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 
Loved this newsletter. The song was wonderful. I always look forward to getting this newsletter. Quilts are my favorite 😍
Susan,
Thank you for sharing the new Christmas song. It is just wonderful, from the lovely title to their sweet voices. Please tell your friends thank you for sharing with all of us.
I loved reading this Willard and all you shared. You always lighten my heart and make the world seem less scary. Thank you.
Merry Christmas to you and Joe and safe travels in January!
❤️ So much JOY and LIFE shared here, I thank you for this, the music delightful, family at the table, history in the making. Old quilts give hope to this quilter for my own quilts to stand the test of time, used and enjoyed by family and friends, wherever they might end up in this world. ✨
Merry Christmas, Willard! I hope you, Joe and Jack have a wonderful season of love!❤️♻️
Thank you so much for this sweet Willard, perfect way to start my Saturday morning by the Christmas tree, reading about family and holidays and your sweet words and art. Pray you are blessed with a lovely Christmas holiday.
Thank you for sharing your life and talents.
What a wonderful song! Thank you for sharing it. The photos of autumn light were delicious.
I wish I needed a farm in California. The garden is lovely.
I have borrowed your books from the library and bought a few and inherited one from my mother. I am excited to be able to buy some more to line with shelves with your beautiful words and art and recipes and quotations.
The quilt is amazing! I have quilts my mother made and someday, I hope to retrieve the one my grandmother made from my dad’s house.
What a wonderful Willard, thank you. I hope you, Joe, all your family and friends have the most wonderful holiday season.
This has to be the best Willard ever! And I’ve been reading them since they were paper!! Merry Christmas and safe travels.
I so enjoyed reading the love. It is always so nice to embrace it with new adventures.
This lifted my day.
And the quilt? Beautiful!
Merry Christmas dearest kindred spirits❤️with love and friendship. Bless us all 🕊️
Peg xo
Dear Susan, Thank you for sharing the beauty you bring to life! Your comment about successfully dealing with anxiety struck a chord…our oldest son will soon deploy to Kuwait and oh how I pray for him and all who serve to be safe. So I keep stitching (I do samplers) and preparing for the holidays is keeping me busy. And reading your words adds such joy! With appreciation, Peggy
Your prayers will keep him safe Peggy and bring him home to you. You know how much we love our brave service members . . . please give him my love and gratitude. 💖
Hi Peggy,
My son is currently in Kuwait and will be there until June. He is my oldest. He says they are safe there. I will pray for our sons. Remember Warriors come from Warriors. Be strong 💪🏼 sister!
🤗 Hugs,
Margot
Merry Christmas to you and Joe. What a fun Willard today. Thank you for the happiness you spread to all of us.
Merry Christmas and a belated Happy Thanksgiving ( my favorite holiday!!) Thank you for these happy thoughts and the beautiful new song. You are a bright light in a dark world!
Blessings
Susan. Wishing you the most wonderful holiday. I would love your California home but most.likely will not be looking at a move. I’m glad your drawing is for a lovely quilt as I have every book you have written.
MERRIEST CHRISTMAS!
Penny
Susan,
Wishing You & Yours, a Very Merry Magical Christmas
filled with Love & Laughter🌺
I spent a decade travelling through out England with my English husband and have
thoroughly enjoyed your insightful and whimsical books, artwork, recipes, quotes and adventures over the years!
Thank You from the bottom of my Heart💝
Lindy
Merry Christmas! I vaguely remember when you moved back to California.
Merry Christmas to you and Joe!! 🌟🎅🎄
I love Willard and old quilts!!!
What a lovely post (as always!) and I do wish I could buy your farm as a second place–my daughter is in Los Angeles and I miss her so! 🙂 I’ve started making quilts these past few years and it’s the joy of my summers, when there’s not so much to do. Can never have enough, can you? What a fun giveaway! Have a fantastic holiday!
Warmest Wishes for a Merry Christmas Susan, Joe & Jack ! Heartfelt thanks for this Willard!
A very merry holiday season to you and yours! I needed this today. Thank you Susan for the willard!!! I hope your farm goes to a lovely family that loves and cherishes that property as much as you do <3 A fantastic read. I have yet to go up to New England, but I've been dreaming of it for about 10 years! I can't wait to visit soon.
