Christmas Magic

It's just me, I've escaped the embrace of round the clock Christmas movies on the Hallmark channel..just barely to sit down and write this today.   I don't know what it is, but I'm captivated by these sappy sentimental shows. I only really watch them when I'm ready for bed which is a big mistake because for the last 3 nights I've stayed up until 2:30 in the morning, falling asleep with tear stained cheeks. It's the belief that Christmas Magic can happen to us all and a happy ending is just around the corner. The dog comes home. The sick are cured. The long lost love is found. The wrong persons turn out to be the right.  Santa knows just what to bring to the right house. It's all possible. If you believe.

Josh has been teasing me about watching these movies and tells me I need to stop. I told him that there is Christmas magic out there and I just wanted to feel it. And if you didn't feel it or find it, you needed to make it happen for someone else.  

So we did just that today...made some Christmas magic happen for a couple people other than ourselves this morning. It's not important who or what, or even why we chose what we did.  It's easy to get caught up in our every day happenings and forget there are many others out there that just need to hear a thank you, or I'm a thinking of you...or to let them know you matter, or it will be okay. Give someone else hope and you get it back many times over in return.

After our little magic making was over we began our drive to Myrtle Beach to celebrate Christmas with some friends.  It's the first time we've been away EVER for the holidays.  I am having a hard time letting go of the traditions that I've been at the helms at for so many years. Maybe that's why I've been a little lost this year.  It's hard letting go and moving on to something else, isn't it?   I'm realizing though there is a lot of letting go to come in the next few years, especially as the boys get older.  I'm not going to rush it, but it's on the back of my mind that things are changing rapidly and time is moving so swiftly.

And maybe it's just the winter time that causes one to retreat and reflect in a quiet 'drifterly' way.  Those reflections I feel are pointing me into some new directions so I can slow down and do more of the right things and less of the things that take up too much time with so little return. The one thing we can never get back is time and I don't want to wake up one day and realize, I've worked 5 months straight and missed so many things that I 've could of enjoyed had I only stopped.

Perhaps during the next few months of quiet winter, "The Calling" will become even more clear on how to make it all work so the quick sand of time doesn't get by me any more than it has.

I want to feel the Christmas magic all year.

I don't want to miss out on opportunities that make life worth living.

It's okay to slow down.  To have more impact on what I decide to do, and be okay with letting go with that which no longer serves the purpose it once had.

 

After all, shouldn't every season be the season to surrounded by the ones you love making magical moments whenever you can?

 So as you spend the next couple of weeks around your loved ones, family, friends....take time to reflect what it is that you can do to make more impact, and magic everyday over this next year and beyond.  No more running in place, stay grounded but move forward in the right directions.

May you and your family have a magical Christmas in big and small ways, and share in good health and prosperity for the New Year to come.

 Merry Christmas to all, and to all, a safe and sound good night.

Jodi Ohl

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Stay tuned, I will be having a very special holiday sale just for you, so if you get some holiday cash, stop back and see how you can learn cool things to enhance your creative self!

In the meantime, stop by my shop and see what's new!

Reflections on the Best Christmas Ever

A few snippets and munchies from Christmas Eve and Christmas Day...

I didn't bake nearly as much as I normally do, and you know what--it was okay. As stressed as I was for not getting 'everything' done, what WAS done was more than enough. Isn't it crazy how we put these high expectations on ourselves during the holidays and in reality, how much of it all does it matter? Will the earth shatter if the M&M cookies never make it to our cookie tray? I hope not..lol because if so, my world is about to 'crumble'!
Now-mind you, we did have some great food both days if I do say so myself. It's been a tradition for as long as I can remember to have an appetizer party at my house on Christmas Eve. Everyone's welcome but since I have no family nearby, normally the company is only a handful.
That's always bittersweet for me. I remember the days of busting at the seams house full of people during our Christmas gatherings back in NY.
The house was a bit fuller this year than in other years as we had some unexpected but most welcome guests stop in.

Too much to list as far as what we had, but two of my favorites, Veggie Pizza (thank you Jeanne for the recipe!!)) and chicken wings with my secret sauce.

Was this the art table??? For those of you who visit often, know that this is not the normal state of affairs for me..lol. Normally this table looks like a cyclone hit it, leaving artwork and supplies everywhere under the sun in it's path. I have it repositioned (I'm talking I waited until just an hour or so before I put the food out to distribute my art throughout the house..lol) and its place we put out a buffet of munchies.

My two darling lil (big) men, Josh and Zack. Josh is 8 and Zack is 14. Yikes. Is Zack the same boy who crawled up and knocked down the tree when he was just a wee one?? LOL And Josh--he has gone to bed early just about every night this week so Christmas would come sooner.

