I have a good little, very short, Christmas Story for you! (In a minute!) But first, sweet old MUSICA! I’m looking around and it seems like these days, finding and living a fairy tale of your own making gets put on the back-burner way too much. It’s hard! We hurt for the discombooberation of the world. But it’s Christmas time. Magic time, when we remember ANYTHING is possible. The perfect time of year to renew our vows! 
💝 Giving ourselves and our beloveds that happiness at home, reminding ourselves of the faith and beauty that lives in us all, and doing all we can to lift the spirts of those around us. Reminding myself how that is done . . . all the little things, delicious food and kitchen smells from childhood, anything that sparkles, cozy blankies, socks, old movies, flannel jammies toasty-warm from the dryer, singing, extra hugs, walks in nature, quiet mornings and cups of tea. Long night’s rest . . . under the Long Night’s Moon . . .
But first, speaking of Long Night’s Moon, which we 
JUST had, and signifies, yes, the end of these short dark days!👏👏👏 On the Solstice, coming SOON, December 21st, we’re having a dinner party to celebrate the sun setting on the shortest day of the year! GOODBYE! Every day after that will get a little LONGER!! More light! What a wonderful Christmas gift!💝 And so, we segue to my traditional stocking-stuffer to help you remember to dance to the light of the moon in 2026!🎶🎵🎶
It’s 
my full-moon Bookmark, Bellisma Lunisima 💞 (“a hole in the sky, a supernatural nightlight” … 🎵 Jason Mraz), with the dates and the great Native American names for each of the full moons next year. Just click on the link, print it out, have it laminated at a UPS Store (or not), and voila!
I also have a special personal gift for one lucky person🎁 . . . we’re having a drawing! Just leave a comment at the bottom and you’ll automatically be entered into a giveaway that includes all the goodies you see below: There’s a set of two holiday notepads, a box of brass-plated Angel Chimes with candles, a signed copy of my little Home For Christmas book, two designs of my Christmas Cards, and two sets of the cards I love to use for thank you cards… because they have recipes on them!♥️ There’s a Santa dishtowel, a “Home Cooking” tea-pot plate for cookies (or to hang on your wall), and some darling Santa stickers for your cards and gifts! From me to you with LOVE!💝
I’m going to announce the winning name next week! So you get this before Christmas! It’s a lot, but we have so many good things in stock right now, I couldn’t just choose one!! In ADDITION, four more of you, my girlfriends, will receive a copy of my Home For Christmas read-aloud book, and of course, I will sign it however you like! So you can keep it, OR you can give it to a friend! 💝
And one more surprise, just ONE lucky person . . .
will receive one of the very last of our wonderful SANTA CUPS!!! For a merry merry Christmas with love from me to you!♥️
Don’t forget to leave a comment! (At the bottom of this post, you’ll see a line of tiny words and right toward the end you’ll see “Comments” … they hide it for some reason!❌⭕️)
Also, another wonderful thing . . . I am SO honored to have been recently interviewed for the new Beatrix Potter Society Blog . . . where they ask artists how they 
were inspired by the art and life of Beatrix Potter … such a good question for me.💞 I loved answering it. Hope you enjoy it too, just click the link above . . . I’m always especially happy bringing people together, to perhaps help new people to get to know Beatrix better! If you haven’t joined the Society yet, you would love it. I follow them on Instagram too. Good influences, people who have done wonderful things in their lifetimes, need to be kept alive ~ and there are a LOT of good people giving their time to keep that happening ~ the legacy of Beatrix Potter is one of them!!♥️ There is so much more to learn about Beatrix, and everything is so much more accessible these days!💝
As you know, I’ve collected lots of books about Beatrix, and read them all, and am always looking, when out and about, in used bookstores or flea markets to find my out-of-print or hard-to-find favorites to share with you in my web store!
This year’s crop includes the charming Peter Rabbit Natural Foods Cookbook Illustrated by Beatrix Potter!
I have to show you my copy, a gift, inscribed to me by a very young Girlfriend, Anna Baker.
Adorable, and a pure keeper! And the perfect example of young magic-making in a new generation ~ and I have to say, Good job MOM!💝 Beatrix AND cooking.💞 A win-win for a lifetime of giving, and receiving.
Here’s the cover . . . we have just a few of these in our web store, including the one that this one replaced! Another sweet Christmas gift.♥️
And this! Have you seen this?
It was a complete surprise when I found this large scrapbook filled with copies of Beatrix Potter’s original letters, photos, and journal entries;
showing her watercolors, her family, her books, her story, her paint box, written in her handwriting, if she had made a scrapbook, this is exactly what it would have, should have, looked like!💗 Someone did a WONDERFUL job with this.