Much love and holiday cheer,
Nat
A new Willard in my inbox is a day brightener and, depending on the time of day, it signals a tea or coffee break to savor every detail. Thank you for pouring your heart into it and on to us!
Susan, what a wonderful quilt. I look forward to your Willards here in Florida. Would love to live where there is more variety in the weather, but my husband can’t take the cold! You and I are on the same page for holiday decorating and cat loving though and enjoying the simple pleasures is what’s best! Have a cheery holiday!
TY Susan. I wish these were delivered Daily! Such a wonderful way to start t day.
Love the post! You really know how to paint a picture with your words and draw the reader right into your world! I got a little chill when I read the line, “And so Tra La, another Willard…” because I believe “Willard ” was your Grandfather… and my Grandfather (in heaven many years now) used to say Tra la la (and extra la, haha). Until now, you’re the only other person I’ve heard use that phrase! 😊
A Merry Christmas to you & Joe and a very happy, peaceful & blessed 2024!💗
Thank you for a beautiful post, love, hugs a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
i have actually made one quilt and it was labor intensive… but i have one that was handed down to me. i look forward to your stories.
I made two, the second just before I learned to paint . . . then I found out I liked making them best with watercolor!💖
How lovely to see your California home!
You will always be a part of my heart Susan Branch, thank you for all the goodness you give to the world ❤️
I do love sharing your life whenever I read your pages and see all the beautiful scenes.
Your Willards are a joy to read! They inspire me to celebrate even the smallest aspects of my surroundings, like sun dancing on the walls, the smell of sea salt in the air or snowflakes on eyelashes. Thank you for reminding me to do that in such a crazy world. Wishing you, Joe and Jack a wonderful Christmas and the best of health, happiness and adventure in 2024!
A new Willard…the perfect early Christmas gift!! I don’t always comment but I pour over every one as if it is a masterpiece (because it is!) Thank you for sharing your beautiful home, family and lovely art with us! You have been my favorite for 30 years…the “going gray” part of this one hit home for sure! Have a very Merry Christmas and a beautiful 2024!!
Sending love from Texas,
Tina
Dear Susan, thank you for the gift of YOU! I count you one of my dearest friends because you make me happy. The quilt is beautiful and charming. It would look so lovely in my 1850 home, but I am wishing that Christmas angels guide your hands in picking the absolute perfect new home for that quilt. That might be me or maybe not, but the giving it away blessing is the very spirit of Christmas! Merry merry merry to you and Joe and Jack!
What a lovely Christmas song made and sung by your friends!!! 🌟🎄
I had goosebumps on my arms when listening to the song– what a delightful present that is!
Merry Christmas to you both and a blessed New Year too.
Lots of love, Trudy
Thank you for always being so generous with your time and spirit. Your joy is contagious and everything I need my bucket filled I come here. I’ve been reading our boy since the very beginning and love to see pictures of the family as they grow! Sending much love from the mitten state and joyous wishes for the holiday season. Hugs, Jen
Susan, you live a beautiful life.❤️
Merry Christmas Susan and Joe.🎅🏻🎄❤️🙏🏻
Thank you, as always, for a delightful Willard to read as I sip tea from my SB Christmas cup!
Susie Q…You could rule the world with all your wisdom and goodness. Thank you for sharing a slice of heaven in your latest post. Love the song! It sounds as if it could be played in a vintage music box. Thanks too for the annual bookmark. 🌙 All life’s best to you and Joe in 2024! ❤️
Merry Christmas to you Joe and Jack!!
Dear Susan,
Thank you for sharing your joyful family memories and gatherings. Your posts always bring seasonal sunshine to brighten the winter days! May you and Joe and Jack have a very Merry Christmas and New Year’s with dear friends. Safe travels to California.
What a beautiful and thoughtful gift for one of us. I always look forward to your posts. Hope you and Joe have a great Christmas and enjoy your trip in January.
Thanks as always for your wonderful words!
My wish for us all is to spread love and light–the most powerful kind of healing available on the planet and the most effective way of dispelling any darkness in hearts, minds and the atmosphere!
