FlowerLady's Musings

Good morning Friends ~ I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and that this last week of 2015 will be a time of thanksgiving and reflection.  May 2016 be a good year for all.

Thank you all for your Christmas wishes of good times with family.  It was wonderful! My BIL, Todd and his wife Sue, had the gathering in their lovely home.  I met new people, got reacquainted with others, people watched and even though my DH wasn't there, I felt so much love from others. I teared up a couple of times, one was when we were singing a hymn and the words were about heaven, the other times were at the love and generosity of others.

We had love, laughter and good food. There were 16 of us, the youngest was 12 and the oldest in early 80's.  This was the tree after some gifts had been opened but before the troops arrived bearing more gifts.

 This was the group minus myself.

This was my plate. All was delicious, field peas from GA, a slaw salad, ham, corn casserole, carrot souffle, mashed potatoes and green bean casserole. For appetizers there was chips & veggies with dips, boiled peanuts (peanuts from GA),  crackers and cheese. For dessert there were cookies, apple and pumpkin pies, a wonderful banana pudding. We were all quite filled up after this feast.

After dinner and before gifts were opened, we sat in the family room where hymnals were passed around, and sweet Sue played the keyboard (she's a pianist) and we sang favorite old hymns.  I did good until we got to one song that mentioned heaven and then a few tears fell.     It was truly a  wonderful celebration, of love, life and thankfulness to Jesus for all that He has done in our lives.   To top off the day was walking out of the door and seeing that beautiful full moon. Wow!   ~~~   On the Saturday before Christmas, my friends Nanci and John took me out to eat to a fantastic Mexican restaurant called Guacamole. The colorful atmosphere, the presentation, and the food were all great! It was another love and joy filled time.   This cross collection belongs to the owner of the restaurant.  

Colorful atmosphere.

This was my dessert, fried ice cream. Delicious and so huge was shared by the three of us. See my colorful margarita glass, almost empty. The first one I had was in blues. :-) I asked the waiter both times if I couldn't have the glass to take home. I came home empty handed in the glass dept. but did bring home lunch for the next day as I just couldn't finish my wonderful chicken enchiladas. Had been served with yellow rice and black beans.  We had had corn chips with guacamole and salsa for appetizer.

   Here's a pic of Nanci and I taken by John on my new cell phone. :-)  

  They also came bearing gifts, which I put under my little tree and opened Christmas morning. They also gave me a monetary gift, which I used yesterday to buy a simple, small sewing machine by Brother.  It had a lot of good reviews and sounded just right for what I want to use it for, so that I can save time with my creations instead of doing everything by hand.  Does this little machine not look like one that FlowerLady would use?

Last night I got a Pinterest notification for new boards for me to check out and one of them was for making Hexie quilt projects. Oh my gosh, the creative juices started flowing and I am excited to be trying my hand at this.
I am looking forward to 2016.  To see what Jesus has in store for me this year.  My thought for the new year is,   ** The joy of the Lord is my strength. **
Love, hugs and prayers for all of you,
FlowerLady