Friends - Snow Storm - and Glee

A lovely evening with good friends, Dale, Ashley (Sophie- which is what Skipp and I re-named her telling her that if we ever had a daughter she would be just like her and we would name her "Sophie"), sharing food and gifts with purpose and meaning, given from the heart, heart to heart.

This is 'my mate Dale, from Australia and in the back ground, 'Tina'.....beautiful, looks like Holly Hunter - Tina. Dale made us all different types of home-made sweet breads in beautiful ceramic Christmas baking pans and wrapped in gold meshing with cranberry bows. Mine is pumpkin which is my favorite. Both Tina and I gave her tea-pots. She loves her tea. :-) Dale is so sassy and wise and so strong and loving. She has four amazing children and two beautiful grandchildren. She is strong willed and intentional and cares deeply about those she loves and that love her. She s my "mate" from down under. :-)




Here is beautiful Tina - doesn't she look like Holly Hunter? Ashley and I both gave her long fancy scarves which she loves. And, she is a shoe collector so we gave her "shoe" decorations. I gave her a beautiful perfume bottle holder in the shape of a stiletto heeled shoe. Cool huh? Tina is 100% Italian and so full of family love, a mother of four beautiful children with a HUGE extended family. Tina is a straight shooter - no B S kinda gal that sees things realistically. She is grounding and strong and I adore her.





And this is my Ashley - (Sophie). Young and beautiful and SO funny. She is high energy and loyalty and love and the most amazing sense of humor and ability to impersonate I have ever seen!! :-) She is wearing the "Ali McGraw" french 'tam' hat I gave her - you can't see the silk flower on the side but it's there. I also gave her ice cubes that light up which she so loved the last time she was here and I completed the glasses set I began three years ago - she has the wine glasses, the champagne flutes and now the water goblets. She is getting married this coming October 1st to wonderful Pete whom Skipp and I re-named "Xander". She is our girl and we adore her.


This is the 'trifle' my mate Dale made for our dessert. I have just one word - "DECADENT" We had a most wonderful evening of friendship, sharing, food, gifts, hope and promise and support of each other as we all move in various directions we are forever bonded in a loving friendship, - a circle of beautiful women, honest and true forever.


Moving along......the 'nor-Easter' here are some pictures.



This is the snow covered pine bush right outside out front door and the woods just beyond. Beautiful, huh? The lights on the bush cannot be seen. If you enlarge the photo you can see the lights. Lovely.


This is our dining room window. See the Snow covered ivy attached to the window? I love the ivy growing wild on the side of the house and on the window too. :-)



And this is our back yard - looking out from our back slider to the woods beyond. SO beautiful.



I see these two events as major - with such meaning and purpose and promise. Our lovely friendship circle of beautiful women coming together to celebrate one another and give thanks and the powerful 'Nor-Easter' that has blanketed our world with white. I feel so truly blessed to have friends and I feel so excited and happy to be able to see and feel a snow storm. - Knowing I have a warm home and hot cocoa and the means to survive. When I think of people who cannot weather a storm, perhaps an emotional storm and or an environmental one - of nature, and people who are lonely, with no one to call friend'. I am humbled and honored to have such gifts as friendship and the ability to weather storms. I am gifted with love around me of family and friends, neighbors and community and of course, here in blog-land with all of you. :-)

Our home is humble and kind - where all our welcome so long as they enter in peace....I make no apologies for our "no violence", life style and none will be tolerated or allowed. I love that I believe in love - and it's power, and that we do all things with love as best we can. This Christmas and always I make that promise again - and so it is written. Amen.

I leave you with a song......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUkc0tagdY8

please take the time to click on this URL or type it in to your address bar and experience this song. It is from the show "Glee" and it is the 'deaf-version' of the song "Imagine". It blocks me from copying the actual video so I can not post it here. If you can't access the song from here you can go to 'You Tube Search' and type in 'Glee - Imagine - Deaf Version' and experience it from there. It is SO worth your time and in some way I am sharing this as a gift this Christmas to all of you as the design of this version represents His life - what Jesus lived and died for. LOVE. "Merry CHristmas"