Your post reminded me to be grateful for being able to host my family on Christmas Day. I was getting tired of all the work involved but now you inspired me to do it and with joy. I needed your words. Thank you.
Thank you for the darling Willard! Warms my heart! ❤️
So refreshing to be in your world & see the LOVE of family in your beautiful home! His Bless you & yours in 2024 ❤️
Oh Susan, what a wonderful Willard! You just surround all of us with love and hope, thank you! I’d love to be surrounded by that beautiful quilt as well! Merry Christmas to you and Joe, and of course to Jack, shoot him a rubber band for me ❤️
Thanks for sharing your holidays spirits!
BTW, I thought I was the only woman left in America who used an old soda bottle (CANADA DRY GINGER ALE) to sprinkle her ironing!
Beautiful post, beautiful people, beautiful quilt! Thanks for sharing with us!
Thank you for sharing 💕
The simple things truly make this a Wonderful Life for all of us.
Lovely reading on a lazy Saturday morning! Got me thinking about our traditions and the holiday ones make me think of family no longer with us and how much fun we had year round. Nostalgia at Christmas is especially dear, and something I allow myself free reign with. Wishing you and Joe the best Christmas and a Happy, Healthy New Year!
Thank you for sharing “The Mistletoe Waltz”. It is so beautiful… the music and words are genuinely suited for Jane Austin. I would absolutely download this and hope to have the opportunity soon. It was lovely to see you and Joe with family celebrating being together. And, seeing the throw back pictures!… I remember some of these! Wishing you much peace, joy, hope and love through the holidays and 2024!
Have a Merry Christmas!
I am never disappointed with your post. So lovely and inviting! As a quilter and granddaughter of a quilter I love how you decorate your home with quilts and really appreciate the time and effort that is put into making a vintage quilt.
Thank you for taking the time to share your life and wisdom with your readers! Willard certainly brightens my mom and my days’ – we look forward to reading your words and enjoying your photos and illustrations! Merry Christmas and Happy 2024 from the 🩷 of our homes in the 🩷land ~ Iowa!
Merry Christmas! I recall when you had a “farm stand” in the SLO area. My girlfriend bought me a heart shaped dish there. I still have it by my computer holding paper clips. Our graduated from Cal Poly so I’d see your crafts in lodging gift shops. Good luck with sale. I am 3rd oldest in family of 8 (now a clan of 40) and so enjoy the big family life.
Ohhh Susan … such a Wonderful Willard!! Thank you so much for sharing a glimpse of your beautifully “Wonderful Life”!!! Wishing you & Joe a Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year as you travel to California!! The idea of you parting with a beautiful quilt that you have cherished is a gift … I am a hand quilter & I understand the love & connection that I feel with each quilt I make. Again … wishing you & yours a very Merry Christmas!!
Good Morning Sue!
What a lovely long post you have gifted us! Firstly, the song. How pretty. It reminds me of the song “When You Taught Me How to Dance” from the movie Mis Potter. It has the same pretty old fashioned twinkly music box feel to it. Just lovely.
You and Joe have made such lovely lives for yourselves and I so appreciate it when you share the little windows into your daily life on Martha’s Vineyard. I can almost smell and hear the steam hissing and rising from your ironing board. I love that old shaker bottle that you use to spritz your ironing. My mom had one of them as well, I wish I knew where it went to….
It looks like you had the most wonderful time with your nieces and nephews. How lucky they are to have you in their lives. I’m sure they will cherish the memories they made while visiting. I love the picture of you all snuggled into the wood room while watching Hamilton. How fun!
The picture of you in your black and white skirt is so cute! Yes, elastic waste bands are a must! One of my favorite parts of your “Isle of Dreams” book is when you go on the ferry with Joe for your first date to Boston. Your belt falling off and clunking on the floor absolutely kills me every time I read it! You impress me with your planks! I will have to try doing them. I would probably face plant into the floor! I have tons of anxiety as well and have trouble managing it. I need to focus more on my well being.
I know you will have a wonderful trip to California. I’m sure saying goodbye to your studio will be bittersweet. What a lovely little eden you have created there. The gardens are so pretty. I especially love the picture of Joe with the roses.
