Satan is in the front yard, and he's on fire.

I have been really busy the past few days; anyone else??? Yeah, well I have slacked on my everyday writing bloggity goodness. (o.k. usually just a daily update on my mundane life) Anywho, I got to thinking, What would be a good post about Christmas? Mulling over Christmas memories I came back to this one...enjoy.

A few years ago, well more like 20, we had a group of "Sister" Missionaries. It was so fun to have 6 ladies in our area who were serving the Lord. They all lived in this tiny apartment on a busy street, a duplex actually, shared with an elderly couple who owned the property.

We had become close to the Sisters, invited them to dinner, went out on "splits" with them and generally tried to be helpful. When Christmas came around we naturally felt they deserved some special considerations. Thor and I bought them a little Christmas tree and then I dug through my treasures and came up with a rather large box of Christmas ornaments.

Not just any ornaments, the ones from my childhood. Who else would treat them so nicely? Who else would appreciate the sentimentality of such a box? All the ornaments I made as a little kid and as a young woman, and a few that my own kids had made...all hand made and all the ones that you treasure. Sister Missionaries deserved my best, so I wrapped them up and took them over to the apartment.

They were so appreciative. They could hardly believe that we gave them the tree and means to decorate it. They had such a great time that night, took photos, and showed it off to the next door neighbors. For about two weeks they looked forward to coming home after a long day and seeing the pretty lights and glittered goodies. All until one night.

We were awakened by a call at 3 something o'clock in the morning by a local police officer. He wanted to inform us that our tree and ornaments had been in a fire and destroyed. We were so panicked! We envisioned the tiny duplex in flames and all the occupants fleeing into the freezing night air. Not so. The officer explained that all the tenants were safe and that except for the tree and a bit of the front yard all was well and we could in get the details in the morning.

We drove over first thing to see if everyone was fine and found the Sisters in a tizzy. It seemed that one of the Sisters had been having visions for quite sometime, visions she had kept to herself until that night. Jesus had come to her and informed her that Satan lived in the Christmas tree and needed to be destroyed. So she made a plan. She would wake up in the middle of the night when all others were asleep, take the entire tree to the front yard and set it on fire without hesitation. And so it was.

By the time the fire department arrived the tree was cremated and the yard beginning to take on the flames. All was put out and the sisters asked to file a report. (o.k. now, in my head, I am trying to see what it would have looked like for anyone on that busy street, even at 2:00 a.m., to drive by and see that tree in flames! What a sight! Holy Cow!)

In the end the poor visionary sister was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and sent home for treatment. The other sisters were assigned a new companion, and they went on to serve great missions. But I am sure they, as we, will remember the year that Satan lived in a Christmas tree!



Now, lest anyone feel that I am mocking or making fun of a mental illness, no. Please don't go there. We actually have family members who suffer (and I mean that in the most serious tone possible- suffer) with this illness. It is not fun, it's tragic. That said, the situation was kind of funny. Frankly, it was devastating at the time to lose all of our most precious ornaments, ones that were irreplaceable, but when you think about it, what a way to go and I can and do laugh about it now!

naked trees

A few lights in the plants and one sad litle tree on the desk top waiting for some sort of theme.
On either side of the a moire there are two trees, one with coloured lights, the other with white.
A small forest to frame one of the Nativities. ...still pondering exactly what ornaments would compliment this scene.
Another Nativity, this time flanked on both sides with one small multi-coloured tree and another 7 foot tree, which has dead lights...grrr. So first assignment is fixing those lights! Then deciding what to put on both those trees!

There are a few more trees surrounding the train and one on the buffet sideboard; that one, a white feather tree, is already finished with pastel gold, creme, and olive balls. Thank goodness one is done! Hah! Two down, 12 to go!

First tree is up!

Thanksgiving Part Deux

Today all the kids are coming home to do Thanksgiving here at the house. Everyone will be here , plus the two little boys!

We're having ribs and chicken wings, both slow roasted over 8 hours. They're amazing when they finally get done! Plus a baby greens salad with feta, cranberries, and walnuts, baked beans, home made rolls, and a fresh fruit salad. We'll munch on fresh veggies and a cheese plate while we're waiting.

One of my favorite appetizers is toasted baguette slices spread with roasted garlic and topped with goat cheese and dried cherries. I can wait for those! The girls are looking forward to their brie, and the guys love just plain cream cheese with home made chili sauce and crackers or wheat thins. We're covered.

Dessert is sugar free lemon meringue , sugar free peach pie, vanilla bean ice cream, and also a pineapple upside down cake, loaded with sugar!