Josh and his Dad enjoying some wings like 'mens' do. Yes we have a dysfunctional family--my exs come over for the holidays so the kids don't have to shuffle around. AND we all get along. AND we actually buy gifts for eachother. Maybe it's because we all live soooooo far from our family, everyone is up north while we are down here, maybe it's just a choice we made for how we live, whatever it is, it works. Even if it doesn't make sense to others, stripping away the negative and focussing on the positive has allowed us all to create a 'family' of sorts.

**note...must buy bigger couch, the boys are getting too big for the one we have..lol*
Zack tuckered out the night before Christmas. I'm sure he's going to holler holler at me when he sees this. After the guests had left, Santa and Mrs. Claus wrapped presents until 2am. I will NEVER do that again. I normally do not wait until the last minute to wrap gifts but somehow time escaped me this year.

Everything everyone could want--even on a scaled down version (even magazines and small books in a shirt box can decieve but delight the eye ;)

My boy with a 'tude. He loved his new shirt and hat (signs of the kidlets getting older when they actually like getting clothes here and there), and sported the look most of the day.

Josh was up at 5 am just waiting patiently sitting at the tree for us to get up. If it were me at his age--ask my Mom...I would have slit open a few presents and pasted them back up...lol. I was horrible. The anticipation was wayyyy tooooo much for me. I had to know. In fact, Josh hid my Mom's Christmas box from me this year so I wouldn't 'accidently' open one of my gifts..lol. Did you catch that?? My 8 year old hid Grandma's gift from me..lol. Yes, my son is the caretaker of the house. He keeps Mom in line :)
Christmas Eve started off rocky due to a work situation that I had to handle--one of the stresses of being a manager. I can't tell you how much I needed to just escape into cooking and entertaining after a stressful day. But all in all, I was able to let it go for a few hours and truly enjoy the day with the kids, family and friends.

As mentioned before, normally we don't have a lot of company on the holidays but this year we had some visitors stop in that were guests of my guests and it was truly a good experience to meet new people and welcome them into my home.

After the festivities and dinner on Christmas Eve, I had the opportunity to show some of my new pieces to the family that joined us (2 of the guests are US citizens who live in Lebanon right now but were home visiting her son that lives in town). I JUST finished these pieces this week, a continuation of the Winter In NY series I've been doing, but these are in Blue. The top picture is called Discover, the second piece is called, Roots in Blue.
After playing 'Show and Tell' with my new friends, showing them my new pieces, my article, some prints I have, and some older work...they gifted me with the honor of purchasing these pieces shown.

The young man who joined us really loved these darker pieces and after hearing my story and getting to know the 'artist' a bit, and really feeling a connection to what I was saying--his Mom decided to purchase these pieces from me so he, at 21, can start his very own original art collection for his new apartment. Wow...to say that I was moved at the opportunity to turn a young person onto the 'art' scene and to be the first in what will hopefully a life long appreciation of the arts, is beyond words. Connecting with someone as I complete my creative process is what it is all about.

He told me that he used to love to draw but at some point in his child hood, teacher reprimanded him for drawing stick figures and since that day--he hadn't had the desire to do anything with art. But yesterday, there was a new light in his eye and I hope it continues to glow and he revisits that desire to create once again.
It is healing. Creating is liberating. It is a way to connect with others without saying a word.
I am blessed to have been a part of a very touching moment yesterday in more than one way--so many ways, not just with the sale of my pieces, but with the clarity of what is important in this world.
Time.
People.
Family.
Love.
Friendship.
..and good food ;)

This piece has a new home as well.....this was one of my
gifts to my dear Mother. She said she felt a connection
to my Winter In NY pieces so with keeping the tradition of
a partially hand made Christmas gift that I have been doing for the
last few years, I created this especially for my Mom.
When everything else is gone in the world, there are some things
that you can't have taken away and one of those things is your
roots and sense of belonging.
To never forget your history, and never forget those that you love the
most is a great gift. One that I hope to continue to embed in my
every day.

I hope whatever it is that you celebrate during this time of year, you can reflect back
on the moment and catalog it as the Best 'Christmas' ((insert holiday)) Ever. Because the gift of another day is the best ever, if that's what you choose to make it.

Enjoy the gift of today.

Cookies, Candy, and Goodies, OH MY!

Chocolate dipped pretzels, pretzel rods, sugar cookies, m&m cookies, amish cashew crunch, chocolate pecan toffee, chocolate peppermint bark, and white chocolate cranberry cookies!!