I particularly loved how real it felt with all the three-dimensional items, her first Christmas card designs that open, a basket that you can lift the lid, an envelope containing that famous illustrated letter, for you to open, touch, unfold, and read, even a small photo book with pages to turn ~ all set in the English Countryside. It must have cost a fortune to publish this book. I would LOVE to know who DOES things like this these days!!! It’s really so beautiful.
And the secret part, the coup de grace . . . the most amazing thing, on the inside back of the cover is a hidden door that opens, easy to miss and a complete surprise. Waiting inside is a copy of her first book! So in case you find this book in a store, look closely, before you buy it, be sure to see if the little book is still there. (All my copies in our web store DO have the little books, just in cases!) It is HERE!
We also have a few copies of this totally charming old book . . .
. . . the first, most wonderful biography I read about Beatrix, that led me to so much more, when I discovered she was truly
I’ve shown you this book before ~ it has several of Beatrix’s line drawings in it, printed from the illustrated letter she wrote for the child of a friend . . .
I turned the page to this and I heard my book say, “It’s okay, you can paint in me” . . . which of course I did . . . Like a little coloring book! How fun to paint that little blue jacket!!!
All three of these books are in our web store!💝 If you love them, be your own Santa, and put one under the tree for YOU. We also have some of her wonderful figurines . . . AND our jigsaw puzzle! Back in stock just for this Christmas!
This is my stack of her little bunny books, waiting to be packed up to be brought to their new home in California, where they have been very happy on my “Heroes” shelf, where they sit imparting inspirational DNA while I do my 2027 calendars and update my Christmas Book with new art and recipes!♥️
So here is my little Christmas Fairy Tale . . .
As you know last year we moved across the country into a very old 1970s double-wide. It isn’t nearly as large as our old house, but we’d been wanting to downsize, and it was perfect for that! It had an open plan with lots of windows, and oddly, one entire WALL of mirrors, which 
normally I might not have liked, but it brought in a TON of light from the wall of windows on the other side of the room, which in turn brought in the garden, so it didn’t take long before I learned to love it a lot. Below, you can see the mirrored wall, it’s in the dining room part of the open room . . . you can see me there, reflected, and across the room behind me, you can see two lamps and tall windows in the living area, but it’s dark outside, so they are black. Sort of get it? Part of the kitchen is also reflected in the mirror. There’s a doorway to the hall on the right.↘️
I have to admit, making magic in a very old, untouched and un-updated double-wide is more of a challenge than making magic in a 150-year-old Captain’s House (on Martha’s Vineyard, which put us way ahead on the scale of magic from the get-go). Things like plaster walls, thick decorative trim around heavy wooden doors with antique brass knobs and fittings, with a shelf over the front door for pumpkins in the fall. . . these things do 
not exist in a double-wide. If you want them, you have to figure out how to get them! But if ever a challenge is worth it, this is the one. Being that this double-wide lives in the middle of an English garden that we accidentally planted here in 2004 with no expectation of ever living here ourselves! So it’s a double-wide in tree, hedge, bird-bath, hummingbird, and blue-sky heaven. So on we go, building our world, just like we did the first time. But isn’t making a home just the most wonderful thing? Most creative job in the world!👏👏💗 Never forget:
After a lifetime of dreaming, I know this to be true.♥️
So here is another shot of that mirrored wall … because really, if you don’t know it’s there, it can get a little invisible, and what I’m about to show you can be confusing! Call this the “Before” shot.
Of course we were spoiled, our old house came with an old fireplace, all full of ancient whispers, which we loved to decorate at Christmas . . .
. . . we NEEDED a fireplace back there, for our cold and snowy New England winters. But we realized, that due to the mild weather in California, 
we didn’t need or even want a fireplace ~ it would require space! What I actually REALLY wanted, was a mantle! This came to light last Christmas, when I looked around and said, “I have no mantle to decorate! What we need is a FAKE fireplace ~ and we could put it on that mirrored wall in our “dining room! It would reflect candlelight!🕯️ It would be so cozy!” And I gently mentioned it to my darling husband, saying simply, I need a fake fireplace on yonder mirrored wall kind sir, and him replying, something to the effect of, “your wish is my command.” Anyway that’s how I remember it.💞
And so it was. He found a mantle, he found some appropriate pieces to go with it, he made other appropriate pieces, we looked at pictures of other mantles and surrounds, we looked at our old one…
Joe began cutting, glueing, and drilling . . . I never knew his drill has a flashlight in it! How handy! And just like Michelangelo cutting his masterpieces from the marble, just like THAT, our mantle started taking shape.♥️
We just guessed what height to make it ~ the side boards for the surround, are leaning against the mirror to give us some idea of what it would be like… I really loved the fireplace I saw in one of the rooms of Jane Austen’s house in Chawton in the UK . . . narrow, tallish, simple, plain. All it needs is boughs of holly!
