12 ounce Jars and Santa Claus Mugs are on Sale!

Hey friends....

I apologize for bringing

candle business to my 

personal blog....

However

I thought some may be interested.

I have a surplus of 12 ounce jars and 

Santa Claus Hot Chocolate mugs.

Turns out that Lancaster County Customers

don't love Santa.  Hmmmph!

Well, their preferences made for a 

small stockpile of Santa mugs.

I really would rather not store 

them until next year so I am 

placing them on sale.

To get the special pricing you 

must buy 3.

The first one is regular priced at

$10....the second is $10...

the third is $5.

I also have quite a few 12 ounce jars

remaining and am anxious to see some

of these boxes leave our garage storage

area.....

 

So....if you buy two in any of the seasonal

fragrances you will save $4.00.

They are regularly $12 each....

when you buy two, or more, they are just 

$10 each!

Of course, since either of these orders

would put you over $20 

your order will SHIP FREE!

To order...

simply send an email 

to me

at 

beckykcandles (@) gmail.com.

Seasonal Fragrances are:

Country Apple
French Vanilla
Mulberry Spice
Cranberry Balsam
Candy Cane
Cappuccino
Pumpkin Pie Spice
Balsam
Orange Clove
Apple Cinnamon

To Die For Chocolate (Hot Chocolate Scent) 

In The Midst

While all around there is so much,

of things and chores to do,

Inside there is a part of me

that always gets its due.

I took my weary self to bed

and as is oft the case,

before my eyes were closed in sleep

prayers whispered of His grace.

This night the prayers were seeking

something that was lost.

They searched for the closeness

that busyness had cost.

For as this season runs it's course

it is so simple to forget

that though there is so much to do

Christ is the reason yet!

It is not easy to take time

to dwell upon His birth.

So many things, and people,

calling out their worth.

But when He gently whispers,

"My child, I'm missing you."

The response from deep within

the heart "Oh, I miss you too!"

And reconnecting as I pray

such peace and comfort found.

Praise God for being such a friend

with whom my heart is bound.

Uggghhhh.....

For more Blue Monday Posts

you can visit Sally's Smiling Sally Blog.

So much fun!

I know I promised pictures.

I had every intention of taking my 

camera to the church on every, 

and that was many, trip there.

But, as the camera was buried

on the table I could not find it 

quickly and never had the time 

to really try....don't even ask!

It is that bad here right now!

Therefore, I will send you to Mrs. Rabe's

Creekside Cottage Blog to read about the

wonderful Ladies Tea we enjoyed on 

Friday evening.

I have to tell you that Deanna did a wonderful

job with her presentation of decorating simply

with nature and keeping Christ the center of

Christmas.  

Now, I have to keep moving.  I am back into

a week of nonstop candle making to fill more

fundraiser orders.......

Leaving you with these quickly snapped photos

of our BLUE ornaments.  

You do not want to see

our still unfinished tree, or the piles of boxes in the 

living room that have decorations spilling out of 

them with absolutely no place to go.

Another week or so and I can breathe.....

I hope!

Friends Make Work More Fun!

Last evening was very full.

First Mom hosted us for a delightful

lasagna dinner.  It was so good and 

we were having interesting discussion

when we looked at the time.

Oops!

We were to be at the church for a 

work night.

Then as we headed for the door the

cell phone rang.

My friend, Sue, was already there and 

was wondering where we were.....

Well, we moved as quickly as we 

could and got over there.

 Out came the paint and we got busy.

Painting the final project in the new 

serving area.

We are finally going to get to use this room 

on Sunday.  So construction remnants had to

be moved to storage, counters cleaned and 

many other things done.

It was successful.

The room is looking great.

What is left to do is decorate 

and clean the floor.

Today I will go out and look for a 

twin sized quilt

to hang on the wall.

Pastor Mike will make a frame to

go around it.

Art!

We have one on a quilt hanger

in the main dining area 

so it seems a great way to get 

a lot of impact while 

continuing the country theme.

These photos are of 

a former work night in this room.

That was the night we painted the walls.

Fun! 

But it is a huge room!

It took a lot of us working together 

to get it done in one evening.

Don't worry, the "pepto" color is the 

primer not the final coat.

It all works well together and is

looking so much better now.

I'll be back over there today.

I'll take a photo of it as it is now

and the little nursery to show you.

The little nursery is nothing special but

it is cute for sleeping babies.

Meanwhile while we were 

finishing up in 

this room,

I kept popping out into the Fellowship Hall

to watch it change into a beautiful site

for a Ladies Tea.

Mrs. Rabe is hosting our 

3rd Annual Tea.

She just has a knack for decorating.

I told her that her display table 

looks like a magazine photo.

I meant it.  It is warm and cozy.

The pieces she is blending together work

so very perfectly.

I'll try to get photos of that tonight at the 

tea when all of the lights are low and the 

candles lit.

It will be amazing!

