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 is my FAVORITE Willard ever! Your family is so special and I really appreciate you sharing them with me!
:o)
I also come from a long line of quilters. Warms body and soul. ❤️ Warm wishes for the new year!
Oh Susan! What a lovely read. My Mother loves your work and tells me every month to read things here. I’m happy to come for a visit. ❤️
Your Willard Newsletters give me the same inviting, warm hug that a beautiful, well
loved vintage quilt does.
Love your Willards. Merry Christmas to you and Joe and Happy 2024! Love the quilts!
How wonderful that you had family visiting for Thanksgiving! Lovely photos and that turkey…wow! It looked like a post card. Best of luck on the sale of your CA property. It looks like a wonderful place. Happy holidays to you and yours, Susan!
Wonderful Willard, Susan. Such a delight to read. Puts you right in the moment. Merry Christmas. Elisa Garrett
Thank you for your kindness in offering the quilt. Your Thanksgiving looked wonderful surrounded by family; that’s what it’s all about. Have a very Merry Christmas and all the best in the new year!
What a beautiful,special quilt! I just love your Willard’s and save them to read and reread. I especially love that you quote my very favorite ❤️ Gladys Tabor!!
What a beautiful Willard so full of family, friends, food and love. Thank you, Susan. Made my day!
I love this Willard, as I do all of them. The hydrangea in your bedroom is my very favorite thing about the ward. Merry Christmas!
I luv luv luv your willards , books, cups—well just everything you put out.
Wishing you and Joe and Jack too, a Happy New Year.
Your Willards feel like a hug Susan love them. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year !!
Another fantastic post! Every year, for 10 years, I have a ‘sewing retreat’ for 5 of my closest girl friends. Last year I said that would be my last. (I am in my 70’s and it gets harder and more expensive). This December I was inspired to tell them my Christmas gift was 1 more retreat the 1st Friday in March. You posting the “It’s Impossible” saying was perfect….and very true. I wish you and Joe a very Merry Christmas!
Dear Susan,
I adore your enthusiasm for life and love hearing about Jack and seeing his sweet face. This year, I adopted a sweet kitty and wish I had done it earlier. She’s such company!
Love to you and Joe!
Sandra
Such a lovely peek into your world! Thank you for sharing the fun & beauty with us.
Happiest Holiday Season to you and Joe. I have been a follower and fan since the early 80’s 🥰
Dear Susan,
I bought your first cookbook at The Goffs’ Gallery in North Tisbury (are they still there?) in 1986 and have been a fan ever since. I always look forward to your Willard Newsletters and have saved all the ones you used to mail via snail mail. Thank you for sharing your home, recipes, artwork, books, wonderful quotes and life with the world. Truly a gift to all of us who are looking for the good and beautiful.
Looking forward to hearing about your next adventure to California.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Quilts tell a story regardless when or where or by whom they were sewn.
Susan,
I love everything you do. You are so talented and such a happy person.
I smile whenever I see a new Willard, or when I go online and see what is for sale. Happy Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and Joe & Jack.
Hi Susan, Love reading your Williards , each and everyone of them. So keep them coming, so enjoyable. Hope this finds you, Joe, & Jack doing well, fine here in Northern Ca. Have wonderful Holidays, stay warm & make some memories.Hugs to all of you.
So lovely as always- your California place looks wonderful. I am a half year Rhode Islander and half year southern Californian, hope you find a wonderful buyer. Thanks for all your heart warming messages, books, things- Merry Christmas and Happiest New Year!
Always eagerly awaiting the new Willard to appear monthly…sometimes a month seems like a long time to wait for the next one. You probably have this is your many books of quotes/poems/inspiration…Advice from a Quilt…Make lasting memories; block out time for family; cherish tradition; keep your friends in stitches; find common threads; know when to cut corners; it’s okay to be a little scrappy.
I so enjoyed your Thanksgiving and Christmas blog. Since both of my parents have passed on, my siblings and I work hard to keep the connection going even though we live in 4 different states. Your Christmas quilt collection is beautiful.
