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 
Did the same vocalist sing two parts in the beautiful melody you posted? I heard harmony with two voices. As usual, your beautiful posts are the epitome of hygge. Happy Christmas
I would absolutely love this quilt
Thanks for letting us enjoy Thanksgiving with you and your family. Now on to Christmas!
I would love this quilt to keep us warm and cozy this winter!❤
Would love the quilt!
Have always loved you and your books 🥰would love to win that quilt xoxo
Thank you for this perfectly perfect Willard❤️😊
Thank you for this perfectly perfect Willard❤️😊❤️😊
Love your blog! Always filled with great things! Would love the quilt. Thanks!
We loved “The Mistletoe Waltz”! My husband and I are ballroom dancers and it is very danceable – like dancing in a snow globe music box ♥️
So many wonderful snippets of Christmas Cheer .. dishes , all the decorations all inspire me to make my home just as welcoming for Christmas Cheer. I love your blog .. Jack just keep on being there and so happy to see his little face again . Great idea with the hairbands will try myself 🎄Yes I read your blog , check for new B’s and just love looking at all the photos you post . Thank you so much
Merry Christmas and one day at a time .. blessing and cheer for the New Year
Thank you for all do share with so many🥰🥰
Thank you so much for all your photos of dishes , linens , birds , Jack and all things beautiful.
You inspire me to create a warm, safe and Spirit filled home for my family . Joy and love abound all through your posts . Your art work is also inspiring but you do more than share you work .. you touch so many with hope and joy in all things little and nature’s beauty.
Thank you so much in posting your blog I truly look forward to it every time in pops up in my mail❤️Love seeing Jack and that he is still doing so well and enjoying hair band fun . Must try that with my kitties
Merry Christmas and thanks for all your work .. stories and inspiration 🎄🎄☃️☃️❤️❤️Cheers
This was a lovely post, so full of family! I loved seeing the historical photos of your family as they have grown over the years, we do that at my house as well. Thank you for sharing!
I just appreciate your “zest” for living life. Your sharing of many talents and bringing happiness to all the readers of your blog. Merry Christmas! Jingle all the way…
“Says my 2 1/2 year old grand daughter–Using the tape measure-
Nana– I’m 3 hours tall!!
Just like her daddy when he was that age – brought in his small bike and the bath scale and told me that he wanted to “pound his bike”..
Treasures like you are sharing with your smiling audience.
thank you for you!
“I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.”
– Charles Dickens
I love reading your posts. Thank you for creating such beautiful and inspiring content. Wishing you, Joe and Jack a very merry Christmas and peaceful new year.
Alexandra
Thank you for your wonderful, seasonal comfort-and-joy posts! Your enthusiasm is definitely catching and inspiring!❤️
I just wanted to thank you for being so open about taking anti anxiety medication. It took me a long time to admit this is something I need, and it has been life-changing. There’s such a stigma about it – I always want to thank people when they’re open about it.
Merry Christmas!
Also I think lots of us have a “thing” about taking medicine. I know I do … but YAY TEAM I finally got over it! xoxoxo
Merry Christmas and Happy New year
Hello Susan! Another lovely Willard. You have given me so much joy and encouragement over the years. Also great recipes and decorating tips.
I first discovered you 18 years ago when I was first married. Thank you for sharing so much of yourself to us. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Merry Christmas, Susan!
It’s such a joy to read your Willard, and be reminded that things don’t have to be so crazy. How kind of you to gift one of your quilts. It will be treasured by whoever wins it!❤🎶☃️🎄☃️🧑🎄🎵🎁
Love your artwork. It’s so colorful. Enjoy your blog. Always looking for the next one. Have a merry Christmas and a blessed new year.
Loved this Willard, meeting your family, and seeing your Thanksgiving celebration. I’m sure your nieces and nephews love spending time with you. You’d be my favorite, fun aunt!!
I love old quilts and use some to decorate my home. It’s fun thinking about the hands that quilted them and where the fabrics came from that they used.
Merry Christmas season to you and Joe!
It is SO nice to get your Willard and blog again.! For a while I could not receive my e-mails, then my daughter( smart girl) fixed it.
