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 
Such a log Willard! So good to hear about what you are doing. Thank you for sharing your life with us! Also, thank you for the bookmark. God bless you and Merry Christmas!
Thank you, Susan. This was just the boost I needed today. That basket of roses grown on your place in CA are magical.
I used to gather them to decorate the store I had there . . . 🌹🌹🌹
Wishing both of you— and Jack—the most wonderful holiday season ever!
Thank you for all the joy you spread to the lives around you!!!
Dear Susan,
Gorgeous quilt!! I would lose my mind if I won it!!🎄⭐️🙌🏻🥰
Thank you for your words, artwork, recipes, homey ideas, quotations, and wonderful outlook on life. I have had your books for years and so enjoy them.
Happiest of holidays to you, Joe and Jack!
Martha Irei
Now THAT was a really amazing Willard. I settled down with some Earl Gray in my Luna mug and each new topic was so much fun to read about. What a wonderful new Christmas song and what a great title! So nice to see your family. I looove young people. They are so amazing and I’m so proud of their generation. I have to tell you a story. I’ve been suffering from terrible, age related insomnia. It was a bear and not much was helping. I bought your trilogy with the thought that, if I was up til the wee hours, I should spend my nights reading something beautiful and creative. Well, your books helped me go to sleep! It wasn’t that they were boring, mind you. It was that they were so calming, especially in this world today. They were my very own lexapro!! So thank you!!! PS: Forwarding your property to a friend who might be interested
How I love that Jeanne!!💪
Oh this WILLARD was especially wonderful! I, too, shoot hairbands for my kitty cat Jax! He just loves it. Such fun entertainment! I so admire your decorations, your home, your gardens. Such a comfort in this unsteady world. Wishing you, and Joe, and Jack a wonderful holiday season and a very happy new year!
Tracy
Springfield IL
I love quilts too. My tiny collection is stacked on top of a cabinet in my sunroom where I do all my crafting. Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas and the best New Year ever.
Dearest Susan –
It was such a treat to see all your dear Thanksgiving family making and enjoying their feast with you and Joe. I had such a wonderful quiet holiday with my daughter(Meg) and her sweet little pup (Sophie!). Lots of laughter as we prepared all the traditional parts of our feast and some lovely quiet times – Meg and Sophie napped, I sat and quilted. I would so love to see that beautiful red and white applique quilt draped over the back of your sofa — that reindeer has the most fabulous antlers! What wonderful quilty inspiration ! Enjoy the coming weeks and all the fun that comes as we anticipate the coming of Christmas. I envy your train ride in January – train travel is so delicious!
Thank you for the beautiful way you write and share about your life. Your art and writing have inspired me for many years!
What a joy it always is to open my post and see a new Willard waiting on me! I am grateful for the time and effort that goes into each one! And oh, the musica!! I look forward to each year’s Full Moon Bookmark and I will be adding this one to my collection too! May everyone enjoy a healthy and abundantly blessed new year!
God Bless you for your inspiration in celebrating with such hospitality and love !
Your newsletters bring so much joy to me. They are for me a perfect escape to places I’d love to be able to go see. I especially love the stories and pictures from your island. You are so blessed to be able to live in such a beautiful place. I loved seeing the quilts you display and use everywhere. I too love quilts and think they are better off being used than just stored. I have one done in cross stitch made for my wedding shower by a beloved aunt in 1981 which we still use 42 years later. And my grandson has one made by my mother back in the 40s. She passed away 3 months before he was born so it’s a special link to the Nana he never got to know. Wishing you and yours a merry Christmas and a blessed New Year.
I’m really in Christmas spirit after your Willard! The quilt is beautiful! I would treasure it in my home! XOXO
Dearest Susan and Joe,
Blessings to you both and what a lovely Willard for the end of 2023 as we look towards 2024 and wonder what it will bring. Although I was sad to see your California house was going to be for sale, I am sure a very special someone will become its new owner and bring it more joy and happiness. Thank you for your pictures and thoughts and new SONG for the season and for always moving forward and upward! That in itself is the real accomplishment for us all these past few years. A very Happy New Year to you both and would you please fling a special color “toy” to Jack to celebrate his very special life with you both.