From the moment I saw your first book, “Heart of the Home”, in 1986, at Port of Call store in Palos Verdes Peninsula, California, bought it , and took it home and started savoring all your books, I treasured your work. Thank you for years of joy, mutual values, precious thoughts, and constant reflections of God’s blessings! Even made a graduation quilt from one of your fabrics year’s ago for one of my granddaughters. So fun! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year:>)
Blessings, Judy Tracy
Hi Susan ,
Loved this Willard, always enjoy your family stories. I am a quilter and am obsessed with all of them. A vintage quilt would be lovely to own! Have a wonderful Christmas 🎅🏾🎄
You have the most beautiful little kitty! He’s so comfortable in every place he goes.
Happy Holidays!
What a lovely cozy read. Such beauty to see in pictures and my mind’s eye! I adore old quilts but have trouble finding them. I want some in every room. The colors on this quilt are perfection!
This post felt like a conversation with an old friend. I loved it! Collecting quilts is a new hobby for me, and the hunt for ones that speak to me has been just as much fun as actually finding them and bringing them home! Happy holidays! ❤️
I always love receiving your Willard’s. Your charm and love come shining through. Thank you for all you do, Much love from another Susan
Oh Susan, this was such a wonderful Willard, seeing your joyful family Thanksgivig. My family is growing smaller and I miss the holidays when there were many more around the table. So important to keep those memories alive.
I will be having surgery in January and will be laid up for at least 6 weeks. I can’t think of anything more comforting than being snuggled up in a quilt…from your collection!! You are such a generous soul, sharing your life with us. Thank you for the happiness you spread. 🥰Merriest of Christmases to you, Joe and Jack.
It’s always a delight to read your loving ramblings that remind me of times gone by as well as hope for the future. May your holidays be bright and your trip to California successful. Regards from my home just 7 blocks up from the Missouri River and the bookstore you visited a few years ago on our historical Main Street, good tidings to all.
Dearest Susan and Joe, Merry Christmas! Thank you so much for my Willard, goes great with coffee in the morning. Love you and Happy New Year!!
Loved the new Christmas song. Would love the quilt too. Did NOT know you and
Joe lived in CA after you met. I fear the house and property you’re selling will be raised and used for something else, sadly. It’s beautiful.
That’s why I put it on here … maybe to find a luv-lee kindred spirit . . . or their children!❌⭕️
This holiday post is one of your best!! I and so many others always look forward to hearing from you–“the light we carry”!!!!!!!!!
I loved reading this post. So much resignated with me. I had just sat down after finishing the last few details of our Christmas decorating when you popped on my insta feed. I read your letter from beginning to end and then headed over to your site to pick up a few goodies for my sewing sisters retreat that happens in July (we always do a Christmas in July theme) and my new 2024 calendar. Thanks for sharing your gift of art and talent with words with the rest of us. We are blessed!
Your writings make me happy! When the newest Willard arrives, I make time to sit down with a cup of coffee and enjoy the visit.
Love getting Willards! Merry Christmas to you and yours!❤️❤️
My heart actually beats faster when I see that you’ve posted a Willard. I so look forward to your stories and photos.
💃🏼💃🏼💃🏼😘
I love your posts always and have followed you forever! My recipe books are not pristine because food gets dropped when following a recipe! I love your flannel skirt and elastic is always a good idea! Merry Christmas and I hope whoever buys your California home loves it big!
Enjoy your Willard posts so much. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Merry Christmas! Beautiful quilt!
Oh, Susan…I so needed to read your blog today. Sometimes things get heavy, and I feel so much lighter and more inspired after reading your delightful musings and sharing. Thanks for the reminder to slow down and enjoy what really matters…family, friends, home and love. ❤️
❌⭕️❌⭕️
Dear Susan,
Thank you so much for the beauty, joy, and delight you bring to my life with your blog and your books! It reminds me of who I really am, but so often forget. Blessings to you, Joe. and precious Jack1
With winter upon us, I love cuddling up with throws and a cat on my lap in front of a warm fire drinking tea and reading a Christmas mystery set in England, of course. Happy holidays to everyone.
Merry Merry Christmas Susan, Joe and Jack
I wish you the a very healthy happy peace filled New Year, too.
Hugs
Such a delightful Willard , look forward to reading them and always create a quiet time by myself to savour your house/family and stories from theVineyard. Thank you for the opportunity to win this quilt.
My favorite thing about quilts is just knowing the hours of love and labor that went into making them. It would be a privilege to get to have one of yours! Hugs!! Anna
Hello, Susan. And here we are again, my reading your wonderful blog…and tearing up…with big tears of happiness! Thank you so very much, once again, for touching my heart, for soothing my soul. I appreciate you much! The loveliest of holidays to you, Joe, and that handsome little devil Jack. May happiness and peace surround you…Always.
