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 
Merry Christmas to you and yours❣️
What a wonderful Willard, it’s a 2 for one special! It’s so lovely to see the close family connections that give so much meaning to our lives, so happy for you. Thank-you for all you share, it feels like we are part of that family closeness.
Wishing you all the best of Christmasses, (not sure if that is a word, but it is now, lol) full of love, joy and peace. Let’s clink our eggnog, cheers to Willard!
And meant to say I just love Mistletoe Waltz!!!!!!!
Merry Christmas!
Thank you for sharing your lovely family Thanksgiving.
Merry Christmas to you and Joe!
How fun to have the family home if even for a little while. Everything looked so cozy.
All of our kids are coming home for Christmas and we’re keeping it a secret from some of them. Our house will be full of craziness and laughter and I can’t wait!! I too have quilts that I keep folded in an armoir that has no door. I love how I can see them out of the corner of my eye as I walk by and recall who they are from or where I purchased them. Little bits of happiness.
Merriest of Christmas’s to you and yours.
Zettie
Susan, can I come and live with you? Your home always looks so inviting and cozy, I want to come and curl up with Jack at my feet and read a book!
I love to hear about your life and at times I want to experience what you do…..living in an old home and dreaming about the memories made there, especially in the snow! It’s just beautiful and I enjoy getting Willard so I can read about it. I’m a lover of quilts too but I come from a family of 8 so I wasn’t one of the kids who got one…….that’s ok, life is good.
I loved everything about your post❣️😍 Such a special holiday visit with your family. It played through my mind like a movie, a Martha’s Vineyard Christmas classic 🎄🎅🏼 I would be so honored to own one of your cozy quilts! Praying I’m the lucky winner🙏🙏🙏🤩
Dear Susan,
Whenever I get a Willard email it is a special treat! Thank you for your stories and beautiful photographs. They feed my soul!
Thanks for this!! I have problems sleeping so at 2:16 on 12/12 this little joy is giving me reason to go back to bed and dream – of the island , Christmas , Quilting, Nature , Music and all the wonderful things I have waiting to do in the morning. A shot of joy! Happy Holidays to you and Joe. Your joy of life ialways makes me happy!
I always look forward to Willard arriving in my inbox. How fun to spend January in California! Will you and Joe be taking the train or driving this time?
Train out for sure, haven’t decided how to come back home!💖
I love Ivan’s song! It sounds like something from a beloved old movie. You really should charge for this blog – I am rather cash poor, but I would pay for it! It’s just always so enjoyable and full of things I love.
What a wonderful Thanksgiving you had! It was just me and my kids as always. The family decided to stop inviting us years ago — they were not thrilled I became a single parent by adopting from China. But you know what? That makes it more special because all of us really wanted to be there. And our four cats and four dogs were there, and they are better company!
The quilt is such a beautiful, generous giveaway. I so love quilts. My grandmother so lovingly made them from flour bags by hand. Thank you for the chance to win it! I hope it’s not too late — I didn’t see a date to enter by.
You, Joe and Jack have a great Christmas! I know it will be cozy and sweet and beautiful.
Heck with them! Yay for you! 💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝 Love is the answer!❌⭕️
When you wrote that you “decorate with old friends,” I got a funny picture in my mind. Thanks for sharing your Thanksgiving, your struggles, your studio, and your good wishes. Happy Christmas!
I do! A whole bunch of them coming tonight to decorate my living room!!!👏👏👏
What a beautiful quilt! Thank you for the generous giveaway.
“Let’s do it anyway!”
Susan, Love the Mistletoe Waltz! Light and airy! I can imagine dancing to this beautiful music.
I want to wish you and Joe a very Merry Christmas. Also, safe travels on your trip to sunny California!
I so much enjoyed reading about your Thanksgiving time with family. A dear friend forwarded this email to me so I could listen to the Mistletoe Waltz – just lovely!!!
Thank you for another wonderful Williard. I enjoy reading everything you write. I hope you and yours have a very Merry Christmas.
Dear Susan (and Joe and Jack ),
First and foremost Merry Christmas and a Very Happy New Year!
Once again you have touched my heartstrings and made me smile, I love that you had family for Thanksgiving and added extra DNA to your home and then the sentimental decorating for Christmas-love, love, love.
My grandmother also started me on the love of homemade quilts . I was born in 1960 and everything was heading to polyester…..she would say “it must be cotton!”.
I have cotton quilts decorating our home, all seasons, and of course always on the beds. Our oldest grandson (5 yrs. old) loves to spend the night every couple of months. He crawls in always saying ” Oh Oma it’s so snuggly!” and my heart melts.
