HELLO from Christmas Island!!! Look how HAPPY I am!!! That’s because (and not at all discounting my daily dose of delicious anti-anxiety medicine (Lexapro for inquiring minds)) I started after 
Covid and worry-about-the-world almost did me in 😃, but I digress) ~ I’m happy for many reasons as you will see below, but first, THIS: my girlfriend Martha’s brilliant husband WROTE a brand new CHRISTMAS SONG.💖 Who DOES that? He’s usually so normal! It’s a totally original song 🎹, and I do believe you are the first audience to hear it! In fact, this is the only place on earth where you can hear it! He let me because we are old friends who live across the street, and when he sang it for us, before he’d even had it professionally recorded, I immediately thought of you!💞 “They’ll love this” I said. He didn’t even try to resist my begging ~ and graciously said, “Of, course, I’ll send it to you! That’s why I wrote it!” 💖💖💖💖💖
Here we go, this is it . . . The Mistletoe Waltz!
Perfect for Jane Austen movies! Right? Can’t you see Mr. Darcy dancing with Elizabeth to this? Molly has a gorgeous voice! It could be in the next Love Actually! Or Mariah Carey could sing it! Kelly Clarkson! Or Taylor Swift, Times Magazine 2020 Person of the Year, who fills our world with happiness and light! This song is like that! Happiness and Light. Good job Ivan!👏
So here we go, from me to you. . . a Willard filled with happiness and light, giving love away, very like A Christmas Carol, doing season past AND season future! Freezing here this morning, had to warm my hands over the toaster! Which of course was a win-win! Toast and warm hands! MAS MUSICA . . .
Our fall here on the island was gorgeous . . . with flaming skies at sunset, church bells rang, wild geese flew over, the wind blew chimney smoke 
around, leaves curled and turned orange, garnet, and gold, mini murmurations of grackles flew in low black clouds over and around the trees, the Harvest moon shone down with golden light … the freshened Autumn air, as Gladys Taber wrote, was “cool as an old coin teaspoon” …and whipped the leaves up behind the tires of our car. Just as it has been since the beginning of time. Perfection.
I decorated inside to match the outside. . .
But Nature does it best, inside the house too: Sun and leaves made shadows on the walls that fell differently in the shortening days . . .
Church bells rang the hour across the street . . . Between that and the boat whistle and the early morning blast of lighthouse foghorns, I am reminded constantly of how lucky I am . . .
Joe brought in branches of bright leaves to hang over mirrors . . .
We hung our wreath of leaves on the front door and dried corn on the kitchen door . . .
It’s that time of year when it’s FUN to carry the basket of wet laundry across the crunchy leaves in the fresh air to hang things out to dry in the wind, where a slight fragrance of leaf mulch and woodsmoke spice the airy sea-smell of our sheets. Even a speck of time in nature is good for what ails you ~ it carries forever the hum of ommmmmm in it!🍁 I spent the end of October and the first of November nursing around the house, getting it ready for company. I washed and . . .
…hung things on the line while Jack watched and waited in the kitchen window . . .
My shadow!
He watched while I starched and ironed tablecloths . . .
. . . sprinkled dresser scarves and table runners, curtains and napkins. Sssssss, the smell of hot iron …👏
Joe polished my wand and all his little silver things for his bar.
Jack helped me fold the starry sheets in his own inimitable way of helping . . . that is, sitting on them, making them his own.
He watched me arrange flowers, make beds, and freshen and make the guest rooms cozy for my people . . .
I stopped off in our room, Jack’s favorite shooting grounds, to shoot rubber bands for him ~ I stand at the door, grab a handful of hairbands, aim, and shoot over the bed, he waits on the workout bench, HIS workout bench, not mine . . see that rubber band in the air over his head? I do this at least 3 times a day, which is how I know I will be going to heaven. God loves those who take care of his creations.
He also likes me to shoot down from the top of the stairs, in freezing bare feet, when I want to go to bed, while he runs up and down the bottom stairs catching them . . . he catches them, but doesn’t bring them back anymore. That’s my job. He has made that very clear . . .
As it was getting closer to Thanksgiving, and our guests were on their way, I set out bread on the ironing board in the pantry to dry for my grandma’s stuffing; Joe is there choosing bottles of wine… . . . we wanted to make it special . . .
Because we had family coming! And suddenly, hooray, they began to arrive ~ I found I just wanted to LOOK at them!👀 But I was trying very hard not to be scary Aunt Sue!😜 This happy guy is my nephew Matt Stewart . . . you might recognize him because…
. . . in the way-back machine, Matt flew over to join us on our trip to England and Paris with two of my other nieces Holly and Heidi the day after he graduated from high school in Durango, Colorado in 2001! We had these three for six weeks! Best trip ever!
The gang’s all here and out to dinner we went … that’s Becca on the left, Matt’s girlfriend who I had never met, then Joe, then my niece Jessica, my nephew Matt, Cory (Jessica’s husband), Maggie, and Eliza (Jessica and Cory’s daughters), and Eliza’s boyfriend Justin, who I hadn’t met either, but new people at the table are always fun! And I, as a strict Morning Scientist, like to study the younger generation to see what the future will be and talk about it with Joe later. (It’s okay, they never noticed.😁 They think they’re normal.)
We walked out to the water, through the woods, with the smell of decaying leaves … looking for shells and beach glass . . .
Then downtown to tiny La Choza on the corner of Main Street to get the fattest, yummiest, homemade (except in a restaurant), Burritos on earth!
