A tree in every room

My Christmas decorating philosophy is this -- I don't want "over the top" decorating all over the place, in every nook and cranny and corner. But, when someone steps into a room I want them to know that it's Christmas. Therefore ........a tree in every room.


One guest bedroom has a simple lighted tree. The brand-new, yet old-looking little sign was purchased at Cheapo Depot for $2. It says "Season of Joy".

The folk Santa was made by William, probably 30 or more years ago, out of a 2 by 6 chunk of wood.

Lily Kate's little table all set for having a tea party with the teddy bears.
Adornments decorate the little tree, each one telling about a part of Christ's life, who He is, why He came to earth.
And our main tree in the living room. I used old pictures, along with our traditional ornaments -- one of the silver bells the "little angels" rang as my daughter walked down the aisle,
first ballet slippers,
my tiara from high school days,
an antique bookmark with the ten commandments, from my grandmother's Bible,
mine and William's first Christmas stockings, homemade by a mom or grandmom,
special glass ornaments from my grandparents tree,
there is even a cute little plastic cowboy hat bowl that was Williams when he was
a little guy -- it's so cute!,

at the top -- the cake topper from our wedding....two white doves inside a white heart.


I used yards of burlap this year. Everywhere. On the trees. Under the trees. I hope to finish the burlap stockings by Christmas. If not -- there's always next year.

Sooooo -- that's the tour of trees, part1. I think I showed you our bedroom tree a couple days ago. Then there's the peppermint tree in the kitchen. And the trees on the porches.

Oh, I'll be back later with those.

We are totally decked out and dolled up and enjoying every moment of this season.

Enjoy your CHRISTmas season day. Okay?

Gwynie Pie

.....and it goes on....

The armoire --- laden with evergreen boughs and twinkly white lights.

St. Francis and the basket of songbooks.







It's Never Too Late to Live Happily Ever After,

Gwynie Pie

Decorating continues......

On top of the tv armoire -- my favorite little stone angel sits watch. I made the red "This House Believes" sign a couple years ago. It moves around the house and is almost always on display. This house believes --- in Jesus.


Old!!! red toolbox lined with a scrap of burlap holds our collection of children's Christmas books. Some are mine, some are my kids. That Christmas Stories book was given as a gift to William's great-grandmother in 1903. So sweet.
The Santa is from my childhood -- he always stood on my folks mantle with his hand in a candy dish. I'm not a big Santa fan, ya know? but I do love him.


Stack of family bibles. Some are quite ancient. The nativity we've had since we were first married.
Part of the collection of Santa and Christmas pictures through the years. That black and white one is me and my Daddy, my first Christmas.


The house is looking like Christmas now. I'm ready to sit back, drink some hot tea and enjoy the season.

Enjoy!

Gwynie Pie

Christmas Decorating

Just wanted to show you some of what I've been up to lately.

Starting with the bedroom --

I used the colors in the comforter and pillows and pulled those
into the Christmas decorations for the room -- muted turquoise and chocolate brown.

The glass bottle in the Eiffel Tower shape was found years ago in a Bryan junk shop. It originally was a bottle of French dressing. Isn't that cute?
Cost a whole 25 cents. And I just love its uniqueness.


The set of books was found at the College Station Friends of Library sale for a couple dollars. I love the colors, especially of the title labels.



When all the decorating is finished, there are always areas I want to leave up for a while, even after Christmas.

This is one of those areas. I just love the textures and colors in this room so much.

It may all just stay "as is" for a good long while.

I'll be back later with the rest of the house.


Happy decorating,

Gwynie Pie

Wild Olive Tees

"Get your verse on"

That's the attitude over at Wild Olive Tees. I just found this store/blog and although I haven't ordered---yet ---I just love the spirit of these gals.

Check them out at http://www.wildolivetees.com . Or just click on their "Rejoice" button
over on the right side of this blog.

Cutest tees ever! And with a message.

Gwynie Pie

SNOW !!!!!

It snowed. Yes, it did.

And it was absolutely beautiful.

A winter wonderland.

For almost 6 hours. And then.......as quickly as it came, it was gone.

These pictures were taken at 6 a.m. as I was leaving for my recent 7-day job. I worked last week and part of this at the county elections office processing voters in early voting for a mayoral race run-off. Had a great time. Learned a LOT!!! Hung with some fun people and made new friends. Saw a lot of old friends. It was a good experience.

