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 
This was a fun post to read! Also reading A Fine Romance was one of the highlights of my year. I read it in March and think about it all the time. Wishing you a very merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas and I hope you continue creating books!
Oh Merry Christmas… So much enjoy your “Willard’s!” and Happy New Year!
I was in the middle baking a chocolate pecan pie and remembered, “Oh! I need to enter Susan’s quilt drawing!” So here I am. And the pie is just out of the oven too! Thank you for all the creative goodness you put out into the world!
What a lovely blog this month! It is a patchwork quilt of stories, songs, memories, delightful photographs and good times with young family members (what could be better)! Thank you Susan for helping to brighten all our days. I’m wishing you and your sweet baboo the merriest of Christmases and hoping for a gentler New Year.
I have two old quilts from from grandma and they are very precious to me. At age 72 I have just recently started to quilt. It brings me a lot of pleasure.
Love, Marilyn
Hi Susan and Joe and your adorable cattens! Thanks for sharing your wonderful Thanksgiving with us! I’ve been a fan of your work for over 20 yrs! I met you at Madonna Inn in SLO a long time ago and you signed 5 books for me that I bought for my girlfriends there 🙂 You are such an inspiration! Thanks for sharing your art and recipes and your life with us! Sonya
Love you so much Susan! Merry Christmas 🎄.
First of all I so enjoy your post and everything you do and I thank you. I love quilts also. My great grandmother, grandmother and my mother were all quilters. I think quilts re wonderful and so cozy! I truly appreciate all the hard work that goes into them. 💖
Cathy
Absolutely delightful! Loved everything from your family pics, to your Christmas decor, to your cute outfit, to that beautiful new mug! Thank you for sharing!
Hi Susan;
We want to Thank You for all the beautiful photos and heart warming words you give to us throughout the year.
The photos of Autumn are gorgeous as that is our favorite season. Of course Christmas is the season of hope,happiness and hearing from friends and family far and wide. Reading your books bring a feeling of warmth and joy.
Susan hope you are feeling 100% better. Wishing you a Merry,Happy,Blessed and Healthy New year.
Marilyn,Joan and Marion
Merry Christmas 💚❤️
Thank you so so SO much for all the beauty you put into the world! I’ve been a quilter for 10 plus years now and a cross stitcher for 35, and I would be honored to be entered! Big love! ❤️
Ugh, I would love this quilt so much! It’s gorgeous and would be such an amazing treasure. PS: finally watched Miracle on 34th Street after seeing it on here… so sweet and good feeling 😊
I really enjoy your artistic talent and have for years! What a gorgeous quilt. I hope you and your family have a blessed Christmas!
Wonderful post. Beautiful quilt. Pink is my favorite color.
Hello Susan, Just finished reading your lovely note while sitting in front a roaring fire in my wood burning stove. How cozy it has been catching up with you and your life and all your preparations for the holidays!
Like you, I love to love decorating with vintage quilts and have them scattered throughout my house. Christmas is always a fun time to bring out my red and white quilts along with pillows to brighten the holiday season.
Your beautiful pink quilt would be such an added bonus to my collection! Am sure that my tuxedo cat, Piper, would love someplace new to take a long winter’s nap!
Merry Christmas to you and Joe and may you both have a fabulous New Year!! ❤️🎄☃️🎅🏼❄️❤️
You brought tears to my eyes (several times) mentioning that you were selling in Arroyo Grande. My FIL retired to Nipomo and we fell in love with the area! (Big Sigh) Time marches on… Enjoy your trip!
Hmmm…here I am at the bottom of the heap, trying to remember if I commented for the quilt. 🫣
Beautiful memories! We collect and cherish quilts too ~ some are family heirlooms with known stories and some hold family stories which are unknown to us. All are unique and held dear!🩷
Beautiful memories! We collect and cherish quilts too ~ some are family heirlooms with known stories and some hold family stories which are unknown to us. All are unique and held dear!🩷
Beautiful memories! We collect and cherish quilts too ~ some are family heirlooms with known stories and some hold family stories which are unknown to us. All are unique and held dear!🩷
So nice of you to share your quilt with one of us. Merry Christmas, Susan
The quilt is beautiful!