Cory entertained us with hilarious pirate stories of his sailing days. I analyzed, of course, and found them very very good.😱😅😂🤣 Little bits of information, here and there, from every one of those kids make me know the future is in good hands. They are as passionate as we were, but much more motivated and powerful, and ready to take it on. And they have Taylor Swift on their side! (MAS MUSICA … my Grandma’s Favorite)
I’m STILL analyzing this move by the mother of children!😂 What EVER it means (it could be a kind of dancing), it IS cute! After all, MY mother said, “Boss!” when she liked something.🙄 Some of them stayed 4 days, some of them stayed 3 . . . and all of it was wonderful. Matt and Jessie, the children of two of my brothers, Chuck and Jim, both grew up in Durango, Colorado, but because they were five years apart in age, they had never really spent any time together before they all moved away, so this was extra special (for me) just for that reason. I like the cousins to know each other. 💖 And I like to know them! (Have you read the most wonderful “knowing people” book that’s just out, written by David Brooks and appropriately called “How to Know a Person?” SO GOOD, so smart! A great Christmas present! Order it HERE or HERE and make our small Independent Island bookstores crazy with happiness❤️). Oh the power!
Jack found a comfy perch where he could keep his eyes on everything!
Time to make the Stuffing! My grandma’s recipe and HER mom’s, which means that, for Eliza and Maggie, this stuffing I’ve been eating since I was little, came from their great-great-great-grandmother Sarah, born in 1870 in Adel, Iowa! I don’t know where she got the recipe! Probably HER mom!
The recipe is in my Autumn Book . . . we dipped the slices of bread we dried in the pantry in a sinkful of the hottest water we could stand, and squeezed the water out, as you can see above, so you have chunks of bread with finger marks in them.
You keep dipping, squeezing, and tearing into chunks, till you get a bowlful, then add chopped celery and onion that’s been sautéed and softened in lots of butter, salt and pepper, then a whole jar of sage. Mix it well with your ands and voila! That’s all I do to it, I love it simple, just the way my Grandma made it, smothered in turkey gravy ~ and from there I put it right into the turkey … but some people will make this basic recipe and add sausage or oysters, whatever means Thanksgiving to you is what you should do!
Matt knew how to make it and helped me! (BTW, see Matt’s long hair? Both he and Becca grow their hair and donate it to people stricken with cancer. If you have an abundance of hair, and need somewhere to put it . . . here’s how you do it!)
Matt and I have been good partners in the kitchen for a long time!
I made the cranberry sauce and popped it in the oven, and we are STILL eating Christmas Jam on the delicious scones Matt and Becca brought us from Shelley’s Tea Room in Plymouth, MA where they stopped on their way down to the island from Boston! Now I need to GO there! Jam’s so simple:
Maggie, who is 16, peeled the potatoes . . .
Maggie and Eliza have helped me in the kitchen before!💝
This was one of their creations! How did the world survive before cameras? This cookie is still fresh and beautiful! We always wish that time would stand still, and look at this blog full of standing-still moments that will never come again. Thank you camera inventor!
And suddenly it was TIME! Joe’s Beautiful Turkey 2023 was done!
Kids set the table, Joe sliced the turkey, I heated the rolls so the tops were crisp and the insides were soft, and we all carried the food to the table . . . I did not forget the most delicious French salted butter for the rolls.
Have you tried this yet? OMG it is beyond delicious… everyone LOVES it . . .
And Voila! We did it! Together, we made it happen! My mom would be SOOOOOO happy to see this!!! 💞
So fun, I got to be the Grandma and read the words to MY grandma’s favorite hymn of gratitude and celebration…
I wanted, with our togetherness, to honor these people, most of whom our kids have never met. (I’m the little face with the white barrette with Jessica’s dad on my right 😍, you can only see the very top of Matt’s Dad’s head, in his high chair toward the back.😂) That’s my Grandma on the left, and her dad (on her right), Merrill James Orr (he’s the fourth child of seven, father of ten, and my mom’s grandpa) ~ and he’s Maggie and Eliza’s great-great-great grandfather. He was born in 1871 in Stacyville, Iowa. This is the thing I love most about growing older, now I’m the connection between long long ago, and today, and even the future. Merrill’s g-g grandfather was born in 1745 in Plymouth MA, where Joe and I are going for a little Christmas get-away/shopping (and Shelley’s Tea Room) next week. 
I told the kids that our old house was built in 1849 and how I can hear echoes of stories of the families and their friends that lived here before us, their birthdays, the Christmas trees, tea parties, soups bubbling on the stove, their school days, changes of seasons, children, new babies, pets, and how this was our 34th Thanksgiving in the house, but it was the House’s 164th! The history! I thanked them for helping us add to the house DNA by being there for this one. Our house hugs back and I’m convinced this is the reason why. Doing our best to leave it ringing with memories, for the next people.
Of course, what do you do after Thanksgiving? You find out if you’re taller than your mother! I literally remember when I was finally taller than my mother, and I think it might even happened at Thanksgiving!😊💃🏼
Beautiful Girls ~ Jessica is the daughter of my brother Jim and his wife Kate; and her daughters, my great nieces Liza and Maggie.❤️
Jessica with her mom, Kate.💖
Yes, this photo was at least partially staged, that’s why all the smiles . . . because we are a modern people! After dinner we all snuggled into the wood room to watch the wonderful NY stage play production of Hamilton on Disney+! They knew ALL the words, made me so happy, they sang all the way through it.🎵🎶🎵
All too soon we were at the boat waving goodbye to Jessica and Cory on the ferry, time for the kids to go back to school and for them to go back to work . . .👋💗💗💗
Then it was time for Matt and Becca to go . . .
Matt told me I would love Becca, and I definitely did! We’re going out to California in January and hope to see them there! 👏 And then, deep breath . . . tick-tock, dastardly clock never stops … it was back to normal . . .🧡
No one took a picture of my cute outfit, so I did. That flannel skirt turns 40 next year! Tip for the day: Always buy skirts with elastic waists.👏 I’ll let you know when I get myself into that buttoned skirt I wore on my first date with Joe! A whole OTHER story!😊
Cruel children left us with this … seriously dangerous . . . after one relatively short fork-frenzy, I cut the rest of the Pumpkin Cheesecake in half, took half up the street to Lowely’s, and the other half over to Martha’s! (Wish I had it this moment!)
