Merry Christmas Wherever You Find Yourself

this time of year is always such a wonder and yet always so rushed, but i have learned this past year that this is the only moment that exists. i call it the "everlasting now". there is only now. the rest is in our imagination in the form of memory or hope, but all we have is this moment. and it is so easy to be happy in this moment, but we tend to tell ourselves, "i'll be happy when... this is over, or when my kids are a little older, when i lose 20 lbs, when my kids come home to visit, when the weekend gets here, or when he finally shows me how very much i mean to him... and we end up wasting the everlasting now with meaningless-nothings to fill the empty spaces in between. the deal is that THAT moment never comes, or if it does it only visits us for a little, and our minds are filled once again with useless waiting. learning to be happy is a skill, i have always believed, but now i know how to lasso it. it takes a decision to be present. the difficulty is that that decision has to be made over and over until it becomes second nature. i suppose that's where the 'skill' comes is.

i bring this up right now because i am trying to sneak in a few moments of blogging while my husband freaks out over packing. he isn't content because i'm not freaking out with him. whatever emotions i feel, it won't matter...whatever gets done, gets done...whatever doesn't-- doesn't. and it won't matter a bit. two years from now we won't remember that i forgot to go through my old teacher manuals and throw out useless markers that dried up years ago.

but, i'll pretend to be frantic for his sake, so he doesn't think i don't care or don't understand how "important" this is. it is to him, so i'll pretend, but inside, i'm laughing and having fun.

so, excuse me if some of these pics are doubled...i worked on this in a rush and typed while soothing my crying children about empty sippy cups ;-)

this, obviously is my dining room. and by the way, this is the stuff that i set up last year. i never posted my christmas last year (i only started blogging i believe in feb, i believe)... and i am posting last year's christmas because i can't live without christmas decor and my house is almost all boxed-up...or about to be tomorrow. (mover get here tomorrow). i made this tree skirt out of silk taffeta and an old wedding dress ( i cut off the bodice)... yes, amy-- i cut it off! (but i did so years ago before i met you and have saved the beautiful leftovers for another project) :-)

i cinched the tree skirt and sewed in pearls for accent. forgot to take close-ups...way to go, jess.

this is my aviary tree with apple green accents. the tree is like 50 years old. it looks pretty ratty, but i still love it.

glass painted ornaments from...wal-mart!

gold and cream houses from "bloom and bee". carmen and i bought these mercury bulb trees at "deck the halls" last year.

my house collection...have had these for about five years now...and keep collecting every year.

tere's husband made the china cabinet and buffet for me. i stuck on bethany lowe's "icicles", but they didn't stay long, as you can see.

nicole sayre's santa...i love her and really miss her stuff.

one of my favorite things to do is to pile up my odds and ends of china...

...again, as you can see. just stack 'em up!

i keep stockings in every room... i made these in honor of our grandparents who are no longer with us, but i forgot to take pictures of all of the ones i made...oops!

my favorite postcard...really describes many of us. vintage sue's ball gown...i bought this from her last christmas at carol caroll. miss you very much, sue!

the HAPPY end!