Merry Christmas! Well this post has to start with a defining moment this past year. Hurricane Matthew made a big impact on my little town, and the region. As I write this, it has been 2 months out and most of the places we love are still too damaged to enjoy. Our marina was destroyed, as was our favorite state park beach, Hunting Island. Our little boat survived on dry land so that was a an additional gift. Although there was a mandatory evacuation, my hubby and I chose to ride it out, as we have animals, and finding a hotel was not something we had time or money to pursue. We never felt like our lives were threathened, but it was scary as even our local fire department was evacuated, so we knew we would be truly alone. Good news is that we didn't sustain any severe damage, and live in a newer home, with young trees, but plenty of homes were damaged all around us. Living without electricity is nothing new for us, but being housebound because of downed trees and power lines was a little difficult.
As I look over this past year and get ready to welcome a new one, I am struck by the blessings that we have enjoyed and have not taken for granted. A job that I love, a hubby in semi-retirement, enjoying his own pursuits, and while the town took a beating, we have come back resilient and grateful. This change of lifestyle and location, have impacted on my little family too, we just enjoyed a Christmas reunion with my siblings and their daughters. Meanwhile, my own children live in Cleveland, creating new traditions for their holidays after all the years I was in charge of it. I have seen new maturity in both my 20 and 30 year olds, a fact that makes me proud and confident that our choice was a sound one. Where we will be a few years from now, is still in question. But we know that this path has been exciting and rewarding. A few pics to show what I was making before and after the power was restored.Because school was cancelled for more than 2 weeks, I had time to do some shell crafting, without power on my back porch, using up some of my beach finds and clay pots for herbs. When I got electricity, I proceeded to put together ornaments, that my neighbor made a Scandinavian wood tree display so that I could sell a few ornaments at a local gift shop.
The ornaments were part of my Christmas gifts this year. The pic shows my display at a local gift shop, where I attempted to sell some of them. Using Hunting Island Shells and beach glass, lace and twine, I thought they would be a big hit. I picked them up right after Chrismas, and hope to add them to my tree next year.
Also pictured below, Tissue Case, simple and useful, Using bits of vintage linens and lace, I made 8 of them, to hand out to my friends and nieces. Useful and pretty, takes minutes to put together. I tucked them into cosmetic bags for nieces and added hand sanitizer for my teacher friends.I tried to find pics of all the gift baskets and items I crafted, but somehow, the pics are few. I will add to this post when I find them.
And so I will leave for now, showing you an action shot of me teaching the students how to make gravy, for our Thanksgiving Class Meal. I find that each semester I tweak what I cover and what I expect, and hope that the excessive time I spend planning and prepping will diminish as I go forward. If you read my blog, please take a minute to leave a comment, I like to connect with my audience, and would be glad to provide more detailed tutorials if needed for any of the items, I brag about. Hope this holiday time finds the reader, appreciating all that is good and true in the world, till my next reflection and craft session...bye for now!
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