Then back to THIS, trying to get Thanksgiving OFF me . . . doing my planks. Which I started a few months ago by doing one plank and holding it for 3 seconds.🤪 Now I have worked up to doing three, 
holding each for 50 seconds. You know what that means… if I can do it, you can.💝 All of Google agrees that if you can only do one exercise, this is the one! And one of the secrets to happiness… and maybe not planks, but there is always something we can do to keep those joy levels going strong. Life has been more than complicated these last years, turns out it’s up to us to MAKE it the way we want it. Turn on the music YOU like, make the cookies YOU adore, have the tea YOU love, if you want green hair, HAVE it … because if mama ain’t happy, ain’t no one happy.🧑🎤 And you know, life is short.😘
With a little help from my friend. Then I turned the calendar to 
So first thing, because the holidays are upon us . . . I want to give you your Full Moons Bookmark for 2024 . . . so you can make your stocking stuffers! 💖 Just click, print it out, and then cut it out.
And then, I mentioned that Joe and I are taking the train to California in January? So excited!! 🚂 We’ll get there around January 15th and stay probably a month (or for as long as it takes), because we’re MOVING our California Studio a LOT closer to where Kellee lives ~ and we’ll be selling the house we’ve owned for 22 years, in Arroyo Grande, just below San Luis Obispo, on the Central Coast.💖 We actually spent most of our time there for the first 10 years of the 2000s … I loved it, despite the double-wide aspect of the house. I didn’t care, while I was there, it was the House of Creativity! It’s where I saw my first bluebird. One year we brought in a bunch of sand and made a beach next to the creek! We made a firepit down there, put a long table under the trees and had Thanksgiving dinner outdoors. My brother played the guitar and we all sang.🍁🍁🍁
THEREFORE… because we think about lightening our moving vans, we’re having a MOVING SALE …. starting now, all December long, until midnight December 31 ~ All my books, the calendars, recipe cards, post cards, art prints, and giclees, are all ON SALE for 20% off! We’ve never done this before, but I promised Kellee we’d make it as easy as possible! We might add more, so check back . . . she’s still figuring out what we have enough of! So we have a lot to do when we get out there!
Sale includes Christmas Memories, Gratitude, Enchanted, Grandma’s Story, ALL my books!
YUP, Home for Christmas too! AND if any of YOU need to make your own little farm in the country on the Central Coast of California on 8 flat acres, completely fitted with an overhead irrigation system that comes from a year-round creek running through the property that comes from Lopez Lake and passes through to the sea, let me know. Everything grows there because it is an ancient river bed. Arroyo Grande means Big Ditch, but now it’s a beautiful wine, artichoke, and avocado producing area in its own micro climate . . . where good weather is even better there. There’s a back road through the wine country to SLO, so I never had to get on the freeway to go there; and the house is about 3 miles from Pismo Beach. Trader Joe’s is about a 6 minute car ride away!
OUR CALIFORNIA PARADISE IS ACTUALLY FOR SALE! 😲 TELL EVERYONE! Because I’d like to sell it to someone who will love it as much as I did.💝
This is how the picket fence garden looked when I lived there all the time! It’s still pretty, but not as flowery without me around. I will love seeing it cared for again!
Photo by Christopher Gardner. Aug 2004
Susan Branch at her AG home and garden
This is the house from the road . . . The house itself isn’t great . . . it’s usable, two or three bedrooms, depends on how you look at it, and 2 bathrooms, with its own well. But you’d really want to build a house out back where you could hear the creek running at night ~ that’s what we would have done if I hadn’t gotten so homesick for New England. Very difficult to be in two places at once.
At the end of this hedge that we planted, turn left and you’re at the creek, it winds along that row of trees back there . . . and the property continues a bit on the other side of the creek.
This is the property from the back; the creek is about this same distance behind me . . . A tractor comes with the property!
When we came home from our first garden tour of England we went fairly crazy planning the garden. . .building hedges, a long walk, and garden rooms around the house . . .
I laid it out on paper, and it’s all there along with several out buildings.
Artichokes grow so well there, the best I ever tasted! We grew them behind the garage next to the back wall of it. It was toasty warm and they were ecstatic and prolific as you can see! There are citrus trees, avocado trees, a walnut tree, a plum, fig, apple, and I can’t remember what else.
We planted lots of roses . . . they love this little valley.
Oh yes, we planted tiny Christmas Apple (or Lady apple) trees there too. Because unlike Martha’s Vineyard, things bloom and grow in California year-round. And those that don’t grow well on our Island, like Sweet Peas? One year I had them blooming in California from March to August!!! Oh yeah.🥰
Joe planted corn and all sorts of veggies . . .
The plum tree in springtime ~ it’s a property with SO MUCH potential, everything between farm, winery, estate, wedding venue or garden nursery . . . Although zoning, I have no idea . . .there was a nursery on that road about ½ mile up from us . . . it’s gone now, but there are still wineries and a farmstand. I’m going to love being there for January! I like to walk, 9 times around the property equals 3 miles. It’s not on the market yet … I don’t even know what things are selling for out there, but if you have interest, email [email protected] and we’ll pass your note to our realtor, which we don’t have yet!😜
I received a sample of our new cup for approval! It looks beautiful! I’m so excited to send it to my people. They should be arriving to the new Studio toward the end of January . . . I love it, I know you will too. I drink my Fine Romance private blend Tea (Earl Grey with lavender), with honey and cream, out of it everyday and looking at this new cup, I celebrate how our country got started. And for a moment in the quiet morning, I treasure the peace we have always felt in this country and promise to do everything I can to make more of it.💖
Yes it is! So don’t forget to enjoy the deliciousness of this 
Holiday Egg Nog. I changed it a bit this year. Love milk so much, I reversed the measurements, and made a much lighter version, now it’s ⅔ c. milk over crushed ice, splash of eggnog (too taste), splash of bourbon, shake of nutmeg. I think it’s better! Just plain YUMMY, and easy! And there’s calcium in it! Now light the fire or the candles, make a toast to peace on earth, and let the daydreaming begin.