The same to you Sherry! Thank you!💖💖💖
Dear Susan, Thankyou for that beautiful song and the Fullmoon Bookmark, a yearly tradition for us!!! Loved hearing about your family Thanksgiving, so special. Fondly, Kim from Cape Cod
As always, a beautiful and sentimental post about daily living, family, friends and ❤️.
You make all the Seasons and holidays more festive for all of us and in the most creative and simple ways. Thank you!
So enjoy these “Willards” – the photos and snippets of your and Joe’s life! Thank you for sharing them. The quilt is so beautifully vintage!❤️ A joyful Christmas season to you!
Merry Christmas! Please let your neighbor know that his song is so wonderful! I sure hope he gets to send it to some kind of producer for a movie.
Thank you for the gift of sunshine, hope and cheer that you send with these Blog posts.
I wish I had held on to all of the original Willards that were actually delivered to one’s mailbox. Imagine – 📫… 💖 … ✍️ such a thing now.
Those were the days Cee💖
Thank you so much for the giveaway…I adore old quilts and the stories they tell…Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and Joe…safe travels
Your “Willards” are always so enjoyable to read. I so love your writing style and your sharing of your life and just the simple things that happen during your day. Certainly enjoyed reading about your family Thanksgiving & the memories of yrs past.
Thank you for the opportunity to be entered to win one of your cherished items, a quilt . Merry Christmas to you and yours, from me and mine ♥ Best Wishes for your 2024 and for the sale of your home in California, hope it goes to someone who will care for it as much as you did.
Susan, you always pour such lovely heartfelt goodness into your newsletters. I get genuinely excited when I see a new post coming through. How lucky are your nieces and nephews to have such a wonderful giving aunt and uncle and how lucky are you to have nieces and nephews who enjoy and appreciate the love and hospitality which you and Joe share. All the best in the festive season. Stay war, toasty and most of all healthy❤️
Forgot to add, I made a quilt for my son when he was little, entirely hand-pieced except for the border (I ran out of steam!) It’s a sampler pattern and one of the blocks is a tracing of my son’s hand from when he was 7 years old. He slept under it on his bed for a while until a fateful night when he overindulged in some homemade, frozen strawberry yogurt which he projectile vomited over the wall and ceiling in his room! (Top bunk bed.) After cleaning up what looked like a crime scene, and removing the quilt which was mercifully spared, the quilt was removed for safe-keeping and placed in a cedar blanket box. It’s been there for almost thirty years but now my son has a son of his own, 6 month-old Alexander Hamilton! So the quilt is coming out of storage and my hope is that wee Alex will go to sleep under his father’s quilt, perhaps with his hand resting on his papa’s special square. ❤️
👏👏👏👏👏💝
Susan — it’s always such a treat to find a new post from you in my in-box! You just make the day better. I’ve just finished wrapping and packing all the gifts that have to be “sent,” and have lots more to tackle, but you’ve made a lovely break. My two fur-babies (Thunder and Dynamite) send Christmas wishes to Jack — we’re all huge fans of his and love seeing him overseeing all your efforts around the house.
Have a wonderful Christmas, and safe travels to and from California. Hurry back and keep posting. We NEED our Susan-fix!
Oh you are just too kind Susan Branch. God bless you a Joe and have a Merry Christmas!
Xx Tracy from Houston
Thank you sooo much for your blog. Really enjoyed your pictures of Jack. We have a female tuxedo, Abby, minus the mustache. Love having you in my life!!
Your comment “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))”
really resonates with me. I’ve been taking anti depressant meds for many years and this time of year they are especially helpful. Thank you for sharing that with us!
As I like to say, we are the normal ones!🤗❌⭕️
Sending warm wishes & lots of love!
As always your message is so uplifting. You have a great gift of optimism and are so generous the way you share it. Thank you. I would love to know where the new store will be. I live in southern California and hope it will be closer to me!
Christmas is ready and waiting to bless at our sweet little home.
And blessed I was, yet again, by your warm message.
May your heart sing through December and into a safe and peaceful 2024!