I rearranged the furniture for the holidays in anticipation of more bodies in the house and also trees beginning to go up on Monday. Thor put up the lights yesterday, and we are both getting excited!

So that's the post for today. Happy shopping, if you're still out there after yesterday! Whew! See ya tamale!

Tree Tutorial

O.k. the $40.00 Tree!
tutorial is up! Click that link for the info and have fun!

The $30.00 Tree:

Both the same tree, same position, just different light trying to get the tree to look like it does in real life. You tell me...which picture do you think looks best? I just finished the tree in the foyer, and then pulled it into a spare room until Saturday night for the toy drive dinner. After Thanksgiving it will probably go in front of the window that is providing the lovely glare in the photo. I'll reposition the furniture so it fits better.

Speaking of furniture. (cue Psycho knife slashing scene music!!!) This building, although very nice and I can say many positive things about it, the furnishings are less than well done. The carpeting is a deep greyish navy blue with emerald specks. The walls are covered in a heavy corded jute/grass cloth that is like a faded forest green. In the foyer the couch and chair are covered in a lovely beige background with deep rose, deep turquoise, and blue-ish hunter green floral designs. If one wanders into the chapel they would find the same carpet and walls and the pews are covered in a bright sea foamy-teal. It makes your eyes bleed. Sweet Mercy! This is why I chose the monochromatic gold theme for the tree. It was either that or go with purple and finish off all the congregates with a mind exploding fusion of death inducing colour. (fyi: This is the new remodel colours! Somebody's niece obviously just graduated from decorating school.)

I'll have a tutorial with all the gory details on Tuesday. The tutorial will be posted as a $40.00 tree. That's how much it would cost if you didn't have as many "freebies" laying around the house as I did. Any who, you get the idea.

Tree Update:

I finished the tree! Whoot! I got up with Thor so I could get down to the church before the "cemetery" kids* left for school, which means I was there at 6:15 a.m.! I put the last bulb on the tree at 12:45, so it was a loooong morning!

Then the phone began to ring and ring and ring and ring! Seriously. For 45 minutes I got one call and then another sometimes overlapping! A small emergency with one of the kids, nothing terrible, just an emergency.

After getting that all sorted away I needed to get some shopping done for tomorrow. Shop shop shop, stop to make a 3 more phone calls in the grocery store!, then head home. I just put the groceries away and got on the computer to post for today.

I will try very hard to get photos of the tree up tonight or maybe for tomorrow's post, but I am not making any promises! This day is outta control!

Now I am off to make soup for the masses (potluck dinner at church tamale!) and then dessert for (about 50???) -my daughter in law's baby shower; also tomorrow. So busy afternoon ahead! See ya later! (cross your fingers!)

*seminary is an early morning religion class that all high school students can attend. It begins at 5:45 a.m. each school day and ends at 6:45 so they can go to school. YAWN! (to think that I used to teach seminary...holy yikes!)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Yes it's that time of year again when S'mee gets busy gearing up for Christmas. But it's not even Thanksgiving yet you say? Well here's the deal:

Every year we have a church dinner, potluck this year, where all the congregates gather together and are "required" to set up the tables and decorations, and then pay to eat potluck food they brought in an effort to glean toys for anyone in our area who may need them.

Thor and I have been asked to provide a tree with decorations. We have plenty of trees, but because this is a tree for inside the church it needed to be "better" than my normal theme trees.
Today I am in the process of turning $20.00 worth of Dollar Tree fixins in to an elegant tree worthy of the event and the foyer! Stay tuned! More photos to come. In the meantime I am going back to my golden little orbs. A whole garbage bag of them!

Another short post.

Just went to a church conference this morning and it was pretty great. We presented a power point to the all the women. Thor went to our regular ward and came home with an assignment. I will be putting up the Christmas tree again this year. A few years back I got the assignment and we had a budget for the tree and ornaments.

The tree looked fabulous and was a great addition to the foyer through the season. However over the years a few others wanted the opportunity to dress the tree and who am I to say not to that! However, because I was not involved I didn't have control of where the tree and decorations were store or how. Last year the tree was in shambles and no ornaments were to be had. This is extremely disappointing as they both should have lasted for at least ten more years.

I don't think the church has the funds available this year to repurchase everything they need, so Thor and I decided we should just offer up one of our trees and the decorations to go with. It just seems like the easiest solution this late in the game. We have a toy drive dinner at the end of the week, so this week I will be gathering what I need to get the hall looking Christmas-y.

Each year our congregation collect new toys for the children and families who may need them locally. Ages and names are available also if there is a specific need so that other items may also be purchased. The Bishop collects all the items at the end of the night, distributes what he can to the locals and any left overs are then delivered to Deseret Industries to be given freely to others who may need them.