Have a wonderful train trip. I cannot wait to see your next adventure.
I love your Willard posts, it feels like a visit from an old friend. And a visit from the East coast, since I am in sunny So. California. Quilting has been a passion of mine for 20 odd years now and your vintage hand pieced quilt would be a prized and appreciated lovely addition to my own. thank you for all your holiday cheer!!
Merry Christmas to all of you! I enjoy each newsletter.
Hi Susan, Thank you for bringing such joy to the season! I LOVE reading the Willard, it’s always so inspiring and fun. I love quilts and all the cozy things you share with us. Peace, good health and happy holidays to you and Joe. xo
What a lovely Willard! Brightened my day!!
I used to read you daily posts,now I can’t find them. What happened? I was thrilled to receive your latest Willard. Beautiful! The quilt is lovely! I wish you and Joe the merriest of Christmas joy MC
I always enjoy reading your blog. Your thoughts , pictures and drawings etc are wonderful! Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year.
I so love your posts! They are truly uplifting and give me hope! And quilts are a beautiful part of our folklore.
Here’s hoping you and Joe and your family have a wonderful holiday!
I love reading about your ‘adventures’, your home, your thoughts, I’ve been a fan for a long time…have a collection of your books and stationary….not to mention those I’ve given as gifts!
Your conversation about your quilts made me realize what a treasure I have in my home….a quilt made by my grandmother as a wedding gift in 1960. Simple patches of cloth, warm and cozy and filled with love!
Wishing you a merry merry Christmas and a happy happy new year!
I have to add (so much in that wonderful post), thank you for stating you take anti-anxiety meds to take away the stigma. It’s been life changing for me since the pandemic!
Pandemic and Politics = torture for so many of us. Thank goodness we live in times where there is help. xoxoxo
Susan, your blogs are always uplifting, inspiring and cheering. You make all your girlfriends feel better with every word.
Well, I sure don’t need another quilt, but I didn’t want to miss a chance to wish you and Joe a merry Christmas and to thank you once again for all you do to bring joy to all of us throughout the year. The atmosphere and simple pleasure you create and share just fill my heart with gladness time after time. You bring hygge and calm and fun! It feels like I have sat in your kitchen and experienced the shadows, birds, and east coast beauty with you. I watch your sleigh ride post every holiday season and remember our years in Nova Scotia. Merry merry merry! Love, Ginny
I’ve been a fan of yours since FOREVER ♥️. Sending warmest wishes for the Merriest Christmas to you and your Joe , from my Joe and me ! 🎄🙏⛄️♥️😘
Love the way you display your quilts. Merry Christmas!
Oh, Susan! A little late reading your Wizard post that I love so much.
Lost my husband of 62 years so it hard to keep up with things. Reading your family post
Was wonderful. Memories rolled out of my eyes and down my cheeks. Time with family are the best times and keeping those traditions alive are so important. I have so many of your books, one is for recipes to hand down to daughters. My grand daughter keeps texting for special ones she’s grown up with. So that’s going to be filled out for her. She’s a college student.
Loved your post on Thanksgiving so much and going to read and savory it again.
Merry Christmas to you, Joe and Jack.
So delighted when I saw a new Willard. I thought one would be popping up soon! You frequently mention traditions and YOU, dear Susan, are a tradition for my holidays! You have all your girlfriends spoiled with your fun, inspirational posts. A few weeks ago my two daughters, 3 of my granddaughters (6,14,17) spent a girls weekend together and toured the Nutcracker castle in Oshkosh, WI. Wonderful! The reason I mention this is , among other things we had gift bags to exchange and I had purchased 3 of the brass angel candelabra carousels from your site. My mom had one when I was very young, I had one when my girls were young and now both daughters have one. They were ecstatic with them and the memories they evoked. Thank you for taking the time to continue your posts and sharing so freely of yourself! Also, thank you for sharing the lovely new Christmas song. A Blessed and Merry Christmas to you and Joe….and Jack🎄
Inspirthing, as usual! This year we are decorating again, too – before we start to seriously downsize, and plan to move to smaller quarters. I love watercolors and want to share my Holiday card with you (but just realized I can’t upload a photo – oh well!) Happy Holidays to all!
Love your visit on my computer. I feel that I know you as a kindred spirit. Love the Willard like a visit from home. Glad you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family. We did too at my daughter’s house with her new husband and all her children.
