Welcome 2012

Happy New Year Blog Friends!
Hope your Christmas was special and you made many memories to hold dear. Now as we welcome the new year, I want to wish you all the best life has to offer. May your days be all that you hope for and blessed with good health, happiness and much love.

Thank you for your wonderful friendship, visits and encouraging comments. I'll be taking a little break for a few days to regroup and ready my studio for a new year of fun and creating.


From my heart to yours, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Best wishes to all in blogland and beyond for a very Merry Christmas and a day filled with the love of family and friends and blessings from above.
Thank you for a year of fun and friendships, encouragement and the blessings of your visits. I am looking forward to the new year filled with hope and direction with the joy found in all the inspirations of blogland.


Blessings to all and Merry Christmas!

A Golden Christmas Gift

Dec.23rd 2004 was a very special day when my dear Miss Beazy Lee, our precious Golden Retriever, came to live with us. She was a surprise Christmas gift at 6 months old and given from the heart of my beloved hubby.

As the story goes, we, as a family have raised 4 Golden Retriever's. There was Bru, Buddie, Beau and now Beazy. She is the only girl we have lived with and she truly is my girly girl. The day she came into my life, she stole my heart away.

Born June 9th 2004, she came into my life at a time when our beloved Beau passed away suddenly at 11 years old. The vet believed he was just old and tired. My hubby and I were heart broken and I said, that's it, no more dogs. I can not go through this again.
However, Best Guy knew better and when he was offered a "pick of the litter Golden" from a fellow associate, he could not pass on the chance to give me a sweet puppy. While she was not meant to replace our Beau, she did give us a reason to give a home to another beautiful fur friend.


Thus the surprise on the 23rd of December. While I cooked and prepared for Christmas and the days to follow, dear hubs went off to pick her up from the vet who had given her 6 months shots, groomed and primped her all pretty, to come and meet her new momma. Remember, I did not know about this as I thought best guy was going to do something at work for a few hours. Back home he came and with him my precious 6 month old puppy. I fell in love instantly and life has not been the same since.


From the start she has loved bird and squirrel watching like in the pic below. She was only 1 years old here and her fur had not grown all out yet or feathered.

Sweet B has always watched TV too and has her favorites, like the Animal Planet and Pet Smart Commercials.

Texas is very hot in the summer months and Miss Beazy so enjoys a swim to cool off or just sit on the steps.

Just look at those pearly whites~~~ she loves to chew on a good dog bone.

A lover of walks and chasing critters. She loves being outside in the park or backyard.

Miss Beazy is now 7 years old and happy and healthy and given us more joy then we could ever imagine. I will always be thankful for the spot she has filled in our hearts and every Christmas I am reminded what a beautiful gift my Best Guy planned for me with a giving heart and much love. Thank you sweetheart.



Merry Christmas from Me and Miss Beazy Lee!

This Day Dec.22, 1945

my Precious parents were married. Yes, 66 years ago this very day. It would be 10 years later I would come into this world and be blessed with the best mother and dad anyone could ask for.

For this special couple, their wedding was not glitz or glamour. No gorgeous dress and no big wedding reception. My dad had just come home from the war a couple weeks earlier and asked his beloved to marry him. They had no money and no way to prepare a gathering to celebrate, but my grandmother did make a wonderful day with dinner and special memories to last a lifetime. No one could even afford a camera and dads camera he used in the war, never made it home, so I have no pictures of that special day only the stories my precious mother and dad told me many times growing up.
In my mind I can see the day, cold and snowing, but warm with true love and hope for the future.
They did not want to wait to marry and do a lot of planning for they were already apart 3 years while dad served his time all over Europe in WWII. So marry they did and a union was blessed with God's love and faithfulness.

In all their days, that faith held strong and God did direct their path in many wonderful ways. They taught me what struggle and sacrifice was all about, how hard work and staying power would see you through tough times and that trust in God would be the rock on which to build your house.

Today I am very thankful for the life they gave me, the teachings I reflect on most everyday, and the love they gave unconditionally. I can't imagine how wonderful it would have been to marry just 3 days before Christmas and to celebrate for years that anniversary so many times before they passed away. Christmas was always special in our home with the anniversary of two sweet people and the celebration of Jesus' birth.

For me today, so close to Christmas, my thoughts go back to their special day, I give thanks to my most high FATHER for the gift he planned for me so many years ago.

Memories are very special and in honor of 66 years ago, I celebrate true love.

Our last picture at Christmas together, celebrating mother and dad's 52nd wedding anniversary.


Merry Christmas and Merry Memories!

Away In A Manger

Many years ago my mother studied painting and found her nitch with ceramics. Over the years she designed and custom painted many gorgeous treasures. My favorite is her nativity set hand painted to look antiqued and old right from the beginning. That was over 35 years ago and now that very same cherished set, is old and loved as much today as ever.

The manger was painted with the holy family, the wise men and camels, the Shepard's and animals. The manger itself had 3 parts, but after our move here to Texas, the two side stalls had broken. However the blessing was the center manger stall was still in tack and for that I was thankful.

Simply elegant, it looks aged just the way mom intended it to be. Over the years, mom was asked by her church to display it for all to enjoy, which she so graciously did. These days, since mother's passing, it shows proudly here in our home with the reminders why we celebrate Christmas at all. The birth of the Lord Jesus and why he came to this world.

Without anymore words, I will just share the pics of a treasured keepsake that means so much. Included is the mantel where we also hang a painting of that special event.


















May the true meaning of the season be your reason for celebration.
Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas Tea Time

Welcome Friends to my holiday tea and Merry Christmas to you all.

It is so nice to be back to participating in a tea time once again. The last couple of months have been so very busy, so it is now time for a little tea break, reflect on the season and prepare to celebrate the birth of the Christ Child.

As I decorated our home for Christmas this year, I added a special tea pot with sugar bowl, creamer and mugs to my hutch display. In traditional colors, it brings a festive look for our holiday gathering. I am also so excited to redesign this hutch in the new year to a new and updated look. I hope to serve you a Valentine tea with the new style.



The cardinal tray behind the tea pot is the perfect compliment to the set.
So welcome in and please be at home as we visit over tea and Christmas dreams filled with more blessings then we can imagine. Join me in adding my newest 2012 ornaments to the tree. Each year my best guy and I find an ornament in our travels to place first on our tree each year. It has become a tradition with us and a time to remember when we look back each year to the ornaments collected over time. This year we added the little teacup and saucer with the red poinsettia and the tea pot to hang close by painted with ribbon and holly. The tea pot is by Lenox.

The full size tea pot and mugs are just as pretty in reds and green with a creamy background. I love the look with my waverly designs and black toile.


Please enjoy a Christmas cupcake I baked just for you. They are vanilla cream with buttercream frosting that looks like snow and sprinkled in red and green.

The glass plate I am serving these cupcakes on is one that holds special meaning for me. It was a Christmas gift from my dear son when he was just a teenager and first started working part time while going to school. He saved his money to give me something special. Special it is, and one, I will cherish forever because I know how hard he worked to give it. He was only 15.


While we enjoy our tea and cupcakes, an angel over looks our gathering atop my hutch with a large pinecone tree I created many years ago.

Thank you for coming by to spend some time and share in tea. It has been special to have you. Please visit our hostess Sandi of Rose Chintz Cottage for many more participants and her list of more lovely tea hostess too.

Before we go, I'd like to share a Christmas prayer with you adorned on a special ornament that hangs on my tree. The prayer in poetry is written by Ken Cornell. (Click on the pic to enlarge the words if needed.)



Merry Christmas