Merry Christmas and a Happy, Healthy New Year!
I have collected your books for many years and love them all, looking forward to your next book of quotations. Hope you have a blessed Christmas!
Love all of your wonderful artwork and ideas!!! Have bought your calendars for years
[email protected]
Thank you for sharing your gift of writing with all of us. It’s a good day when a Willard arrives in my inbox. Marty Christmas!
Always enjoy hearing from you. Would love a quilt!
Oh, how I would love a quilt from my favorite artist and author! 💕 I am originally from MA and you give me the most beautiful reminders of ‘home.’ Here in my Michigan home, I’m the only ‘girl’ 😊—a hubby and two sweet sons, all towering over me in their 6’6”+ness. But I claimed one room for myself: it’s pink with my ticking stripe Laura Ashley bedding from high school, and on the nightstand next to the guest bed is my stack of each of your books. My private escape until someone starts wondering what’s for dinner! Thank you for the joys your books have brought me over the years. I have your desk blotter at work, and each Christmas hubby gives me your wall calendar. Perpetual smiles. Merry Christmas!
Cheers and HOORAY for your wee bit of doily mentality! xoxo
What a gorgeous quilt! Love the colors! 🎄🥰❣️
I would love this quilt!!!
Your posts always bring so much joy! Happy holidays Susan!
Your posts are always a treat to read🫶 I tuck bits and pieces into my heart like sweet treasures❤️ Thank you for being an inspiration to be ourselves, see beauty and spread love and good cheer! 🌟All the very best to you, Joe and your sweet Jack! 🐈⬛ Merry Christmas ❤️☃️🎄☃️❤️
Wow! You have had my admiration and respect from when I was in college( 1980) I love your blog and books and calendars…. and everything! Thanks for making the world brighter and happier! I would live to win this quilt. I have the perfect pink room for it! Thank you for all you do!
Quilts are the fabric of the human experience that allows expressions of love and peace and kindness!
Merry Christmas Susan! Love those old quilts
.I recently acquired and old quilt top I I tend to hand quilt myself. Good for those cozy winter nights.
What a lovely post with all those sweet, young faces. And hugs to you, Joe & Jack. Happy Christmas! And fingers crossed for the quilt. Deborah
I love decorating with old quilts and Tilly, our cat shares that love with every nap.❤️
Wishing you and your family a very blessed Christmas! Thank you for sharing you Christmas with all of us!
Merry Christmas Wishes to you, Joe & Jack 🎄♥️
Such a lovely quilt and generous giveaway. I can imagine sitting on the deck of the 🛳️ Queen Mary 2 , wrapped in that lovely pink quilt, reading!
Love your quilt and your blog❤️Merry Christmas
Gosh that quilt is pretty! It’s so sweet that you are willing to part with it. Merry Christmas to you and yours! 💕
I love your newsletters! Thank you for sharing that you became anxious after the pandemic! I also balk at medicine, but this gives me courage! 2024… worry less, do all the things!
Thank you also for a chance to win this beautiful quilt!!! They are my favorite! And also big thanks for the book mark, from an avid moon gazer!
Hope your Christmas is filled with cheer!
Your end-of-year Willards are always my favorites. Merry Christmas to you and Joe!
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You are such a bright spot in this crrraaaazzzzyyy world!! Thank you for shining your light! Merry Christmas, Susan:)
Finally found where to leave a comment. I love all your posts and when I sit down to read them I like to make a cup of tea and feel like we are having a visit. All of your posts bring joy!
It would be awesome to win this quilt. Like my maternal grandmother before me I love pink.