Love your blog, love your books, love your personal story, love your outlook on life. Wish I could travel like you do, but I’m with you in spirit. Hope you and your loved ones have a wonderful Christmas and a happy, healthy New Year.
Lovely holidays with family – we have my great grandmother’s stuffing every Thanksgiving and Christmas – and I love your preparations for the holidays- traditions are so important even more so in today’s world! You add cheer to this world with your writings ❤️❤️I so appreciate your writings and photos plus illustrations!! Joy , Joy and more Joy!!
I always look forward to your posts, Susan. Your photos are always beautiful, inspiring and creative. And I enjoy seeing Jack! You’re so generous to share your life with all of us. I would cherish a quilt from your collection. I have my grandmother’s log cabin quilt she made when she was 11 with her name stitched on the back. So special! Merry Christmas to you & Joe ❤️
SO glad to receive your “Willard” on what would have been my mother’s 91st birthday!! It is always such a treat to have my tea and settle in to read and take in all of your adventures!
You have inspired me to try planks!!
This past week I finished the binding on the king size quilt for my sister-in-law. I’m starting my obsession with English Paper Piecing, too! I love the calming qualities in quilts!!!
Wishing you and Joe a very blessed Christmas season!
You and Joe are marvelous people! We love reading every single thing about you both! I have told my friends all about you and they love you, too. Have a marvelous Holiday! I know you will! Love to you all.
I love your Willard posts so much that I actually had to create a folder in my email to save them all–and I DO refer back to them fairly often! I find they put me in a happy and creative frame of mind and who doesn’t need that? Thank you for putting your light out into the world and sharing it with everyone else. And, or course, winning a quilt would be the icing on the cake! Dawn
Merry Christmas, Susan, to you and your family! 🙂 Your newsletter is always such a joy to read. Thank you for sharing your stories with us. Your quilt collection is beautiful! And I agree: they are a perfect accessory to any room. Even the kitchen.
God bless!
Tidings of Comfort and Joy! Good to see a “Willard” again:) Snowing here today, Beef ‘n’ Bacon Chowder bubbling on the stove, thinking cozy thots & that includes quilts! Merry Christmas!
Thank you for sharing your family with us. The quilt is beautiful! Happy Holidays!
It’s always a special day when I receive the new Willard and this came on a day when I really needed it! I love all the quilts you always show and it brings back memories of the only 2 quilts I ever owned. One was made by my great grandfather out of old woolen clothes and the other was a red and white one that my grandmother made. They are lost now but seeing your collection is comforting.
Here’s to a wonderful 2023 Christmas and all the joy the new year will bring.
Enjoyed reading the holiday Willard. I have been following you and your books etc for close to 40 years. I followed Gladys Tabor’s columns in Family Circle and found you there also..
Merry Christmas and a peaceful New Year!!
Oh Susan…I shouldn’t say this because I know this was a difficult decision for you and your heart must be sad to see your lovely place in Arroyo Grande be sold. I have loved it forever, it seems…since I walked in a bookstore in SLO and saw your lovely first book and purchased it. So enchanted was I that I wrote a note to you; and so surprised and happy was I to receive a handwritten note back from you. It started my love affair with your lifestyle and books. Absolutely LOVE Central California and the entire area. If only I was younger (I am 80) I might consider selling everything I own and put in a bid. Not sure that would even cover what that beautiful property will bring to you. Enjoy life and a very Happy Holidays to you and all the girlfriends.
Everything happens at the right time Linda . . . but I love your sweet words. xoxoxo
Such a lovely Willard post! It’s always a treat to see that there’s a new one in my email box✨A very merry Christmas to you and a blessed New Year too✨ Thank you both for sharing your lives, loves and talents with all of us over the years💖
What a joyful read your Willard’s are! Giving me “hope “ for the future in this upside down world . Thank you for carrying on with wonder. Merry Christmas and God bless!