This is it, it’s in a tiny room.
But maybe ours would have more substantial mantle, with a sort of back splash like the one on the Vineyard. But tall and narrow… Joe put it on the floor so we could see what it looked like. I laid the sides a wee bit crooked, he straightened them and started putting it together. Pretty soon he leaned the sides against the mirror and balanced the mantle on top. I decorated it, lit the candles, went mad with delight, then undecorated it so he could he take it down. He added an apron, put it back up, balanced it again, I decorated it again, went mad, he took it down, added a tiny shelf at bottom of the apron … etc, three times . . . until we had it all! He glued and screwed it together, and stapled a piece of black velvet on the back. And once again, I decorated it!
And voila! here it is! It’s screwed to the wall ~ now permanent, staying forever ~ here Joe is doing the 
last bits, adding a hook for the other stocking, wearing appropriate head gear. “This is ridiculous,” I exclaimed, laughing out loud every time I looked at it.
I continued laughing while taking a thousand photos, so adorable. I could barely believe the transformation!
I had a mantle! I couldn’t wait to show it to you!!
It takes up no space, is 56″ tall to the top of the back splash; the mantle is 48″ wide and 9″ deep ~ and it changed everything. It even created a sort of natural space on the left where we could tuck in a tree. I’d already purchased a small one because I thought it might have to go on the table (it’s up on a plant stand now), but next year, it’s clear there’s space to have a full-height (but skinny) Christmas tree in the corner!! This fireplace is rocking my world! I love it so much.💫💫💫
Voila, the “after” picture! And now I have this little corner I can decorate for the seasons ~ there’s a place for pumpkins, candles, bunnies and chicks for Easter, for photos, flowers, books, banners, a lamp, or even a birthday cake! We get to have dinner parties in front of the fireplace!♥️ See that little card on the apron of the fireplace? Joe added a tiny narrow shelf (like we had on Martha’s Vineyard). I can PUT things there! And I now have a place where, if I want, I could have fireside chats on Instagram! Or read a story! That is why I would have to call this a Fairy Tale. Because like my mother told me, you can have anything you want, as long as you make it yourself can get your husband to make it for you! Proof positive:
PS, an addendum. After Joe finished his brilliant masterpiece, I went looking on line to see if perhaps others had had this same idea, a fireplace with no fire… a faux fireplace to add extra coziness and charm to a small room. In case my Girlfriends were thinking how fun this would be but have no Joe, I wondered if maybe it would be possible to BUY one that didn’t cost an arm and a leg. Because you know, if you dream it you can make it so! I was surprised, shocked maybe, there are so many choices! Little ones, big ones, simple and fancy, whatever your heart desires!♥️ Mas MUSICA? Oui!
Look at this one, clean, elegant, free-standing, and only $150, voila! If I only knew! Ha! well, there you go! I’m so used to asking Joe, I forget that there are other ways to go about this! I love his best of course!♥️ This mantle is even a half-inch deeper than mine… there are photos of it in a living room scene when you go to their site. . . but if this isn’t your cup of tea, there of tons of other ones to choose from ~ some of them are electric and even include the fire!🔥 This world!💝
Speaking of this enchanted world, this wonderful magical outrageously beautiful world that we, the human race, positively do not deserve but are unendingly grateful for, I thought you would like to see what a California Christmas looks like!
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Yup, no snow. And I do miss that thrilling first snow of the season! But the only white you see here are the drifts of sweet alyssum that springs up everywhere in the cool weather.
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The breeze you’re hearing comes down our valley from the Pacific ocean, alyssum fragrance floats in the air, the sun comes out almost every day, shining golden light and long shadows on my daily walk, and the silk trees flower in pink! A total blessing for light deprived person, I put my face up to drink in the sunshine.
But we absolutely DO have winter, it’s freezing at night (40s!!!), sweater weather, for sure ~ even fingerless gloves sometimes ~ and flannel jammies of course, it’s even cold enough for me to put my grandma’s nap blanket on the bed! Extremely cozy! It just probably won’t snow.🤭
Instead, check this out!
It’s a jasmine vine that found this chair on our front deck and is making a home there! I know I’m going to be sorry I let it go! It’ll probably take hours to get it all out! But it’s actually so pretty, and . . . think . . .
. . . what it’s going to feel like to sit in this chair loaded with light pink jasmine, and just rock and smell the flowers!🌸🌸🌸 So, for a possible future moment’s pure delight, here I am waiting for it to bloom, as each day the vine gets more deeply entrenched. I’ll let you know how it goes!