(click to enlarge)

Happy Holidays to you all!
As you might guess from the above picture that there's been more cooking than crafting going on in the Sweet Repeats Studio Shoppe lately! I've been knee deep in chocolate and cookie dough all week during my vacation!
Tonight we are having a little get together--here's the menu:
Crab Stuffed Mushrooms
Chipped beef dip with bread
White Pizza Dip
Veggie Platter
Shrimp Platter
Taco dip
Honey BBQ Chicken Fingers
Chips
Cookies
Candy
and whatever else my peeps bring!
MMMM
Can't wait.
As you can see, this is not a calorie friendly menu. grrrrr.....and as you can see there are no pics of me in the photo collage--that's because the pics of me are really getting bad LOL. Although a diet is not in the question today or tomorrow--by the new year, I need to change my tune!! But for now, I shall enjoy!

I also wanted to extend thank you's to some good mail received and pictured above:

A n adorable red and white apron from Raesha
Darling crocheted ornament from Paula
Fabulous lavender flower pin from Heidi
Lovely handcrafted earings from Nancy
Not pictured but recevied-a gift of PIF from Breanna-a gift cert to extend a loan to third world country entrepreneur....how cool is that??
Thank you ladies for filling my heart with friendship and my mailbox with goodies. You all make me feel so good with your generous acts of kindness and friendship.

And now, to spend time with my family in preparation for Santa coming tomorrow. I heard on the news today that our Governor temporarily lifted the customs ban on allowing reindeers in NC and has notified the FAA to allow red sleighs to fly in what has been no fly zones the rest of the year. Phew. I was getting worried. :)

Hope your holidays are grand-here's to an even better 2008!

Sweet Sights of Holiday Happenings

If you think I've been sitting around twiddling my thumbs, think again....I've been up to my eyeballs in glitter, garland, pine needles, rubbermaid totes, paint, and more. Notice how I've left out anything to do with anything in the kitchen--no holiday smells coming yet from my stove other than the potpourri liquid that I bought. Nope--baking would have totally put me over the edget I think this weekend.
The cluster (you know what) thatI had this popsicle stand in all weekend up until 11pm last night was beyond all sense of sanity and I don't even have a lot, so it's beyond me how I took 3 rubbermaid totes and turned into 3 rooms of complete chaos!
The good news is, everything is put up, put out, swept up, and glowing like Chevy Chase on crack.

This is the fabulousity wreath I created with the multiple packs of bulbs I have purchased at some yard sales throughout the year, all glued down nice and tight (I hope....) on a flocked wreath purchased at the ultra swanky Dollar General! Not that it goes with the green and red decorations I have--that's really besides the point, isn't it? This isn't Design Challenge, Holiday Episode 2007 where everything looks like ummmmm...one of the 3 thousand beautiful pics I've seen in the multiple copies of Holiday magazines that I can't seem to walk by lately at the grocery store......no, this is use what you have and embellish the rest Holiday 2007 by Lucy.

This is a little out of order, put I loved this pic so added it at the top of my blog roll tonight--a view from the old railroad station in Aberdeen, NC--Rockfish Railroad. After all the stockings were hung (oooops wait, I lied, I still have stockings to hang now that I think about it), Josh and I took a spin around town to look at all the lights--a tradition we usually save until the Saturday before Christmas. I took a ton of pics with my new camera on the night time setting and well--ummm---this about the only one that came out clear. The rest look like I had about 7 martini's and was doing the samba while taking the shots. I obviously have a lot to learn yet about it..but that's a good thing. I learned how to use the "auction feature" though--aren't you proud? It has a cool function that will allow you to take smaller size pics and group them in blocks of up to 4 with no editing on the computer...purdy cool, huh??

Speaking of Auctions--here is a purchase I bought last spring from Carrie of Violet's are Blue from her ebay store. I won a HUGE box of John McCrae woodland ornaments and this ceramic house, all for a sweet price. All for less than what this house sold for at regular retail alone! Now that's SWEET!
Okay and if I'm not sewing, I might as well load up everything I own with fabric that I have. I've covered tables, carts, draped chairs--all with holiday fabric. It makes me feel better. LOL. I hate buying things and not using them. Not that I paid a lot for 5 bags of fabric--10.00 last year--the point is, I should have made at least 50 projects by now and I think I have done maybe...maybe...3. (hanging head) 3 or so sewing projects that is. My attention has been turned elsewhere not to mention my sewing machine sucks the big wad. And that's when it works.

Here's a snapshot of a couple of the woodland ornaments I bought--the snowman, and the ummmmwhatever that is on a string....LOL...and one of my favorite angel ornaments nestled imbetween the woodsy thingys.

I've done some painting too this week--well this isn't it, but just wanted to mention that I have a picture in the works. This one I was working on when I did the last portrait..or actually I think it was the last painting I featured. I was going to sell it but I just didn't create the look I was going for so it's going to stay in the family, not to mention it's too late to be listing Christmas things on etsy. That painting I'm working on right now is pretty cool--it's come to be about growing wings and flying away. More about that on my next post. Oh look--I guess I need some new candles don't I?? Yikes. Embarassing.