Happy holidays to you n your whole family! I have been a LONG time fan of all your things! They just make me smile! You are so talented and such a beautiful soul! Thanks for sharing all these years! I started my collection back in the 90’s with your Christmas book my mom had gifted me for that holiday and I’ve made lots of your recipes and given your warm wonderful books as gifts! May joy n peace fill your holiday season! Would love n treasure a quilt or anything for that matter!
Cheers for a magical 2024!
Thank you for this lovely Christmas gift of Willard. 🎄The time, energy and love you put into it is felt and really appreciated.
Have a wonderful Christmas and a great trip to California 🥰🎄🥰
How have I missed being connected to you all this time?? I have had your “Autumn” book for YEARS, and just a few weeks ago, decided I need to explore all things Susan Branch…and I have found a delightfully, honest, funny (honestly, hilarious at times), transparent woman with a gift. I LOVE your transparency and vulnerability in your books (especially Fairy Girl) and delight that someone else believes that life is too short to be fake, and how can we connect to one another if we are pretending at everything?!! Thank you, and I look forward to your blog posts (now that I know they exist!).
I think people are really shy, so they keep safe by having a persona that isn’t! Something like that!
Love your blog and your books. would love to win that quilt.
Thank you for your newsletters each month, I look so forward to reading them and wish I had a nice walk to the water like you do and that I could get my husband to join me on those walks. He does like history and we try to see something historical as often as we can. If you haven’t been to Colonial Williamsburg yet, y’all should come down and check it out. You can actually stay in one of the old houses in the historic area. That’s on our bucket list to do. We go as often as we can and just walk around. Spring is an especially glorious time to see the gardens full of tulips. Anyway, it’s very generous of you to give away one of your treasured quilts. I’m sure it’ll go to the right home. I hope you finish your book about Ireland and Scotland soon, those places are dear to me, as is merry ol’ England. Have fun on your upcoming adventures and Merry Christmas!
Oh we LOVE Williamsburg… we’ve been twice, but we’re still not done!👏👏👏
The quilt reminds me of the story of Hannah hauxwell and the quilts her mother made, timeless and such a comfort.
Thankyou for the glimpse inside your world.
Hello Susan and Joe,
How I thoroughly enjoyed your newsletter and seeing you and your family’s Thanksgiving celebration! Please don’t ever stop writing! I can hardly wait each month to receive it!
I would LOVE to be the recipient of your quilt! Our apartment was struck by lightening on July 28, 2023, burned to the ground and we only had the clothes we put on that morning. It is just my daughter and me. We are so grateful to be alive and have really learned the important things in life. We are trying our best to be thankful and joyful this Christmas season and to make new memories. Your quilt would be a wonderful keepsake in helping us in starting our lives again.
Thank you again for your warm and entertaining newsletters!
Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year,
Eileen
🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏❌⭕️ OH NO! But your beautiful feeling of gratitude is just what the season calls for!!! The fact that you have that in you, so beautiful.🥲
Merry Christmas Susan! Followed your recipe for your Grandmother’s stuffing at Thanksgiving! It was so good!! I’m a native Iowan as well! 🙂
Happy Holidays to you both !! (and Jack)
Always LOVE your Newsletter …. your life is
so beautiful on the Island !!
Thanks for sharing !!!!
My hand to my heart, I am thankful for you ❤️
Are you familiar with Libro.fm? It’s an audiobook subscription service, but unlike Audible, they support independent bookstores with their sales. It’s worth checking out so that you can “Buy Local.” (Also, Tom Lake by Ann Patchett is read by the incomparable Meryl Streep and is indescribably lovely!)
Merry Christmas, Susan! Thank you for all the beauty and joy you bring ☺️
Loving your Christmas quilt- it is beautiful!
Love Willard, thanks for a cheery post 🙂
I would love to be entered into the secret santa quilt drawing. Your writing and art has always brightened my day, and inspired me to start up my studio practice again. Thank you for everything you do! <3
Merry Christmas to you, Joe and Jack! And here’s to a wonderful 2024! You certainly added to my holiday spirit with your beautiful and inspiring newsletter!!
Hi Susan,
Your pictures looked like you had a great Thanksgiving. We also had a great meal with our neighbor and my cousin came for 5 days. This was the first year, of several, that it did not snow after Thanksgiving, ( here in Williamsport area of PA).
I enjoy reading your posts.
Have a Merry Christmas and a bright New Year.
So lovely to receive the Willard in my email, its like a gift each time I read it. Thank you so much for brining love, beauty, and your creativity into our troubled world. Hugs, D
I love, love, love your newsletter as it brings back so many fond memories of a younger day. I have in my possession, the very last quilt that my dear sweet Mom and grandmother quilted together, I’m sure they’re in heaven now quilting up a storm! At least that’s what I want to believe. I would love to have that quilt to add to my collection. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Love that you appeciate vintage and antique quilts. They are such a reminder of the hands of our grandmothers sitting around a quilt in a frame with her friends putting a million tiny stitches in the beautifully pieced top. So timeless and endearing.