Thanks, Mrs. Rabe, for all of the hard

work you put into this each year.

And I also have to tell you that 

Emma Rabe, of 

A Fresh Perspective,

spent a couple of hours on her

hands and knees spot treating the 

carpet in the fellowship hall.

You see, the building we are renting

used to be a carpet store.  

There is a beautiful white carpet

in our fellowship hall.

WHITE!

Not very functional for 

a space dedicated to food.

Dear Emily was devoted to making

it look as great as it could for this 

evening's event.

And, bless her heart....

she will be at work and will

miss all of the fun.

But, between all of us

MUCH was accomplished and

everything looks amazing.

Tonight will be great.

Sunday will be great as we get to 

use our new serving area!!!

From the First Christmas Tea in 

2008....

Working together to complete worthwhile

projects is fun. Thanks to my dear church

friends for the pleasure.

A Tale of A Christmas Tree

Our 2009 Christmas Tree

Sometimes one wants to mix things up a bit.

Last year we donated our familiar

artificial tree to our church 

and got a real tree for the first time in years.

You see,

while the kids were young the thoughts

of fire danger were always 

just in the back of my mind....

A real tree was an additional risk

that we didn't need to take.

But, as our children are now

nearly grown

we have decided to experiment with

the real tree concept again.

Well, some of us have.

Warren doesn't understand why we would

want to spend perfectly good money 

on a tree which will be very, very dead

within a few weeks.

Chelsea, Mikey and I took things into 

our own hands the other morning...

with Warren's knowledge and 

grudging approval.

We needed milk anyway and they

were selling these trees outside of 

our dairy.

As Mikey has a truck now we piled

in and off we went.

We.got.a.tree.

Ahem!

We.got.a.TREE.

Lets just say that when the tree is all

trussed up like a Thanksgiving turkey it 

is impossible to really get a grasp on its size.

This is the first time....ever...

in our home that a tree has 

been allowed to sit naked for more than

a few minutes.

We are now headed into day three.

Not a light or decoration in sight.

Chelsea was devastated.

Mikey was nonplussed.

He simply began hacking at the tree.

I was wringing my hands and warning 

him not to make the tree ugly.

He pointed out that it would be hard

to hurt it.

He was sort of right.

It was horrific!

So the back of the tree is now 

on the burn pile and the massive

bulk has been shoved into the corner.

I kept telling them that this is the fun

they have been missing

all of these years.

That other families get to 

have these adventures 

on a regular basis.

Chelsea did not buy it.

She still hates the tree.

But, you know,

this tree is growing on me.

Given some lights,

ribbon and ornaments it will 

be sweet.

She will see.

We might be a bit like the tree.

A bit awkward and unexpected.

But with the light of Jesus

and the smile He gives
adorning our face...

we are just fine.

One might even say we are beautiful....

because of His work in and on us.

Photos to come later.....

It is another busy day at Hospitality Lane.

At Longwood Gardens

 Sometimes bringing the outdoors inside

can be stunning.  

I just don't think I would be up to the 

challenge of keeping this living wall

green.

I remember one day that Mikey was working

here and it was raining non-stop.

He was assigned to work on this wall.

He spent the entire day picking any leaf 

or plant that was not green from this wall.

Know that this happens all of the time here.

Even as Chelsea and I were visiting there was 

a man working on the wall.

A lot of work, for sure, but, 

the results are definitely worth it.

It is fascinating!

 Another project that kept Mikey busy

in his final weeks as a Seasonal Employee 

this year was sorting pine cones.

We would ask him day after day what he

had done that day and his answer remained

the same.

"I sorted pine cones."

We would ask him what he meant.

Sorted them by size and shape

for some projects.

It was fun to get to see the end result 

of some of the pine cones....

There were several of these 

wreath decorations.

See the gold?

Pine.cones!

 I loved the soft pinks and whites

behind Chelsea here.

While much of the color theme

seems to be red and white this

soft palette was a nice contrast.

So soon the evidence of Autumn will be gone.

I was happy to capture this cheerful leaf that 

decorated our path.

A little bit of fun 

in the children's garden.

 One who is leaving childhood...

and entering the world of adulthood.

May she mature....but never grow out of 

her youthful spirit.

 It was a cold morning and so we were

anticipating many shivers as we took

photos.

Thankfully, the sun was warm and we

were quite comfortable.

It was fun.

 See the stitches?

They are gone as of today.

Yay!

What a very enjoyable day!

Thanks for letting me share it with you.

Joining with 

A Southern Daydreamer's 

Outdoor Wednesday.

Hope you'll visit there too!

It is Red and White at Longwood Gardens This Year

Chelsea and I had a wonderful time

wandering through the conservatory

today.

We finally have the "perfect" senior picture.

We'll share it soon.

Although, I have to agree with many 

of you that several of the ones taken

already would have done just fine.

I'm glad to have all of these photos.

In the meantime

I just love the classic look

of red and white 

for Christmas.