Goodbye 2012 Hello 2013

As 2012 comes to a close it was time to take the Christmas decor down and tuck it safely away for another year. Seems like the season only began and now it's just about over. In a few days we will welcome in 2013 followed with the feast of the Epiphany close behind on January 7th. So to all of you Happy New Year may it bring you blessings of good health, happiness and joy.

Borrowed from Farmhouse Primitives!

 

So Awesome!

I am so excited to share with you the pictures of my new Christmas gifts! Woohoo .... my step son has been here visiting and I put him to work today hanging my new quilt crane. Remember the huge box that arrived a few weeks ago? That had a crutch looking thing inside? Well after carrying it around the house to find just the right spot I settled on the family room wall behind my couch and I LOVE it!!

Here she is .... with a 42 inch arm she is able to hold two quilts. I just love the whale tail details on the hinge that holds the arm. FireCracker Kid did a fabulous job!! Thank you Paula I love, love, love it.

A little different angle ...

While Joey had the drill out I asked if he would hang another gift for me. "Oh sure, why not."!! Shawn, Tiffany's beau bought me a very unique Christmas gift. From being here so many times he has come to realize that I love antiques and unusual things .... that's why I like him so much! Keep in mind we are in Southern California, earthquake country ....

Installed right next to my front door is a solid brass Earthquake Handle. Right after the Great 1906 San Francisco Earthquake the handles were provided to residents to install in every bedroom doorway to assist in keeping them safe during a quake .... hummm, not sure they would have done any good but it was a good idea.

 

 

 

It reads - San Francisco Earthquake Handle ....

The handle reads - Hold until the quake stops .... makes sense to me! I think this is one of those things that only a native Californian would find interesting!

San Francisco City Hall 1906 ... do ya think the handle would keep those inside safe???

    There you have it, a few additions to my home.

Christmas with the Adult "Kids"

If you are the parent of adult aged children you will completely relate to this post. My daughter is 34, still single and without children. Thus, she thinks she is still a child on Christmas morning! Every year since she has moved away from home (and that a lot of years) she comes home for Christmas Eve mass ans stays till who knows when! This year we were awakened at 6:00 am to see if Santa had come. Oh yes we did! I would add bright and early to that phrase, however, it was dark outside!!

We stumbled down the stairs,  I made my husband some coffee, built a fire, turned on some Christmas music and we were ready to park ourselves next to the Christmas tree.

This year I played Santa, meaning I handed out gifts to hopefully avoid some tag confusion!

Betsy loves Christmas too, for some reason she really enjoys chewing off the tags from the ribbon .... weird dog.

  Betsy's busy at work!

Tiffany is eager to get started with the gift giving!!

My first gift ... a new memory card for my camera!! Since in soaked my old one in iced coffee I have been limping along with a very small memory card ... spending a lot of time deleting pictures to make room for new ones! I put this on my wish list and my sweet husband made sure it was granted!

My husband Joe digging through tissue to see what Santa brought him ... Cool! It's an IPad!! He was thrilled and I haven't seen him since he opened it ... lost in cyber land.

All of these were left waiting for Tiffany's beau Shawn to arrive  so they can celebrate together ....

He made it! I asked them to open one of my gifts for the two of them first.

These two are such a perfect pair, they are both kids at heart so couldn't resist buying them some silly slippers!

My final picture is Shawn. He is a huge Star Wars fan and with the introduction of the new Star Wars Angry Bird collection I felt he really, really needed this T-Shirt. 

Happy New Year to everyone!!

Merry Christmas!

"Behold, for unto us a child is born...." Rejoice, and be assured there is an after life for the believer's. What a glorious morning this has been, a beautiful day with my loving family in a warm, cozy home. Our bellies are full and we were all blessed with so many gifts ....

The Magi visited my grandchildren up north ....

and left them three bags filled with joy ....

Aren't these bags adorable!

A happy, happy grandson ....

 And grand-daughter! Alexia is still in bed ... 10:30 and that child is still asleep!! 

Merry Christmas to all ...

The Story of Christmas ....

I am such a traditionalist ... meaning I do many things year after year from tradition and/or habit! I decorate for Christmas on Thanksgiving Day or the day after and I ALWAYS start the decorating with the movie Jingle All the Way ... it just makes me laugh and puts me in a jolly spirit. Once that movie is done I move on to Christmas with the Kranks ... what were they thinking!!! Skip Christmas!! That's pure blasphemy! Once the decorating is done I begin to wrap, this takes me a long time so I need to start early! I love to look at the pretty packages under the tree so beginning early is very important! And the list goes on and on. Today is Christmas Eve, the beginning of the reason for this wonderful season. To launch the day I begin with coffee, a treat of some sort to go with it and my viewing of A Charlie Brown Christmas. My FAVORITE part of the movie is when Linus takes center stage and shares his story of the true meaning of Christmas. His little child's voice telling the story of the Angels visit always, and I mean always brings tears to my eyes.

