Merry Christmas to all! With love, Molly
My sweet Ellie Belle. We almost lost her this year. She was very ill in the spring, but with lots of faith and lots of prayers she beat the odds and pulled through. I am so thankful she is still here and we have another Christmas with her.
This is the second Chirstmas dress I have made for Lilly in the past 2 weeks ( I don't have a good picture of the other one yet). I thought I was only going to make one but I found this fabric at Joann's last week and loved it so much I almost cried (click on the photos to see the fabric better). It is the sweetest fabric I've ever seen! It's little vintage angels making Christmas cookies, candies and gingerbread houses. It was on sale and I yanked it off the shelf as fast as I could and was shrieking out "Lilly isn't this the best fabric ever?!" She was too into her lollipop to care that much. I used this tutorial at Joy's Hope and made it my own by sewing gingham fabric straps/bow instead of ribbon and I added the fabric flowers with fabric covered buttons along the top to make it even more yummy. I wish I could get away with wearing this dress/fabric. Aren't you glad I have a little girl and you didnt have to see a 34 year old woman wearing angels and cookies on her dress?
Hope your Christmas season is filled with sweets! Love, Molly 
We had a great day today. Lilly and Doug and I spent the day with my grandparents and my mom and dad. We went to my Dandaddy's (grandfather) church together and then had lunch. After lunch we looked through my Mom's old scrapbooks from jr. high and high school. Mom and Dad grew up together so it was great to see pictures and momentos from their past, times they shared together as kids. That is pretty amazing to me. Another amazing experience from the day was getting to read some of the letters my Dandaddy wrote to his mother from his ship during World War II. They were unbelievable. I couldn't put them down. So much feeling and so much history in those letters. Many of them were written during Christmas time. I can't imagine my grandfather and all those other U.S. soldiers having to spend Christmas on a beach in the South Pacific in the midst of war. We owe so much to veterans.
When I got home I snapped some pictures of my living room and dining room to share with you. I love the "twinkly bright" feeling of the rooms. I use lots of gold, glitter, snow and vintage glass bead garlands.
Christmas Blessings to all, Molly 
my centerpiece
a cozy corner
nativity my grandparents gave me for my 2nd Christmas, December 1977
Love to all, Molly
"Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all. Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name."
I don't know about you guys but I am just becoming more and more frustrated and annoyed with retailers skipping Thanksgiving and going right to Christmas beginning in September! Christmas has been slowly but surely creeping farther and farther back. When I was young I remember my Mimi commenting on how terrible she thought it was that stores had Christmas out in early November. Well these days we see Chistmas popping up in stores as early as September and I think it is a crime. They use this tactic to get us to buy, buy, buy. Buy presents, buy decorations, buy clothing!. I'm not falling for it. Yes I have made a few ornaments and have been thinking of some Christmas decorating ideas but I can assure you I will not ignore Thanksgiving and to me the Christmas season does not begin until we have recovered from our turkey hangovers.
