Merry Christmas To You, Friends!

Click on the picture to enjoy this beautiful music while you read - it's a lovely song.

"And the angel said unto them,

Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy,

which shall be to all the people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior,

which is Christ the Lord.

And this shall be a sign unto you;

Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes,

lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host

praising God, and saying,

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."

~ Luke 2:10 - 14 ~

The birth of the Savior of the world- 

what a wondrous and glorious gift

to ALL mankind!

The Christmas decorations are up...

and the lights are twinkling on the Christmas trees.

The ornaments are hanging prettily...

and the gifts are all wrapped up in pretty paper with sweet bows.

But may we NEVER forget the reason we celebrate this beautiful season.

"His destiny was the cross...

His purpose was love...

His reason was you."

~ Unknown ~

(My dear friend sent me this)

May each one of you have a joyous Christmas filled with the love 
and peace of our precious Savior,

and may your Christmas be a celebration of Jesus Christ our Lord!

Sending you love and hugs during this beautiful season!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I will be taking a small blogging break during the holidays and to work on the new home :)

I will "see" you in the New Year!

Holiday Cinnamon Cookies

When you have leftover pie crust do you usually roll it out 

and sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on it then bake it?

This was always a tasty treat that my mom would make when I was younger.

I decided to make come pie crust cookies that are similar and boy were they good!

I thought I would share them with you since they are easy and yummy.

You will need:

1 pie crust

butter, softened

cinnamon

granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Roll out pie crust and spread the desired amount of softened butter with a spatula onto the crust.

Sprinkle with desired amount of cinnamon and sugar.

Roll up pie crust and slice into 1-inch slices.

Place onto prepared cookie sheet and bake for 11 - 15 minutes or until golden brown.

While the cookies cool slightly you can make a sweet icing to finish them off.

Ingredients needed for icing:

1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1 - 1 1/2 teaspoons milk

Mix ingredients together until smooth and well blended and drizzle onto cookies.

Grab a cup of coffee, tea, or hot cocoa and enjoy these cookies in front of a cozy fire.

Love and hugs to you, friends!

Christmas Tree Tags

I am not sure about you, but I enjoy making a gift package pretty

and adding a nice gift tag always finishes the look off nicely.

So I made these unique Christmas tags with rolled up paper.

I used card stock and the measurements for each roll are as follows:

each piece of paper is 2.5 inches wide

and starting with the largest roll...

3.5 inches wide

3 inches wide

2.5 inches wide

2 inches wide

1.5 inches wide

1 inch wide.

I rolled the paper up and hot glued the edges together.

Then I glued the rolls onto card stock and added a trunk and a button.

I also punched the edges with a paper punch.

Enjoy your day, lovelies!

Big hugs to you :)

Peace Of Christmas - Guest Post By Abby

Today's Sunday post is written by the delightful Abby

who blogs over at Little Birdie Blessings.

If you know Abby than you know she is genuine sweetheart

who thinks of others before herself.

She loves the Lord with all of her heart

and encourages those who visit her blog to be a shining light for Jesus.

If you have not yet visited Abby

than I encourage you to head over to her blog and look around.

You will be refreshed and motivated by her writings.

I count Abby among my precious friends

and I am very thankful for her willingness to contribute today's post.

May you enjoy what she has shared with us today.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you:
not as the world giveth, give I unto you.
Let not your heart be troubled,
neither let it be afraid.  
John 14:27

December of 1861 was not a time of peace on earth in the United States.  

A Civil War was being fought between the North and the South, 

killing and wounding thousands and thousands of men.  

It was during this time, a man named Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 

a Portland Maine native, buried his wife.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Henry’s wife Fanny had been accidentally burned to death 

while heating sealing wax.  Wax that was used to seal the envelope containing her children’s cut off baby curls.  Henry had also suffered severe burns while trying to save her as her clothes burst into flames.Two years later one of Mr. Wadsworth’s sons who had gone off to fight in that Civil War was badly wounded.  During this low point in Henry’s life he wrote the poem, 

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day. 

I heard the bells on Christmas day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along th’unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

Till ringing, singing on its way
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

And in despair I bowed my head
There is no peace on earth, I said,
For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail
With peace on earth, good will to men.

free digital scripture graphic ~ for personal use or sharing
click for larger size

This timeless poem/song written by Mr. Longfellow over 150 years ago is applicable still today and reminds us there is HOPE, even in times of despair.  

God is not dead nor doth he sleep.

The Christmas story is about a gift from God to the human race.  

The gift of His Son, to take the punishment for our sins.   

There’s nothing you can do to earn this gift, you receive it by faith.  

Once you receive a gift, it’s yours. 

 For by grace are ye saved through faith;
and that not of yourselves:
it is the gift of God:
Not of works,
lest any man should boast.
Ephesians 2:8-9

The angel’s message to the Shepard’s was:

Fear not: for, behold,
I bring you good tidings of great joy,
which shall be to all people. 

For unto you is born this day
in the city of David a Saviour,
which is Christ the Lord.

And this shall be a sign unto you;
Ye shall find the babe
wrapped in swaddling clothes,
lying in a manger. 

And suddenly there was with the angel
a multitude of the heavenly host praising God,
and saying, 
Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace,
good will toward men.  

Luke 2:10-14

Jesus Christ is the only lasting peace you will ever find in this world. 

Peace I leave with you,
my peace I give unto you:
not as the world giveth,
give I unto you.
Let not your heart be troubled,
neither let it be afraid.  
John 14:27

The church bells ring on Christmas to announce God’s gift to humanity 

and the HOPE He brought to us in the form of the baby 

in the Bethlehem manger.   

May you and your family be blessed by that Gift throughout this Christmas season and in the coming year.  

Have a blessed Lord's Day!

