Last Weeks In NC and Christmas

 We took Avery on the Santa train a few weeks before Christmas. 

 He loved the train ride!

He got to sit on Santa's lap for the first time.

His mom was worried he would be afraid, but he and I had been talking about Santa.

We got him a stuffed Rudolph, a book and PJs with a reindeer on it.

Then we got to watch the show together.

So he was super stoked to see Santa!

Just look at that smile!!!

I asked him what Santa was bringing him and he answered,

"a train"

No one had gotten him a train, so Amazon to the rescue!

I wanted to make something with Avery to gift his parents so one night when we were babysitting,

I brought over the paints and a canvas and we made this wreath!

The berries are his thumb prints.

I used a marker to do the bow and his name. 

I sprayed it with Modge Podge but it made the marker spread.

I wiped it off as best I could and waited for it to dry.

I did it over after that.

We also made salt dough feet ornaments, into reindeer.

These two...love to laugh together.

Chris and I made this Treats for Santa plate for Avery to set out on Christmas eve.

He and I baked some of those pre formed Christmas cookies to put on the plate.

He put out a cookie, some mild and a carrot.

First thing he did on Christmas morning was make a beeline to the plate.

The carrot was partially eaten, so he ate the rest of it; same with the cookie.

Chris and I made this one too, for our daughter to give to a friend.

On Christmas morning, after checking out his plate, he heard the new train that Santa brought.

He was thrilled!!!!

He sat right down and played with it.

First gift was a car carrier.

Second was another "big da" (truck)

Third was Magnatiles

He started to open it, realized what it was and tried to put the wrapping back on, pushed to toward me and said, "Not a da"  

LOL

We took a group photo after Christmas of the five of us.

Just a quick shot with me, my daughter and her son.

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas.

I wish you the Happiest, healthiest New Year.

~XOP~

Christmas 2021 and Thadd's Birthday

I woke up on Christmas morning and made myself this amazing cup of coffee.

  It was so yummy.

Chris had been busy working on these electronic luminaries.  

They turned out so well!

Chris and I exchanged gifts and we each got great gifts from the cats.  They each got us a mug!

Our daughter gave us a wool pod for the cats and this is what my son did with it. 

He brought Pepper over to celebrate with us too.

Cole has used the pod a few times but I am thinking of gifting it to friends that have a kitten.

Every year my son was little I never had time to make his birthday cake as his day is the day after Christmas and there seemed to be no time.  
More recently I have been making him cakes! 

 He always asks for cheesecakes. 

 This year he asked for a caramel apple cheesecake. 

 I think he likes to see what I can come up with each year, LOL. 

 Google to the rescue. 

 I found one on the Pioneer Woman's website. 

 Turns out it was amazing!!\

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.  

~XOP~

Christmas 2021

 Christmas was pretty low key over here at chez Lincoln.  

We didn't have the grandbaby but our other 2 kids were here. 

 I forgot to share some photos of the Christmas stockings I made for my great nephew Charlie.

  Thought I would share those now.

This Santa one was made for Charlie's grandma and grandpa's house.  

I had a devil of a time finding that green for the name. 

 I usually put my fabrics for a project into fabric jail. 

 Somehow this one became an escapee.  

GRRRR. 

 Luckily, I happened to find the order form for the fabric I had used so could get the name.  Unfortunately, the fabric is an out of print fabric, Moda Bella Peppermint. 

 I managed to find some in Canada, so ordered it.  

Then the next day I found some in the US and ordered that too. 

 NOW it is in fabric jail, until this family is finished having babies!

This stocking went to Charlie's house.  

It matches the stockings of his folks and his brother.

You know that I was working on a "Canada" quilt for my husband for Christmas.

  I got it finished in time!  

I had my quilter quilt the word "Canada" into it. 

 You can see the loons below the word too.

I did this on the top and bottom of the quilt.

I put fishing lure flannel on the back.

I have other Christmas quilt gifts to share but in another post.  

I thought I would share a family photo.

Every year my 3 kids take the clip-on candles I have and see who can put theirs the highest on the tree.

My eldest put hers where she is pointing. 