Bill and I have been busy getting the house ready for Christmas. The trees are up and I am doing last bit of decorating inside. There are bins of Christmas scattered everywhere, and my table is piled with decorations waiting to be put out. Every year I say I should scale back on what I put out but then I unpack it and I love it so much I don’t have the heart to not use it. We will have a houseful of kids and animals for Christmas and I can’t wait. Happy Chaos! Baby Liam is getting so cute and he is just starting to smile and coo. He is a chunker! I love all of the little rolls on his arms and legs. I breathe in all of that new baby goodness. It’s wonderful.
It’s so nice that you are giving away one of your quilts. There will be one very lucky girlfriend among us. I can’t wait to see who gets it! Thank you again for sharing a glimpse into the daily goings on in the house of creativity. I love the last picture of you and Joe. You are the cutest couple and more importantly the nicest of people! Merry Christmas to you Joe and Jack.
Lots of Love, Mary
I do love quilts! I have 2 i have bought and a few i have found in thrift stores. I also love a quilted table runner. Your post was so sweet. Makes me look forward even more to more holiday time with family.
What a wonderful, newsy Christmas letter! I love Willard’s for the photos, the family info and your art! It’s fun to know what life is like on the island and that life goes on as normal’ in these times. Love to you, and yours this Christmas!
Willard was just the medicine I needed today. We have a young grandson who was just diagnosed with cancer on Monday. Your indomitable spirit and joy in the simple things in life is so uplifting. Thanks for posting.
Nooooooo. I’m so sorry to hear your awful news. Keep your spirits up, medicine is so amazing these days.💞 Sending all my love. 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
You always keep it real, and that’s how life is. Wonderful, sad and everything in between. Blessed Christmas celebrating the birth of our Savior with Joy, Peace and love.
What a wonderful way to start my day. Your Willard reminded me to get my antique family quilt out of the cedar chest and put it on display for Christmas. Thank you!!!!
Merry Christmas to you and Joe. That was a lovely Willard with some really special music. Thank you so much for sending this out to all of us for some Christmas cheer!
Oh Susan, you did it again! You made me leave my little world n escape into yours. First the island n your family reunion, how wonderful! That is the purpose of Thanksgiving.
Then you showed us your place in California and I fell in love! What a wonderful oasis.
I am a gardener n I would love to garden in that space, another lovely fantasy.
I am also a quilter in love of old quilts so there’s another fantasy awaiting. I have one quilt found in my grandma’s house, that is in pieces waiting to be pieced together. Here’s hoping I am your secret Santa!
What a wonderful post ! Your Thanksgiving sounded perfect and you are all set for a wonderful holiday season. Thank you for the bookmark – I always print out some and send to my best friend’s grandchildren. One of them has become my pen pal and is excited to practice her cursive writing with me! Letter writing continues! We have a pared down decorated Christmas here…including no big tree and a ceramic tree just like my mother used to have – because we are heading out next week to celebrate Christmas in Paris and my wonderful husband’s 70th birthday on Christmas Eve. We can’t wait ! May you and Joe have a wonderful, magical Christmas and health and happiness in the New Year!
Loved your newsy Willard and safe trip to Ca. As we get older it comes time to lighten the load so good luck with all you have to do in Ca. That’s a big job. MERRY CHRISTMAS
A cup of tea and a Willard. No better way to spend a morning. x
Merry Christmas! What a perfect December treat to read a new Willard! ❤️❤️
Old houses were made for Christmas and quilts!
My son went to school in SLO when you still had the store. I used to love to go visit him and your store and absolutely fell in love with the area. Anyone who gets your property with all you’ve done to it will be very lucky indeed. The drawings alone of your plans need to go in the wall!
I’m feeling rather sad right now as we are remodeling our house and I am not decorating at all this year. Reading your letter has been a sweet pick me up.
Happy Christmas from Barbara in Lodi
Get a tiny Charlie Brown tree you can lift with one hand, set it in the middle of the mess, and decorate it with whatever shows up Christmasy in your house, because things will! It’s the little things that mean the most!💖
There is nothing sweeter or cozier or homier than a kitty curled up on a quilt. Merry Christmas to you Sweet Sue and Jolly Joe!