So that's the report for today! I am off to bed. Yesterday I was exposed to a heavy smoker and ever since I have had a migraine...ick and yeeeowch! So me and some frozen peas have a date!

Better late than never. Not so much.

O.k. Show of hands...How many of us are procrastinators? One, two....(mumble mumble...) yeah, um, alrighty then. Well, I was advised, over three months ago, that today would be the last day to submit items for a craft fair. So of course I went back and forth with way too many ideas and then came the main road block: questioning myself and my ability to come up with anything that would be marketable. So I procrastinated. Big time.

But I kicked it into gear and worked for the last two weeks and got a few (and I mean a few) items ready to go. Now all I need to do is transport the items down to my sis, who will take over the sales.

Thor and I will be in Anaheim this week. He for a conference, and I for "research", ahem; so my dear sis will bargain this weekend for me, and hopefully be able to talk someone into taking my Dr. Seuss type trees, and some other items, home.

Anyone out there want a lime green tree this year? Next year?

Field Trip Friday! Live Oak Canyon Farms

Autumn is upon us and let me tell you, there is no better place to have a fun FREE field trip than Live Oak Canyon Farms in Redlands, CA. Directly off the "10" just east of San Bernardino, this farm and all it has to offer, again for FREE!, is well worth the drive. want more info and photos?

Kokaubeam!

The little desert valley where we live is surrounded on all sides by low hills (actually the back side of mountains), two sides - east and south are particularly close. Sometimes, when the moon rises on a clear night, it appears enormous as it begins to peek over the Eastern hills eating up what seems like miles of jet black horizon. The amber colour is like unto the flesh of a summer squash; and as it flies higher into the grey night sky -it becomes so bright white it almost hurts to view it. Your eyes are so wide open searching for any light source in the west, then you see that big orb in the sky straight above you and the reflection of the sun on it's surface shrinks your pupils so painfully fast it gives both pleasure and pain at the same time. The surface is so clear you can see the craters and valleys and shadows. I love that moon.

I love that fact that although we haven't much to look at during the day light hours, we have beautiful sunsets and glorious stars. I don't say glorious without meaning full of glory.

glory: n 1. very great praise, honour, or distinction - renown. 2. a source of honour, fame or admiration. 3. adoring praise, worshipful thanksgiving. 4. resplendent beauty, magnificence. 5. state of great splendor or prosperity. 6. state of absolute happiness, gratification. 7. the splendor and bliss of heaven. 8. to exult with triumph, rejoice proudly. 9. to boast. 10. "Glory be to God" as used to express surprise and elation. - Webster's

All of these I have experienced while witnessing the stars above my home, in my valley. Like Abraham (see Abr. 2:16), I look up and understand that "eternity is our covering and our rock and our salvation as we journey"... Those stars I see are the same he saw, and they were placed there by my Salvation and if I continue to look to Him while I journey I will be blessed. And I do enjoy looking at those stars! I am humbled by them. There are some who say stars fade, they fall, they shoot away to nothingness. Science tells us they die. I was created to last forever. Those beautiful stars will die and I will live forever! Pretty amazing.

Have you ever just sat and stared at them? I mean so much so that you feel that some of them are indeed closer than others in your depth of field. Long enough to notice them swirl and find their path in the long night hours? I remember one night I was alone in my thoughts. I was driving through the desert on my way home and just lost my breath as I looked through my bug splattered windshield into eternity. I was struck by the numbers and vastness of the space within my vision. I am not learned at all, but I knew, the Spirit was testifying to me about truth and space and the purpose of all those stars. I felt kinship to Abraham and wondered and awed at what he must have experienced when the heavens were opened to his faithful eyes. I am filled thinking about it even still.

Abraham was taught about order and time and eternity via the stars. He was instructed that greater light moves slower (Abr.3:4-10) and that the Lord's time is equal to our thousand years. To me there is much to be said in the statement that we, as a society, should slow down. Some folks say to smell flowers while doctors say to just relax and catch a breath to lower our blood pressure. As we approach the latter days on this planet, whether they be a few weeks from now as some always claim or a few thousand years down the road as others hope, no one can argue the world will become faster and faster. We know from prophecy and revelation that Satan's influence will become stronger and stronger as the last days approach. Do you see the same correlation I do? As we are more influenced by Satan our world grows faster and faster, while the Lord's time remains constant and ordered and slow.

"And it was in the night time when the Lord spake these words unto me: I will multiply thee, and thy seed after thee, like unto these; and if thou canst count the number of sands, so shall the number of thy seeds." - Abr.3:14