Have a wonderful Christmas, New Year train trip to CA( I did that in 1969, but missed the live reception of the first moon walk. Today I could get it!)
Thank you Susan! The generous gorgeous quilt is just beautiful! I have recently joined a quilt guild after 25 yrs or so away from the quilting world.
I am very excited to be visiting Martha’s Vineyard this December between Christmas and new years with my guy of 2 yrs. He has already seen all your books as I acquainted him with them early on : )
If you have a few must do/see’s eats/play/ don’t misses I would be so appreciative. Just knowing I’ll be in your world – I am excited! Have a wonderful cozy Christmas 🎄❤️
Thank you,
Julie
Much of the Island closes in Winter, so you’ll need to read the local paper because they list every single event there is, and which restaurants are open. It will be very quiet . . . no leaves on the trees, it’s a wonderful time for imagination. Driving around the island with your favorite music on.Enjoy!!!
Oh such joy!! I hope this is the right spot! So lovely of you to share your heart and home with us! I’ve been a fan for many years. I wish I could afford your lovely California home! Such a beautiful piece of heaven on earth! Maybe when you’re in California you can make a stop in Redding? There’s lovely bookstore, Shop Around the Corner, owned by Amber T. She has your books in stock! USA Today recently featured her shop in their independent bookstore article! Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and many happy blessings in 2024!
Dear Julie
When my friend and I visited in December a year ago, we had one of the best pizzas I’ve ever had at Rocco’s Pizzeria in Tisbury (and I’m from New York!). Also, the Black Dog Tavern was lovely. I also like Bunch of Grapes- an Indie bookshop on Main Street in Vineyard Haven. Just walking along Main Street is lovely- lots of greenery decorationg the shops. Have a wonderful visit
So helpful Dianne!!! Main Street in Edgartown is beautiful too … and upstairs at Rockfish is great and casual eating place. Also fabulous pizza!
What a joyful Willard! It always brightens my day. It was wonderful that you shared some of your family with us. You had great helpers to get your Thanksgiving dinner on the table and it looked lovely.
I am a quilter so I appreciate looking at your quilts. I too think it makes a home look cozy and lived in, a place you simply want to be.
What a lovely photo of you and Joe! I wish you both a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!!!
Hi Susan! I wrote once and left a comment but while I was reading your Willard, you included the name of a “happy pill” you’ve been taking to help you not feel so anxious. I have re-read your Willard at least four times trying to find the name of the pill as I was telling my friend about it. Where did it go? Did you delete it? Will you share it with me? Thank you!!!!
It’s in the 3rd line of the post, tiny letters, it’s called Lexapro . . . you need a prescription, I balked at taking something for months, but thank goodness I finally accepted it and gave in … it’s been really good for me! Hope that helps!
Merry Christmas, Susan
With love from Oregon Anita,
a faithful fan and friend♥️
Thank you for being so generous with giving one of your quilts away. My mother made her own and so did her grandmother and ladies before her. I have one like your green one that is over the chair in your kitchen. Almost some of the same material. I bring mine out according to the seasons…
I so enjoy your blog and appreciate the full moon bookmarks!
Merry Christmas.
Merry Christmas Susan!
Susan, I love your artwork, calendars, old quilts and I used to read Gladys Tabor when my kids were little and day dream about a place like that. I thought I was probably the only person who read books like that until I saw her mentioned in one of your books. I just love homey books. I love the design of your new mug. Looking forward to that!
Merry Christmas to you, Joe and Jack. Your Willards make us feel we are part of the family!
Thank you for sharing so much with us! How I adore reading your newsletters and sharing them, which brings smiles to so many hearts. I love your books..each and every one and have bought them as gifts to my sister who loves them also. Wishing a blessed Christmas to you and Joe and Jack! I hope you know how much happiness you bring to all of us Susan.
Lovely post! I enjoy seeing all the little things in your home that make it whimsy cozy and fun. Would love to win that beautiful quilt. Happy Holidays!
I’m just reading your Willard now, although it’s been sitting in my email for awhile. Such a busy time getting ready for Christmas. Enjoyed reading about your Thanksgiving with family. Your stuffing recipe is very much like my mom’s except that she cooked ground pork with the celery and onions in butter. I still make it that way. Yum!
