MERRY CHRISTMAS

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

This is a precious poem I read this week.

This will be my last post for a little awhile. We've been doing a lot of holiday things this past week. One was "Christmas at the Peace Center". It's our center for the performing arts.

We had a wonderful dinner beforehand at a downtown restaurant.

Hubby had Salmon and I had pecan crusted grouper.

Off to the theater we went.

We have an amazing symphony with conductor Edward Tchivzhel. He is a live wire and a joy to watch conducting. He gives it his all!

The decorations were beautiful!

The International Ballet performed to some of the Christmas music.

The guest baritone Doug LaBrecque, who was the Phantom in " Phantom of the Opera" for nine years in Toronto, was making his second guest appearance. What an amazing voice to hear! He did Christmas carols, like O Holy Night and of course he could not end the evening without doing "The Music of The Night" from Phantom. He brought the house down with that.

We are big fans of the Musical!

We have seen the Phantom of the Opera in Toronto and Detroit. The movie that was made was quite good, too.

It was a pleasure to meet him after the show.

Another year is almost over. Where has time gone?

Please enjoy all the glory of Christmas with family and friends. Let's not forget who's birthday we are celebrating and the reason for this season.

Wishing the BEST NEW YEAR EVERY!!

More Santas

Thanks so much for all your sweet comments on the post about the Santas I painted. It was fun to do them.


I painted for 12 years and did craft shows from here to Washington DC to help my girls through college and pay for their weddings. I look back and think-- WHEW! I painted my little fingers off from morning till night to be ready for the next weekend show. I did at least one show a month and sometimes more. You had to have a lot of stock to carry you through two or three day shows.

Here are a few more of the Santas I painted.

This one is tall and made on a plain wood board that is about 1 " thick. The design in the Santa coat is rolled on with a special mallet with paint on it. He has a button nose made of putty.

This one is a bit shorter but done with the same technique.

This little guy opens up and has a message inside.

This one is on a half moon piece of wood that allows him to rock back and forth.

This Santa is peeking out of JOY to say Ho Ho Ho to you!

The next Santas are ones I've bought through the years and bring out every Christmas.

This one greets the visitors when they come through the front door at the top of stairs on the landing.

A fiber optic Santa sits on the staircase with some presents.

I bring out an angel that I painted and hang her in the dining room every year.

I glued fabric on the wood cut out, for her dress.
Then I painted the gold trim, hem design, shoes, and of course, her face, hair, wings and horn are painted.

I hope you enjoyed your visit today. I appreciate each of you taking time out of your busy schedule.

Be safe with your last minute shopping and things on your to do list! Till next time!

Gingerbread Houses

We went to the Mountains of NC to visit the Grove Park Inn. They had a display of Gingerbread houses we wanted to see. The Inn is over 100 yrs. old and is quite massive in size. They had a new blanket of snow that fell and everything was white......and freezing!!!Many famous people have stayed here. In fact, the Obama's have been there in the last year when they visited Asheville and the Biltmore House..

They have two massive fireplaces in the lobby. This one is set up for photo shoots in the sleigh.

Decorated trees are everywhere.

A local school choir was singing in the lobby. The schools were closed for the day but the choir came anyways.

There were so many Gingerbread houses located in several areas of the hotel I could not post them all. Here are several that were my favorites.

The Grand Prize is at the end. The house and artist will be featured December 24th on Good Morning America. They fly the Gingerbread House there and make any repairs that are necessary. The one criteria for the cakes is that every piece is edible not necessarily made of Gingerbread.

I was surprised at which one was the winner.

Ok, here we go!

They even had a dog body inside this dog house. So cute!

Anyone seen the Disney movie Ups? This was an amazing replica. The balloons are a bit small though. They used jelly beans. Enlarge the pic and see the boy scout and old man. They are so much like the real characters.

This is a small display in a section of the Inn. They had sooooooo many to judge!

This is the Grand Prize! Surprised? I was! Very different from the others.

The creator, herself, that you will see on Good Morning America next week. She is from GA.

This is a view of outside taken from a hallway in the Inn.

This is pic was taken from the same hallway looking out the window at another wing on the Inn. It's like a big horseshoe shape.

Thanks for stopping by and for all your comments.

Have a great day!

Till next time!

Santa Appears

Today Susan @ Between Naps on the Porch is hosting Metamorphosis Monday. Be sure to pop over to her beautiful blog and see other transformations.

I started my project with a block of wood cut out in the shape of a Santa with a bag on his shoulder. ( my hubby took this pic with it flipped over)


Turned over I painted a European Santa with a green coat, fur and beard made with Dap Caulking in a can. I used the blunt end of an exacto knife to create the fur and the sharp blade to create the beard. I added little toys in his pocket and sack. Some of the toys were plain wood and I painted them. Some of toys were bought. I used oils and acrylics.
The finished product is below.

Each year I painted a different Santa for my collection. One year I did a Swedish Santa in the blue and one year a traditional Santa in the red.

They are sitting on a small cabinet in the dining room this year.

The red Santa is about 18 " tall and the green one is 16" tall.

Thanks for taking time to see part of my Santa collection. I'll be showing more this coming week.

I hope you're having a great start to your week!

Till next time!

Christmas tablescape

Susan @ Between Naps on the Porch is hosting Tablescape Thursday. Be sure to pop over to her beautiful blog and see many creative ideas.

Simple Christmas setting with plaid plates from Target. I added a white salad plate from Jacyln Smith line at K-mart.

A plaid plate with a red charger beneath it.

Red heart coasters that my sweet friend Ceekay found at her grocery store and mailed to me.

The buffet with carolers, Christmas tree and lighted garland on it.

Christmas tree name card holders from Pier One.

Christmas runner from Home Goods.

Staircase with embellished, lighted garland.

Thanks so much for taking time to visit today. I appreciate each one of you.