From the other side of the world, blessings and thanks for another year enabling me to relive and remember my life in New England, now ensconced in Australia I miss the snow, the squirrels, the warmth and smell of an open fire during the holidays. Thank you Susan and Joe for another year of joy.
Merry Christmas! I love decorating with old quilts, too!!!
I’m a quilter, and have quilts that my grandma made, plus some I’ve found at garage sales and even dumpsters. I always wish they could talk so they could tell me where they’ve been and who made them. I’d love to add this one of yours to mine, so PLEASE enter me in your drawing! :>)
You always bring a smile to my face and joy to my heart!
Merry Christmas Sue and Joe!!
Merry Christmas to you, Joe and Jack! I always look forward to your Willard posts but this one was extra special. It must be difficult to say goodbye to your beautiful CA home, and here’s to finding the perfect buyer. Your quilts are beautiful! I have a blanket made by my great grandmother in the late 1800’s. She spun the threads with wool sheared from their sheep, then used walnuts to die the yarn. It’s still beautiful and I treasure it!
XOXO, Nancy Newsom
I love old quilts too….and RED, oh my!
This is such a wonderful season! Hope you have the merriest Christmas.
I look forward to your Willard’s SO much! They are just what I need to lift my spirits when I am down.
And photos of Jack are just the BEST bonus!
Please, please let the quilt come to Tennessee!
I love the way small things are so important to you. You are so inspiritional!
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I love reading your newsletters Susan! I’m a quilt lover too but I don’t have any old ones. 20 years ago I took up quilting so I now have quite a few and I hope my family will appreciate them after I’m gone. I’d love to be your secret Santa 😍
I look forward to these! Finish one and anticipate the next one! thank you.
Merriest Christmas, Susan. I remember a lifetime ago when I would get your written Willards and how much joy they (along with your art) brought to me. All these years later it is no different.
Your ‘Willard’ is always a day brightener and full of joy & sweet music.
You’re my hero! Merry Christmas!
I have followed you for many years. I love all that you do. We havesomuch in common. I don’t fly, take lexapro and enjoy decorating I have collected quilts for years as well as needlework. Your positive outllook is catching. You should know how many of us admire you for being you and sharing your gifts with us.
I to have a cat who is a beloved family member. Daisy rules our house. I wish you a wonderful Christmas and a joyous new year. Just like during Vietnam I’m praying for peace.
Girl after my own heart!🤗
I adore antique quilts, Susan, and would be honored to give one of yours a loving home. You are so generous.
The quilt is beautiful! Love your Willard’s. Safe journey next month to California. Sue
I put a quilt my grandmother made for me as a child on my bed. It is not a usual quilt . She made tiny triangles and they were lined and then sewed triangles together. It is all shades of red and green prints so perfect for a Christmas quilt.
Love it!
Dear Susan,
I am always so happy to receive a Willard. Thank you for sharing your life, your joy, your family!
Merry Christmas to you and Joe and Jack,
From our happy house to yours,
Lorraine and George and Daisy (our new puppy)
I love getting your Willard’s, Miss Susan. You are like a dear friend coming to visit me and when you leave my heart is sad but full until next time. God bless you for your uplifting spirt.
Oh my! To see all those wonderful photos of the nieces and nephews when they were little and the photos of your wonderful Thanksgiving. It’s enough to make anyone’s heart swell. This year I began a different life, one without my dear Jim. I wish I had known about the fog of grief and what happens to your brain. But I finally managed to plan a trip to Ohio to visit my son and wonderful daughter-in-love and my grandkids. So I am currently in Ohio, loving the weather and even got snow flurries. I will celebrate my 74th birthday with them! I will be home in time to spend Christmas with Jim’s family. The hardest part is missing my petty pets.
I want to wish you and Joe the most wonderful Christmas and then I am off to order my 2024 calendar. Merry Christmas dear Susan!
Oh Chris, I’m so sorry . . . yeah, that fog. 😪 It sounds like you are in a wonderful place right now ~ with family, AND snow flurries! Happy Birthday dear heart . . . With all my love . . .
Beautiful post, Susan. Your quilts are so charming. Merry Christmas to you and your family♥️
Thanks for all your wonderful stories. They are magical!