But can I just say --- I was absolutely exhausted. Daily. Of course the pace of the day was so different from my usual. We were busy almost non-stop. And meeting the public requires a happy face and sweet spirit and the ability to just let stuff "roll off" without comment. Takes a LOT of energy.

I have such respect for you gals who juggle it ALL - husband, kids, home, work - and do such a good job with it ALL. My hat is off to you!

I don't know that I could get in the groove -- guess I could. Glad I don't have to right now.

My house is a total wreck.

We ate fast food (or worse) the whole time.

My husband had to go searching for clean underwear. And found some. Stuffed in a laundry basket. Washed over a week ago.

Bed unmade. Bathrooms unscrubbed. Morning coffee cups crowding onto the countertop. Floors -- well, you get the picture.

Blog unattended. E-mails unanswered. Bills unpaid.

So, so glad to be home again.

SO glad in fact, that I am happily, joyously even, cleaning my house -- every nook and cranny. AND finishing the Christmas decorating.

I'll be posting Christmas pictures and some fun projects very soon.

But hey, enough about me ---- what are YOU doing? Tell me what fun holiday projects you have going ....

Love ya,

Gwynie Pie

Bless

Blessed beyond measure.

Blessed to be a blessing.

Bless this home and all who enter here.

Bless.
In decorating the house for Christmas I'm always torn.

Do I just decorate every nook and cranny and go completely over the top?
As I have some years.

OR do I low-key the entire thing. Go pseudo minimalist.

I never know until I get into it. And I'm usually not done decorating
until the day before or sometimes the day of Christmas.

BUT -- I do see a "theme" emerging.

Bless.

And I know that is my desire. To bless.

To bless my husband. To bless my family. To bless others. To bless His Holy Name....in ALL that I do.

So keeping that as my goal ---- here we go ---------

I'm looking forward to a wonderful month of Christmas planning, decorating and enjoying.

May your Christmas be exceedingly Blessed.

Gwynie Pie

Dreaming of a White Christmas

Cotton harvest is almost done.

Huge, mostly green, tractors with cotton strippers on board have roared through the fields, pulling the cotton off the stalks and depositing the bolls into a giant
basket.

The basket is then dumped into an enormous iron "loaf pan" that sits at the end of
the rows. You think I'm makin' this up???
There this loaf pan squeezes the cotton into a module -- a giant loaf of cotton.

Next.....a big truck comes lumbering into the field and by some means of magic, loads the loaf of cotton into the truck and carries it to the cotton gin.

There the loaf disappears into the gin and moments later---- all very mysterious..... it reappears at the other end in small bales of shiny white cotton all in a row.

The bales go away on a big truck. Next time we see them, they are hanging on the rack in a store, looking all cute and colorful and sporting a price tag totally not in line with what the farmer got paid for his part in planting, tending and harvesting said cotton.

And there you have it. For being a farmer's daughter, I sure don't have a very good grasp of the technological aspects of the process,huh?. You may have noticed that?

I may not know "the how". But, I do know this -- my Daddy loved it. I love it too. It's harvest. It's Fall. It's home. Mmmmmmmm

Even the roaring of the cotton gin, now round the clock, until all the "loafs" are baled......comforting, familiar, home.


Gwynie Pie

She followed me home. Can I keep her?

A few Sundays ago we became first time EVER horse owners.

I won't go into the crazy circumstances that brought this about.

And I won't tell you how not happy I was about this turn of events.

I WILL, however, tell you ------ she was without a name. Can you imagine?

A Horse With No Name ????? (wow -- flashback)

Lily Kate promptly named her Ladybird.



Ladybird was bony and hungry and her spirits were sagging. You can see her ribs. Her mane was tangled. Her eyes were matted. She had not been cared for, much less loved.


And NOW 4 weeks later, she is getting her groove back.

She is quite happy to see us when we arrive back home.....she comes over to the fence and nickers at us. Probably because of the delicious apples and carrots and sweet feed we give her. BUT, I prefer to think that she knows us. She loves us.

She is a wonderfully sweet horse.

I'm glad she followed him home.