Thankful for your God gift of creativity…
Linda Doepker
As heads get grey, indeed. We became grandparents this year and what a surprising adventure it has been. I keep listening to “Little Wonders” by Rob Thomas. “Our lives are made in these small hours, these little wonders, these twists and turns of fate. Time falls away but these small hours still remain.”
Your blog is so pretty, have always loved your artwork! And I super love quilts! So much so that I own a fabric shop 🥰
Such a lovely giveaway! Whomever receives it will surely look for a little bit of Jack’s fur to make it even cozier. He’s an adorable kitty and rules your household so well! ❤️
What an adorable picture of you & Joe! Great colors, too. The beautiful property in California looks like a dream place for some enterprising young couple. I would love to win your quilt; it would be a good companion to one my great-grandmother made, that has been passed down to me. Merry Christmas!
What a wonderful post. I love the long ones. ❤ I also take an anxiety medicine. I have always felt it was my civic duty to watch the news, but now I just can’t do it. I do watch the first couple of minutes of CBS Mornings because it has “your world in 90 seconds” but then I have to turn it off. Why torture myself? I am working hard to get in the Christmas spirit, and feel like I’m “almost” there. So, Merry Christmas to you and Joe, and a wonderful 2024!
90 seconds is plenty!!❌⭕️
What a dreamy quilt!
Many thanks for your lovely Willard, it brightens my day.
As ever,
Jenny
Oh my Dear Susan, thank you for your Willard! I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it. It always brings hope, love and peace! Reminds me there is still so much good and Love in the world and life is worth the living!! My Great Aunt made me by hand a small Sun Bonnet Sue quilt for my dolls when I was about 8 years old . I still treasure it! Thank you for all the Light you shine in the world!
I love that quilt! I love your December post too! Fingers crossed! Happy Holidays Susan and Joe!
So lovely to see your cherished holiday decorations! I love this time of year and get inspired by seeing how other people celebrate and decorate. As always, thank you for your Willard!
Thank you for the chance to win a beautiful gift ! I hope your Christmas is everything you wish for – and a very healthy and happy New Year !! ❤️
I was just in Durango. Got some Durango Joe’s coffee!
Susan, I love your art and writing more than butter. I bet even that fancy French kind. ❤️
Merry Christmas! Praying for the hostages and those in peril.
Now THAT is saying something. My new logo, “Susan Branch, Better than Butter.”😂😂🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 I love it!
Love your blog and love quilts. I collect them also and would love to add another vintage one to my collection. Merry Christmas to you and Joe. Can’t wait to read what you are up to in 2024. Yikes! That year does not seem real to me.
Dear Susan,
I’ve so enjoyed your books, recipes, calendars, and Willards over the years. They should be required reading in schools. What a positive difference you’ve made for so many during your lifetime.
Merry Christmas to you and yours, and a joyous New Year,
Jamie
Love getting your letters, beautiful and happy!! Thank you for sharing !
ok, you’ve inspired me to do some planking!!! ug. Thank you for these wonderful Willards. I LOVE the Mistletoe Waltz!!
Wishing you, Joe and Jack a most joyous Christmas. In this dizzying world that is sometimes not a happy place, your blog always reins me into a sweeter, happier time and place and I thank you for that!
Cheers to a New Year that will bring us peace, joy and blessings! – Cat W.
Your December “Willard” was such a treasure on a dreary day here in Tennessee. Reading your delightful commentary immediately
brightened my day. To be chosen to receive an heirloom quilt would be so special. I would pass it on to my dear friend Michelle who loves quilts (and you). She
introduced me to “Willard” and thus my life is enriched as each “Willard” appears in my inbox.
What a wonderful surprise to open my mail and see the latest Willard! I loved all the family antics and memories throughout the years. The kids have really grown up over the years. I get the sense that everyone is very close to one another and that’s a good thing!! Being the only child and the only one close cousin on the west coast, I really appreciate you and your family so much.
Here’s wishing you and your family a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!! Hoping for a chance to win the quilt. You have so many lovely ones.
Thank you so much, Susan.
You sharing your world with all of us means so much. Seeing you with your family, the next generations, fills me with hope that my nieces and nephew will one day know each other (their parents, my siblings don’t get along). That’s what struck me back in 2018 at Apple Farm when you read from Enchanted. Being able to keep cousins connected is magical, and they are all so fortunate to have you as their fairy grand-auntie.
