Monday, December 1, 2014

Thanksgiving Weekend 2014

 We don't have to go over any rivers or through any woods
to get to "Grandmother's House".

But we do walk down this sweet country-ish road
to get there from our house.

It was a lovely day for this walk as we 
carried our green bean casserole contribution
to the annual feast.

With the only downer being my mother's cold, 
which she didn't complain about one bit, 
we had such a lovely day.

I have no photos of the meal....
but trust me it was amazing.

Our "events planner", Chelsea, wanted to go to Longwood Gardens
to see the first day of the Christmas Lights display.
So off we went.




Poor Warren has a sprained ankle so we moved slowly
in the COLD night toward the Conservatory.

It looked so festive.
And when we got inside we saw that it truly was
in a very party kind of a mood.




Inside the music room.
All decked out for a dinner party in Peacock.










I don't think I am going to edit any of the photos found in this post
in the interest of getting this post up. 
(This dark photo is killing me....) 
These days are absolutely so crazy busy with candle business.
What a fantastic year this has been 
So....please just accept the beauty for what it is...
through a camera lens in the raw.



 Longwood showed its sense of humor with 
Penguins in the desert.
Fun!


And a recap with some new sights added.
All of the above photos were taken with my cell phone.
The following were taken with my Canon point and shoot.










 There are so many details on the many, many 
decorated trees.
I loved the lacy shadows on the floor.




 Gotta love the vintage....


And the sparkle....


Golden Paper roses....uh-huh!



And then it was time to go.
Chelsea and her friend both had huge three show
days to work Friday and Saturday so we headed out
at a reasonable time.


What a wonderful day.
So special and packed with happy memories.

I had two shows over the weekend that were incredibly exciting and fun.
Lime Valley Mill Conservation Society
hosted its 17th Annual three day Holiday Craft Show.
This year they invited me at the last minute when their usual candle
person had something come up.
I was so happy to get to know them even as I scrambled to 
have/make enough inventory to fill the generous space I was given.
Most nights I went to sleep with my head literally spinning from exhaustion.
The reward came on Saturday when I worked a four hour shift 
at check out at the mill.  
Meeting the customers, other crafters and getting 
to know the delightful 
caretakers of the mill.
An experience to treasure.
I'll be delighted if they ask me back next year.
We'll see.
One other crafter cracked me up when she said,
"You are in like Flynn!".
Love her optimism.

My second show this weekend was an emotionally special one.
My friend, Katie, is raising money in order to be able to run
100 miles in an event in California organized to raise money to prevent suicide.
Her family was personally touched by the tragedy of suicide so 
it was very special to help this lovely woman on her first step to 
such a huge goal.

A treat and honor came also this weekend when my friend Carol 
wrote about the candles on her blog.
You can see that sweet post here.
Thank you, Carol.
What a treasure and precious friend you have become to me...
and the family members who were blessed to meet you
on our trip to NYC this past summer.

Mom continues to be sick which caused a run to Urgent Care
yesterday.  The doctor diagnosed Pneumonia and mom is under treatment
for that right now.  She will see her family doctor this week to see how 
that is progressing.  Jonathan and my brother both managed to catch the 
bug....we are hoping and praying it stays out of their lungs.
We would appreciate any prayers about that....
and that the rest of us could somehow avoid it.
It may be asking too much...
but I can't help it.
With so much to do it would really make things
difficult.

Thanks for visiting.
I've missed blogging regularly.
Maybe one day I'll be back at it again.
But for this day and this week I hope to be back 
with some photos of our annual ladies tea
to be held this evening
at Creekside Cottage.
She is getting ready for us 
with such delightful 
decor.

I need to figure out what goodie I'll be taking to share.
And picking up the unsold candles at the mill.
And checking in on Mom.
And shipping orders.
And playing with my puppies..aka...old dogs.
And cleaning the messes made all week last week in the
mad rush.
And loving on my sick son....poor dude.
He must be sick, he called off work.
That never happens.

Yep..busy life.
Real life!
Good life.

See you soon!

6 comments:

Deanna Rabe - Creekside Cottage Blog said...

See you tonight! We are going to miss Ruth being with us this evening too! :(

My motto during my busy life is "just do the next thing." It'll all get done and saves stress!

Deanna

Vee said...

This bug is nasty...so glad that your mom is getting the meds she needs and praying for your family to recover quickly. Becky, the photos are so beautiful. What an elegant Christmas presentation. Wonderful to read that the candle business is booming. Good time for it to boom, too!

Buttercup said...

Thank you for your beautiful and kind words. So appreciate them and your gift of friendship. Thanks, too, for the beautiful pictures of Longwood Gardens. Sending healthy wishes and prayers.

Terra said...

These Christmas decorations are the equal of any I have seen or imagined. I like the purple leaves/flowers hanging over the tables. Then I saw you mention Carol sharing about your candles on her blog and realized she shared about the Christmas book I wrote in that same post.

Karen said...

You got some spectacular photos without editing-they are beautiful!

Hope all your sick ones are on the mend now. There's been a lot of the yucky stuff around here, too, and it just hangs on for so long.

JD/ Jill said...

Hi Becky, Sorry it's been a while since I stopped to visit you. Since we just went to Longwood this past weekend...it made me think of you, and I wondered if you had visited lately. Love the pics you took. Even though, I saw some of the same things that you did. You took more detailed pics, and made me wonder how I missed seeing some of the things that you took pictures of. Thanks so much for sharing makes me feel like I got to see it all over again. Blessings, Jill