It snowed on our walk yesterday, blasted us actually . . . it didn’t stay on the ground, but it was the first one, and it came down pretty hard for a while, coming straight at us and sticking to our eyelashes. Of course we loved it. We were listening to 
Dickens Pickwick Papers . . . We decided December goes perfectly with Dickens. It’s a really funny book, written more like short stories (it was originally a magazine serial), but in some places it’s VERY hard to understand. The reader is excellent at accents and voices, but some of ye olde 19th century English accents might as well be Hungarian. We need subtitles which Audible does not provide. Because that would be “a book.” Still it’s fun to be in the wind, in 1829 England, and ALSO, at the same time, in the first snow of the season in 2023. When we get home from Plymouth we’re going to listen to A Christmas Carol. 
I’m decorating again!
Decorating with all the little things that have become our traditions . . . old books, old music, old friends . . . and with all our years together, you know some of them as well as I do!
Using all the things we have in common, like sparkly things . . .
. . . candles, bunting, and angel chimes . . . things found, and things made . . .
Homemade things and memories 💞
And this . . . 💖💖💖 Big Magic!
Yes, I’m getting ready for Christmas and my Girlfriends Gift Exchange. Probably one of my smallest parties, because as we get older, we have SO MANY beloveds, it would take something miraculous to do it with everyone! And my beloveds includes you! My first gift to you all, wasn’t even mine, it was Ivan’s new song! Want to hear it again?
I’ve also planned very tiny gift exchange with just one of you. Problem is, I don’t know WHICH one yet❓❓❓So far, it’s a mystery! Your part is to leave a comment, from which we’ll draw names and whichever name I get, I have a present for. Would you like to know what it is? Okay … It’s not this:
But you know how I always love to decorate with quilts? They are so festive and charming and add a bit of coziness, wherever they are,
with their old-fashioned, handmade, historical nature, . . . I put them in the kitchen (no matter that it doesn’t make sense, they make it cozy and I love the color!), hang them over the backs of chairs . . on quilt racks in the bedrooms, I stack them on the top of the hutch in the living room . . . drape them over sofas . . . . everywhere I can think of . . . because they’re so pretty!
And I’ve painted them into my books …
Since the very beginning . . .
Sharing this thing I love has been easy. I’ve collected vintage quilts pretty much all my life, since my Grandma gave me one my great-Grandma Sarah made and opened my eyes to this gorgeous homemade art of our foremothers, who by the way, could do ANYTHING and wasted nothing . . . and that is why . . . 
Jack and I thought it would be nice to give away one of my beauties to a good home.💝
YOURS! This beautiful quilt is my secret Santa gift to a very special universal YOU 💞 . . . Just leave a comment (at very bottom of this post there are a bunch of tiny words… at the end you’ll see “comments” ~ click there) to be entered in our drawing, and soon this 64″ x 77″ handmade 
quilt (there is nothing standard about the sizes of old quilts!) will be winging its way to the lucky winner. Always remember you have a LOT better chance of your name being drawn here than you do with the Lottery and, creme de la creme, we don’t charge for tickets.💞 Another win-win!😃 I’m sorry, but I already know I won’t be able to answer all your comments this time, as you can guess, but believe me, I will read them and make sure they all get entered.💝 Are you signed up to get my Willard Newsletters mailed to your box? This would be a very good time to make sure. Sign-up is at the top left of this page. I’ll announce the winner in the next Willard!
And so Tra La, another Willard, AND another year under our belts my dears . . Wishing you all, from my heart, the very Merriest of Christmases, Happy Hanukkah, Joyful Kwanzaa, Feliz Navidad, Joyeux Noel, Mele Kalikimaka🌴, Seasons Greetings, and any other thing I might have forgotten,😃 and God Bless us every one.💞
With love from me and Joe! Hoping you 
Happy holidays to you and Joe. I love everything about that quilt!!!! Thanks so much for this Willard and letting us into your house of creativity.
Merry Christmas, Sue and Joe!🌲❤️. Thanks for sharing the lovely Christmas song. May your holidays be joyous and blessed with those you love about you. You are such a ray of light and happiness in our cold divided country. Your political wisdom is so appreciated. May we all come together and make 2024 the year we get back on track for the home of freedom and unity.
Susan Havey
Thank you, Susan, for this uplifting and beautiful post. Family is everything. I also want to thank you for introducing me to Gladys Taber. I am so lucky that my library had two of her books among their shelves. I am reading Stillmeadow Seasons and loving every minute of it. The quilt is absolutely beautiful. Enjoy your time in Plymouth. Safe travels.
Thank you Susan. I enjoyed your blog so much today. Your neighbor’s waltz is just beautiful!
Merry Christmas!
Thank you for yet another great Williard! It always brings me peace to read these while listening to the great musica. Merry Christmas!
Great post, I was so excited to see an email announcing a Willard! Thank you so much for sharing your lovely holiday and home!!
Merry Christmas and a healthy New Year!
Ah family and Autumn 🍂. I went to Wisconsin to see my son and my childhood girlfriends, and it snowed on Halloween 🎃, which messed up the the costume parade! Eric just laughed that I tried to avoid the snow ❄️! We had Thanksgiving outside with new friends in Florida. A new experience for us to sit at picnic tables outside. 🦃
Love Joe’s clean shaven face! Especially while picking out a fine wine!!
My John would love Matt’s beard. John said the Canadian soldiers had some handsomely impressive beards in Kuwait. John can’t rock his, it won’t meet Army standards. This 🧔🏼♂️to this 👱🏻♂️ for nine months…
I have always been impressed with your California garden, now I know why. I wanted to drive up the coast to SLO and then cross over south of SF to my cousin’s house. Fair Oaks, CA
Not enough time…
Splitting time between Mobile, AL and Navarre, FL. Arnie’s ship has been here over two years now!