Oh I would LOVE to buy your house in California!!!! I love your posts and I’m happy to see there’s a new one ☺️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️
Merry Christmas Susan to you and all you hold dear!
Your blogs have been such an inspiration and mood lifter over the years.
Very life affirming in uncertain and anxious times. Wishing you and Joe good health and good times in the coming year!
Merry Christmas to you and your kin… I just started collecting quilts since I had one made for me using memory T-shirts. I love reading yor newsletter and Willards.
I still have my paper “old fashioned”sent in the mail Willards.. I remember when you first moved to your California home. What stands out in my mind was all the Gopher holes. 🤣It is a beautiful fairy tale Cottage now created with lots of love over the years with your own Susan Branch blessing and Joe specialty.
I love seeing your holiday decorations! They inspire me to get creative with my own. thank you.
I always love finding an email from you. As I read this one I found my memories of holidays past flooding into my mind and I found myself smiling as I read. Thank you for the precious gifts you share whenever you write. Have a wonderful holiday.
Merry Christmas, Susan!
I love reading about all your doings and comings and goings. I always feel so happy after reading them. Your advice and quotations are wonderful.
Oh- how I would love to live on that Arroyo Grande property, but sadly time and fortune ( or lack of) won’t allow such to be. But I hope a kindred spirit does move there! Quilts are delightful. A ” new” old quilt would be sheer delight!
What a wonderful Thanksgiving you had with your family! Lots of fun and memories were made! I love your Willard and all your books( my favorite is Fairy Tale Girl) love your calendars too and the cups. I collect quilts too and the best one is the one my grandmother made me over 60 years ago! Merry Christmas to you and Joe and a blessed New Year!
Merry Christmas! This Willard is sparkling with joy. So glad you got to enjoy Thanksgiving with the younger generation. It is so wonderful to see the continuity down the generations. I missed seeing my family and grandchildren this year because I fell, broke my ankle in three places and had to have surgery. FaceTime was as close as we got. Christmas will also be a muted affair as I’m pretty much confined to the sofa. I could probably try to do more but I’m taking a reprieve. Fortunately, my husband is the cook. Don’t you love a man who cooks? He’s baking bread at the moment. Hope you have a wonderful time enjoying the season and a great trip to California. Your property sounds idyllic, though I don’t know much about California. It should sell in a snap, seems to me. Always hard to part ways with a property you had envisioned and worked on. The gardens are amazing. Maybe someone will want to have a flower farm. That always sounds dreamy to me while I blissfully ignore the reality of all the hard work. Your giveaway is such a prize! How generous you are!
What delightful inspiration. Thank you for cheerfulness in these difficult times; I really appreciate you! Merry Christmas from across the country. Linda
My love of quilts has been going on for quite a number of years! I am a quilter myself! Oh,the stories these old beauties have hidden in every piece of fabric and in every stitch!
I hope you have a wonderful trip and the happiest of holidays!
Best,
Jenny
Dearest Susan,
Thank you for your continued efforts at making this world a better place. I so enjoy ALL you do and I’ve been a fan for longer than I care to admit!! Keep up the great work.
Warmly,
Terri
Dearest Susan,
Thank you for your continued efforts at making this world a better place. I so enjoy ALL you do and I’ve been a fan for longer than I care to admit!! Keep up the great work.
Warmly,
Terri
I haven’t left a comment in years!
At one point in time I had my grandmother’s quilt. It has since been given away, its whereabouts unknown, which makes me sad. I love quilts. I have had one commissioned to be made using my art. It tells the story of my children’s names. I have purchased church quilts for grandchildren’s twin beds because I know they are important. Thank you for sharing one of yours.
