I Will Remember

Making Stuff

Every year I plan on what I'd like to make for Christmas. For me, handmade gifts are the best. I love receiving them and giving them. In about August or at the latest, September, I start thinking about what I'd like to make for gifts this Christmas.

This year there was too much drama going on in our household for me to think about Christmas as early as usual. But I still have lots of ideas swirling around in my mind and I have a few projects on the go. I've learned that it's no good to get all flustered about undone projects, but just to let them go until later. Gifts can be given all year round.

An alternative to making everything myself is to purchase gifts that are handmade by other artists and crafters. These gifts are much more personal, and often of better quality than mass-produced items from overseas.

If you click on the image to the right (the one on the left is just an image, no link), you'll find a directory of handmade items compiled by Michelle at Wee Folk Art. Maybe you'll find something you've been looking for there.

November Evening, Bavarian Apple Tart

We've had a lovely Sunday. Our son and his wife came over for lunch and after they left Tim and I went for a long walk around the bog. Today a bit of sun shone in spite of the dreary forecast. A heavy carpet of leaves underfoot gave the signal that soon all the leaves will be gone from the trees.

Yesterday we went to friends' for dinner and I took along this Bavarian Apple Tart. I don't know how authentically Bavarian it is, but it sure tasted good. Buttery, creamy, crunchy and full of fall apple flavour. You can find the recipe here on my recipe blog.

I added some Thanksgiving-themed flashcards to my Etsy shop. I had them made for Canadian Thanksgiving but didn't get my shop started on time. They can be made into a garland, used as placecards, or used as conversation starters. The schoolmarm in me just likes the idea of flashcards, words neatly printed on cardstock, themed and organized. I tied them up with vintage rayon binding and added a couple of felted wool leaves and a copper wire tendril. Pretty as can be.

Thinking Ahead

The trees are looking pretty sparse around here. Leaves scuttle along the street like crabs at the beach. They tumble and toss, clicking and scratching on the pavement. Wind howls around the corners of my house today, shaking the windows and the trees. Soon all the leaves, now hanging tenaciously to their branches, will be shaken loose. Ah, November.

November is also the month to think ahead to Christmas. I noticed in the newspaper flyer last night that baking supplies are on sale this week. All kinds of advertisements are beginning. I've started my Christmas crafting. Before the blogging world gets into the full swing of Christmas, I have a story to share about Christmas Shoeboxes. I'm in the process of filling mine right now and was thinking about the following story. It's longer than my normal posts, but very meaningful to me.

For years Samaritan's Purse has organized Operation Shoebox to help send a little Christmas love to children who might not have any other Christmas celebration. Filling the boxes is fun, and we do several every year. I was so privileged to be able to give out some of the shoeboxes one year in Ecuador, in a different way. Usually they are passed out at events planned in the neighbourhoods. One year, a double supply of shoeboxes arrived in Ecuador (a long story, has to do with customs and no boxes the previous year), and our church allowed individuals to take the boxes and pass them out. Along with the boxes we'd collected bags of groceries.

How to decide to whom to give the shoeboxes? We put four of the boxes and two bags of groceries in our trunk and headed home after church on Sunday morning. We lived out of town, in a neighbourhood that had huge houses with pools, tennis courts and triple garages hidden behind tall brick walls, side-by-side very humble two or three room wooden houses. The class difference in Ecuador is enormous. As we drove around, we noticed two young boys in a field. They were looking after a couple of cows pastured there. We had two boxes for boys about their age, so we stopped. Like any child should be with strangers, they were a little hesitant. I explained that these boxes were a Christmas gift for them and handed them over. A bit bewildered, they politely said, "gracias," and went back to their work.

We had two boxes left and the groceries. No one seemed to be out on the roads that day, which was unusual. Continuing our drive we noticed a woman walking along the road. We stopped the car and asked her if she had any children. She said, yes, she did, two girls. Their ages were the same ages on the boxes we had left! We gave her the boxes and the bags of groceries (her home was very close). She kept asking why we would do this - we explained that we just wanted to show her that God loved her. With tears in her eyes she told us that this would be the only Christmas the family would be able to celebrate - these boxes would be the only gifts her children would receive. We left her smiling.



Driving home we passed the two boys in the field. There was no hesitation when they saw us this time. They had opened their boxes and were examining everything. They had candy in their mouths and jumped up, waving and calling out "gracias, gracias," over and over.

These scenes are repeated over and over in the world because of Operation Shoebox. If you ever wonder if they make a difference, I'm here to tell you that they do. I just wish everyone who fills a shoebox could see the joy they bring.

Last Roses, Candlelight and Winners!

These three roses are the last on my bushes until next summer. They are a little beaten by the wind and rain, but beautiful. Now on these dark evenings I light candles - on the dinner table even if we're just eating soup and sandwiches, on my kitchen windowsill while I clean up or bake in the evening, on the coffee table while I sit in the living room and study or knit. The little light that a candle throws dispels a lot of darkness and draws a circle of coziness around itself.

Both the roses and the candles are symbols of what I'd like to be - beautiful in character in spite of difficulty, and a bit of warmth and light in a cold and dark world.

And now...the winners! After choosing random numbers with the help of the computer, Manuela is the winner of the pillow, and Brenda of the journal. Both of these ladies have lovely blogs and I encourage you to check them out. Thank you to all who entered. I only wish I could send something to each of you. I do treasure my readers and each comment is like a gift to me.

Birthday Celebrations

I do love getting together with my family. We had a very celebratory weekend - my parents came over from the mainland. On Friday they took Tim and me out for lunch. I had a very delicious roasted beet and bacon-wrapped scallop salad. On Sunday we went to our eldest daughter's home for a triple birthday celebration.

Cristal was born just two days after my birthday on a warm November morning in the Ecuadorian jungle. I was so happy to have this beautiful baby girl, and so terribly sad that no one in Canada knew about her. There was no telephone, and we had to wait until the next evening for a ham radio patch. Then we couldn't find anyone at home, my parents, Tim's parents, Tim's brother, until finally we got through to my sister. Then, just hearing her voice on the radio plus all the raging post-partum hormones rendered me incapable of speech. But at least Tim could talk and convey the happy news!

Oh my, that story just popped out of my fingertips onto the keyboard. Anyway, back to yesterday. From top to bottom, left to right you can see my parents, Cristal and her husband, our son Travis and his wife (who brought a wonderful cake), and Ashley with her boyfriend. Beloved people. (Tim was there too, but he's not in these photos)

And here are the birthday girls - Katie, Cristal and me. Big smiles, lots of laughter and fun. I am blessed with my family.

Handmade Holidays!

A wonderful month of ideas, tutorials and inspiration is beginning at Sew Mama Sew. This site is one of my favourites and if you haven't checked it out and love to sew - as a beginner or more experienced - be SURE to check it out.

There will be new posts every day of the month, with giveaways galore.

And don't forget to check out my giveaway which closes tomorrow night!