Secret Santa Surprise and Let it Snow!!

As you know, I signed up for a the Secret Santa Soiree hosted by the Coloradolady. It was my first year participating, and again, I had so much fun planning, however, I am so excited at what came in my mailbox for me!! My precious Secret Santa, unknown to me at this time, send me some goodies that just blew me out of the snow bank!! She hit me right on! I love it all!!

                                       This is how pretty everything was wrapped when it came.

She sent me some Chai Tea Mix. Now, how did she know I love that stuff? Also some wonderful popcorn. There is a beautiful garland I am hanging in the doorway between the family and living room. It needed some holiday cheer. My husband stuck my garlands outside! :) There is also a wonderful sleeve to keep my fingers from getting charred with my coffee travel mug, but I have to say, the hat, I am completely crazy about!! I LOVE wearing it!! I feel like I have never been able to find a style that compliments me in it, but this hat did the trick!! Even my daughter loved it on me!! I even wore it today to work in the cold snow! Thank you Secret Pal!!!

Got to love the gummie bears!! These are the best!! Every year we add a new ornament to our tree, as you can see, my SS sent me a precious heart. Thank You for the new addition, I hadn't gotten our annual addition yet, but you filled that spot and will always be a memory for me! Being the quilting addict I am, there are some lovely fat quarters from Mama said Sew from Moda . I love this line and the wonderful colors and patterns. Thank you again. You made this Christmas so special. The thought you put into it touches me.

We had the biggest snow fall we have had in 2 years!! At first they told us an inch or so, then 2 to 5 inches, well, we ended up with 14 inches out here!! The snow got really heavy and it got real dark and I can't believe it! Celia was supposed to be in a few UWEC Choir Concerts yesterday, she came home after working in Durand Saturday. Saturday night we had clear skies, bright stars and Christmas lights were set up outside by my DH and myself. It was such a nice crisp night, we had such fun!  Well in the morning, we woke up to snow and how fun it is! No fun to drive in though, Celia just left today.  

These are the views outside my back door. These pics were taken before the real heavy stuff kicked in, there was about 7 inches at this point. Today the roads remain very slippery, but it does feel like Christmas! I am truly in the Christmas spirit. Now, to tackle some of that shopping!

Secret Santa Deadline today and some creativity!

    Today is the POST by date for the Secret Santa Soiree that I signed up for last month. I won't say what day I posted my package out to my Secret Pal, but I will say that I did make the deadline! I will also say I was a bit of a sneak, but I can't let that cat out of the bag yet, or it may reveal my identity, but I will reveal what I did at a later date. I also will say that I had fun shopping for her, thinking about her life as she has shared on her blog site, and she did cross my mind often. Getting her goodies and thinking, I think she would like this and that and realizing we actually had alot of similarities when it came to our likes. I can say someone else has me, it is fun, because none of us know who has us, only who we have. Anyway, I am excited to see everyone's blogs and to share in their excitement!  Speaking about not letting the "cat out of the bag" I came into the living room tonight to find my Molly cat sitting in a box of my fat quarters. I just had to take a picture!

In the Piece Bee With You Bee I belong, it is the last month for us. I was actually behind, but I owed one last block to Katy in my beloved Scotland. I spent a semester studying there when I was in University. I was there 6 months and I fell in love with the people. I had an awesome boyfriend there that was hard to leave as well as met some awesome people, May and Dod who were like my adopted grandparents. They never had a daughter and always said I was the daughter they never had. They even came to Canada to visit relatives and we had them visit us for a few days and spend time with us. I loved them dearly, truely as family and I know they are both gone now, but what treasured, valued memories I have of them. They will always be a part of me, in making me the person that I am. She taught me alot of good lessons including knitting. Isn't it funny how something can bring back such a strong memory? I was talking about Katy and ended up with May and Dod. :)

Katy's View Master Block. The Disc is paper pieced and then I had to place the disk into the fabric. I found a technique called the 6 minute circle technique that worked really well. I hope she loves it!!

I also have made a dear precious friend online over the last year. Her name is Teri and I love her like a sister. I feel like we truely connect and relate to each other. I just love her. She recently was diagosed with Breast Cancer and had surgery and is recovering and Moni in the Sew Blues Bee wrote up a striped Heart tutorial that we all used to create her a block to let her know she is precious to us. I made a green one as it is a color of calm, new life and is known to be a soothing color. I just sent that out to her today with some goodies in it. I hope she has a speedy recovery.