Getting ready for Christmas 🎄 and I am excited to see my first younger sister. I thought she would be my only sibling until there was an oops! The last hurrah 👯♀️ We each got a doll to play with! Christmas is their half birthday.
Love 💕 to you, Joe and Kitty Jack. (John misses Buddy.). Many Army kitties he tells me, doing their duty.
OXOX ox
Margot B.
PS. I too am currently reading Dickens. I do love ❤️ the mistletoe waltz!
PSS. I read recently that living near water especially an ocean or a big lake is good for tender hearted people. 🌊 So true!
An absolutely delightful Willard, as usual! It’s because your life looks utterly idyllic that I want to thank you for mentioning, right off the bat, that you’re taking anxiety meds. I wish I could high-five you because…me too, sister! And for similar reasons. It’s hard to be tender-hearted in this world right now. Thank God for therapy & meds! Also, congratulation to your friend Ivan on this lovely Christmas song. (It goes so well with this post!)
You’re a blessing, Susan! ❤️ Merry Christmas!
In this day and age, it’s a sin that we suffer when there are so many ways to get help.💞 Yay for us Darcie!
Thank you for another fun Willard!
Oh dear Susan, today was a hard day and I knew that you would be posting a blog soon (because I saw it on Facebook) and even though I had not yet received that deliciously anticipated email that says “THERE IS A NEW WILLARD!” I came here, and miracle of miracles, THERE IT WAS! YAY! HOORAY! And it most definitely did not disappoint. So much joy, beauty, family love, and ALL the good things wrapped up in one beautiful blog. Thank you for sharing your beautiful quilt with one very lucky person. I have no family heirloom quilts, but I do have a few quilts I have bought (honestly, just machine made but pretty) and a couple handmade by a friend of mine. I cherish each one, and their colors and patterns bring me great joy. I have most of them in my favorite room (and ALL of your books are there too), the finished attic I call the cwtch, which is a Welsh word with several meanings, all of which are the PERFECT description of my favorite room – the word means nest, and cubby, and a warm hug. Cwtch, and hygge are two of my favorite words from other languages. And hiraeth is another favorite. I have made this post too long – poor you to have to read them all. But, THANK YOU for making my hard day better. Love to all for holidays and 2024.
💞
Hello dear Susan– I know you can’t answer comments this time with the giveaway, but thank you so much for being sunshine for me for so many years. Your beautiful quilt would have a happy home here, just as all your books do and your calendar each year. Hope you, Joe, and Jack have happy holidays!!
This post made me SO HAPPY! Thanks for sharing your holidays with us.
Thank-you for another warm and cozy willard. The calif property is just beautiful and I know you will be sad to let it go-it looks like paradise.Happy Holidays to you and your family-hopefully next year will be more peaceful
Love your Willards! Love the photos of family and fun! Love Ivan’s song and his name (my Grandpa was an Ivan!). Love the quilt! And love you! P.S. Thank you for the bookmark! I have made many of your bookmarks and laminated them all, one for me and more for friends! P.S.S. I live in California and would buy up your property in a heartbeat if it wasn’t for the leaving my people nearby. It’s all about the people! Although, your house woos me!
As always thank YOU Susan for your wonderful posts! Enjoy the holidays ❤️
What a lovely song! Many thanks to your friends for letting you sharing it with your fans. Merry Christmas!
Always enjoy reading about your activities and decorating for the holidays. Merry Christmas!
another wonderful blog. merry christmas to you and joe. tried my hand at quilting so time consumming. hapy new year-good health to you both.andi
Family…the best blessing of all. Yours looks so joyous together. Enjoy every second as I do with mine!!Merry, merry!
Susan,
I SO enjoy your news, your bubbly voice coming to me as I read every word. I know we would be friends if I lived near by. I love all the same things that you do! I have your books, your calendars in every room in my big old house, so it really does seem like you’re here with me! Thanks for sharing yourself and your world with me. Merriest Christmas to you and Joe!
Wow!!! Best Willard ever!!! So much beauty and joy! What a wonderful family gathering for Thanksgiving.. Isn’t it fun being Grandma! Have to say, Jack is such a handsome guy. I’d be flinging him rubber bands all day long. And Murmurations of Grackles is a new one for me. Don’t think I will ever forget that.. I looked it up! So fun you get to spend a months in California in Janurary. Your garden was perfection. Thank so much Susan.. Willard really made me smile today. Merry Christmas to You, Joe and Jack! Love, Beverlee
You inspire me to be myself and be fearless . Thanks and Merry Christmas
Thank you for the charming Thanksgiving family reunion and Christmas-to-be
newsletter. My mother added chopped celery leaves and very finely diced onion to her sage dressing. That is my favorite T. Day food! Your island is lovely all year round.
For the quilt drawing do we also win Jack?! >>^..^<<
Happy holidays! May you and your loved ones have a healthy new year 2024 and many new enjoyable experiences.
Nope, definitely not!😜 Jack is not part of this!
What a lovely thing to do! This Willard was such a delight to read.
I’m happy to see you doing so well, Susan!
It sounds like the med you mentioned has helped!
My doctor prescribed Buspar for me but honestly I am
afraid to start taking it. I don’t know if that’s what you were
prescribed, but if it is, was it terribly hard to adjust to it?
Sorry if my question is too personal or inappropriate. If
it is, I’ll understand. Love you!!
Mine is Lexapro, and no, it wasn’t at all hard. I just didn’t WANT to take it, so I put it off too . . . and then I didn’t actually take enough. I’m on an average dose now, and it’s much better. It’s scary starting something new like that, but I’m soooo glad I did!