Your family is delightful and fortunate to spend Thanksgiving with you, the perfect hostess. The Mistletoe Waltz is sweet. The plank…I say good for you! The getting up part?😳. And then quilts! I am smitten with old ones but also love piecing them. The fabrics! I could open a store with my stash.
Merry Christmas to you and Joe. Plymouth will be great.
My dear mama was a quilter. I hold dear her quilts and others that I have collected along the way. The time and thoughts that go into making quilts! If quilts could talk what ever would they say?!
Words of love, so soft and tender . . .💝
Wow! You fill my soul with coziness!! Thank you. We use to sing “For the Beauty of the Earth” regularly in my all-girl school chapel. Thanks for reminding me. I didn’t appreciate it until now.
And I found this: Author: Folliott Sandford Pierpoint
In the spring of 1863, Folliott S. Pierpoint (b. Bath, Somerset, England, 1835; d. Newport, Monmouthshire, England, 1917) sat on a hilltop outside his native city of Bath, England, admiring the country view and the winding Avon River. Inspired by the view to think about God’s gifts in creation and in the church, Pierpont wrote this text. Pierpont was educated at Queen’s College, Cambridge, England, and periodically taught classics at Somersetshire College. But because he had received an inheritance, he did not need a regular teaching position and could afford the leisure of personal study and writing. His three volumes of poetry were collected in 1878; he contributed hymns to The Hymnal Noted (1852) and Lyra Eucharistica (1864).
What a beautiful quilt! Lots of time, memories and love are sewn into that quilt. I’m helping my daughter sew her first quilt now. Merry Christmas Susan!
Oh I so enjoyed reading your post while drinking my tea. And I feel like we were especially gifted because it was a long post. Thank you! That quilt is beautiful and I would cherish it if I won it. Here’s hoping. Hope you have a wonderful holiday season.
It is such a busy time of year, but it was a pleasure to sit down and read this beautiful Willard. After all, family and friends are the center of our happiness. I am so happy for the time you got to spend with your family. Have a very Merry Christmas!
Dear Susan, what wonderful way to start the day reading your new willard. It really is a pleasure to read, you inspire me to want to not only be a better person but to learn to enjoy what we have right in front of us.
Wishing you and Joe a very merry Christmas and a happy, healthy new year on the island.
Safe travels to California.
Merry Christmas from Iowa! I love your connections to our midwest state. The dressing recipe is so similar to the one passed down to me. Willard always gives me a lift in a world where so much is a downer. It’s an escape – a reminder – to relish the good and savor the happiness we do have. Blessings to you, Susan.
Your newsletter brings joy and sunshine to so many. Wishing you a holiday with all things that make your heart sing! You have inspired so many of us that love things from the past.
Hello and Merry Christmas! Quilts have always been around our family. My mother’s mother worked at a feed packing company that came in feed sacks!! She would get great fabric to use in quilts and accessories and little skirts for me. All this on a treadle Singer machine. I have it now from the sale in an auction. She made a beautiful backing for a tall-back rocker out of many little triangles. So years went by and I saw it at Mom’s house and it was not as nice by then. So she gave to me and I cut it up and made a miniature quilt for Mom. (She always said it was a placemat). I have it today on the back of the rocker.
It’s so nice to read about what’s happening in your life. Such a beautiful life! Merry Christmas to you and Joe and all your family!
I will not be able to put your California property out of my mind – it looks like a gardeners paradise!
The quilt is a beauty, some lucky person will be very happy. I have 3 treasured antique quilts made by long-ago ancestors. If you develop a reputation as a lover of old things, relatives will often designate you as the ‘keeper of family treasures’, which I am! Lucky me. 🙂
Merry Christmas!
Hi Susan—-You are a Kind spirit….Thanks for being you!!!!!
Thank you for sharing your family and home!
Old quilts are always such beautiful works of art!!
I just love to hear about your life, your home & family. Merry Christmas to you, Joe & Jack!
That song is absolutely beautiful. I’ve played it twice and I’m still humming it. 🎶
What a lovely family you have ! I enjoy your newsletter very much! I would love to buy your Arroyo Grande homestead, but sadly can only stay in arroyo grande for a weekend. When I am able to get over there, it’s always spectacular!