Once again, a great read. Looks like you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with so much family. I enjoyed all your pictures of decorations. You have such a beautiful house. Hope all your trips go well. Enjoy! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you both. ⭐️🥂Take Care. 😌
Merry Christmas Susan and Joe! Sitting here watching White Christmas and recognizing how much the “Sisters” remind me of my Mom and Aunts❤️ The hairstyles, the sparkly jewelry, the beautiful dresses, and most of all the red lipstick! Oh how I miss all of them, but how grateful I am to have had them love me, influence my taste, and watch them cherish one another…it is a huge part of who I am today. Aprons, red gingham, and fudge! You are so generous to share your treasure of a quilt. Wishing all the girlfriends the luck of the magical draw and a very Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year! Love.
My grandmother, who would be 123 years old if alive today, was a quilter. I value her quilts that I have in several rooms of my home. I appreciate all you quilters out there. I am a knitter.;
I loved the song! So beautiful. You always inspire me to be kinder, to savor the moments, and to look for the beauty in the ordinary!
Thank you for sharing your Thanksgiving with us. I love reading the happiness you find in home, place, family and friends. I find nudges of joy in the quotes you collect and share. Thank you for your books, recipes, art, photos. My life is enriched through ‘knowing’ you. I would cherish your quilt with all my heart.
How lovely! So much time and love went into making these old quilts. I have one that my grandmother pieced and quilted before I was born (I will be 73 in January). Thanks so much and Christmas Blessings to you and yours. Barbara
Merry Christmas!!
Merry Christmas Susan and Joe from South Central Kentucky !! 🌲🌲🌲Love your blog posts❤️
I love my Willard. Stop everything, it’s time to read. I’m sprucing up getting ready for my family to arrive.
Pick me, pick me, I would love to win your quilt.
Thank you for sharing and inspiring others.You have such talent and a heart full of Love ❤️
LN
This Willard made my heart blossom with happiness and lovely love feelings through and through! Just precisely, exactly, and square-on-target what I needed this very day and didn’t know it. THANK YOU! Every face was a joy to behold. Every photo a delight. Every word a breath of peace and hope. THANK YOU! Merriest of Christmastimes to you and Joe and Jack.
…🧵✂️🌿 a decade ago or more I created a journal of quilts made by me. Photographs, a little narrative with fabric swatches used to make each one, drew little pictures too….the front cover of the journal has a mouse sitting on a spool of thread, its tail wrapped around the spool….thimble & little embriodery scissors. The mouse is holding a little newspaper to read…the banner or heading on the front cover reads..’ a bed without a quilt is like a sky without stars.’ The saying is not original to me. It would be my pleasure & honor to be a keeper of your quilt keepsake..🌿❤🧵✂️
What a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family!
Happy for you❤️
We had a very nice thanksgiving too. Our so, daughter in love and grandson made their way
to our house in Iowa. It was wonderful!
The wind is howling tonight, we did get a little snow today. God bless you. Have a grand Christmas!
Carol
How generous of you. One more beautiful thing you have shared with us. I have no antique quilts but have I made quilts since college which means some of my quilts are vintage if not close to antique. Have a wonderful Christmas season.
What a lovely Willard with our very own gift with the song from your dear friend. Thank you for sharing🥰As always, Willard was so fun to read. You make us feel like we are there participating, thank you for that Susan. Merry Christmas to you and Joe🎄
Blessings~
Oh, what JOY Willard brings to all of us! I look forward to it all of the time! I wish you the best Christmas ever and a very happy new year! It will be one lucky person who wins the quilt!❤️
❤️💚❤️ Happy Holidays Everyone!!! ❤️💚❤️💚
Thank you for the chance to win such a lovely quilt.
❤️💚❤️💚💚❤️💚❤️💚❤️💚❤️💚❤️💚❤️💚
I look forward to Willard!! This time I am in Alaska helping family and I get to have a white Christmas!( I am from Georgia) I love the snow though, and I’m snuggled under blankets and quilts while I read. I had to leave my cat – Katy- with my sister in Georgia, and I miss her dearly. She is a gray and white tuxedo. I adore her! And I miss her but hacks antics cheered me up today.
Merry Christmas &
Happy new year too,
Anita
Susan, how wonderful to receive this Willard! We just had rain today and almost all if our snow washed away. I hope we get more before Christmas. Thank you for offering one of your beautiful quits. MERRY CHRISTMAS and a Happy New Year!