The rest of my day will be filled with last minute wrapping, preparing a pot of warm, yummy soup for us to enjoy after we attend our "traditional" trip to Family Mass at 4:30 this afternoon. This tradition began when my own children were small and would participate in the Christmas Eve mass. Now we continue to go to see the little ones dressed in red velvet dresses on the girls and little bow ties on the boys. They are so excited to see the babe in the manger and sing Happy Birthday on his arrival.

I will wrap up my evening with watching A Christmas Carol starring George C. Scott (my favorite version) while filling my families stockings. Yes, we are all adults now but they still get stockings! I fill them with the normal necessities, a few silly toys and one special gift. Finally I go to bed and get rested up for the big day!

I have not learned how to attach a YouTube video correctly, however if you highlight the attachment below and right click on it you will be taken to the Charlie Brown Christmas clip of Linus reciting his message!

Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good Night!

                http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=QKJCBu2zOoY

Shopping, Decorating, Wrapping .... Done

Check, check, check, my Christmas duties are done with time to spare! Thursday I visited with friends, Friday I lunched with my ex-coworkers and today was movie day! While the malls were filled with frantic shoppers my daughter Tiffany and my friend Tanya and I were laughing ourselves silly watching the movie "The Guilt Trip." Of course the reviews were mediocre, to me that is the green light to go see it as fast as I can. I'm so happy we did, it was a light hearted movie that made you laugh a lot, cry a little and be proud to be a mom!

With everyone in town running crazy through the malls and the big box stores we had the theater all to ourselves!! Yep, there were maybe 10 other viewers and us. 

 

Of course we followed the movie with a trip to Starbucks to enjoy a hot Gingerbread Latte and a Cranberry Bliss bar ... we all agreed, the holidays are officially here when Starbucks serves the red cups!

 

The girls being silly ....

Some of the Holiday decor in downtown Brea! It is so festive this time of year ... at the other end of the street Santa is holding court in a cute little cottage where he listens to the wishes and dreams of the little people of Brea.

And to finish the day we enjoyed fresh, homemade Christmas treats! Tanya and Mumzie aka Ronna did some big time baking and candy making this season and we were the fortunate recipients of their hard work. I'm having trouble keeping Mr. Joe out of the peanut butter chocolate covered cookies!

 

A Glorious Day

Like I said yesterday .... we're not going anywhere. I woke up this morning with the sun streaming through my bedroom window and snuggled down in a warm cozy bed! The Doomsday Preppers have forgotten one thing in their preparations for the end of days .... They haven't studied their scripture. It clearly states that NO one will know when the end of days will come except for God. 

I went to bed early last night and slept like a rock, no fear here of not being alive today. 

On to rejoicing in the Savior! In just 5 days we will celebrate the birth of Jesus, I for one will be giving thanks to my parents for giving me the core foundation of a strong faith.

Enjoy your day!! It's truly a glorious one! 

Hummmm ......

 Greetings! Fear Not - We're not going anywhere, just perhaps opening our eyes ....

Mayan End Age 12-21-2012 heralds a New Age of spiritual enlightenment

Mayan Calender "Both the Hopis and Mayans recognize that we are approaching the end of a World Age... In both cases, however, the Hopi and Mayan elders do not prophesy that everything will come to an end. Rather, this is a time of transition from one World Age into another. The message they give concerns our making a choice of how we enter the future ahead. Our moving through with either resistance or acceptance will determine whether the transition will happen with cataclysmic changes or gradual peace and tranquility. The same theme can be found reflected in the prophecies of many other Native American visionaries from Black Elk to Sun Bear." — Joseph Robert Jochmans

"An Apocalypse (Greek: "lifting of the veil" or "revelation") is a disclosure of something hidden from the majority of mankind in an era dominated by falsehood and misconception, i.e. the veil to be lifted.

Yes, I Do Use my Longaberger!

I have been a blogger for over a year now. Initially my focus was on my Longaberger Basket business, hence the name Betsy Ross Baskets. However, like everything else I tend to wonder all over my life when I tell a story. Recently I received a comment asking me where "Longaberger" came into my life as she didn't see me post many pictures of the products. So tonight I will rein myself in and share some pictures of my personal Longaberger collection in use in my own home. They have become such a part of my life and my decor that I fail to feature them as I should!

Our lattice tray is on my fireplace mantel along with pewter pieces and my Santa collectibles .... This basket comes in warm brown, rich brown and black stain along with a clear glass insert.

Many mini's and some very old timers! The miniature woven traditions pottery pieces are from our Collector's Club collection along with the miniature Umbrella Basket and Stand set. On top of my primitive pie safe are three of my early 80's treasures filled with small pine trees for Christmas.

Two passions in one spot! This is an award basket I received many years ago filled with my doll quilts and touches of pine.

Gate House baskets ... these lovely and very large baskets have two purposes. During the pre-Christmas season they hang on my stair rail and on Christmas Eve they become our stockings for Santa to fill!

 Our small lantern filled with a Santa (wearing a basket on his back!!) and a small pine tree.

 

My basket tree! Love this great invention, this is the place I hang the baskets that I use a lot! They are wearing a few doll quilts and some holiday greenery for Christmas.

Believe it or not there are eight Longaberger ornaments attached to this Longaberger wreath, there will be four more added to this by the time it's finished.

