New Year....New Beginnings

Happy New Year to each and everyone of you!! The eve of a brand new year is upon us, how exciting that is!! I have spent a good portion of these last few days thinking back over this last year.....my goals, did I meet them, did I use the past twelve months to brighten not only my life but someone else's life too. Sitting talking with my sweet husband, we shared the importance of sharing not only what we have, but who we are. I want each of you to know that I have felt heartfelt goodness from all of you. Others may ask just how can that be you don't even know these people. I have to admit there has been times when the thought has crossed my mind and I had to sit and think Bev are you ok LOL! Receiving so much goodness from strangers is weird right? I mean here I am a grown woman talking to other women via the computer LOL! I have had enough time now to feel my way through this thing called blogging, and I know that all of you are a special breed of women and I feel good to be in your company! How many can say, that they have friends on all four corners of the earth! Thank you for your kindness, prayers, laughter, beautiful blogs, and honesty to name a few!

I have a few new plans for this new year I am excited about! Although a few hours yet, God has given me another year, I am so glad He is a God of a second chance..... So I am simply carrying over the unfinished or I can just plain start anew! This new year, I plan to stay more focused and completing all my little unfinished projects! No more one sock knitting thing, or an unfinished scarf, incomplete paper projects or a grand idea not carried out! For me this New Year will be a year of Completion! I have told myself....don't even start it, if you don't plan on finishing it! :o)

All the storytelling around blogland has so inspired me to write again. For many years, I have had a longing to seriously share through writing. My dream is to one day have something published. I have been looking into a few institutions of writing, but I am just not sure which way to go just yet. So that is one thing I will be making a decision on this coming year.

Wow! I think 2008 will be a wonderful year! What are your plans? Any new ones, continued ones? Remember with a New Year are new possibilities: I just love what the great Apostle Paul says about moving on and pressing ahead:

Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected;
but I press on, that I may lay hold of that
for which Christ Jesus has also laid
hold of me.

Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended;
but one thing I do, forgetting those things
which are behind and reaching
forward to those things which are ahead,

I press toward the goal for the prize
of the upward call of God in
Christ Jesus.

Philippians 3:12-14 (NKJV)

This past year has been a wonderful one, but guess what!! I believe the best is yet to come!! Come and let's share the possibilities...... HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!

Smiles....

Beverly

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas
to each and everyone
of you!

Love Beverly

See you in a few days!!

The Spirit of Christmas......

The Sights of Christmas

There's no other time like Christmas.
As the season draws near, the yuletide
spirit beckons us to transform our
homes with holiday magic. Out come
cherished decorations, rich in memories
of Christmas pass. And with the
familiar treasures, we're also stirred to
create fresh new tributes to the season
trimmings, that are sure to become
tomorrow's heirlooms. Caught up in
the festive mood, we create a wonderful

atmosphere that becomes our special gift

endeavor that blesses, too.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I look forward to pulling out The Spirit of Christmas each year. It is filled with poems, recipes and craft and such a beautiful book. I wanted to share this cookie recipe with you. Thimble Cookies, tiny little cookies you actually use a thimble to cut out! But don't panic, you like me can use regular cookie cutters! :o) I hope you enjoy them.....

Pecan Thimble Cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups pecans
1 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

Combine the flour and pecans in a blender or food processor. Process until pecans are very fine. In a medium mixing bowl, beat butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Stir in flour mixture. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. On a lightly floured surface, use a floured rolling pin to roll out dough to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut out dough using a thimble. Place on foil-lined baking sheet and bake 10 - 12 minutes or until very lightly brown.
Yield: about 50 dozen cookies

Variation: Cookie may be rolled out as directed above and cut out using desired cookie cutters. Bake 20 to 25 minutes.
Yield: about 5 dozen 2 1/2 inch cookies

Enjoy!

Beverly

Wishing You A Merry Christmas!

We are getting a few showers here again! This time of year I do get a little excited about cool weather and a few light showers, just enough that makes you want to throw on a coat, a pretty scarf and maybe even a hat! We do not get the beautiful white Christmas here, so we have to enjoy the very cool breezes this time of year brings! Wow what beautiful scenes of Christmas I have enjoyed around blogland. Beautiful trees, snowy grounds, wreaths, angels, lights, snowmen and all so beautiful! I guess you can tell I just love Christmas, for me it is a time of sharing with family and celebrating the birth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ!