I love the beautiful song!! What a treat to have family for Thanksgiving, so fun 😊
I make quilts and display in my home, I don’t sell any but give them away to friends and family. I would dearly love to have the chance to get the quilt you have found.
Thank you
I love all the fall photos that you show, and how you so lovingly prepared for your guests…..we too had special guests for Thanksgiving, from North Carolina!!….And now it is already Christmas time!!…Oh, and does Jack like to sit in your warm baskets of laundry???? Our kitty Ziggy does!!!! God bless you both …Merry Christmas and Happy New Year in 2024!!!
So lovely to see your family Thanksgiving. Thanks you for sharing!! 💕.
Your Willards make me so happy!
Thank you so much for this Willard~ and all of those that came before. You’ve been an inspiration to me since my children were littles and now I am a grandmother~ the sweetest gift I could never have imagined. Your words and art are so beautiful and sweet~ I’m definitely in the holiday spirit now! Blessings and happiest of holidays for Christmas and the New Year to you and yours!
❤️❤️
Such a thoughtful gift Susan! One of us girlfriends will be so happy to have this in their home.
It is always just such a happy reprieve to read the Willard. I use quilts all of the time, but the sweetest is when my grandchildren get cozy under them! 🙂
Thank you for a very beautiful post. It was wonderful to see part of your family. It sure looked like a wonderful Thanksgiving! Whoever buys your California property will be blessed, as it is as beautiful as a picture! Glad you are doing well, the Pilates sound very interesting, I may just need to add them into my daily steps. It is so fun to keep track of all the steps a body can get if they work at it! Wishing your family the happiest of holidays this Christmas season and a safe trip to California in January!
I love your artwork and buy your wall and desk calendar every year. Merry Christmas to you! Your quilts are gorgeous. Love your work. Hope you have a safe trip to California. Love, Wendy from Wexford PA
We cut a little spruce tree that was crowded amongst others in our back field and carried it in to our house today. Oh Tannenbaum! On this same day your Willard arrived and Christmas anticipation is now in full stride shared by all the global girlfriends.
Take care all.
Merry Christmas to you and your family. I love quilts as well, especially the vintage ones. Enjoy the holidays!!!!
This December 4th I turned 75 and my husband turns 80 in February. We both love checking in on you and Joe to follow your adventures. Absolutely delighted to read your books and have purchased them for my two sisters. Thank you so much for sharing the artistry of your life.💞💗💞 Wishing you and your family the best Christmas ever!
You have been a part of me for over twenty years, now. Your calendars have hung in my kitchen in Greece, Italy, England, Alabama, and now Tennessee. My original copies of your books are now considered vintage. Through life’s ups and downs you have been a reminder to me to embrace life and enjoy the beauty found in each day, and to cherish those around me. Thank you❤️
A lifetime . . how amazing.💞
Merry Christmas! Thank you for sharing your creativity over the years. Big fan going way back. You are an inspirational treasure! Hope you have the happiest of New Year’s also. Take care. Keep being you!
Family is everything. I lost my one and only sibling which I was very close to…..and now I am the only one left in my immediate family. I am missing his quick wit and funny sense of humor. So enjoy your families. His wife started going with him when she was 13 and now she’s 76. It’s very sad. On a lighter note have a very Merry Christmas everyone and spread your love to everyone.💖💖💖
😢I’m so sorry Karen. On top of everything else, family humor is just the best, irreplaceable. Spreading my love on you right NOW!!!💝💝💝
Have been reading the WILLARD for several years now, don’t even remember when I discovered your blog but look forward to it every time it arrives! I even go back to reread or study the photos a tad more, especially your home decor. I love quilts, wish I could make them, so winning one would be a treasure. Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy 2024 to you and Joe!
Oh, Susan, how I love to receive your Willards!! I’m so happy that you and Joe were able to spend time with family members. That is always so special. Now we’re on to the Christmas season. How fast the year has sped by. I wish you all the very best of health and happiness in 2024. I hope I’m the lucky winner of the pretty quilt. Enjoy your trip to CA and good luck with the sale of the property. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!