I couldn't resist sharing this. If only I lived next door to the Griswolds. They live down the street, too far for this to work for me…

I've already shown you the bird ornaments I made this year. I think I said that I have a friend or two who share ornaments with me. My friend, Janette, is my most faithful ornament share-er. For the last several years Janette has made little hand-knit sweaters. They are truly fabulous and they will go with me to the old-folks home.

This one is metal and I have no idea how Janette did it. It's shaped, with little tiny breast out-dentations!

This one is made from yarn that Janette spun from her rabbit's fur:

She makes little hangers for them too! Notice the hands on the ends of the hanger on this cardigan. And that heart button works!

A knitted pattern, sort of like fair isle!

This year's sweater is a green turtleneck with cables – CABLES! Those of you who knit, imagine the tiny little cable needles! I love these ornaments. I smile every time I touch them.

We are on our way to Oklahoma City. The kids will join us on Christmas. Steve and I are giving my mom a long section of fence for Christmas. We're taking out the old and putting in the new. At least we have recent fence-building experience. The boys will help on the 26th. We like to be busy, I need to work off the desserts I'm going to eat, and Mom needs new fence so it works out. It may be a few days before I post again so Merry Christmas!

I know that many, many of you are hip-deep in snow. I’m sorry about that if you’re sorry about that. Some people like being in that much snow and I hope that you are having fun and the that the rest of you are staying warm.

It’s cold here, but no snow. The guys came last week and sealed the deck. It’s shiny now and lots prettier. Some other guys came to do the deco-seal – which is basically caulking. They took out the foam spacer between the concrete and the stone and filled it almost full with fine white sand.

Then they put in the special caulk.

Then they covered that with more sand. We were instructed not to touch it until the next day when they came back and vacuumed up the loose sand. I surprised by how finished and nice this looks. The sand on top of the caulk is set in place and should stay put for years. That’s it between the stone and the concrete that looks like stone.

They also (finally) cleaned the little glass tiles. They look almost black in some light and they sparkle in other light. The reflections are wonderful!

I have been so busy this week that my head could explode any minute. But we get to go up and visit with all our family over the holidays. Life is good.

Did you see this funny in the paper last week? I love pincushions and am trying to find time to make some new ones. Now I have yet another idea… I just have to figure out who in my life needs poked with a pin.

I've mentioned the site Weird Friends before. You just never know what you are going to see there. I've saved some images to share with you. The first is this magazine cover. These dolls would be fun to applique, don't you think? The shapes are modern-looking – as opposed to a lot of the doll patterns that I normally see.

What I like about the mittens is the way the designs are combined. I see a checkerboard combined with lightning bolts.This is a fun combo for patchwork.

I'm finding it hard to say something good about the tie quilt…

I have to admit that I am more of a cat person than a dog person so it's not the dogs in this photo that caught my eye. It's the fabric! This would be a fun fabric to paint. You could make big stamps out of fun foam and go to town. Or you could use this as the basis for an all-over applique quilt… isn't it fun to find inspiration in unusual places?

Linda's son, Jerry, sent her an email with all of these Christmas trees. They are too good not to share…

Frankfurt, Germany:

Moscow:

A tree of glass from Murano, Italy (our favorite):

From the Galeries Lafayette in Paris:

Prague:

Tokyo:

St. Peter's Square in Rome:

These are from an unknown location:

I think an amazing trip would be to travel the world to see and photograph Christmas trees!