Jack is sending you all his kitty LOVE!😻 So, off we go, onward and upward.Company coming today! Going to Farmer’s Market tomorrow. Need some local honey🍯, and definitely want to see what the farmers are doing for Christmas!🪴 Merry, Merry darling people. Get out into nature if you can, take lots of deep breaths, and stay hydrated!♥️
Don’t forget to leave a comment for the drawing! You can sit in front of your fireplace and read everyone a story of Christmas long ago! “Home for Christmas!”
Love that bookmark, thank you ever so much!
Dearest Susan,
You have been my insperation and hope when we moved last year between Thanksging and Christmas. But if you could do it, so could we. Now we Love our 1988 manufactured home and the veiw is beautiful. So looking forward to this Christmas with a grateful heart. Thank you, thank you, for all you are.
I love your fireplace mantel. My father-in-law made our mantel. I love decorating it and now that he is gone it brings back lovely memories. ❤️
I so enjoy the Willards, and your drawings, and your paintings, and your lettering, and your quotes, and EVERYTHING!! Thank you. You are a blessing in a world that has lost its way.
I love reading your Willards! They brighten my day and it’s like having a fun pen pal and catching up on all of the things. Give Jack kisses, he’s looking very sassy and pleased with himself. As he should!
I love seeing all your home and garden updates. Thanks for bringing us on your journey.
Have the most Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year!
I didn’t think Christmas in CA could be so pretty and homey but you have done it!🎄
Your home is just lovely!! And I love the fireplace mantle that Joe built for you…so much so that I am going to have my sweetheart of a husband build me one! (He laughingly said “Thanks Susan!!”)
Your fireplace and mantle are perfect, a bit of New England in California! Your house looks beautiful all decorated for the holidays. I’ve been to Hill Top Farm three times and I feel as if Beatrix and I are old friends.
Merry Christmas to you, Joe and Jack!
Merry Christmas Susan. I love your “can do” spirit, it always makes me smile & get all happy about decorating my home. I too have a decorative mantel that was out of an old home torn down in Pasadena,CA. Found it at an antique store, painted it white and it’s my favorite seasonal decor space!! I love that you created one for your home! Merry Merry!
Thank you for sharing all of your beautiful amazing work,
Susan you are truly a blessing!
Best wishes for a very Merry Christmas to you & Joe
(and Jack too)!
Love your new mantle! A handy husband is such a blessing. I have one too! Thank you for all the light and joy you bring into the world through your art, and books, and Willards. Merry Christmas and happy 2026!
I love the matle
I love reading about your life in California. I would never miss the snow and cold temps. I love fall but dread those dark, gloomy winter days. You bring the sunshine. Merry Christmas look
I love the mantle. And you found the perfect spot for it! I look forward to seeing how you decorate it each season.
As I read, I was hoping for a glimpse of Jack. You didn’t disappoint!
My mother told me how one day, at about age 20, she came home to find grandma sitting alongside a mantel, declaring, “I bought a fireplace!” As a child, I’d help grandma decorate it with her nativity set. The mantel eventually became my own, and it’s residing in majesty in my own living room. It immediately brought warmth and joy to that room, equal to the family room which houses its own “real” fireplace.
You’ve brought the same sparkle your MV home had clear across the country! Beautiful!
I love reading about your life in California. I would never miss the snow and cold temps. I love fall but dread those dark, gloomy winter days. You bring the sunshine. Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas, your blog has always been a ray of light in our topsy turvy world. Thank you for adding positivity and your beautiful art to our daily lives. In treasuring your childhood and reminding us all of the generations of hard working family that loved us so.
My wonderful husband built a mantel to cover our builder grade drywall “mantel.”
Much simpler than yours, but beautiful wood.
Merry Christmas!
How wonderful for you to share the delights of your California Christmas home and garden with us. I could almost feel the breeze when you took us outdoors.
Absolutely delicious. Thank you!
Merry Christmas!!🎄
Merry Christmas, Susan and Joe!
Thank you for sharing your home in CA with us.
Blessings to you and
Willard is such a treat to read with a cup of tea. I like to read it at a quiet time and enjoy every detail. Happy Christmas to you and Joe in sunny California!
Merry Christmas
What perfect timing…a warm & cozy letter to all us girlfriends, inspiring us to make our houses glow and to remind us how wonderful it feels to put on warm Jammie’s from the dryer, loved all of it! Thank you!
I love fireplaces.we have three! Yours is adorable. Enjoy it.
Wishing you and Joe a very Merry Christmas! Thank you for sharing your beautiful home and lovely new mantel. A mantel for all seasons! 🥰
I so enjoyed your December writing, Christmas cheer, videos, Joe’s adorable fireplace, and a glimpse of a California winter! Sheer magic, indeed! Susan, thank you for spreading Joy and Light in a world that needs remembering the blessings around. Merry Christmas, Susan and Joe
This post hit me at just the right time. Been trying to make a little magic myself as this will be the last Christmas in our current home. We’ve been told we must be out by the spring. I’m not sure exactly where we will be by next Christmas ( one possibility is doing the opposite of what YOU did; heading 3000 miles EAST from California to Maine!) Thank you, as always for the inspiration and the reminders that as long as we are anywhere with our loved ones the magic will come.