I’m so excited to find out who will be the lucky buyer of your CA home. I can only imagine how many of your readers will be interested in purchasing it.
As to Dickens, last weekend I did my annual visit to The Great Christmas Dickens Faire in San Francisco and had such a jolly time. I have been looking for an old copy of Pickwick, and my friend found one for me there! Original publishers, not sure which reprinting it was, but it was dated 1902! It’s gorgeous, and I love it so much. The audio book is wonderful to hear all the dialects.
Will you be having any moving sale at the CA farm? I would gladly drive down from Aromas to buy some of your treasures.
Looking forward to following your new adventures.
Sincerely,
Susan Shirley
Ahh! I so love reading your writings. I am always taken in by your words and pictures. Your Thanksgiving celebration looked so lovely and cozy. Thank you for sharing your life with us! I have a Jack too and he has similar coloring to your Jack. He brings me so much joy!
I love quilts as well and the story they tell. Merry Christmas to you and Joe and of course, Jack!
I always love your posts, especially the Christmas ones! Thanks for bringing some holiday joy! And yes, I’d love to win that beautiful quilt.
Susan,
Thank you for sharing your beautiful life, home and family with me. Seeing Willard in my mailbox always makes me smile. I was introduced to your blog by a good friend during the pandemic and now it is something I look forward to every month. For a short while, the world goes away. I sit in a dimly lit room, with a cup of tea or coffee, and savor every picture and every quote and get lost in the peace of mind you give me. Thanks for helping me to see the beauty in every day. I wish you great happiness in 2024. Your CA home is amazing. Good luck with the sale. My husband and I relocated from SoCal to the NE after 40 years in San Diego. I have never looked back! I LOVE the NE (Saratoga Springs, NY). I will visit Martha’s Vineyard someday. It is on the bucket list! Happy Holidays!
You are truly the best writer and bring such inspiration to me always. We visited Martha’s Vineyard in 1989 hoping to meet you. Sadly, you were away when we visited but I wrote a note to you and you mailed me the kindest note on November 19, 1989 saying that you had 15 pages to finish and you would be done with Christmas from the Heart of the Home. Years passed and one day i awoke to happy news. You would be visiting my mountain town, Asheville, on a book tour for A Fine Romance! Yay, I was finally able to meet you, hopes and dreams so come true. What a treat!! Have and love all of your books and cook your recipes all the time. Warmest wishes to you for a beautiful holiday season!!! Cissy
👏👏👏😘
It was so nice to see a new Willard was up. I missed you in November but I’ve had so many computer issues maybe I just couldn’t find it. What a blessing to have the younger generation over for Thanksgiving. I so miss the big family gatherings we used to have. A Mistletoe Waltz is truly splendid! It really does sound like it would fit into Jane Austen’s time. Your friend created a really lovely piece. These last few years ha e gotten to me more than I realized and I too have been prescribed anxiety medication. Praying it helps to get me focus better as well. I’m so glad it has helped you.
The So. California weather has been pleasant but be prepared when you come in January, especially being at the Central Coast We are to have a very wet winter. But California will always welcome you home.
So kind of you to give away that beautiful antique quilt and to put your shop on sale too! I’ll ave to check out your shop, I can never resist a good deal! LoL!
Wishing you and Joe, and of course Master Jack, a blessed Christmas. Enjoy the eggnog and have a marvelous New Year as well. May 2024 be a year of peace, love and good health. And a year filled with many blessings for everyone.
I’ve loved your work for decades Susan – you inspire me ❤️
So much goodness in one post! Thank you for the moon phases bookmarks for 2024. I’ve given one to my precious mom…she turned 98 last month…every year since you’ve been giving them to us. She keeps them on a little table by her reading chair❤️So happy you could spend time with family last month. I’m sure the house seemed a bit empty when they all left. Have a lovely Christmas and a safe and happy trip and visit to CA. Fingers crossed your little slice of paradise there sells quickly. Last of all, I’m happy you’re taking care of YOU. We are all struggling on some level these days, and it’s important to remember that it’s ok to reach out and ask for the help we need. Much love😘
Susan,
A dear friend of mine, Barbara, who actually had the pleasure of meeting you,
introduced me to your lovely writings. I look forward to reading Willard every month. God luck with the sale of your home and downsizing. So exciting.
