottery barn catalogs when I was in high school and dreaming about how my home would one day look.  * Little did I know that those prices would keep their simple white furniture out of my home.  That is not the point.  To me the perfect room has a whole lot of white and a little bit of some other color.  I think it's fresh and inviting and clean and so easy to change for the season or for my mood.  I have started to collect white serving ware to help whiten up my kitchen. I paint just about anything I can get my hands on white.  One of these days I'll get pictures up of Sadie's room and our bedroom.  I'm pretty sure I am obsessed!  It's in my Christmas tree and is a big part of all of my quilts.  I love when it snows because it brightens and cleans up a icky looking winter mess.  I can be really fickle when it comes to favorite colors and because it changes so often I like having that white canvas in most of my rooms to do small adjustments to.  Some think that white is boring.  I think it's...to be cheesy...magical!  Among the many white things in my home I have a particular favorite, especially at this time of year.

Enter my prettiest tiny collection of dishes...

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I think I mentioned my china before and how it's become one of my most favorite treasures but I have to just tell you how grateful I am for my mother and her understanding of what china really means to a wife and mother.  I registered for it after my wedding, out of registration regret - not doing it when I should have, and my sweet mom lovingly gets me a little bit of it every birthday, anniversary and at Christmas. My husband thinks it's fairly pointless to put an expensive plate on the table, only to have it covered up with food and then wishing all night long for it to make it safely into a locked cabinet.  I, on the other hand, find it to be comforting and timeless.  It seems like having kids has changed our whole home to plastic and having this one nice breakable adult thing helps me feel grown up when I need to be.  I have so many memories of setting my mom's and even my grandmother's table with their own fine china.  I want that for my Sadie.  I want the moment those dishes make an appearance to signify a special occasion, to sparkle things up a bit, and then one day I want to pass it, or at least the tradition of it, on to my children. 

I believe that giving china as a wedding gift use to be a big tradition and I wonder why it's fizzled out.  Was it a fad?  Did it become a pain to find?  I guess if you are a practical thinking person, like my cute husband,  these types of things just don't really matter.  Thank goodness I am not a very practical person.  I love that they came from my mom.  I love that they are me and that I picked them out to last forever.  I really love that they are white.  I can't wait to bring them out again this Christmas. 

 

The First Kiss

Mistletoe. Yup! I really like that word. It makes me smile and get all "pink cheeked" when I think about it. For me it created one of the most romantic nights of my life. I know that sounds completely cheesy and well, it sorta was just that. It was cheesy and silly and sweet and really fun! I put this memory down on paper a while back in a sort of special journal for my husband along with the exact mistletoe involved. It was a gift I gave him one Valentine's day. Here is a little snippet of how it went down:

Oh wait! First though we must set the mood: My apartment in a small, snowy, cold, college town. Lots of people over to exchange gifts. Hot chocolate and the movie White Christmas. Mark and I had been dating for two months about. There that should do it.

Anyway...everyone had started to trickle out of the place just as the movie began to play. I think this may have been a planned thing set up by my roommates. The only two people left, coincidentally, were Mark (the kisser...okay fine! I won't say it anymore) and me. Oh, and by the way, I tried really hard to look super cute that night! Are you picturing it? Cheesy huh?

Here is what I wrote: Oh baby...the effect of mistletoe and the beautiful excuse it creates for two people who are just shy enough to sit back and wait for the other to advance finally get a kiss. Somehow I just knew (or had set it up perfectly) that this would be the night. My small cozy living room was dimmed and perfect with just the glow of my perfectly shaped small Christmas tree. It felt really romantic as the music from White Christmas played faintly in the background. The show had ended (I don't remember watching any of it) and as the credits began to roll Mark rose to leave.

Oh man! He was leaving and nothing had happened.

But then, as he did, he took my hand in his, spun me in a circle and we began to dance in a cute sort of silly way. He then very confidently looked up and then pointed for me to do the same. I knew perfectly well what was right above our heads (uh...cuz I put it there hoping this would happen) but I played a long and acted all surprised and embarrassed. The HE KISSED ME...for the first time! A small, cute kiss was all it was and I think I stopped breathing.

Finally! The mistletoe must have given him special courage powers.

He said goodnight and smiled, which made his eyes wrinkle in the corners and his cheeks turn a bright pink. I blushed too and just smiled back. I loved his cute face.

Thank you perfectly placed mistletoe! White Christmas and mistletoe still make my cheeks turn pink! Does you have a cute mistletoe story?

*Ha Ha! I forgot! If you get a chance you should ask Mark (the kisser) about his Christmas tree that year. That is a pretty funny story.

Have a really special Christmas!

Tree Ornament Tutuorial

Materials You Will Need

Main fabric for front and back of tree

Heavy weight fusible interfacing

Quilt Batting

Favorite fabric scraps

Assorted ribbon pieces

Buttons

Any other embellishment you like

Start by drawing a simple tree shape on your interfacing and then cut it out.

Use it to trace your tree shape onto your main fabric...

and then onto your batting.

Cut out all your pieces

If you want to take it easy on your machine later cut your interfacing out just a little bit smaller to allow for a seam.

You should have 2 fabric, 1 batting and 1 fusible interfacing piece.

Next, iron your fusible interfacing to the inside back of the tree and set aside.

This is the fun part! Lay out the design of your ornament onto the front piece of your tree. I like to use "stitch witchery" so that my pieces don't slide around under my sewing foot. I also tried it without though and it works just fine.

Leaving your ribbon and fabric bits long, stitch them to your tree front.

Trim around tree and sew on any buttons now or add your embellishments. I have used brads and cute little safety pins. Have fun with this part. If you scrapbook like I do you'll have some fun things just begging to be added. Just remember you will be sewing around this so don't put anything to close to the edge.

Next, make a tree sandwich. Bottom piece with interfacing, then batting and then decorated front piece. Pin together. Again you will be sewing around this so stir clear of the edge with your pin.

Sew around entire tree.
The best part of this project is there is no turning right side out. Raw edges on this is what makes it so cute and artsy.

Trim excess fabric or batting if you like and add a ribbon or embroidery floss to hang your ornament.

Walla!!!
This is an easy and quick little project so I went a head and made a bunch assembly line style. This is great for using up those itty bitty ribbon pieces that you just couldn't part with. I think this whole project minus the main fabric was done with scraps. There is something really satisfying about using every last bit.

You're done! Hang it up somewhere fun or give it away as a gift. These would make cute present toppers too.

If you make these be sure to let me know how they turn out. Have fun and enjoy making something pretty!