Thank you for replying, Susan. Maybe I’ll reconsider the Buspar, or
maybe it would even be good to ask my doctor about Lexapro instead. I’m glad that you’re glad you started and that you’re feeling so much better!! ❤️
Good! 💞
Dear Susan, Thank you so much for your beautiful and cheery post! I am so very glad your holiday season started out with such a lovely and special time with your Beloveds! Your House of Cozy is beautiful! Happy Holidays! Cheryl
Oh, Susan, I so enjoyed sharing your Thanksgiving holiday with family. I felt like a kindred spirit right along with you. 💕 and, dinner looked scrumptious!
I collect old, loved quilts as well. I get so much pleasure knowing their lives are continuing through me. They live on an old cherry picking ladder in our main room so I see them every day!
Very best to you and yours~ Wendy x 🌲💕
Merry Christmas!!
What a great Willard!
Good luck on the sale of everything, including the property.
Have a wonderful holiday season and Merry Christmas.
You’re the brightness on a dreary day. Thank you!!
I love the Christmas holiday and do enjoy the traditions and ideas you bring. Your home looks so beautiful and cozy. Best wishes for a happy holiday and good things in the new year!
Cheers!
Absolutely loved this blog,family is all.I loved seeing you glow in the arms of your family.Have a beautiful Christmas and safe travels to California. I recite this from Tasha Tudor, The gloom of the world is but a shadow;behind it but within our reach is Joy,Table Joy.Happy New Year 2024 baby!Mary Lawrence
Ooooh! The full moon bookmarks! Yippy, skippy!! I laminate them and enjoy them all year long! Thank you Susan! And Merry Christmas to you and Joe!
Susan,
I love your letters and this one was like an early Christmas present. Thank you for your delightful art, family stories and for sharing Ivan’s song which is so beautiful. Enjoy the festivities December brings and Merry Christmas. 🎄🎁
I love old quilts too. I have many that my grandmothers made and one quilt made during the civil war by my 2 times great grandmother. I took this old quilt to the antique roadshow once! Such a treasure. Thank you for entering me in your giveaway.
Mele Kalikimaka Susan, Joe, and Jack!
Please, please sign me up for this gift exchange! That quilt is marvelous!! ❤️
What a delight to read about the Thanksgiving with your loved ones! Thanks for sharing with us! Such a joy to have family visit!
Dear Susan ! I love the Willard so much ! Not sure you realize just how much your writings uplift so many women ! I loved Ivan’s Song ! Beautiful Song, Beautiful Voice and your Beautiful Family Stories ! THANK YOU ! XOXO
“I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year…”- Charles Dickens. This past weekend I went to a reading by Andrew Harris, who is from the UK and has been active in professional theatre and is a lecturer in theatre at the University of Southern Maine. He read as Charles Dickens and took on the persona of him. Afterwards I went up to him and addressed him as Mr. Dickens. I told him how much I admired him and that I named my cat, Dickens, after him. He said how nice that was and laughed and said his cat’s name was Mozart! Merry Christmas Susan from one cat lover and Anglophile to another!
Several things that make me love you more each time we s comparing memories! My Momma used a Coke bottle with the sprinkler on top when she ironed and it’s with now! Also I have a boys and they have always said I collected children 😁. And it’s true and the older they get, 35 and 38 it is just more interesting the more that come into the circle! If all adults would listen to children and especially as they grow up the closer they would be with their families! Thank you! I followed you u ever since your very first Christmas book Landon so glad I found you then!! Cathy
Several things that make me love you more each time we s comparing memories! My Momma used a Coke bottle with the sprinkler on top when she ironed and it’s with now! Also I have a boys and they have always said I collected children 😁. And it’s true and the older they get, 35 and 38 it is just more interesting the more that come into the circle! If all adults would listen to children and especially as they grow up the closer they would be with their families! Thank you! I followed you ever since your very first Christmas book and I’m so glad I found you then!! Cathy
Quilts are a hug wrapped around you!
Merry Christmas & safe travels to CA!
Merry Christmas Susan and Joe! I love old quilts and if C***id was good for anything, it gave me lots of time to spend in my sewing room. I want to make sure I gift my three daughters and 4 granddaughters with holiday quilts to treasure when I’m gone— hopefully a really long time from now!
As I’m am in cronic pain I just love reading yoUr posts. I’m also a quilter and a lover of cats we lost our last kitty Lucy in April. I just came across pictures on Facebook our meeting you and getting books sign at the Madonna inn
Happy December! We are in Portugal and Spain, heading to England and Scotland! So excited! Hope you all have a great holiday!
Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year🎄❄️🎄
THANK YOU SO MUCH for a lovely Willard!!
I’m a lover of all things vintage and handmade!
I wish you and Joe the merriest of Christmases. I didn’t know you lived in CA. tell us more about that.
🎄
Hello Susan. I just got your christmas cookbook. It’s a bit vintage, but I love vintage. I hope I will be able to see you someday. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
What a beautiful holiday message this is. Filed with family traditions of love that warm our hearts. In this crazy-fast world we now live in it is blessed relief to rest and relax at home in the beauty we create around ourselves. Peace reigns supreme in our comfortable homes to ground us with comfort and ease. No matter where we roam we always have a centering base to return to. This is our sanity.
How I enjoy reading your “Willards!” And, it was wonderful to see a new one in my “mailbox” today. I love seeing your pictures of the different seasons and you give me ideas for decorating my home with nature. I have my calendars for the coming year and will copy the “moons” bookmark to stick in the goodie bags I have planned for my children and grands. Your quilts are lovely and I always wonder about the ladies who made them and I see the old flour sack fabrics that were used…they didn’t waste anything. As a teenager many years ago I went with my mother and grandmother to a quilting bee. It lasted all day and was such a delightful experience. Somewhere out there is a quilt that has my tiny stitches in it. These quilts were made from necessity but also from love. The experience I had all those years ago is a treasured memory. I had not thought about that special day from so long ago until I was reading Willard. Thank you for a wonderful letter, for sharing your visits from family, your pictures and recipes…every single thing…it was a gift. Merry Christmas to you and Joe and best wishes for health, happiness and safe travels in the New Year.
