Woody, elf house, Anna & Mimi

I learned something....hit the key (even by accident) you post to the blog! And here's what was supposed to have been the second picture on the previous blog.

Mom snapped this pic while we were working on our decorating project.

Woody's elf house decorated for Christmas

This is Anna, my granddaughter (who turns 7 today Happy Birthday Anna!), who loves climbing, adventure, beauty,and imagination...in no particular order of preference. During a visit here for Thanksgiving, Anna wanted to make the usual rounds of the yard intent on making certain that a stop to say hi to Woody (see earlier posting picture) was on the agenda. She wanted to inspect the addition of the elf house at Woody's base and then Mimi and Anna had a very fun time adding wreaths to the elf windows. Anna picked and then planted a pretty flower next to the front door plus a few new branches added as trees in the elf's front yard.

When we finished with all the elf decorating, we continued walking around the yard looking for more adventure. Imagine how surprised and excited Anna was when she discovered a magic beanstalk growing right here in Mimi's back yard....one that she'd never noticed before!

She had such fun climbing the beanstalk over and over again, all the while imagining stories that were filled with a variety of adventures. She was even able to convince her most favorite cousin, Ellery, to climb her up her beanstalk and swing on the vines with her (not an easy thing to get a 17-year-old to agree to do) Too bad I didn't get a picture of the both of them in the beanstalk. Watch for another blog posting of Anna's story as dictated by Anna and scribed by Mimi titled Anna's Secret Beanstalk Adventure.

He's that good!

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I love imagination. I love design. Isn't it fun when they come together in a delightful video.
Enjoy!

Guess what I learned?

That if you hit the enter key twice in rapid succession, your blog message will get posted without previewing or before completion!

So now I'll write about the Christmas decorations that were in the last blog title. I learned something today. Not a big thing, but always interesting that as my awareness grows, I actually am more aware of things.

I love Christmas. I especially love the fresh greens of cedar, pine, and holly that grow so abundantly around South Carolina and that I have loved collecting for Christmas decorations since moving here. When I first moved here but in another part of the state, we formed a group that made and put up swags on all our street signs in the neighborhood, and it always looked beautiful. I missed that after moving away, so I started making swags for my street in this new community. The garden club decorates for Christmas, and over the years, I've helped them put up decorations.

Seems that they put these decorations up earlier and earlier each year. The fresh greens have a hard time looking fresh while in the bright sun when up for over a month. The garden club decided that artificial greens would solve that problem, and gradually have changed almost entirely from fresh to artificial. So we met today to sort through the huge assortment or swags, wreaths, bows, testing lights, straigthening or making new bows determining what decorations go where, all in preparation for members to put everything in place tomorrow.

Last year I had agreed to chair the Christmas decorating project but with all of challenges and life events that happened, I ended up not even being in town, so I was glad that I could help again this year. One of the projects will be that I make the large wreaths for the front doors of the club house, using an artificial base but adding fragrant fresh greens mixed in. So of course, I am delighted to be working with fresh greens again. And I love the excuse for collecting the greens. I love their fragrances. I love the beautiful shades of greens of different kinds of cedars, the shiny greens of the magnolias with their brown backsides, and the silvery greens of the eleagnus stems.

Today was a drizzly, cold, rainy day. I knew that I could have put off my greens collecting in hopes of better weather tomorrow, but instead I donned my waterproof poncho and headed out with clippers in hand. And that's when I learned something today. I learned that I'm one of those strange people that loves the fragrance of the woods in the rain. I learned how I love the smells that transport me to times past in an instant. I learned that I loved my time in the woods by myself as I collected greens. IAnd I learned that I enjoyed that time more than I did the time spent working indoors with friends. I learned to pay attention to how I was feeling as I listened to others talk. I learned to pay attention more to the quietness within. And I learned that I still love working with fresh greens, but in a whole new way than ever before. I learned that I felt more at one with nature more than ever before.

Musical Genius and Christmas decorations

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I love watching this so much, I'm adding it to my blog so I can click on it to view again and again. Love the music. Love the engineering minds all coming together to create this masterpiece of ingenuity. Aren't you glad to hear that it will be in Smithsonian for all the world to enjoy, and just think you can enjoy without having to leave your home!

Musical Genius and Christmas decorations

Download

I love watching this so much, I'm adding it to my blog so I can click on it to view again and again. Love the music. Love the engineering minds all coming together to create this masterpiece of ingenuity. Aren't you glad to hear that it will be in Smithsonian for all the world to enjoy, and just think you can enjoy without having to leave your home!

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Twas the

month before Christmas

When all through our land, Not a

person was praying Nor taking a stand.

See the PC Police had taken away

The reason for Christmas - no one could say.

The children were told

by their schools not to sing, About Shepherds

and Wise Men and Angels and things. It might hurt

people's feelings, the teachers would say. December 25th is just a

' Holiday '. Yet the shoppers were ready with cash,

checks and credit, Pushing folks down to the floor just

to get it!---CDs from Madonna, an X BOX, an I-pod

Something was changing, something quite odd!

Retailers promoted Ramadan and Kwanzaa

In hopes to sell books by Franken & Fonda.

As Targets were hanging their trees upside down

At Lowe's the word Christmas - was no where

to be found. At K-Mart and Staples and Penny's

and Sears You won't hear the word Christmas;

it won't touch your ears. Inclusive, sensitive,

Di-ver-si-ty. Are words that were used to

intimidate me. Now Daschle, Now Darden,

Now Sharpton, Wolf Blitzen

On Boxer, on Rather, on Kerry, on Clinton !

At the top of the Senate, there arose such a clatter

To eliminate Jesus, in all public matter.

And we spoke not a word, as they took away our faith

Forbidden to speak of salvation and grace

The true Gift of Christmas was exchanged and discarded

The reason for the season, stopped before it started.

So as you celebrate 'Winter Break' under your 'Dream Tree'

Sipping your Starbucks, listen to me.

Choose your words carefully, choose what you say

Shout MERRY CHRISTMAS, not Happy Holiday !

Please, all join together and wish everyone you meet

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Christ is The Reason for the

Christ-mas Season!

When this poem arrived in my email this morning, it started me thinking. Could this message of Merry Christmas greetings really be politically incorrect? No, it is not. As we look for, find and express the love of One Mind that we all share individually, uniquely, knowing that it is One Mind, One Love that dissolves the fears regardless of how they appear, that's what will grow. As we simply let our lights shine as the light of Truth and Love to all, and as we sing songs of "Merry Christmas" to the world, we can know that the message of love is all that will be heard.

So my message is HAPPY THANKSGIVING and A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS to all.