Merry Christmas to you and yours 🎄Fa la la la la la la la la
Your new “fireplace” and mantel are beautiful. Your Christmas decorations are beautiful, just as they were in Martha’s Vineyard. And your blog is beautiful, as always. Whether in snow country or not, to you and Joe and all the
girlfriends, a very Merry Christmas!
Congratulations on your interview for the Beatrix Potter Society blog, and thank you for this lovely and uplifting blog post of yours. Your mantle is beautifully made and just the thing!!
Merry Christmas! 🎄 ❤️
I love finding your Willard in my “mailbox”. Your mantle is lovely. A wonderful ending to a magical evening with my husband on date night. We strolled hand in hand in downtown Cedarburg during festive Fridays. Gentle snow falling, luminaries along the sidewalks, carolers in front of a Victorian home museum in period outfits, bonfires. shoppers and Christmas magic in the air. We toured the Victorian home with a Dickens themed decor… the night before Christmas story. We popped into an old fashioned candy store to buy some treats and then had dinner. Life is good. Thanks again for the wonderful Willard! Merry Merry Christmas to you, Joe and Jack! Best, Rosemary
I have a faux fireplace too that I love to decorate!
Susan and Joe. Loved your blog. Have a Merry Christmas .
What a wonderful Willard!!! Hope you and yours have a very merry Christmas!!!🎅🤶⛄️🌲❤️
Receiving the Willard always brings me joy. I like to take my time and read it slowly and enjoy every bit of it (photos, artwork, quotes, etc.) Your new mantle is lovely. What does Jack think about it? It’s kind of like a fancy new box!
Merry Christmas!
Your posts always brighten my day! You’re one of those people about whom I always say that “I could live next door to her!” I am so nostalgic over so many things, especially from my past. When I inherited from my parents, one of the things we had to get for our condo was an electric traditional fireplace with a very large mantel that we decorated so beautifully for so many years before I lost my husband. Thank you for sharing so many good things!
Thank you for the love you put into your words as you share your stories and art! As a fellow admirer of Beatrix Potter, and particularly her bunny stories, I also delighted in your pictures of these special books. I savor your Willard letters. Thank you!
I love how you are sprucing up your place Susan style. I also like it like that.
Wishing you and elf Joe a very merry Christmas.
Susan, I was so happy to see your email pop up in my in-basket this morning that I almost made myself late because I couldn’t wait until this evening to read it. Our weather here in Colorado has been unseasonably warm, so to help me get into the Christmas spirit, I dove into your archives and have been reading all of your December posts. That (and an unexpected seven-inch snowfall) did the trick! Anyway, I just want to thank you for making my life brighter and sweeter, for being my Beatrix Potter. God bless you and Joe this Christmas and always.
Dear Susan-
Season’s Greetings from Maryland! I have been a fan and follower ever since I discovered your scrapbooking stickers back in 2001. Since then I have collected many of your books, quotes and tea things. All are a treasure. This is the first time I have written a comment. I sit with my Christmas teapot, teacup and one of your lovely Christmas tea towels every morning in this happiest season! JOY! And then! … a Willard appears in my inbox! More JOY! Each one is a bright spot in an otherwise ordinary day, full of ONLY inspiring good thoughts and images. I pinch my screen to examine every detail! I don’t want any interruptions or distractions at that moment!
Throughout the seasons, your works inspire me to what is most important in life – the little things that bring joy to the heart and home in the simplest ways every day. One of my favorites is making sweet bouquets of flowers in tiny vases for the kitchen like you do! You are so kind to let us into your cozy corner of the world! Also give my regards to Joe! What a dear, a gem, so creative and talented too. Keep shining your light, the world needs you.
Thank YOU for all the Willards!!
My pleasure Amy and thank YOU for the kind words!!! xoxoxoxoxo
Susan, YOU ARE THE BEST WRITER!
AWWWWW…😅☺️😢😢😢😁😆😂
Love your homemade mantle! Will be the perfect attention for every holiday! I bet Jack loves it, too! My cat, Mr. Darcy, has to inspect any item in the house… and then he decides it belongs to him! And of course I don’t argue!😸
I’m so happy to have one of your Santa mugs now that I know they are in short supply. He smiles at me from a prominent place this time of year.
Enjoy your new fireplace and have a Happy Christmas!