Oh look. There's my knee. It actually looks skinny. It's not. Ha. :) I decide to decorate in my holiday best pajamas--all red and white like a big ole walking candy cane. I felt better just putting them on, then again, I'd go to work in my pajamas if I could so that doesn't say much about me feeling in the spirit. My jammies always lift my spirit!

You'll have to trust me that it all came together swimmingly and that the tree is much more beautiful and comforting in person. I am still in the real tree mode--can't quite bring myself to buying an artificial one although it does make much more economical sense as well as less far less hassle--but then my sons would probably revolt because they like the tradition of buying a tree at Lowe's tree farm (snicker). Oh wait,, that would be me that likes that tradition and would revolt against myself if I changed it up. Or my other half changed it up--my more logical side (does she exist anymore)??
All in all, I moved a little further away from my holiday funk than when I started this mission Friday night. I'm still not all the way out of it--case in point--no holiday goodies in the freezer, only one bag of chips bought compared to the 10 or so I usually have stocked away--about 5 presents bought compared to the nearly completed list by now--no holiday cards written out, no holiday recipes list to make decided on, not one holiday project completed other than the painting (for me) and the wreath (for the house)....swap project barely started....I'm even scaring myself by highlighting all things I have yet to muster the energy to tackle. I just haven't had it in me for a variety of reasons this year. Hopefully some spirit will blow into me with the night wind outside of my door and I will awake tomorrow with the drive to make this holiday...a holiday like I want it to be which is different than how I've been feeling lately. The good news is, there is progress up the mountain--thank the blog diary to prove that :)

lucy

LUCY, I'm Home!

I received an early Christmas gift with the news that my honey would be able to come home after a 5 month abscence almost to the day, December 22 nd. "Lucy, I can come home today!!" were the words that I heard over the phone early that morning. "What???"" Oh my goodness, I'm glad I cleaned the house last nite! (what strange things I think, huh???) Of course I was more than happy to hear him on the other line with such nice news. Many of you know the situation around the abscence so I won't go into it here, but suffice to say after a very trying last half of the year, we started our new beginning in a very positive manner. Surrounded by family and some friends and at Christmas, what more could we ask for.

It has been a whirl wind week since last Friday, with tons of travelling here and there, visiting, shopping, cooking, wrapping, cleaning, more cooking, more shopping, looking for jobs for him, getting transportation secured so he can get to his job, get togethers with family, and yesterday we started on a project mentioned here .

Way to much food, but it was worth it! One new recipe I tried was "Crab Rangoon Dip" with homemade wonton chips. MMMM, that was really good and different.

As you can see, all the activity tuckered

out even the most hearty of contenders, my youngest DS. This picture is from early Christmas Eve afternoon. I snuck in and grabbed the moment as he lay so peaceful sleeping.

I had plenty of help in the kitchen, with my oldest more than glad to taste test anything, well almost anything. He passed on the crab stuffed mushrooms (my personal favorite) Christmas Eve, but gave the thumbs up to just about everything else!

DS opening gifts from Grandma, she knows how to drum up excitement even through the miles, the boys always look forward to Grandma's box arriving a few days before Christmas. (Okay, so do I :) I was good, I didn't even open it until Christmas Day. Much improved from my childhood sneaks through "Santa's workshop", huh Mom????

Here's a dark snapshot (seems to be a trend with my picture taking lately) of our living room after Santa paid a visit and before the little cherubs woke up.

Besides the 20, she sent a toothbrush which, hmmmm, had mixed reviews, but I'M GLAD she sent it, especially with all the candy and cookie eating as of lately, they need it more than ever!!

And my honey, opening his gifts slowly and carefully, soaking everything in that has occurred in the last 6 months, and just greatful to be where he is now, and greatful to be able to be home with us on Christmas day.

The kids had a lot of fun opening gifts and sharing lots of laughs and good food with our small family, but of course, my youngest had an announcement, to make.....which I'm sure many parents have heard at one point or another...."Well, I don't know what happened to my LIST, but I didn't get everything I wanted!" Grrrrrr....tears from Momma came streaming out...LOL....I had to go to the bathroom as I was so hurt, but Ken came to my rescue assuring me that once we had the air hockey table set up, he would be a happy camper and that's just how kids are.
Well, it hurt anyway to hear it but I wiped the tears away and tried to remember that its not about the amount of gifts or amount of money you spend, its the time as a family, the gift of love, the gift of Christ which is the reason for the season. Hmmmm,, it makes me think that I need to reinforce that with my youngest so he learns and remembers each year- why we celebrate Christmas.

I hope everyone who stops by and takes the time to read this has had a wonderful holiday with their friends and family and your 2007 is year that brings many blessings to you and yours.

Up next.....peek into my new projects and resolutions for the New Year!

Cheers! Lucy