Please stop by Abby's blog - I know she would love to hear from you.

Little Birdie Blessings

Christmas Felt Garland

Good morning to you, bloggy friends!

I trust your day is off to a beautiful start and you're ready to enjoy the upcoming weekend :)

I have a cute little garland I want to share with you

and hopefully it will inspire you to make one for your sweet home.

In my mind the felt flowers were supposed to look like snowflakes,

but in the end then turned out like flowers...

although, they kind of resemble a poinsettia so I guess that is okay :)

This garland is perfect for hanging on the Christmas tree, above the window,

or anywhere you heart desires.

To make your own you will need:

felt

styrofoam glitter balls

beads or embellishments for centers

string

hot glue gun and glue

scissors

large sewing needle

Cut out 6 shaped petals and a small circle from the felt.

Size does not matter - make your petals big for a larger flower or small for a smaller flower.

Apply a dot of hot glue on the the end of each petal and pinch together.

Then hot glue each petal to the felt circle.

For the bead centers I usually use fabric glue to glue the beads on,

but I used hot glue this time and it turned out just the same, plus it dried a lot faster :)

So apply hot glue to the center and pour beads onto the glue; press gently to set.

Thread your needled with string, lots of string (I used crochet thread)

and thread through two flower petals.

Then add a styrofoam glitter ball (I found mind at Michael's last year).

The needle should go right through the ball.

Make it as long as you want :)

Mine has 8 felt flowers and is the right length for hanging above my living room window

near the Christmas tree.

May each one of you have a delightful day!

Miniature Felt Pillows

Lately I seem to have an addiction to felt.

It's so easy to work with and it makes some of the cutest items.

Plus it's soft :)

As many of you know, I love pillows and often make small pillows for decor.

So I whipped up these mini pillows to add to my Christmas decorations.

They are easy AND adorable!

Items needed:

felt

embroidery thread

sewing needle

batting

Cut out two matching squares that are 2.5 x 2.5-inches in size.

Thread the needle and knot the embroidery thread.

Come up through the backside of one felt square

and begin making the shape of a tree.

It should look like this....

Now with different colored thread make a small star at the top.

Place the two squares together and

separate the embroidery thread so that you have only two strands;

sew along the edges.

Leave a small opening at the end and fill with batting;

sew up the closing.

Add the pillows to a festive bowl or basket 

and display in your home for some sweet Christmas decor.

Thank you so much for visiting, dearest friends - you are a joy!

And thank you for the MANY kind, thoughtful, and precious comments

that you leave on my blog.

Each of you are a beautiful treasure!

Delightfully Sweet Ornaments

Hello, my lovely friends!

I had the wonderful opportunity of participating in dear Vicky's ornament exchange.

This kind lady who blogs over at 

Life On Willie Mae Lane 

is also a precious friend of mine and I was thrilled to be apart of her exchange.

She gave me the honor of sending an ornament to Cheryl from 

Sweetbriar Dreams

and you can click on the link to see what I gave her :)

Tuula from 

Thrifty Rebel

was the beautiful lady that sent me an amazing package filled with heart-warming ornaments.

Yes, that was plural, ornaments!

She didn't send me just one or two, but 4 incredible ornaments!

I kid you not when I say my eyes had tears in them when I opened her gifts.

Tuula informed me in her sweet note that she did a bit of snooping around my blog

to see what brought me joy.

This precious lady took the time to see what I liked and then gave me the most PERFECT gifts!

I am so excited to share it with all of you :)

First of all, the box was covered in roses which of course is my favorite flower!

And there was also lace on it and didn't I just say last week that I love lace!

She wrote me a thoughtful note

and wrapped everything up in pretty paper.

The first thing I opened was this darling vintage ornament

and then came this stunning angel!

She is made out of soft yarn and brought a smile to my face.

Next was this sweet tea pot with lace tied onto the handle for hanging purposes.

I will enjoy putting this on my tree AND hanging it in my tea cup theme kitchen after Christmas.

And finally this beautiful spoon with my favorite hymn on it.

My dear Tuula, this ornament is what made the tears come to my eyes

because this song has a special place in my heart.

I will cherish this ornament for MANY years 

and will always remember you, lovely Tuula, when I look at it.

Thank you from the top of my head to the tips of my toes and everywhere in between 

for your kindness!

I truly appreciate what you have given to me.

And thank you, Vicky, for putting on this ornament exchange.

You have blessed many hearts and lives with your kindness and your willingness to host this :)

Much love to you, friend!

"But friendship is the breathing rose,

with sweets in every fold."

~ Oliver Wendell Holmes ~

To see what the other ladies received just click on this link:

Vicky's Ornament Exchange

Thank you for visiting and have a wonderful week!

In The Bleak Midwinter

In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan, Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone; Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow, In the bleak midwinter, long ago. Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him, nor earth sustain; Heaven and earth shall flee away when He comes to reign. In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ. Enough for Him, whom cherubim, worship night and day, Breastful of milk, and a mangerful of hay; Enough for Him, whom angels fall before, The ox and ass and camel which adore. Angels and archangels may have gathered there, Cherubim and seraphim thronged the air; But His mother only, in her maiden bliss, Worshiped the beloved with a kiss. What can I give Him, poor as I am? If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb; If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part; Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart. ~ Christina Rossetti - Gustav Holst ~

My new blogging friend, Sharon, shared a delightful post on her blog this past week

and she used this song in it.

I would love for you to visit her and read this specific post

because your heart will be greatly blessed :)

What Can I Give Him?

Sharon is a wonderful, Christian lady that shares God-honoring posts on her blog
and she is a light shining brightly for our Lord and Savior.
You will find sweet refreshment at:

A Merry Heart Journal

Have a blessed Lord's Day, lovelies!

P.S. - We got this pretty snow last Tuesday and Wednesday :)