Monday, December 26, 2011

Christmas traditions



We have a new tradition that has started in our family and it came about by my dear friend Bessie Treber! Every year Bessie and her husband go to Florida and visit Disney World and for the past few years, they always bring back a Christmas gift for Aileen of a Disney shirt!! This years has all the Disney characters on it and Aileen adored it!! Here is a picture of her the first time she got to wear it!


The other one is the Christmas Eve PJ's that everyone always gets!! When Allison and John get here I hope that we will get to take a picture of them all together in their matching PJ's!!! But its just nice knowing that they all match where ever they are celebrating Christmas!!

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

We pray that everyone has a Merry Christmas and a blessed 2012!!! From our family to yours!

3rd sock down and 2 more to go......



So, no, I did not get them all done before Christmas, but I did get 3!! Tomorrow Allison will be in town (John will be here too,but with the BYU Football team, so not with us) so I have taken off the week of sewing to spend with my Daughter and then on Friday after BYU wins ;) the Armed Forces Bowl John will be with us too!! We are very anxious to see them again, it feels like forever, even though its only been since August!! We are sad that Anne Marie can't be with us, when you work in the medical field there are no holidays!! But she did get to spend Christmas Eve with Allison and John, and Christmas day with my Brother Edward and his family so she has been with family and that has made it better!!

We had a lovely Christmas Eve dinner and Family Home Evening at my Sister Elizabeth's house with the traditional foods, telling of the Christmas Story with hymns, and opening presents from family!! It was a beautiful evening!

Today, Aileen woke up and opened her gifts from Santa, ate her orange and candy from her sock and then we all went to Church, where as a member of the Choir we celebrated the birth of our Savior!! Everyone in the Choir was struggling with colds and soar throats etc... but I had Alan give me a blessing and I made it through and we had Angels singing with us today because it was beautiful!!

Now, we are just waiting and anxious to pick Allison up tomorrow morning!!

Sunday, December 18, 2011

2nd one down and 3 more to go.....




This is the 2nd Christmas sock done for the Rex family in as many weeks!! Normally socks cannot be made this fast - its about 30 - 40 hrs of hand sewing and sequining, cutting and stuffing my fingers are all pricked from needles and my eyes are crossing from trying to thread the needle in an eye that is small enough to have little tiny beads go over the eye too!! But I've never had so much fun!! It definitely feels like Christmas. Unfortunately there is no way I'm going to get them all done by Christmas but I am going to ship out the two girls and since they are the only ones home for Christmas this year at least that will work. And I'm going to try and get one more done really quick and overnight it so they can at least have 3 of them....but we shall see, sometimes my ideas and expectations are unrealistic.......ya think? ha, ha, ha!!

Saturday, December 10, 2011

1st of 5



I have the first of 5 Christmas Socks that I am trying to make for the Rex family before Christmas!! The only camera that I have to take pictures with is my cell phone and it's not one of those nice iPhone's so you can't see all the detail, but you can get the idea! I'm happy with how it turned out!! when you are sewing for others and not just your immediate family, there is more pressure on making sure it looks good. But I'm pleased!

Friday, December 9, 2011

You know your old when......

You know you are old when you have to wear a head light to work on embroidering, sequining, and appliqueing Christmas Socks!! I have been working on the Christmas socks for John's family and I had been complaining to Alan that I didn't have enough light and that I was really having to strain to see to thread the needle etc... so he brought me in his camping head light. I can't believe I got so excited and put it right one and it made all the difference!!! Alan laughed so hard at me with it on sewing he said "I gotta get a picture of this" So I let him....no matter who goofy I looked!! Then we started talking about my "big head" and he told a story about my big head, that I don't remember at all, and told him never to repeat as we were laughing hysterically and I was hitting him with my pillow!! Really, he can never repeat that story!!

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Weekend in Iola, Kansas

Friday after work, I left immediately to meet my sister, Elizabeth, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where she had been on business so we could have some sister bonding time, stay in a fabulous hotel, and then get up the next morning and drive the rest of the way to Iola, Kansas, for my niece's baby shower, another sister, Kim's, daughter-in-law!! We continued the fun sister bonding and it really was so nice for the 3 of us to be together again!! This will be my first great-niece on the Clay side of the family!! While we were in Tulsa, Elizabeth treated me to a fancy restaurant, Flemings Steak House, and had a scrumptious dinner!! My steak was so tender it fell apart when I tried to cut it!! and the Flemings potatoes where to die for!! S0000 Good!



For Kristen and Jimmie's baby, Elizabeth and I talked about what kind of gift we wanted to get her and was she registered anywhere etc... and then all of a sudden I remembered that while going through my mother's things I found a pattern for a sequined Christmas Stocking that Mom had obviously been waiting for her first great grandchild to make, so I got busy and in 3 days of staying up til the wee hours of the morning I was able to make the Christmas Stocking that my Mom, had bought, and started cutting out!! We did get her other gifts too, but we were excited about the stocking.


The reason this is so meaningful is that My grandmother Clay started this tradition when my brothers and sisters and I were all small! Grandma Clay made them for all 10 of her children and their spouses and then she made one for each grandchild as they came along! After I got married I continued on the tradition and if you have followed my blog at all you have seen previous pictures of ones I have made or of our Christmas Stockings hanging at the fireplace etc... and the story behind them. My sister Kim, also continued the tradition by making these fancy sequined stockings for all of her children, Elizabeth has made them for her family, Ruth hers etc....



Kim loved the thought that it was something that Mom would have wanted to give to Kristen and Jimmies baby, and when my nephew, Jimmie, saw the stocking he immediately zeroed in on it and thought it was fabulous that I had made one for his new baby daughter, and knew the significance of my making it as a tradition, but like my sister Kim, was really touched when he found out it was something Grandma had bought and had been waiting to make for her first great grandchild!!




Since I didn't have this brilliant idea until 3 days before the shower I was up all night at the hotel embroidering, appliqueing, and sequining all night finishing --and in fact I got done around 5:00 am Saturday morning. Elizabeth helped me finish the stocking and made the kitty have the cutest face I have ever seen!! I'm so glad I hadn't done that yet -- because she is the pro of cute stocking faces!!




On the way to Iola, we had to stop in Chenute at a fast food restaurant called "Taco Johns" because Elizabeth could not stop raving about it and that I HAD TO TRY IT!! It was good but what was the best about it was Elizabeth's excitement that they had one.......until now she had only been able to eat at Taco Johns in Montana!!




The shower was delightful. It was so fun to see Kristen and Jimmie again since they have moved away from us here in Texas!! My niece, Valeree, had to work and couldn't be at the shower so we went and saw how Kristen and her mom had decorated the baby's room, visited with Kim and her family for a while and then went and saw Valeree's new apartment/house that she is living in now. We took her out to dinner and Elizabeth had just been to New Orleans on business and picked up a Mask that made her think of the Masquerade Ball in the Phantom of the Opera and since Valeree is a theatre arts major in college she brought that to her.




On the way home we caravaned and had fun zooming home, but we did have to stop and sleep for about 30 to 45 minutes so we were later than we thought in getting home, plus we just had a hard time leaving - so I got home about 4:45 this morning!! But it was such a wonderful weekend. I really felt so many feelings this weekend, that I haven't felt with such strength for awhile, like how much I miss Mom, how fun it would have been if she could have been with us. How much she would love to be getting ready for her first great grand child. Then of course realizing, she has already met her and probably been getting her ready to meet all of us!!




It really was just a very good weekend!