Dear Susan, You make my heart happy with your family stories, photographs, quotes and musica. Thank you for all that you do to make this world a happier place. Safe travels to California. Merry Christmas to you and Joe.
I’m a quilt lover and quilt maker too! Some sewn with your beautiful fabrics.
My latest quilt finished just last month us got our beautiful new granddaughter, I made a tiny matching one too for her someday doll.
Merry Christmas to you and Joe and kitties. I do believe my New Year’s resolution will be planks 🍾😬🍾
Thank you for teaching me how to appreciate the little things in life. Shadows on the wall, a beautiful tea towel hanging on the handle on the stove, and long walks to the beach. You and Joe have an amazing life and you really seem to appreciate that.
My girlfriends and I were just talking about life and how to cultivate joy in the dark times (and dark days as we approach the solstice). This post arrived and your joy throughout was contagious! I am grateful that you and your recipes and view of the world, and your JOY of life have been part of my world for nearly 30 years. You are a gift.
Happy holidays to you and Joe.
Hello Sue B!! ♥️😍🤩. Merry Christmas to you, and Joe! ♥️♥️. I loved your blog, and it made me feel like we had a nice catch-up visit! I have wonderful memories of your Arroyo, Grande property, and working in your fun studio! I think you would get a pretty penny for it these days, and you will be surprised about how expensive real estate is there now! It is a beautiful piece of land, and you and Joe made it beautiful with all of the trees and greenery. You planted there over the years! I remember when you put in the hedges, and they grew so quickly! It was always so magical there in the spring when everything was blooming and beautiful! I miss those fun days we had there, and they will always hold special memories for me!♥️💞🥰
Tom and I just built a garden much like yours in our backyard here in San Diego county! It has white pickets around it, and I tried to copy the loveliness of your garden to have one of my own! I will email you some pictures of it… we also built a garden cottage, a dream come true for me! We will be moving into it this week!
I’m glad that you and Joe are so happy, and enjoying life as much as you are! I love the visit you give us when you describe things so beautifully in your gorgeous Martha’s Vineyard home! 🏠 ♥️🌲
I love you, and miss you, and thank you for the wonderful blog! 😘 xoxo 😘
Always wonderful to hear from you Bonnie! We did make a lot of beautiful memories there didn’t we? Your new garden and cottage sound perfect for you! Happy Christmas! 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄
Hello Sue,
This was a wonderful Willard! As a teacher I am full-board racing through this month trying to take moment to breathe and reading your words slowed me down and I’m feeling centered. Going to go shopping today and then wrap some presents. Our family here in Oklahoma is tiny but sweet. I love the holidays with them.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Joanie
Susan, YOU made my morning reading your wonderful post! I love this time of year and hearing about your celebrations too!! Very lucky to have extended family willing to come for a visit. In this age, families seem to dissipate!! Best of luck selling your CA property. We sold out in Morro Bay almost 10 years ago and I could not imagine leaving North Carolina. We SO love our move to this side of the country. But, you are exactly right about growing everything under the sun in A.G. Wishing you a lovely Christmas!
My thinking is that we have to put more energy into it if we want to get family together . . . everyone comes from so many different places now . . . planning ahead!!💞
What a nice Willard. Your Christmas cookbook is the first Susan Branch book I ever bought! I incorporate your homes charm into my small little condo.💕
My mother-in-law introduced me to you years ago (when Willard arrived in your mailbox!) and it was such a fun way to connect with her. When you came to Salt Lake City, we attended your book signing and meet and greet. It was so fun! She passed away March of 2018 and I inherited her Susan Branch book collection. I miss her terribly and your books displayed on my self help ease my sadness. <3
Also! How does one learn more about the house for sale?
I put Kellee’s email address into this post ~ http://[email protected] . . . if you’re interested in the property just write her and when we get a realtor I’ll send your name to her.
Every time I see a “Willard” I am so excited. I have many of your books and fund things and they always make me happy to look at them. Your work is a treasure and I am thankful for you. I would love to have your old quilt, as I am a quilter and have some old quilts made by my mother and my aunts in the 1930’s, they are so delightful. Wishing you well in all that you do.