Wishing you and Jack a very Merry Christmas!
Just wanted to say a great big thank you from Texas for brightening so many of my days! I smile when I see your calendar and drool when I read your recipes. I even have a bedroom with your framed calendar pics decorating throughout the year. Hope you have a blessed holiday and wonderful new year! Can’t wait to open my new calendars at Christmas! Love ~ Judy
Have always loved you and your books 🥰would love to win that quilt xoxo
Your art brings such warmth and joy, as would wrapping up in this quilt this winter! Thanks for sharing your world and this quilt with us.
I hope Im not too late to comment. I was just now able to read your blog. For some reason, I was lost and was not getting your blog posts. I knew something was missing in my life. I love quilts and use them all over my house also. Have a wonderful time in California but I hate when you leave Jack. I don’t like when I go away because I miss my cat, Pucci, too much. Well, I guess Jack always knows that you will return.
Lots of love, Freya
I hate leaving him! It’s by far the hardest part! But I know he really would rather stay home! I do it for him. But I really don’t like it!
What a sweet giveaway and what a perfect time for a cozy quilt it’s perfect for winter!
Your thanksgiving holiday with your family sounded like so much fun. I love how they all helped in preparing the meal. What a lovely quilt you are going to share. I hope you have a wonderful Christmas.
Merry Christmas-thank you for another wonderful Willard.
What a delightful post. I always love reading your writing, and the quotes you include, and seeing photos from Martha’s Vineyard. Can’t wait to visit someday. <3
Merry Christmas, dear Susan. I look forward to next year’s delightful blogs. You make life happy!
I love you Susan Branch for years and years, not that you or I are old, but I have followed you for ever! The pink quilt would be lovely in my house, if it is meant to be! I know some to be able to make one of your book signing, until than I will just happily read your Willard’s! Debbie McCormac
Positive vibes. What a pleasure it is to read this blog. It always makes me feel uplifted about life.
Ok!!! I hope this works! I’m leaving a comment to the best baby book author! I have 5 children ages Byron 30, Grant 29, Elliot 25, Catherine 23, and Caroline 18 and all of them have your Baby Love as their baby book. If you are ever in Arroyo Grande, CA again I would love to meet you! Our family farm is right near your home. I hope I win your beautiful quilt!❤️❤️❤️
Thank you,
Christina Talley
Talley Farm! Oh yes I know! Nice to meet you Christina! We’ll be out in January . . . saying goodbye to our property on Lopez Drive . . .
Oh no! I’m sorry you are leaving! Thank you for all your wonderful books and cookbooks! They are an heirloom for us all!❤️
Well, if I happen to meet you that would be nice. Your home on the island there is beautiful. So charming, just like you.
Merry Christmas.🎄🎁 Christina
also, I have known the Sherri for years! Our daughters grew up together and have been friends since elementary school. Small world.😊❤️
Isn’t that fun!? 👏👏👏👏
You inspire me and I’ve been following you for years. Thank you for sharing yourself through your books and website, etc.
Hi Susan you are such a joy and you bring so much to others. I’m glad you’re our Ray of sunshine in this world. You can’t even imagine how much I would LOVE to win your pink quilt. Be still my vintage heart. 💖 God Bless
Lynne aka ahappierheart
Merry Christmas Susan,
I hope a wonderful buyer who appreciates the history will buy your home in Arroyo Grande.
I was once at a yard sale you had at the yard in front of market stand . It was a wonderful sale.I was there with my girlfriends and we went home with treasures you once loved but, decided to share with others.
Thank you for the sale on many of your wares❤️
Once again,
Merry Christmas
Cindi Leonard
Dear Susan,
Thank you so much for all the wonderful stories ❣️
Best of luck selling your West Coast home, sad to see you go .
Friends and I got to visit it and the farm and your store a couple times . 😃
(Family home up in Cambria allowed us gals some great road-trips !)