Happy Trails ~~~

Gwynie Pie

DREAMS 2009 -- revisited

Last January, when I wrote my very first (technically my second) blog ever...I bared my soul and actually stated my Dreams for the year.

At the time I remember thinking -- THIS may be your craziest hour, Gwyn....you are gonna have to answer for this later at the end of the year.

And sure enough.........................here I am................answering...............

Here we are 6 weeks away from the last day of this year and I figured it was time to face the music and revisit those goals. Time to reassess.

And time to start thinking about the new goals for 2010.

Bad news is -- I have not accomplished ALL of my goals for the year. Not even half of them. Oh heck, who am I kiddin' -- not even a fourth of them.

Good news is -- hmmmm.....I'm thinking.........

I must admit that to fall short of a goal is a great disappointment to me.
My tendency is to feel like a failure. The original point of writing down my goals, however, was to keep them out there in front of me, knowing that is a very effective way to actually achieve goals. Write them down. Read them every day. AHHHH HA!!!!

Here's the TRUTH --- I have NOT kept those goals out there in front of me. I have not read them every day. I have
pretty much ignored them, all the while knowing they were still there....just mocking me.

I have not lost a significant amount of weight. I am not in good enough shape to do the Jingle Bell Run in Fort Worth in 4 weeks.
I still haven't had the guitar out of the case ......ALL YEAR LONG! Still can't back a trailer. Didn't float a river or kayak one this past summer.

Have not ridden a horse. Although we do now own a horse, so I guess I'm just sneakin' up on that goal. HOWEVER ---
riding a horse is closely tied to that first goal I didn't reach this year (the one about losing weight).

Here's what I HAVE ACCOMPLISHED from the "Dreams" post -----

I have done two meaty Bible studies. And I have read much of my Bible, with the goal of reading it through this year. This goal WILL BE accomplished by Dec. 31. It WILL!!!

I'm also reading through the Bible in 2010. Again. This has been one of the most exciting, profound, challenging, frustrating, satisfying things I've ever done.

All in all - now that I've written this down -- I guess I really should feel like a failure. But, I don't. I just feel more challenged to keep going. To keep setting goals. To keep desiring to be better, do more, achieve more. To keep reaching.

I'm re-thinking many of those goals (not achieved) from this year. Praying. I really want to desire the things for myself that the LORD desires for me. In praying and thinking about this, I believe this is a goal for 2010 :

I am setting a goal to read 20 books during the year. Not the fluffy mysterys that I can devour in a day. But 20 books with a lot heft to them -- a lot a weight and significance.

I'm listing them over on the sidebar so they are "In My Face" all year long. I'm very excited about this goal. I need to stretch my mind. To challenge my thinking. To fill my mind with good, challenging things.

What about you??? Are you a reader? Do you NEED to be a reader? I invite you to share my list of books. We can read together and then discuss. :) Think about it..............

Gwynie Pie

Sweet Giveaway

Just learned of a super fun giveaway at Peanut Petunia http://www.peanutpetunia.blogspot.com .

Go over and check it out.

Gwynie Pie

And so, it begins .........

It's that time of the year when I go from comfortably busy, slow even, to full-tilt flat-out runnin' for all I'm worth.

I bet that happens to you too. It's the sign of the season, I guess. The pace picks up. And the tendency is, for me at least, to have an attitude of "let's just get it done" so things can slow down and get back to normal.

Of course, in the process of thinking that way, I typically miss out on a lot of fun. And satisfaction. And joy of the season.

This year, however, I have made a promise to myself....and now I'm making it to you (you can hold me accountable)...

I WILL totally enjoy every single bit of the next few weeks.

In the midst of the craziness and busyness of the season, I AM going to experience every last minute of it all !!!

This coming Saturday is the first party of the season -- a MOPS potluck. Followed by an 80th birthday celebration for William's Aunt Irma. We're ordering the fried chicken, but I'm cooking the sides for about 25 at the family dinner. And helping decorate the tables. I woke up this morning at 3-something thinking about those table decorations. Went back to sleep, but apparently my sub-conscious worked on it til 7, cause I woke up and had it all thought out in my mind. I could see the tables decorated and WOW did they look great!

The following day is the Agape Feast. This is a wonderful time of celebrating what the LORD has done in our church and in each of our lives over the past year. It's a time to remember. I have volunteered to recruit a team of decorators to help make the tables pretty - all 80 of them ! My kind of fun !