What a treat to read this nice long Willard, I loved it. Mostly I’m so happy to hear that you are feeling better Susan! And as usual, I’m feeling inspired after reading about and seeing all the coziness you’ve created…thank you! Happy holidays to you and yours ❤️
Wonderful read. Though I understand completely, I am a little sad that you are selling the Califoria home. Being a Californian, (about 2 hrs. south of San Luis), I feel like we are losing you and the Cali connection. The Central Coast is so beautiful. There is so much building going on in this state. I hope the new owners keep your charm intact. Merry Christmas!
Dear, Dear Sue! I know I say this one is my favorite often, but this one will stay #ONE. Thank you so very much for telling us your absolutely wonderful Thanksgiving story. I’m in love with each of them. And I’d bet a chunk of change that they are all in love with You.
Also, I am enjoying the pictures of you and Joe’s lives in Cali. Beautiful.
And, Yes, it is hard to be in 2 places, but I’ve promised Tom to be content doing just that. He loves Florida, I love Maine, and we love each other. Neither of us dislikes our great homes in both places. I appreciate how
lucky we are. Wonderful!! 591 comments for me to enjoy. How fast they accumulate, right?
I took your advice and started doing strength training. Have a good pal out in Utah, my age exactly, who is my guru on the subject. She mentioned that her next goal is to be able to get up from sitting on the floor….No Hands. She walks miles and miles when weather permits, over 100 minutes, up and down steep hills, and does her stairs when it’s icy out. She tells me that you can build muscle at Any age, and she has. Tom and I both had stellar health reports a month ago. Now I’ll work on my judgement!!
I digress…I decided to try the getting up thing. Big mistake, pulled something in a knee, so I’ve been lame, even using a walker. It’s better with tight Ace Bandage, and I hope it keeps improving.
My friend is also a long-time quilter, and is now knitting all sorts of things, including my wool hat that went to England twice, and multiple scarves and shawls. I sent her one of my giclee prints and lots of strawberry jam and apple butter. She gave me a fabulous quilt years ago for our house in Maine, it’s called The Edge of the Pond. She also donated a king-sized Fall themed quilt to fund raise for our little Jewel of a library, Franklin, Maine….we have a web site.
Next week are going over to Longboat Key, just offshore of Sarasota, FL, only about 1 1/2 hour from our house on Ballast Point. I can’t wait. Sunrise beach walks, Sunset beach walks, sea birds and shells!! Heated pool for me while The Lovely Tom, in his mid 80’s, rides his bike all over. I know!! Going to sleep to the sounds of the surf and the smell of the Gulf. Eeeeek, then back here for Christmas! I’ve decorated, but I’m sure I’ll add more!
Remember that late 60’s tune, You Make Me So Very Happy? Well, You Do. 😉
Mucho Big Love,
Debbie in Tampa, who also takes an anti-anxiety pill every day. mertazapine at night.
I always LOVE hearing from you Debbie . . . you are an inspiration!!! Keep on keeping on sweetheart, until we meet again! xoxoxo
Merry Christmas to you, Joe and Jack! I lived in Vineyard Haven for a bit but was never there at Christmastime🎄I can imagine how magical it must be✨
Dear Susan,
I love your posts and books and everything you love! We are kindred spirits! I never met a quilt I didn’t like. Thanks for having me for one of your girlfriends! Love, Kathleen from Kihei, Maui, Hawaii
Susan,
I always get excited when I see a new Willard in my inbox. I love to sit with a cup of tea and read each and every word. Thank you for our full moon schedule for 2024, I look so forward to putting the new one up on my bulletin board that hangs above my desk. Wishing you and Joe a beautiful Christmas season and safe travels to California in January.
Terri Brewster
Merry Christmas! Thank you for always being a bright light in my days! I hope you can visit Nevada City, Ca during one of your California visits! (please see their Victorian Christmas photos on their website). I believe you would live it…and it is near an Amtrak location. Warmest wishes for your holidays.
What a lovely quilt, and Merry Christmas and New Year 2024!
Ho ho ho Merry Christmas to you and Joe and Jack too!
I’m deep in the xmas mode -just before St Nick wisks it away to family and friends. Sewing , baking and wrapping – what fun it is. Embroidery kits for little girls just learning to sew -I made them up myself -not the store bought -too advanced stuff. a heart, a birdie and an owl for wisdom too. Live it up – and happy holidays to you. cheers from Peggy in Madison Wi.