My 1st born got into quilting during the pandemic and I’d love to win your beautiful pink quilt for her .
Keeping my fingers crossed 🤞
Meanwhile Merry Christmas to You and Yours,
Love – Linda of So Cal
I love your writing, your art, and quilts! Merry Christmas!
hi i’m not sure if this is where i leave my comment but im trying. i always thought i was pretty savvy with computer/iphone. 🤷🏼♀️ either way i have almost all your books, love your drawings and think what a fantastic gift you have. i don’t understand how you can take that very cold weather though. im from New Jersey but moved to florida where its much warmer, im sorry- im rambling. anyway, Merry Christmas!
You’re in the perfect place Donna!
Wonderful post, and what a beautiful quilt! Thank you for sharing your home and holidays with us!
Love visiting with you and reading the latest Willard!! Thank you and many good eyes for a Merry Christmas!!
I would love to win!
Thank you for the continued joy Susan!
Oh Susan, if only you were having a giveaway for that butter!! Best butter ever! We used to get it at Whole Foods but they don’t carry it anymore. As the winner of your first Girlfriend Giveaway I know how thrilled someone is going to be. I cherish mine. You have the best taste in quilts and butter !!
Especially Butter!!!😂
Loved everything about this post but especially the Christmas Waltz. Thank you for sharing!
I hope I’m entering for the quilt!!
I hope I’m entering for the quilt!! It’s lovely!
Would love to win the beautiful quilt!
Just read my first Willard and thought I was right there with you and your family. I loved how you tie past generations to the present. Happy Christmas to you and yours. (PS my 4 yr old granddaughter, Sadie, loves pink. She will inherit my great-grandma Sadie’s rocking chair.)
Found it! Thanks Susan for being YOU! And happy solstice! We made it! Cheers to more sunshine!
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Merry Christmas! Thanks for putting my name in the hat for this quilted beauty! Happy Winter! Happy New Year!
I always enjoy your pictures, writings and music. Thank you for inspiring to make our homes more beautiful in every way. I especially enjoyed Thanksgiving with your family. It made me feel like I was there too!
Hello Susan,
Merry Christmas to you and Joe. I cannot begin to express how much your heart-warming talent has affected my daily life and ultimately my family and friends. Here in Plymouth, Michigan, my home is truly a home and my view of the world brighter and creative thanks to you. Believe it! Receiving your quilt would be “the cherry on the cake ” 🍒
Thanks for sharing memories (and lovely giveaway items) with your “girlfriends”. I always enjoy reading Willard. Merry Christmas to you and yours.
How lovely. Merry Christmas to you and Joe.
I love this! So nice to see a bit into your festivities and family life! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and your family!! I went to the Vineyard for the first time this past summer and fell in love. The air is just sweeter there, and the people SO nice. Met the owner of good dog goods and rocked on the porch, ideal trip! Cannot wait to go back. ❤️ 😍 💖
Love your beautiful blog! I follow you on IG and love old quilts!
Merry Christmas!
Merry! Merry!
Thanks for bringing joy into my home this year. Seeing your calendar in my kitchen every morning, your books here and there and read your wonderful Romance this summer. Keep living the life💕🌻. Cheers to a wonderful New Year ahead! 🌞
And thanks for giving me a chance to enjoy your precious pink quilt😊
I made a quilt two years ago as my first ever sewing adventure — 33 hours of sewing! I now have quite the appreciation for them. Happy Holidays to Susan and friends. <3
Merry Christmas❣️LOVE the pink quilt!!!!!
Dear Susan – I literally think of you every morning this time of year. I bought your Santa mug when it first came out and drink my morning tea from it every day. My poor husband didn’t have a Christmas mug for his morning tea, so I purchased another Santa mug this year for him. Now we have matching morning cups! The Santa face brings us morning Christmas joy. Brought to us by Susan Branch – the joy bringer.