So many lovely quotes in this Willard! I have copied some of them into my Christmas book, which contains 25 years of family faces in photos and my own “ Willard” style family letters, year after year 🥰 Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year to you, from Gill in Norway😘
Susan,
I enjoyed reading your post. I loved the pictures of Jack. Merry Christmas!!
Oh my, that quilt is magical. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Peace on Earth. Just peace.
Thanks for sharing your talent, Tami
Dear Susan,
I have been collecting your books, calendars, stickers and everything else since the ‘80’s. I enjoy Willard so much! Thank you for all the hope and light you bring to the world! I would treasure your quilt. My son lived in Martha’s Vineyard the last 2 years teaching music in the schools. We loved visiting the island! Have a wonderful holiday!!
Merry Christmas and a Hopefull New Year! It’s always fun reading your blog. Thank you for being you!
Sincerely, Randi ——<—@
Oh Susan, what a lovely post. The time with family is so priceless and you captured it so perfectly. It’s hard to believe Christmas is just around the corner and I always give my book group your full moon book marks each year. Thank you so much. The quilt is beautiful and I would be a fool not to make a magic wish for it! Best wishes for a New Year filled with health and joy! And from a bit of selfishness, I hope your creative, joyful spirit flourishes. We need your heart and mind in this world!
Another wonderful Willard inviting us in to your life. Enjoy your holiday celebrations and I hope to win the quilt. I love all your things and read the Christmas book every year. Safe travels to you in January.
Merry Christmas! You must share your delicious medicine you mentioned at the beginning of Willard!
It’s called Lexapro, for anxiety, and all I know is that I feel happy as I have for most of my life, and I didn’t jump 10 feet in the air when I was downtown near the ferry and the boat whistle went off!
I have been considering talking to my Dr about something like that. I drink diet sodas, and every time things get to be too much, that is my vice. I think, however, that anxiety meds may be better for me than diet soda.
LOL, definitely!🤣
You inspire me to be myself and be fearless
That’s my girl.💞
I’ve always loved your style Susan. I love quilts too but really only have one old one that was my grandmother’s. I would love to own the quilt you’re offering here!
Fa-la-la! Isn’t life grand? Merry, merry Christmas.
Susan, Dear Lady, oh, how I love it when your posts are L-O-N-G…..with lots of photos. Your family on the Island for Thanksgiving; your lovely quilts AND one to give away; and your beautiful gardens, fruit trees, roses, and lawns at the House of Creativity! And, on to Christmas…may you three have a glorious one. Hope to see at least one post from California, even tho it doesn’t sound like you will have time with all that you want to accomplish.
Love, Rachel
absolutely lovely quilt, and so nice to have such a long Willard to enjoy! Thank you!
Thanks for bringing JOY to the season!
Susan,
You have inspired and blessed my life so much💕I love your heart and the love you have for making such a cozy and lovely home. I agree that quilts really do add to that. I did not grow up in a home like that, but I am slowly making my home my own now that I am 57. Instead of conforming to design and decorating trends of my family, it has been liberating making our home cozy, and one I love instead of one to look like a magazine or to conform to trends. Thank you for inspiring me.
Dear Sue, Joe and Girlfriends,
Thank you so much for a lovely wintery message. Love your photographs and the sharing of your beautiful family! Wishing the best of everything to you all in 2024!
Love,
~patty
Merry Christmas!! You are a teacher of delight and I’m thankful for you 😃
What a fun Willard! You are a national treasure, Susan! Merry Christmas to you and Joe! Have a lovely trip to California.
I was wondering just this morning when we would get our next newsletter from you! It always feel like a hug from a friend! I collect quilts too! I have about 25 last count. They are scattered between my city house and my country house. I don’t save them for special. They are out and I encourage everyone to use them! My absolute favorite is one that was about 50 years in the making. My grandmother hand stitched the squares when she was going thru cancer treatments long before I was born. The squares sat in a box in my aunts house until my cousin found them after my aunt had passed. She gifted them to me and I had a friend turn them into the most awesome quilt! We use it as the bedspread on our bed. The Misteltoe Waltz is lovely! Thank you for sharing!
Thank you for sharing your books and life with us. Reading Willard posts brings tears to my eyes. I envy your life and you make me strive to appreciate mine.
That was a very sweet post. Thanks for sharing the beautiful waltz, and your family Tday celebration. Have a very happy Christmas!
Happy Holidays Susan and Joe! I have a bright spot in my day when Willard arrives!
That quilt across the end of my bed=perfection!!
Thank you so much for the much-anticipated Willard, it absolutely makes this day happy!
Susan this was a fabulous Willard. Loved seeing you had family for Thanksgiving with you. Your quilts are beautiful I love them too. Merry Christmas to you and Joe. Thanks for the full moon bookmark, I love to share them.
Happy December, Susan! Oh, how I enjoyed this post! I must tell you, this year I read “Martha’s Vineyard, Isle of Dreams”. And I really can’t put into words how much it meant to me…it felt as though you wrote it directly to little ol’ me. I was so inspired and encouraged and uplifted…sincerely, it is one of the top 3 most beautiful, magical, enchanting, lifegiving books I’ve ever read! It is a gift of a book and I just wanted to say a heartfelt, HUGE thank you to you for writing your story and sharing it with us. You absolutely cannot know what that book means to me. So thank YOU! I hope you and Joe and Jack have a lovely, and very merry, Christmas! ♥ Love to you from my little cozy corner in Tennessee! ♥
Means the world Elizabeth, thank you so much!💖💖💖💖💖
This is one of the BEST Willards yet!! Lots of “Jack” pictures, family, food, stuffing recipe, red transferware dishes, quilts and your ADORABLE kitchen with the lamp on the table…swoon! My son’s name is Willard and I always feel like this is a special gift to me when I see it arrive in my inbox. Thank you so much for sharing your Thanksgiving with all of us. Blessings to you and Have a Wonderful Christmas!