Not a long post today, but wanted to share a few photos of Christmas with you! Above are my snowmen along with a tiny tree I found. I never had a miniature tree before, but this one was so cute! And that sweet little Santa face sits right on top!!

As you all know I love making cards, and they make up a large part of my Christmas decorating and like you I keep them for years! Too busy to make any this year and I try so hard to make all handmade cards for family and friends. I am afraid it will be boxed this year LOL! But here are a few of my pass years. The vintage Santa card was made from images I cut from Christmas gift bags and hand embossed with brass stencils, and the poinsettia I cut using pattern paper and found two perfect die cut leaves to top it off! The whimsical angels are simply stickers and embossing!



And of course, I could not end here without showing you "Winter" a sweet little Christmas beauty my Mom surprised me with on last week! She is all decked out for the holidays with her beautiful blue coat and pretty buttons and of course her silver bell. You all continue to enjoy the season and have a fabulous rest of the week!

A season of secrets and surprises,
Christmas brings out a
Childlike excitement in us all!

From the book The Spirit of Christmas

Wishing you and your family a Merry Christmas!

Beverly

The Night Before Christmas.....

Hello everyone of you! I hope this week thus far has been a fabulous one. As for me, it has been very nice. On yesterday evening I sat looking through one of my favorite Christmas books that I have had for many years now. It is a beautiful book with a picture of an old vintage Santa on the cover and filled with lovely Christmas crafts and cookie recipes and more. As it often does this time of year, my mind ran back to when I was a little girl.... No one could have done anything to convince me that there was not a Santa Claus. I actually saw his empty cup on the table where he had tea, and the crumbs left on his plate where he and Mom had shared Christmas cookies! If only I did not have to be sleep for him to come, I would have seen him!

I thank my Mom so much for that childhood memory of Christmas, and I think it has a lot to do with my love for the holiday today. Truly the little girl comes out in me this time of year. As children we did not have lots of money, as a matter of fact we did not have lots of anything LOL! So Mom would bake cookies, and of course put Santa's aside, we would join her in making popcorn garland for the tree and filling up our goodie bags for Christmas morning. Christmas was not Christmas without our goodie bags....a brown lunch bag with an apple, orange, some nuts and candy! And before we were tucked into bed, we children would gather around to hear Mom read "The Night Before Christmas". I remember so clearly that being one of the most exciting times of my little young life.

I heard a bird sing
In the beauty of December
A magical thing and
Sweet to remember.

From the book The Spirit of Christmas

Merry Christmas.....

Beverly

Busy Me.....

Well hello to all of you! I hope you all enjoyed the meme, and thank you so much Tracy for asking! It has been a lovely weekend, it rained here a little on Friday morning and I must say I really enjoyed the light shower.... Another week is upon us, and I have my to do list out and ready!

Blogging has been on my mind somewhat this weekend, and I wanted to share a little of what has been on my heart. First let me say, I realize I have not made my visits as I normally do for the last few weeks, and boy that is hard for me!! Because one thing I love to do is visit and see what all my blogging friends are up to! :o) Especially since I started the Etsy shop! Wow, I can see myself spending quite a bit of time with Etsy LOL! I am working hard to set it up where I am pleased with what is there, and that has not happened yet! I realize it will take time, and I will be fair to myself and patient as well... So to all of you who visit me, know my heart is always with you, even if I miss a post or two! Etsy is a blessing, I never knew about or even heard of Etsy before I started blogging!! I have many years long prayed for a shop of my own, and along came Etsy!! Though not the store front I so envisioned, it is a wonderful step in the right direction I believe.

Have you ever longed for something and waited and waited, and when it did finally come it came in a form you would have never expected? All of us have those stories, but our heart has to be in a place that does not allow us to miss it when it passes through... Sometimes we want something so badly, when it does not match the vision in our heads, we toss it aside even though it screams everything we ever wanted. I am asking God everyday to allow me to see life through His eyes. In that way, I will have a much better chance at receiving all the many good things He has out there just waiting for me.

I wanted to give you all an up date on my sweet Mother. She has had her surgery on last Wednesday and is home now. Thank all of you for your prayers and kind words. As a matter of fact Honey and I will visiting her this evening. I told her she has lots of praying folks out there, boy she just loves that! Each of you have a fabulous week....

The smile on your face
is the light in the window
that tells people that you are at home.

Jo Petty

Smiles to you...

Beverly