Greetings of the season, Susan! Your mantle is perfection! I’m a bit envious of your California Christmas as I hate the cold, and the idea of year round flowers sounds lovely. Thank you for sharing it all with us!
What a perfect mantle! That is an amazing solution. I think it would even work I. An apartment. Things look lovely. Merry Christmas to you and Joe. Blessings in 2026.
Dear Susan,
Merry Christmas!Ive recently moved to a home that was completely remodeled.They moved the fireplace and put in a modern electric one.You know with the crystals.Not the real Mc Coy but,I’m adjusting and while they did that they failed to put up a mantle! After I heard what Joe had done for you I called a carpenter. He promises it will be here in time to hang stockings for Santa to fill ; ).
My favorite gift my friend Linda gave me years ago is a teapot with your wonderful art work of Santa’s face. I look forward to putting it on my stove each Christmas.In moving I too gave up my o’keefe and Merritt stove . I do miss that as well.It helps knowing you are managing too.With that said I can too!
Have a lovely Christmas in your home in California .
Cindi Leonard
Hello Susan, and Merry Christmas to you and Joe. I love the mantelpiece, looks like it has always been there. I am very fortunate to have a husband who makes my wishes come true as I look around my house and say “you know, I was thinking…”, and viola it happens! Enjoy your holidays!
Merry Christmas to you and yours! I will never forget your kindness to my 10-year-old daughter, now 38 and the author of two romance novels; you sent her a calendar to replace the one that was lost—she was thrilled! She had collected your cookbooks and loved making cookies and cakes(she also writes about food and translates British cookbooks for the American market).
Although I don’t cook for fun, I love reading your Willis letters and hearing about your new California life. I’ve lived in California for almost forty years now. I grew up in a smallish New Hampshire town and lived in Boston, moving to CA when I met my husband.
I hope you enjoy your first California Christmas!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you, Joe and Jack!
Have a wonderful holiday. Joe did an excellent job on the fireplace.
Susan, you have given me a special gift in the Willard this time. Without being too morbid we have had a rough year, two surgeries, looking after a 93 year old Mother with last stage Parkinson’s and things beyond our control. Christmas has always been my favorite holiday and I just haven’t been in the spirit of things. You cannot imagine my delight in reading your Willard; I just loved every word, every picture, every quotation…and I may read it every day!!! Thank you so much. Merry Christmas and God bless.
Be well Marti, very difficult times,😢 have a lovely Christmas ANYWAY, with all love💞, xoxoxoxo
Love the mantle. When I was moving from a house to an apartment I was delighted to find one with a mantle. Not as deep as yours but added some interest to the room. What an honour to be interviewed by the Beatrix Potter society. Curious, do you like the art of Tasha Tudor?
Very much …. she’s another one I didn’t come to until late in life and still need to do some investigation!👏👏👏
So glad you now have a mantle! I love having a fireplace. If I had to move to another house that didn’t have one I would definitely add a fake one! A fireplace adds so much character!
Wonderful to have a handy husband!
Oh Susan–you are such a special person–the drawings, the videos, the house, your beloved Joe, and that awesome mantle he made for you! Thank You for sharing your life, your home, your loves , or inspirations–not to mention that wonderful Jack! I have loved you forever and will continue to love you forever–you are such a special couple—Merry Christmas to you and yours!!!
I’m so glad you have a fireplace again! Jack is looking very distinguished and in charge as usual!
I enjoy reading your Willard when it pops into my inbox. It makes me smile and feel good. Thanks for the best therapy ever. Merry Christmas.
Thank you for this Willard. I so enjoy them! The homemade mantle is wonderful and such a good idea (even if you didn’t have the idea first :). I’m looking around for a place to put one! Thank you for the Beatrix Potter info–she is fascinating and was a wonderful talent! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and your family!! I’m looking forward to a very happy 2026!
I am so glad to receive this Williard! I am sorry I missed the calendars which are sold out! Any chance of one more for me? I got two small ones ordered! Love to you and plan to order more of your lovely things soon.
What a wonderful mixture of coziness and extra warmth, yet the flowers and gardens give hope for Spring here in Maine. Merry Christmas to you and your family.
Happy Christmas to Everyone.
L xxxx
I enjoy your blog posts so much, Susan. This December one certainly gives a boost to my holiday cheer. Enjoy the Winter Solstice! I’m sure you will. Love to Jack from our cat family, thirteenth year old littermates Holly and Birch. You might have guessed they came to us in December. Birch was going to be Noel, but it didn’t fit him. He needed a handsome and strong name.