Oh how I love quilts! I have a queen size one on one of my walls in my family room. It was fun to read all about your Thanksgiving and your property in CA. OH! And day before yesterday I actually went to your website looking for the moon bookmark! Thank you! Have a very Merry New England Christmas from the Great State ofTexas (Plano)!
Aw, such a lovely song. And a Willard on my birthday! Double happiness.
Happy Birthday Stephanie!
This newsletter was delightful. You really set my mood. I need to share some more of your books with my friends as gifts. Can’t wait to make selections. Oh, that might be difficult!!! Best Wishes to you!!!
I love old quilts and that one sure is beautiful. I am inspired by my Aunt Margaret, an amazingly talented seamstress, who has created beautiful pieces all her life.
One of the things that “keeps her going” at 92 years old, is her quilting!
Thank you, dear Susan, for another year of giving us smiles, inspiration, joy, encouragement in sharing the beautiful and simple pleasures in life.
Wishing you and Joe a wonderful Christmas!❤️
Another beautiful and fabulous Willard. Looks like a fun Thanksgiving you shared with family!! Wishing you both a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful 2024!!! Sue
Quilts are the best. I am making English Paper Hexagons into flowers for a quilt. I love fabrics. The fabrics that come from pieces of our lives! A quilt is an historical treasure! I love sipping tea from my Fine Bone China cups my Santa cup comes out soon and Autumn will be put away! Sipping and hand sewing! 🪡 The song was so Victorian sounding by your friend’s husband. Mistletoe is very old fashioned too! Thanks for sharing your full house of love! Welcome back to California soon!! Happy Holidays and Happy 2024! Thank you for another cozy Willard!
always so fun to “visit” with you in your blog….and I hope you get a chance to read Being Ethel (In a world that loves Lucy) this winter…it his number one on Amazon this week! (My other three were in the top 10) Blessings!
Alan and I are sending hope for peace and joy and unexpected kindnesses.
Loved reading Willard. I especially enjoyed seeing the spritzer bottle when you were ironing! I recently acquired my aunts after she passed recently at almost 100 years young. I treasure it and it made my heart smile seeing yours. Merry Christmas
Thank you for the beautiful Christmas present. What a post! I will be reading it several times. There is so much love and warmth. The Mistletoe Waltz is spectacular. I plan on sharing it at our Christmas Eve dinner with friends.
Wishing you and Joe a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Treese/ Colorado Cowgirl
Happy Holidays Susan and Joe❤️ Always excited to see a new post from you! You have such a way of spreading cheer and positivity. Just what my day needed! Thank you!
I loved seeing the spritzer bottle used for ironing. I acquired my aunts after her passing. Many people wouldn’t know what it was! Made my ❤️ smile seeing it!
Susan,
Your train travels to California inspire us to do the same. This fall my husband an I took the train from Chicago to Buffalo NY to see Niagara Falls.
We would travel by train again, but I have a couple questions – do you reserve a teeny-tiny sleeping car? Or do you travel coach? We reserved the sleeping car – but wonder if we would enjoy the coach car more. Do you travel straight through to CA or do you stop at hotels?
Thank you for this Christmas Willard – I look forward to your response to my questions.
Coach isn’t good for overnight . . . because it’s noisy, and people and children moving around all night, and not too comfy or warm. It’s okay if you’re young and made of silly putty, but for us big people, it’s really not the best idea. We get a bedroom to travel where we can both stretch out. Hope this helps!💖
Hello and an early Merry Christmas to you and Joe and all your friends and family. ❤
Oh what a wonderful Willard. I go to a wonderful place while reading them especially this one. Have a wonderful Christmas and a great time in California.
Willard is like a gift, whenever it lands in my email! Cheers. Your words transport me to lovely gardens, trips, shops, and of course to your web store! Ha ha hugs, Deanna
Your Willard newsletters are so much fun to read and see the beautiful pictures and adventures you share. I hope you and Joe have a very happy holiday season and enjoy California. I grew up in several different places out there. The Pismo Beach and Arroyo Grande area were always a treat to visit.
So enjoy your blogs! Such a cozy comforting read! 🙂
What a warm and fuzzy post…you’re def a soul sister! Love seeing your traditions and celebrations…and the Mistletoe Waltz you shared is magical! Peace and Joy to you and your Joe for Christmas and in the New Year! ♥️
What a lovely Christmas surprise. It was a joy to catch up with your goings-on! It sounds like you had a fabulous Thanksgiving. Also lovely to see your Californian home. I hope you have a great trip in January, and that your house sale and warehouse moves go very smoothly.
I worked in a patchwork and quilting shop one day a week when my, now adult, children were small,and love all your quilts and illustrations of them! What a lovely gift for your lucky winner! Have a very happy Christmas, and a wonderful 2024. With love PennyL in Dorset U.K xx
Oh Susan, your Thanksgiving with family just melted my heart! You and Joe gave those young people such a gift of tradition, family history, and a beautiful way to live a life. 🥰
My warmest Christmas wishes to you, Joe, and Jack! Thank you for the love and beauty you always share! ❤️🎄💚
So many things to be grateful for but the cherry on top is your Willard. The Vineyard is my happy place and when reading your post, I feel like I’m there. Grateful for everything you wrote about especially laughing with family, music from friends, beachcombing, tablecloths, playing with pets, embedding the past with the present, soft loved quilts (no matter the size) and most of all being happy. Thank you SB for helping up make memories. ❤️
What a lovely blog post!! Just brimming over with happiness! I have such a warm feeling after reading it. Loved your Thanksgiving pictures/stories! It’s amazing that you were able to host your family this way! Quilts!! Never too many! It would be marvelous to be able to add another one! Sending the very best of wishes to you, Joe, and Jack! – xoxo