And it’s very kind and generous of you to bring joy to someone else with this beautiful quilt! Merry Christmas!
What a beautiful quilt! Have a wonderful holiday filled with warmth snd love!
Merry Christmas and all the best in 2024
Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and I’m sending prayers for God’s richest blessings for you and Joe!
What a great read! Plus my hubby’s name is Willard after his grandpa. Beautiful quilt. I always wanted to learn how to quilt but just recently got decent knitting. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Hello! Susan I dearly love your words, artwork, photos, life and travel stories and for your graciousness to share them with us. You’re a bright spot to land upon. Thank you for the beauty and magic and wonder you bring into the world. I would love to win the quilt. Thank you for the opportunity. Merry Christmas and Happy Travels to California. I’ve been watercolor painting and find I love it. You’re a great inspiration, thank you for that. Blessings. Susan Bricker
So glad you are taking another cross country train trip. Can’t wait for the photos and observations. Stay safe and healthy.
Thank you for your stories & art & recipes & quotes & inspiration. Your books are treasures & constant rereads. Happy christmas to you and yours.
What fun to be surrounded by family during the Christmas season! Thanks for sharing a bit of your celebration with us.
Would love to win this beautiful quilt! Thanks so much for the opportunity! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and yours! My first SB purchase was my firstborn’s baby book…he just turned 30! ❤️
Thank you for allowing me to wonder through you story for just a moment. May you have a wonderful and happy Christmas and New Year!
Susan, I have been a fan of yours for many years and have every book you’ve written—and I’ve also given so many away as gifts to people I love! I love quilts and want to give each of my granddaughter’s a quilt when they get married. I have 5 granddaughters and three grandsons ages 20 down to 12! I just found out I have cancer so it’s a little “blue” Christmas this year. We won’t tell the kids til after Christmas. I want them to have so much joy. It’s my favorite holiday! Pink is my favorite color so I would LOVE to have a “Pink” Christmas with your beautiful quilt! I know whoever receives it will be incredibly thankful. Merry Christmas to you and Joe! With much love Roxie 818-693-6158
Oh Roxie, I know I’m not alone in sending you my love and prayers. How lucky you are to have such a large family! Blessings on you and yours
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Such a pretty quilt! I would love to win it!
Merry Christmas!
Wishing you and yours a blessed Christmas season. If I’m chosen to have the quilt, please pass it on to someone in need. I’m already surrounded with lovely homemade blankets made by my grandmother. I hope you find the person that needs this little bit of love and comfort.
August of 2021, I took my first journey to New England along with my 1 year old daughter (Fable Mae) & her vibrant grandmother (my mother in love) Shelley. We had an absolute blast in 4 states, indulging our need of lobster rolls & lighthouses. Forever spoiling me from any architecture that doesn’t include (at least) cedar shakes, brick, cat slides, stained glass windows, transoms & corbels. What does any of this have to do with Susan Branch?? Well… after our glorious visit was over we boarded our flight home. Everyone in our face masks, I saw a passenger on the other side of the isle & two rows up reading a book. It appeared to be handwritten & I noticed photos & painted borders. I was enchanted. BUT this was a plane with highly discouraged post pandemic socializing… so I resisted. The entire flight I resisted but continued seeing page after page as the passenger read on. I took my phone out, zoomed in on the pages, hoping I could make out the name somehow. Suddenly they announced our imminent arrival home & the passenger started to collect her things into her purse. I panicked & before I could stop myself I had tapped her elbow & muffled through my mask, “Excuse me, what book were you reading?” The passenger turned & instead of acting like I was trying to spread the plague to her, smiled clearly with her eyes (mouth was covered as well) & happily told me about Susan Branch, Isle of Dreams & her other books. I ordered the books & rest is history. Thank you Susan for sharing yourself with us! 💖
Thank YOU for that sweet story! 🥰🥰🥰
Merry Christmas, Susan! May yours be filled with peace and joy! 🌲