Farewell sweet 2014...

...you are ending as you began...cold and a skiff of snow.

But that is what winter is supposed to be all about, at least on the plains! This was the best Christmas ever.  Not about the gifts (well, if you were 8 years old, it WAS about the gifts!) but for the rest of us, just being together and enjoying one evening ~ 























...maybe...a little about the gifts, even for the adults, come now, it is a beautiful sacred holiday but it is also a celebration, isn't it?  We spend so much time crafting or selecting our gifts that we give in love, I do believe it is also about the gifts. 

Speaking of gifts, guess what I received from Holly?...a hand drawn picture of Pope John Paul II - drawn by Sister Helena from the Carmelite Nuns convent in Oklahoma City.  The convent was closing so they had a giant estate sale and Holly got this for me plus two music books.  The 'singers edition' and the music for the Kyriale - Missa pro Defunctis - Published with ecclesiastical permission in 1937 ~ all in Latin...very cool.  But isn't this drawing just lovely, especially the eyes...

I need to get it framed right away so the wood smoke from our stove doesn't destroy it.  

Next project for winter creative endeavors ~ a few new clothes!  

(Another Holly gift!) Not sure which one - I love the upper right full skirt - but know it is not stylish now!  But it was the style in the 1950's and my Grandmother Glass wore that look to work everyday.  She favored dark colors with small polka dots and contrasting white colors.  (Or at least that is what I remember!).  The lower right short sleeved version could be really cute for spring and the way my sewing progress moves that is about the right timing!

But ending on a note of what is even way more special to me:

...til next year!