Looking at your lawn of sweet alyssum reminded me of what my lawn now looks like now in New York, however mine is the real deal, snow, so when you start missing that frosty look just gaze out your window and enjoy. What a treasure your Joe is and great looking too. He is so talented and willing to join you in a shared project. You are the brains and he is the brawn, a winning combination. Your fireplace came out perfect, I think I would leave it up permanently and decorate it throughout the year, it fits the room so why not enjoy it year round. Wishing you both a Merry Christmas and a Happy Healthy New Year. I will now go make a cup of tea get cozy on the couch and watch one of my favorite movies ,Miss Potter with Renee Zellweger. The perfect winter combo. Be sure to soak up some sun for us girlfriends who have to deal with snowy winters. Love you Susan !
❌⭕️❌⭕️❌⭕️
Merry Christmas Sue, Joe, and dear Jack!
You will not believe it! I have a “Joe” too, well, he’s Nick.
Better than Saint Nick really. I wanted to see the Rose Parade
forever, so last year Nick made it happen ! This year we’re taking
my Mother who is 84 and has wanted to see the parade in person
her whole life!
Nick likes making magic for people! ❤️
He also started planning a trip for us this year on the Queen Mary!
How cute is that?!
CUTE♥️♥️♥️
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Sitting here in the stillness of the Missouri Ozarks, sipping my coffee and reading your current Willard. It’s always such a pleasant surprise to discover it in my email. Thank you for the joy your emails always bring. 🙂
Thank you for sharing your wonderful self with each of us. Merry Christmas!
The joy of a Willard on a cold Ohio morning! We’re expecting a snowstorm. Quintessential Christmastime joy! What wonderful gifts you’re gifting to lucky someones. The “Home for Christmas” book reminds me of my first homesick Christmas away from family (2018) when I was missing them so. I sent a copy of that book to each of my siblings, with special Christmas memories of childhood. I’m sure each book arrived to them with some dried tears on the pages. Family is everything, and family memories are the bow on the package of a happy life.
Merry Christmas to all!
Kathy
Beautiful mantle and arrangements! Thank you for the inspiration. Appreciate the suggestions and resources.
Merry Christmas and a Happy, Healthy 2026!
I love your new mantle, so creative and adds that wonderful homey feeling.
Hi Susan! I love the fireplace! Great job, Joe! We moved 2 years ago to a smaller place and I really miss my mantle.
Thank you for the lovely update. It’s a pleasure reading your stories.
Have a very Merry Christmas!
It makes me happy whenever I see that you have another Willard out. So, I make some time, sit back, relax and read … thanks!
The mantel looks amazing! We have snow and very cold temps in Maine. Although we don’t have a fireplace, we have a wood stove to keep us warm and cozy!! Merry, merry! Cozy season is here!
The mantel is a big success and looks wonderful. Thank you for all you do to inspire us. Merry Christmas to you and your family.
Merry Christmas! Thanks for the Willard.
Merry Christmas! Such an inspirational Willard! I so enjoy all of them. Thank you!
Susan,you always make me feel at home with your Willards. You took your new home, and made it with love, so much like your old home. And I bet you miss the snow but probably not the cold! I have a mantle in what is now my guest room. My daughter wanted a mantle, so her Dad found 1 and put it up for her. She even painted a little fire on the wall, and then made a border around it. I love it. I wish you and Joe the Merriest little Christmas and all the hope for a good new year.
I love, love, love your fireplace! Perfect idea from you and perfect workmanship from Joe. A house NEEDS a mantle and now you have one. When we moved into our New England home many years ago, one reason we bought it was the floor to ceiling fieldstone fireplace, stones right out of the garden (and the stones just keep coming:) by the way). But there was no mantle. Crazy. I went right out and shopped lumber yards til I found an eight-foot rustic beam which I stained to match the fieldstone. My husband, another willing and talented helpmeet, installed it. It’s the focal point of the room, just like yours. Merry Christmas, Susan!
I love your blog posts! Thanks for always reminding us of silver linings! Merry Christmas!
I am a Beatrix Potter fan also and collect many of her books. I even have her needlepoint book which I hope to try to stitch one of her designs. thank you for the drawing.!
Merry Christmas! I love your new mantle and reading your Willard’s! I have a gas fireplace without a mantle and it’s so frustrating. Unfortunately, my husband, Cliff, is not a handy guy like your Joe! Hope you both have a great Christmas and New Year! Thanks, DeAnne
Dearest Susan,
Here I sit in the early morning hour reading your Willard in California. I always like to read it in the quiet hours of the world. It is my little treat time. I am always inspired and love connecting to a special moment out there where you love things that are old, have meaning, bring back sweet memories, and bring a smile to me. My grandmother started me on a collection of green depression glass and taught me how to refinish furniture. I have grown to be intrigued by Beatrix Potter and just recently watched again Miss Potter. I am hoping to instill a love for her and her work in our granddaughters. Thanks for sharing your Christmas world with all of us. Have a Blessed Christmas!