I wanted to wish you and Joe a very Merry Christmas! Thank you for all your wonderful stories & ideas, such as listening to, A Christmas Carol, on your walks and decorating with all your old quilts.
Oh dear Susan…such a beautiful blog….yes the young people in our lives give us so much hope….I appreciate all your words about your nephew….what a perfect holiday, with all the love, the sounds, tastes, the color….our dear critters too…bottle up Susan branch because she is world peace….love, Regina from Seattle
Hi Susan,
I got to know you only in december 2016 and became a fan since.
My favorite in martha’s vineyard isle of dreams is page 35.
Hello to all fellowfans.
Had to get out the book and read page 35 … I agree, that was a good moment!!! Lifetime of goodness!
I enjoy Willard, it’s such a delight! Thank you, Susan.
Merry Christmas 🎄
Thank you for sharing your east coast perspective which always elevates my mood! Happiest of Christmas and New Year frivolities!
Thank you for the delightful post! I love old quilts and homey things 🥰 Merry Christmas to you ❣️
I look forward to your Willard! You make everyday life sparkle. I love your love and passion within your house and family. Thank you for all of your wonderful posts and I LOVE your books and cherish your cookbooks! Happy Holidays and Safe Travels! 🙂
Susan,
Willard is always the brightest part of my day when it arrives! You spread joy and love 💕 of people, history, family, food, old homes, 🐈 cats, quilts, England, and so much more. Seeing You hanging laundry outdoors took me back to my childhood and the small of my GrandMother’s linens. Thank you. Merry Christmas! Jane Riley
Thankyou so much Susan.. I loved seeing all your family gathered together.. what beautiful precious memories. Happy holidays and best of health 😊🙏
Christmas Blessings and Joy to you, your family, and all your ‘fan’ family. You and Joe have made many lives better. Thank you.🌹
Thank you for always sharing your thought on friendships, books…just sharing joys of life in these challenging times.
I loved the eggnog recipe…I make a similar one on Christmas Day…delicious.
Every month my girlfriends, and I, look forward to your blog.
Have a wonderful Christmas and enjoy that trip to California.
Such a wonderful post, Susan! Always feels like a visit with a dear friend.
To snuggle under a quilt that Jack sat upon would be a dream. Wishing you a magical Christmas and a New Year filled with love and joy.
Loved sharing in your joyous celebration of thanksgiving with family. I am the 12th in a family of 13 and I have to say that celebrating with family fills my heart with endless joy.
I love your beautiful decorations for each and every season and holiday, and agree that quilts bring the warmth and memories to all rooms in the house. My daughter learned to quilt at age 10 at our local sewing shop from some very happy retired grandmothers anxious to pass down the skill. Happy to say she has made 5 beautiful quilts over the years that we happily display around our home. Hopefully future generations will cherish them in years to come.
Wishing you a joyful Christmas and safe travels in January!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I enjoy your art, posts, and quotes. Your house is beautiful. It’s on my bucket list to visit your area.
Sincerely Lisa Yablonski
Hello Susan,
I loved this posting . . . thank you! Please add my name to the list of hopefuls for the drawing of that beautiful quilt. Merry Christmas! Franny R
Merry Christmas! Your home looks so cozy and comfortable. And I love Jack, he looks like our Abby who passed earlier this year.
Merry Christmas, Susan! Love every one of your posts (and you too)!
Susan, thank you so much for sharing your life with us. I look forward to each “Willard”. My Mom passed this year. She always bought me a book for Christmas and I was sad that this little tradition would end. When cleaning up things on her iPad, I discovered that she had money from a gift card in her Amazon account. So what did I do… I ordered “Martha’s Vineyard – Isle of Dreams” This will be a special treat – a final gift from her and one of your books. Christmas blessings to you.