Then Thanksgiving Day our family is breaking with tradition and staying home, instead of joining William's family at his uncle's ranch. We will have my mother and the kids that can be here, come for dinner, then the Cowboys game, followed by the Aggies game. I'm really looking forward to cooking the meal and having our family gathered together. Later that weekend, the house will be full of kids and friends as we celebrate Dana's birthday with another family meal. Yes, we celebrate with food. Yes, I know!

In another week, we are traveling to visit Dana and her family where I get to build gingerbread houses with Lily Kate. And maybe walk the Jingle Bell Run in Fort Worth. Maybe. I might just watch. :)

A couple weeks later -- we are hosting William's work staff Christmas party.

And that just gets us into early December.

I am so looking forward to every bit of this holiday season. I truly am. I don't want to miss a thing. I just want to soak it all up. And when January rolls in, I want to be able to look back and remember and know I lived it ALL to the fullest.

What does your holiday calendar look like? What are you planning? How are you coping?

Smiles and hugs to you all today ---------

Gwynie Pie

White Pumpkin

I am so in love with this white pumpkin.

As many of you know, I went on a search around town for a white pumpkin because I had seen the most wonderful project that involved using a regular round paper doily and brown craft paint.

You cut a hole out in the middle of the doily and it becomes a template for stenciling a beautiful lacy collar on the top of the pumpkin. Just lay the doily over the top and with a paint sponge, dab the color on filling in the holes of the doily. Absolutely breath-taking. I loved the look.

However........after an thorough search for the white pumpkin ---- I realized none of them were as pretty as I wanted them to be --- I'm picky that way.

The white pumpkins were really more greenish. And bumpy and bruised. AND they cost twice as much as your basic orange pumpkin.

Soooooo - I decided to just make my own. Found this big beauty at a farm stand for FREE !!!! Then, using painters tape, I taped off the stem. Got out my can of Harvest White spray paint and in just moments, I had a very beautiful white pumpkin.

THEN, I decided it was just too pretty to mess with. So the doily and paint craft project will just have to wait til another day.

As Thanksgiving draws near, I may get tired of the white pumpkin look and see what else I can do.

Right now, I'm just loving it sitting right here on my big dining table, in the middle of my New York leaves, perched on top of my "Oh taste and see that the LORD is good" cakestand.

It really doesn't take much to dazzle me. 'Cause every time I walk past and notice this pumpkin, I smile. Simple. Beauty.

Dana and Lily Kate coming for the weekend and will be here in just a few hours. And then we're all off to the ranch country south of here to visit Colin and Ronnie. I have much to do before they arrive, so I'd better get crack-a-lackin'.

Have a beautiful day everyone ! Blessings on your weekend.

Gwynie Pie

Woodchopper's Ball

Woodchopper's Ball 2009

It was a great Saturday for our annual Woodchopper's Ball -- food, fun and fellowship. And oh yeah --firewood.

Dress for "the Ball" is always casual -- Lumberjack Chic.

Every year for 6 or 7 years now we have hosted this unusual party.

We invite folks who live in the city, with only "store-bought" firewood
available to them, to come out to the ranch and harvest as much firewood
as they want.

Our day begins early with all the last minute prep work -- and most importantly, making a 40 cup urn of coffee and several gallons of iced tea. THAT'S really the most important part of the morning.

About 9:30-10:00 everyone start arriving, driving trucks and pulling trailers, wearing gloves and wielding chainsaws.

The Woodchoppers then leave our house in a caravan and travel to our ranch, where they chop wood for the next 2 or 3 hours.

Meanwhile, most of the womenfolk and small children stay at the house, visiting, drinking coffee and warming up the noon meal.

Our menu is always the same -- everyone brings a CrockPot of soup or stew, dessert, chips and dips, breads.

This year we had THE most delicious soups ever !!! Cheeseburger soup, Southwest Chicken Chowder, Baked Potato Soup, Beef Stew, Chili, Mushroom Barley soup ---- oh my goodness. So good!

We eat lunch when the woodchopper's return and then we clear off the long dining table and spend the afternoon playing Train or Chicken Foot, football and basketball in the back yard or just chillin' in front of the tv watching the football games.

