Oh Bonnie...

... how you keep us entertained with your antics!

Bonnie hosted our annual Christmas cross stitch meeting this past Wednesday evening.  Tuesday night Anita, Jody and I received the following email from her.  In the subject line it read:  Cross Stitch - warning

Ladies, I know you will all say you don’t care… but seriously… I’m not fussing about my house. 

I have vacuumed. But only because I broke a Christmas tree bulb.

I did clean out the cat box.  Peee ewwww

I’ve rearranged the living room for Jody’s blanket party.

There will be food, but not of the Christmas theme.  

And for goodness sakes, whatever you do – don’t’ open the fridge. Something might crawl out.

Your gifts are all wrapped, but not under the tree.  I hope I can still remember where I put them before tomorrow night.

The stockings are Not hung, but the faux fire is ready.

I vacuumed the dust off the ceiling fan, just in case the fire makes Tracey too hot and we have to turn it on – don’t want to be showered by dust bunnies.

Oh, and the outdoor lights are hung – but don’t be surprised if they aren’t as festive as the neighbours.
 

Oh frig, I guess I could scrub the toilet.

One more sleep.

Now, as much as we all enjoy our monthly get togethers, December is always extra fun because there are gifts involved.  Since there is only the 4 of us, we all buy something for the other 3 ladies.  It doesn't necessarily have to be stitching related; we have no set $$ limit; and we don't always get the same thing for all 3 people. 

So I grabbed all of my bags and headed out on foot over to Bonnie's house (she just lives around the corner from me).  As I approached her block, I was met by all of the pretty lights twinkling in the the darkness...

What was Bonnie talking about in her email?  She did a splendid job with her lights!

Oh wait... as I get closer, I realize that those are her neighbour's lights.  As I step up onto her porch, I spot her festive light display...

I am the first person to arrive, so we say our hellos and Bonnie tells me to go to the back room and make myself comfortable.

There I find Sushi, our possessed  friendly greeter waiting for the guests to arrive...

 

Oh no, here they are again; coming to invade my space.

Bonnie was true to her word - the fireplace was roaring...

Tracey didn't even have to shed any clothes!

 Bonnie's presents weren't under the tree yet (but luckily she did find them before the end of the night)...

Bonnie's such a busy lady that she had to go with Plan B for her tree this year.

 Anita was the next to arrive, so the 3 of us sat and chatted and relaxed while drinking hot spiced apple cider (yum!) while impatiently waiting for Jody to arrive.  Where could she be?  Sure enough, she had popped in for a visit to her brother's house to cuddle her 2 nephews (the newest one being just 2 months old... and grandson #8 for Jody's parents!)  Since Jody lives out of town, this is quite a common occurrence when it's either Bonnie or I hosting a meeting and she has to come this way  :^)  Can you blame her?? 

So after filling our bellies with a delicious array of food, it was picture time.  The photographer had arrived and we were ready to go.  The sooner we got that done, the sooner we could get to the presents!! 

Should we pose in front of the tree?  You all saw it... it just wouldn't work, we would totally block it out.  Let's go with her other tree instead  :^) ...

Isn't it gorgeous??!!!

OK... how much are we paying this photographer??

 Since I am going home with the photographer, he knows he'd better not leave until he gets a picture that we all like! ...

There... now that's better!  Thanks Paul!

For the gift opening portion of the post I have to apologize.  In all of the excitement, there were basically only 2 pictures taken by me (maybe we should have had the photographer stick around longer!).  I was with Bonnie when she bought Jody's gift, and we were very anxious to see her reaction...

Yep... that's what we expected.  You see Jody loves Scottie dogs and eventually one day hopes to own a real one of her own.  In the meantime this cookie jar will have to do!

Now when you read Bonnie's email at the beginning of this longgggg post, you probably wondered what Jody's blanket party was all about.  Well, earlier in the week Jody asked for our assistance with tying the edge of a fleece blanket to be used to sit on at hockey games (all 3 of her boys play, so that's a lot of sitting!).  Sure we all said; so Anita cut and we all tied 4 blankets well into the next am.  At least with doing this (as opposed to stitching) there are no worries of having to "frog" as you simply can't make a mistake!  Jody can now sit through all those games with a cozy, warm tush.

You really think you are going to do this with out my help?  You know how I love blankets!

One thing we didn't want to forget, was to make a toast to our fellow Stitching Sisters (this is especially for you Jayne!) who were also together celebrating that same night, many miles away from us.  It won't be long until the new year is here and we'll be counting down to our Stitching Retreat together in May!!

Cheers!!  Merry Christmas to our Special Stitching Friends!!

We would also like to say "cheers"  and the happiest of holidays to each and every one of you that take the time to stop by and visit our blog (and all of your lovely comments too...we really appreciate it!)

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

Tracey