I’m touched by that Victoria . . . you, me, and your mom. 💖💖💖💖
I FELT LIKE I HAD GONE TO A CHRISTMAS FAMILY REUNION..!! I FELT LIKE I WAS IN YOUR KITCHEN HAVING TEA. A VERY VERY WONDERFUL WILLARD. I WOULD LOVE CHANCE TO WIN QUILT..WHEN MY KIDS WERE YOUNG AND IN SCHOOL I USE TO MAKE QUILTS AND DONATE TO SCHOOL FOR RAFFELS FOR THINGS TEACHERS NEEDED. I COULDN’T DONATE MONEY .BUT I COULD MAKE QUILTS!! MERRY CHRISTMAS
DEBRA SEWELL
Susan! It’s such a pleasure to see your world! Thanks for showing me how to hear my own voice as I tell my story! Hope the trip and the holidays are wonderful for y’all. And thanks for the egg nog recipe. I’m going to go make some now. Happy Holidays!
My computer decided to put your column in the junk file—the travesty! I am probably too late to join in on the drawing for your lovely quilt, but here goes—I also have a few much-loved old quilts made from a woman in Vermont many years ago. They are cherished, as you are dear Susan. Merry Christmas to you and Joe.
You’re right on time! Thank you for the rescue!💝
Susan,
I have so much enjoyed all your Willards this past year and look forward to what the world holds for us all in 2024.
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND ALL THE BEST IN 2024!!!!!
Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year!!
God bless…xoxo
Hello Susan,
I’m late to the party. I just finished reading your book, A Fine Romance. I can’t stop thinking about it. Your water colors are so lovely. Thank you for sharing your life here on your blog. I have a lot of Willards to catch up on. Merry Christmas!
Reading Willard is like a sunrise.
Peaceful with ever growing colors and warmth filling my heart.Taking away the shadows away and filling me with hope and joy. Thank you.
Have a lovely Christmas and a wonderful new year!
Merry Christmas to you also, Thankyou for the lovely song & post,
Love to all of you ♥️
Thank you for another snippet of your life for all of us to enjoy!
Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year🎄
I needed this today. I was so crabby and I thought, I wish I could read something festive. And then a Facebook post popped up and there you were! I’m not sure how I missed this Willard.
Anyway, I loved the song! I think it would be lovely sung by Renee Fleming. She has a Christmas album that I so love so much. Anyway, Merry Christmas 🎁🎄
Merry Christmas, dear Susan and Joe! Thank you for reminding us of all the beauty in this world!
Susan, your words and artwork bring my soul much needed peace…Merry, Merry Christmas!
What a lovely Christmas gift! I would love to have this beautiful cozy quilt in my home. I have been a girlfriend from the beginning and this would make my heart sing to look at it every day. Merry Christmas!!
I always look so forward to your posts. They make my heart sing. Love your quilts. 🙂
Warm and cozy like a big hug! Always a boost to my spirits on Willard Day! Thank you for sharing your sunny outlook and tips for living one’s best life to the fullest. All good wishes for a comfy Christmas and a fun trip to California!
What a lovely post and a gift to share. My Nonnie taught me how to make quilts way back in the feed sack days. Sadly we had to “retire” one of them just this past weekend. Luckily, she signed and dated them, so they are very special treasures. Thank you for your positivity and light!
Thank you Susan for once again filling my heart with hope & joy. Enjoyed sharing in the memory with your family. Have a blessed Christmas, you, Joe & Jack & safe travels.
Oh my goodness! To win one of your quilts would be like getting a real hug from a dear friend!! From a long-time fan!!! 😀
There’s nothing as special as something handmade.
Thanks so very much for the magic you bring to all our lives. Your life is the sweetest real-life fairy tale. Merry Christmas!!
I, too, collect quilts – new and old! I’m a Jersey-girl but for over 20 years, am a California (Sonoma County) transplant! There is a lot to be said for the beautiful East Coast and New England, but California now has my ❤️. I love reading your monthly Willard and would 💙love love love 💙 to add your beautiful gifted quilt to my collection and home. Have a blessed holiday season Susan and Joe!
Christmas Joy to you and Joe!
You are such an inspiration in my life, Susan!!… from my first delightful meeting you in person at a book signing in St. Charles, Mo; to saving up our penniesfor 5 years for our first ever cruise on the QM2for our 48th wedding anniversary; and ordering beautiful holiday gifts from your website; and reading and re-reading your dear books (especially the Christmas one!)…. and keeping us all connected and in touch through your Willards! Thank you!