Joe is a true blue treasure! Please give him a wrap-a-round hug from all of us!
Hello, Jack! What does he think of all the holiday hullabulloo?
The mirrors would make me pause, too. As light reflectors though they are magnificent.
What birds are you seeing this time of year at your feeders? Do you have avian migration visitors or does the climate mean year-round residents?
May you and your loved ones have a blessed Christmas holiday and a new year 2026 of good health, new adventures and enjoyable experiences!
Dear Susan,
Your thoughtfully put together Christmas Treasurers Would make any one of your fans pleased!
I would be most pleased if you chose me!
Thank you for all the goodness that you have given to us through the years.
Merry Christmas to you, Joe and all your helpers.
Ethel
It is so uplifting to read your Willard and share in your life journey. Thank you for bringing us along. The mantlepiece is extraordinary! May you create many new memories in front of it. Many blessings!
Thanks for sharing your projects on how to make a not-as-naturally-Charming setting into “home”. I’m still waiting to find my own Joe, please send any advice 😉
Merry Christmas to both of you! 🎅🏻🎄😘
Joe is a true blue treasure! Please give him a hug from all of us!
Hello, Jack! What does he think of all the holiday hullabulloo? His expression reminds me of Fred Astaire in a tux, poised with a cane and about to dance across a stage.
The mirrors would make me pause, too. As light reflectors though they are magnificent.
What birds are you seeing this time of year at your feeders? Do you have avian migration visitors or does the climate mean year-round residents?
May you and your loved ones have a blessed Christmas holiday and a new year 2026 of good health, new adventures and enjoyable experiences!
Love reading about your life and seeing it in pictures!
Merry Christmas, Susan!
I am one of the lucky ones to have several handwritten notes from you from many years ago which I will treasure forever! I,too, am a fan of Beatrix Potter and have a copy of that interactive journal. Also, copies of more than a few of your books, all loved and to be kept forever!
Such merry mirth and beauty you have created! Thanks for inspiration and solace at the same time. Wishing you and Joe a peaceful holiday season. Happy solstice! -KL
It makes my day when a new Willard comes out! I am going to print the 2026 Moon bookmark right now! I always use it in my new journal for the year. When I was a little girl me and my Grandma always looked to see if there was a full moon. I look forward to this bookmark every year! You and Joe have a beautiful, happy, and blessed holiday season!
I would just like to say to you ~ Thank you for being there. Your Willards are always filled with a lovely, warm hug with every read! I greatly appreciate you and your positive outlook and sweet, funny and soul-lifting attitude are something everyone should aspire to. I wish you and yours all the very best of everything for the holidays and the coming New Year and beyond.
Merry Christmas from sunny San Diego! Thank you always brightening my day!!
Susan, it is always a delight to read your Willard! Thank you for the gift of your wonderful words and charming illustrations! Warmest wishes for a very merry Christmas and a new year filled with adventures!
Such a nice post to read this morning, Susan. Wishing you and Joe a Merry Christmas and a happy new year!
God bless, Kathy in Illinois
It felt like getting a Christmas present when I saw the new Willard in my email. I am late in finding your blog. But I love it am always looking to see something new from you. Have a Merry Christmas
I love the mantel! It really is perfect for that space! I have yet to decorate. Maybe this week
I love that fireplace! So very clever! And Santa will know what to do!
Merry Christmas to you and yours!
This post is so welcomed on this cold Saturday morning in Virginia! The warmth that springs from the page is such a blessing! My heart was kind of heavy after a break up, but reading here, like always, sparks joy and creativity in my soul. Thank you so much for sharing yourself with all of us! Merry, merry Christmas!
If it helps, I wrote a book about my own break up and what came from it . . . It’s called Martha’s Vineyard Isle of Dreams, and I wrote it for everyone feeling the loose ends that come with an unwanted major departure from life plan. The book will show you very much hope for the future; in a nutshell, be sure to put things on your calendar, things to look forward to …the past will still be there for you to deal with later, but the sooner you’re off living your new life, the sooner you will heal and begin to look at what happened as a gift. xoxoxoxo
Merry Christmas! Loved your Willard
Oh Susan what a great interview with the site of Beatrix Potter!
I was born in 1948 and I first heard of the story of Beatrix Potter when I was on holiday in the UK with my friend/ later my husband. I saw the little books and loved these and bought the little book of Peter Rabbit and a small round metal box I still use for Christmas with Peter Rabbit on top.
I was a kindergarden teacher and every I was telling the children a storm and there was a drawing at the blackbord. When our children were born i did the same to them .Our second son is called Peter…
Enjoy your fireplace– it’s beautiful!
Merry Christmas to you both and and such a great give away 🍀🌟🍀
xoxoxo