William and I had a blast! It is a lot of work getting ready for it and cleaning up after. But, we have the time of our lives. Truly a sweet time for us. It was a great time of just having fun with our friends.





















Can't wait til January when we'll have "Woodstock II". And then maybe in the early spring -- "Log Jam" ?

:)
Gwynie Pie

I WON !!!

WOW!

I won!!!!

I am beyond elated to have won the sweet giveaway

over at

Heather Bullard

click below to visit her at

http://www.heatherbullard.typepad.com

I have long read her blog and am always inspired by the things

going on over there.

Anyway, I am thrilled about the cute little ticking pillow I won.

I have the perfect spot for it

and will show you how cute it is

soon.

In the meantime, visit Heather and see it there.

Gwynie Pie

Sweeeet Giveaway

Hey Pink Tractor Friends ----

Just wanted to let you know about a sweeeeet giveaway over at a
beautiful fellow blogger's place....Prairie Flower Farm Blog.

Get over there by clicking on the cute "button" over right above
my "Blogs I Frequent" section. Comment on her blog and tell her
Gwynie Pie at The Pink Tractor sent you.

Fun stuff !

Gwynie Pie

JIGS

Isn't he cute, dressed warm in his little hoodie?

Jigsy boy got here last night, full of energy and ready to party!!! It's gonna be a great weekend.

Our 6th annual Woodchopper's Ball will be held on Saturday.

"Friends, Fun, Firewood"

We should have t-shirts and caps made for the event.


More about the Ball next week -- I'll try to remember to take a few pictures too.

ALSO -- we here in Texas get to "fall back" this weekend and we get back that hour they took from us in the spring. I know it's just messing with my mind but I promise I will feel sooooo much better.


Have a great weekend everyone!


Gwynie Pie

THIS made me LOL

Saturday the Aggies of Texas A&M played

Texas Tech University --

in some circles this is a rivalry of grandest proportions...

as evidenced by this ---------When William came home from work yesterday and told me about this

funny sight, I got him to literally run to take a picture.

The gin was running and we knew it would be gone

quickly -- disappearing inside the gin

and coming out on the other end in little bales of cotton.

Soooo, he had to move fast !

THIS is our kind of Autumn pictures, I guess.

No beautiful red and golden leaves here.

No lovely landscape turning colors.

For us -- a cotton module sitting on the gin yard

sporting a "Gig 'Em" for everyone to "enjoy"....

That's our idea of a great Autumn picture.

And if you are an Aggie family,

as we are --

Then it's also your idea of a real fun time !!!!!

Gwynie Pie

I managed to spend yesterday with limited technological intrusion. In other words, I checked Facebook and e-mail less often and didn't turn on the tv. I didn't even get many phone calls.

I spent some quality time and quantity time yesterday just being quiet. Being still. Being thoughtful. Being thankful.

It was a great day !

Of course when I take the time to "be still" and listen....I hear. And not everything that I hear is easy to take. But ---- everything I hear is necessary for growing me into the person the LORD desires me to become.

Sometimes, I think ---- I have sooooo far to go to "get there". Then other times, I look back to who I used to be and realize just how good God is. And just how much He loves. And just how much He delights in me. In you too.

Growing up just isn't easy.

Gwynie Pie

Ahhhh -- the quiet

I spent all day yesterday being a helpmeet.

Isn't that a sweet, old-fashioned word?

I really love it when I get the chance to help my husband

do something he really needs help doing.

He is a very competent man -- not "needy",

so sometimes it's tough finding something I can do

that will benefit him.

But -- today he and his co-workers will be having

a planning retreat and he is in charge of the food.

Ah ha!

That's an area where I can definitely help....

We decided on a sandwich smorgasborg,

made the list, and

I then ran around all day yesterday

gathering up all the ingredients for

the meal today,

assembling trays of goodies,

and baking the desserts.

Much satisfaction comes from accomplishing a task

with excellence.

Not perfection, just a job well done.

And early this morning

after we ran around loading everything,

"don't forget the croissants, they're on the dining table".

After my final instructions on assembling the

strawberry shortcut cake

After checking and double-checking

--- as William drove off with the car laden down with

all manner of tasty treats,

I realize how very much I am longing for the quiet.

And with the quiet -- the voice of God.

So, after several days of noisey and busy,

I'm just going to be quiet and still today

and

listen..........