 My son was so tired he decided that he wasn't going to play.

So she put both his and her sister's upside down on the lowest branch, LOL.

The same daughter made those cinnamon rolls in a tube in her waffle maker and they were AMAZING!

One quick photo of my sweet boy who had Christmas in NC.

Gigi and Papa sure did miss him!

More Christmas tomorrow!

~XOP~

Merry Christmas

 We woke up on Christmas morning in our camper with the cats and just a few gifts.

This year we decided not to exchange and only buy gifts for our kids.

Thadd got up and opened his gifts.  

Some Ibuprophen and an electric blanket!  

Cole was checking out the tree. 

 I did get that puzzle for my hubby (a LONG time ago).

Seemed the right time to gift it.

I think Cole enjoyed the blanket as much or more than my son!

Although the kids and baby spent the day as a family they did send photos of baby Avery to us.

This one was probably my favorite!

Merry Christmas to all my family and friends!  

I hope your day was amazing in this strange year.
While our Christmas may not have been our traditional one it was still a good one.  
We were with each other and our son, 

we video chatted and opened gifts with one of our daughters and her hubby and

 video chatted with our other daughter who we will seeing sometime soon to celebrate Christmas with.

Maybe it took a pandemic for everyone to remember what is important in life. 

 God, family and friends.

May you all have a blessed and healthy new year!

~XOP~

Christmas At My House

I did not have time to post over the holiday so instead of Happy New Year 

I will catch up on Christmas first! 

 I plan to post a WIP With Friends Tomorrow so get your posts ready!

My youngest daughter was here from NC so we had a house full for Christmas day.  

We were dog sitting for our nephew and my son brought Abbey and our daughter brought Beep 

(the peacock).

Up first is the dog's present.

Oh Abbey!

I thought I would tell you about one of my favorite traditions at my house.  

See that metallic green candle to the right of the angel?  

Can you see the silver one near her left ear and the red one on her head?  

This comes from all three kids trying to get "theirs" the highest on the tree.  

Now technically the green one wins as it is "on the tree" but to be fair, the red one is on the angel that is on the tree so I declared that one the winner.  

Silly children!

Beep with with us for the celebration.  We bought her a Xylaphone.  

My duaghter took a video of her playing it once she got home 

(she was too distracted to do a good job at our house).

The two youngest opening their gifts. 

This is my nephew's dog, Segram.  

She decided that I was her BEST friend, sigh, of course she did.  

She was a good dog but I forgot what it was like to have a dog around my ankles all the time. 

 Cats are so much easier for me to deal with!

I did make an apron for my son and it came out great! 

 Did I take a picture of it?  NOPE. But this is the fabric I used.  

The pattern did not call for it to be lined but I thought it would look so much nicer

 so I used that blue fabric at the top and lined it. 

 I'll see if I can get him to take a photo with it on.

We took our daughter out to the new place to eat in town, World Of Beer.  

This pretzel was gigantic, and the beer was wonderful 

(although a little expensive).  

After daughter #2 went back to NC we did a lot of cleaning up and chilling.  

Here was Hal hanging out with me on the couch watching a movie.  

It was so nice to be able to relax and just chill for a few days.  

Although you know me by now and that is not my MO.  

That being said, I did manage to get some sewing in and I will share that with you tomorrow

 as well as our NYE shenanigans

 (no there weren't really any shenanigans, but it sounds good). 

Let's meet up back here tomorrow and see what we have going on.

~XOP~

WIPs With Friends

Can you believe it is almost Christmas? Are you working on any last minute projects?  

I have been wrapping like a boss!  Ah and look who is "helping" me wrap! 

I was sitting at the sewing machine the other night and 

she also decided that she needed to show that machine some kitty lovin'.  

My Bernina is now HERS!

Then I decided that our new SIL needed a stocking at our house so I cut one out and sewed the front.  The next part was to cut out the lining, with help from herself of course!  

How do I manage to get any work done without her help??  

Once the requisite amount of cat fur was evenly distributed I was allowed to cut it out.

I am still working on finishing this one.  I hope to show all the stockings on Friday.

~XOP~

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