Thank you for the holiday greetings…and Andy Williams/Osmond video link. Gosh that was swell. Merry Christmas to you and yours.
Wishing you a very merry Christmas!
Martha’s Vineyard is magical at Christmastime – enjoy!
Hi!! I so look forward to receiving the Willards! In a word the feeling I get is “cozy”! I made your butternut squash soup to go along with Thanksgiving dinner this year! Big hit!! It’s delicious and so “cozy”! Enjoy the holiday season and stay happy and positive (as you always do) all through the year….
You are a good soul! Someone at Applebees recently said this of me. It is such a high compliment & you are so, so deserving of it! I love reading your posts. Makes me smile! Makes me happy that there are still such good kind people in this world. Merry Christmas dear sweet Susan.
Thanks Santa for sharing one of your beauties! Also, my family adopted a black cat with a little white. His name is Milo and we love him dearly! My dad has dementia and that baby has been wonderful for him! Merry Christmas!
Wishing you and Joe and Jack a cozy Christmas and warm winter. Thank you for adding beauty to the world. xxoo Sarah
Hi, Susan! I love what you have done with your life and appreciate your sharing so much Inspiration, Joy, and Cheer!!! You have inspired me to be an artist in my decorating with thrift and beauty. I love your books and hope to acquire all of them. You are like a homemaking angel to me at Christmas and year round! I would love the quilt… one of the few that would look good in my home sweet home! Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year!
Dear Susan! Your Thanksgiving with family looked very special. I don’t think anyone could dream up lovelier hosts. I love seeing the world through your eyes. Merry Christmas and happy holidays to you and Joe! And best of luck with your California home sale! ❤️
My family and I are such huge fans of yours, Susan! Thank you for spreading your light and sharing all your traditions! You have influenced our traditions quite a bit! I get this newsletter sent to my work email so I have happy mail to enjoy! Merry Christmas!!
Happy Christmas Susan and Joe! Thank you, Susan, for another lovely Willard-I always enjoy catching up on your news! And what a treat it will be for one of us to win your quilt.
Your warmth, kindness, and love always shines through❤️
It always makes my day when I open my e-mail and find a Willard waiting for me! The love you share enriches many lives, Merry Christmas & to a joyous ringing in of the New Year!!
Thank you for sharing so much intimate detail about family and home. This is my favorite Willard yet. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from rural Georgia.
I clicked on your blog to procrastinate from doing my chores for a minute and the minute turns into many minutes. I couldn’t stop reading! I love the feeling of home your photos and writing evoke in me. It makes me want to decorate, to slow down, and to enjoy the important things in life. I enjoyed seeing your family and your adorable California house. (Are you sure you want to sell it?) Thank you for all of your beautiful books. I love them all! Thank you also for giving us a chance to win your beautiful quilt!
A lovely Willard as usual. When I read Willard, I am lost in a world of yesteryears. Memories from my childhood and young adulthood abound. I am always happy when I finish reading your letter and the pictures are always delightful. Candy for my 80 year old eyes.
I love your Willard posts, always look forward to them. What a wonderful Waltz, I can see a couple in those old black and white movies dancing away to it. and the ladies voice is beautiful. How nice that you had your nieces and nephews over for Thanksgiving, how much fun that must have been. I wish I could make that dressing, my mom made it the same way. it was amazing. But sadly, all my kids will eat is Stove Top! ( yes you read that right)
May I ask, why are you selling your home in California, don’t you use it when you go visit family? But I understand, after we get older keeping up a home is a lot of work, let alone keeping up two. Good luck on selling and I hope you get what you want for it. with our economy the way it is. Merry Christmas to you and Joe. You make such a cute couple. I still chuckle when I remember the part in your book where you were sitting quietly by yourself in his restaurant and he starts to walk over and your saying to yourself..NO PLEASE…how funny What a wonderful romantic story you have lived. stay safe ((hugs)))
We also need to sell it to pay off our mortgages and get to a place where we don’t owe anything! It’s that time of life! Thrills me, can’t wait, I hate owing money!!!💖💖💖
Thank you Susan for such a great Willard. Love reading about your family visit. What a nice and memorable Thanksgiving. Merry Christmas and a Happy, hopeful New Year to you and Joe.