💖💖💖
Dearest Susan,
This was the most beautiful blog post, so lovely.
I felt like I was part of the family enjoying Thanksgiving on the island.
Thank you
Merry Christmas Susan and Joe, I first discovered your beautiful art work in the 80’s. I fell in love with it all, it seeped into my life as I discovered your books. I was trying to make a life filled with the very things your books emulate.
Over the years, I keep coming back and re-reading all your books, so as to keep
your beautiful art and words to inspire me still. You are a true treasure! Home and family, and friends are what is truly important in life, Thank You so much for all that you do.
Loved this festive Willard. What a beautiful quilt, made even more special by the approval of Jack! Merry Christmas.
Thank you for sharing your wonderful family and holiday with us! Merry Christmas, Susan!
Your posts are always lovely… and this one with family is so heart felt. Thank you for sharing❤️
It makes me happy to read you are happier! I have always lived Willard and share it with my girlfriends! After I read about your planks I got down on the floor and did 2 counting slowly to 20 each time! Thank you for the motivation!
Merry Christmas, Susan! Fingers crossed that I’m the grateful new owner of the quilt.
I LOVE you blog and shopping in the store! I look so forward to having Willard pop up in my emails. Would love to win the quilt, it’s lovely.
Merry Christmas to you and Joe.
Beautiful quilts and beautiful Jack!
I love seeing a new Willard in my inbox. It’s such a great reminder to take a breath and slow down. I love hunkering in and getting lost in your warm, cozy, generous world for a while. Thank you!
The quilt is beautiful.
I read your books in my 20’s and am finding them again in my 60’s. Such a joy! A quilt would be a dream ❤️
Merry Christmas! What a beautiful quilt 🤍
Life would be complete with one of your quilts ♥️
Beautiful post & quilt! I would love to win it❤️Laura Fahrner
Well, I’m late to the party but better late than never! 💕 Wishing you and Joe a very Merry Christmas and a most Happy New Year and all the wonderful things for 2024! Your words and art are such a gift and I am so grateful!
I would love this quilt to keep us warm and cozy this winter!❤
I’ve always loved reading about your adventures, Susan! Reading Willard is like reading a yummy, delightful short story! Thank you for sharing it with all of us! Merry Christmas to you and yours.
I adore your posts and would love the quilt!
Susan,
Thank you so much for opening your world to us! Your books welcome me into every season with such joy and inspiration. I am so thankful for the uplift you bring my heart!! What a kind giveaway. I would absolutely love to place this over my little girls bed 🙂 thank you!!
Everything you write, photograph, and illustrate is like a ((hug)) from afar. Happy holidays to you. 💕
What a beautiful post Susan!
Thank you, Susan for a lovely blog to get us all in the festive holiday spirit. It’s always so ‘homey’ to read and creates lots of cozy feelings. Wishing you and Joe and friends/family a lovely holiday! I hope to win that gorgeous pink quilt! :*)
Merry Christmas Susan and Joe! Your home and art are pure inspiration and I look forward to your posts with all the latest news from the Vineyard. It was fun to see your nieces and nephew all gown up; isn’t it fun to see how far they’ve come? Have a wonderful Christmas and an even better 2024.
What a wonderful idea to share this quilt – thank you!! Your books and blogs are like a visit with a favorite girlfriend – so enjoy reading and re-reading them. And also, thank you for sharing Gladys Taber! Recently found her “Mrs. Daffodil” book and BONUS, there were 3 magazine clippings inside from Everywoman’s Circle magazine circa 1959! Be well. Looking forward to your make-me-happy art in 2024 and for many years to come.
More than any other book, I find little clippings and recipes in the pages of old Gladys Taber’s books!!! Says something!💖
Susan, I always get excited when I see your email announcing a newly posted blog. Always makes my day! I treasure the vintage quilts that were in my family. Your lovely pink one is beautiful! Best wishes for a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
What a lovely post. I felt like I was celebrating with you all. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you, Joe, Jack and all your friends and family.
Cheers!