It's beginning to look...

...so much like Christmas that I was in the mood to start shopping this weekend.  Just a few hours.  We didn't buy a lot.  We don't need anything, we don't have space for anything and we don't seem to want anything.  I bought more groceries my grocer doesn't carry at the various stores we went into than anything else.   

Last week, I showed the decorations I put up.  Here are some of the ones Rob put up.  He put up so many that I'll save the villages until next week.  

We only burn fires when the power goes out because of the way they heat the living room and the rest of the house gets really cold, so this is a great way to use that space.  The quilt is from a kit I bought at a quilt show and while the lights look old, they're new.  Rob found a company manufacturing the old fashioned lights.  They even have the red and green cords twined together like the ones my Dad put on our house when I was a kid.  

Above the mantle is the Santa collection.  At some point, we had to stop buying Santas for this display.

The ceramic tree that he overpaid for...I don't mean he paid more than it was worth.  The seller didn't know how much it was worth so he paid her more than she was asking.  Not as much as it was worth, but enough to delight her.

This is a new display this year.  He wanted to display some of the vintage items we have, including some really old ornaments.  

And, the nativity.  

I got the new temporary greenhouse assembled this weekend.  It's great!  I am two queen sized quilts from being able to completely cover it when the temps get ridiculously low.  We looked at goodwill, but nothing there.  Well, there was a hand made double wedding ring that I almost bought, but not to put on the greenhouse.  It's 8'x6', almost double the size of the ones I've used before.  

I harvested the lemons and cut back the lemon tree and moved it in already.  I'll get the other trees in soon.  They're not really liking the cold temps we've been having.  

On the quilting front, this baby quilt refuses to be finished.  We're at the point I worry the baby will be finished before the quilt is.  I probably have 2 more hours of quilting and then binding it.  Mornings and lunch hours will be spent at the machine 

Someone posted this on social media the other day and I loved it and thought you might too.

Everybody have a great week!  It's not the gifts you buy, it's the good cheer that makes Christmas such a great holiday.  Every smile counts.  Every donation counts.  I found myself smiling and some pretty haggard people yesterday.  People that were already over the hunt and the crowds.  Most of them smiled back and I hope that for that moment, they felt a bit of joy in the season.  I know I did.

Lane