Merriest Christmas to you and Joe and hope and happiness in 2024❤️
Thank you for sharing your life with us. It’s a wonderful part of my day.
Merry Christmas to you and yours🥰
Peggy
Your Willards make my day. Thank you and Happy Holidays!!
I always love a Willard in my inbox, thanks for brightening my day! Happy Holidays to you and yours. 🎄
Merry Christmas Susan. Thanks for bringing so much joy to my life. I painted my renovated kitchen Woodlawn Blue , just like your kitchen and it is so pretty and so comforting and it makes me feel close to you. Lovely Willard! Thank you.
I curled up in my jammies to get the total pleasure of reading your blog tonight. Love them so much! And I absolutely loved the song Mistletoe Waltz written by your neighbor,Ivan!!! I listened several times as I was reading. It is just charming! Many many thanks for everything! Decorating has begun here too for Christmas. Have a joyful, wonderful holiday!
This was so lovely for me to read! It inspired me in so many different ways. Thank you for sharing! I hope you have a lovely holiday season.
Jack, you look fabulous on this beautiful quilt!
Jack, You’re the best!
Willard brightens my day. It took me four or five sittings to read it this time, and it brought me peace at each one. Thank you!
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy all holidays, and many blessings in 2024 to all.
I made my mom’s dressing for the first time this Thanksgiving. It has similar ingredients as yours but we don’t dip the bread in hot water. It turned out pretty good! Merry Christmas to you and Joe.
Hi Susan…your newest blog/Willard was like an early Christmas present…heartwarming, so heartwarming…especially the visit of your family…thank you…Merry Happy Christmas to you, Joe and Jack…
Oh my goodness! I think I figured out how to enter the contest for your wonderful quilt! If not, it wasn’t meant to be. Lol. Susan I want to tell you that I admire you sooo much. I feel like you encourage us to live our best life. But the best life comes with gratitude and we can see that you feel and live that with all your heart. You inspire me to take the time to enjoy the small everyday moments in my life and to appreciate them. Thank you for that. I just want to come sit under your tree and watch your beautiful linens blow in the wind. A little piece of heaven on earth! Merry Christmas!
There is nothing better,on a cold winter day, to find a Willard in my mailbox! You have inspired me many times. Most recently by taking a trip to the Cotswolds on a walking /sketching trip with my sister and daughter. It was pure magic! Thank you for ALL your ideas!
I loved the Mistletoe Waltz!!! Sweet music. Thank you for the lovely end of the year letter. Wishing you and Joe a Merry Christmas! And may 2024 be a very prosperous year for you!
Loved reading about your Thanksgiving with family. Where can I find the recipe for the pumpkin cheesecake? Looks yummy. I’ve had 2 booklets of your scrapbook paper for many years, too cute to use! I must add photos of my beautiful granddaughters to them though.
Jammed packed post fun, family,and food. I am elbow deep in your cookie recipes. Your Christmas cookies are always my favorite.
An amazing giveaway!
Loved reading the new Willard and hearing all your news. What a beautiful quilt and a generous gift! Wishing you a very merry Christmas filled with happy times surrounded by those you love.
Such a lovely post, and a beautiful quilt!
You posted this 5 days ago but I had to wait to read it when I knew that I had the quiet time to soak it in. You and I are similar in age and I sense that you are viewing life in a similar vein as I am and realizing that the end of the book is getting closer all of the time. Thank you for enriching our lives by sharing your life with us. It’s a nugget of goodness each and every time.
The quilt….lovely and full of stories that would be so interesting to know. What is it about the old quilts that charm us to our depths?
Your column reminds me of my love of going to estate sales…not to buy so much as to observe the well-lived life of a family, before it is dispatched. All the layers! Thank you for sharing photos of your CA home in the past and of your hopes for it in the future with a new family. Like a quilt, it will be another layer.
Love the decorating! The quilts and quilt are beautiful! Jack is the best decoration!
A beautiful post much appreciated this time of year. It was great to read through with a cuppa tea. Merry Christmas to you & your family!
What a delightful thanksgiving you had! And your house looks so cozy for the holidays.
Can’t wait to see who wins the quilt. Will it be be? It Will be a celebration no matter who the lucky person is.
Wishing you a delightful holiday season.
Susan I would love to win that beauty! You’ve long been my favorite artist and I love your sweet stories. I promise if I win , I would take great care, and hand her down to my daughter ❤️
What a wonderful post, thank you for sharing your holiday with us!
You are a spot of sunshine to a drab day!
Your posts are so precious. Your home is lovely.
Thank you for offering one of your keepsake quilts to your fans.
Merry Christmas!