A pewter Longaberger lamp and our Snowman's hat hang out together in the living room near the tree.

Speaking of tree, I have all of my Tree Trimming basket tucked into our Christmas three, here are a few ...

2012 Little Drum Basket ...

  Peppermint Tree Trimming Basket and another one from the 90's!

So, yes! I do have products in my home and yes I do use them all the time!! I hope you enjoyed my Longaberger Holiday tour.

Party #5 - and A Day to Relax!!

With the Christmas parties winding down I found the perfect time and way to end my visit with Amy! But first lets visit party number five! Each year I host a luncheon for my Longaberger Home Show Hostesses. This year Amy was here for our Christmas visit and we thought it would be a perfect opportunity for Amy to include her California hostess Teri Santangilo. It was so fun to have Teri join us for the first time!

The table is set for our 9 special guests ... each one will receive a set of two Longaberger candle pedestals, a candle, silver charger and a dessert bowl. These four items will allow them to be creative and design their own holiday table candle garden!!

Teri is sitting on the left in the red sweater ... she is intently studying the January 2013 campaign flyer!!

As a special feature we offered a few Longaberger gift items wrapped and ready to give to a very lucky friend!! All five sold and are on their way to new homes!

After a lovely afternoon of good food, silly games, shopping and a nice visit it was again time to say good bye to some very special women. Thank you ladies for all the support you have given my business over the years.

Now on to Monday morning! This is Amy's final day in California and I wanted it to be special and relaxing. We began or day with a visit to the Glen Ivy Spa ...

Amy is ready and anxious to get inside! Once we did the pampering began. Each guests is given a fluffy robe with slippers and directed into the spa area. We changed and headed into the lounge to meet our nail technicians. I signed us up for spa pedicures and wow! what a treat it was. We then headed off to the jacuzzi ....

 

Oh my goodness, this was just awesome! The water temperature was perfect, they use salt treated water making your skin feel just like silk! Amy spent 10 minutes in the sauna and then we enjoyed a lovely lunch in the spa grotto. After a few hours we finally dressed and ventured out to meet a special guest ....

Oh yes we did!!! We went to visit the man of the year ... SANTA! He was so happy to see us. We told him what we wanted fro Christmas then finished up a little bit of Christmas shopping.  For dinner Joe and I took Amy to the Crab Cooker in Tustin for a delicious fish dinner. Good fish in Buffalo, Wyoming is hard to find so this was a real treat for Amy. On our way home we took a tour through the Holiday lights in Brea ...

This is one BIG home with a lot of lights!

Another Santa ....

I loved all the little Charlie Brown characters .... they are scattered against the wall, so cute.

A blow up rock and roll band ....

And finally, a blue, blue Christmas ....

 Joe and I took Amy to LAX for her return flight to Wyoming at 7:00 am. This is always the difficult part of our visits ... saying our goodbyes. 

Logan's Candies since 1933!

We had such a fun evening on Thursday! Amy and I loaded into the car and away we went to Logan's Candy store in old town Ontario! Logan's originally opened in 1933 and were located on Euclid Ave. In 1953, the year of my birth, they re-located to "B" Street and have remained there ever since. Going inside their shop after 20 years was like a step back in time ... everything was the same as it had been clear back to 1953. 

Isn't the sign great!!

This is soon to be something really yummy ...

Beautiful peppermint ribbon candy! These two are the current owners of Logan's Candies. She looks exhausted and I'm sure she was! Behind her are jars full of all sorts of ribbon candy  flavors ...

The worlds longest candy cane was made right at Logan's! All those white buckets are filled to the rim with different candy canes!

Jerry is holding 400 candy canes! Yep, in a few minutes he will begin stretching this big block into a lot of candy canes, by the end of the 6 week holiday season Jerry anticipates he will make 30,000 and they will all be sold!! I find that amazing.

 The Candy Cane making demonstration began at 5:30 sharp and there must have been a least 30 of us crammed in this small little store to watch Jerry at his craft. I felt like a little kid again. Being in the "crone" phase of my life has a lot of rewards!!

Phase 2 of the cane making process ....

TaDa, it's all done! A beautiful peppermint candy cane.

Just look at all those adults watching the candy maker create his masterpiece!!

After Jerry got on a roll he invited all of us to make/ create out own candy can ... how hard can this be? I saw his wife doing it over and over and it looked really easy!!

This is me working on my master piece ....

 

And .... here it is, bent and really sad looking!! It is warm when you are molding and you have 20 seconds before it gets to cold to shape, you need to work slow so you don't crack it but you need to be fast .... makes no sense to me!  

After a great candy cane making experience we decided to take a drive to see the Christmas lights in Alta Loma. Oh my goodness these people get into the spirit. They were selling pop corn, sodas, hot cocoa, Mexican Churro's, tamales, candy apples and who knows what else all in the front yards of their homes. I guess you have to make money somehow to pay for  the huge power bill!

This is a shot of my favorite house ... it is the red white and blue house!! So very cool.

We finished up the light tour and headed home to my dismal light display! If you have a shop in your town that makes a special Christmas treat be sure to take the time to go experience the flavor of the season!!

 Merry Christmas