Hello All!

Sue with cookies

You know how you have a party and as you are picking up after it you sort of hang everything you find on yourself? Well, that's what I was doing the morning after our cookie exchange when my sister ran and got the camera to take this charming, delightful photo of me with beautiful hair and in jammie outfit. I think it's quite festive, and somewhat perfect for the season, since it's just between us. I'm sure you have "Lucy Ricardo" pictures of yourself that look just like this! (Tell me you do.)heart

Holly

If you opened this email with an eye to find out WHAT'S NEW, then scroll directly to the bottom of the page and there it is -- if not, here I go ...

Holly

Girl with bowl

Almost Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukah, Kwanzaa, and there seems to be some kind of huge glitch in our economy, which I for one, do not understand! Nevertheless, I don't know why, but I sort of like the challenge -- I honestly feel better when I save and recycle. Eating the refrigerator naked and not wasting food is my new quest. I've always loved this quote, reminds me of my Mom who always reminded us of the starving children when we wouldn't eat our vegetables:

Quote

Just reading this makes me feel more sturdy inside. We can handle this; we can handle anything. The only thing we really need to do is to keep a closer eye on our neighbors and make sure everyone is OK, because they aren't going to want to tell us if things are going wrong. There's always someone a little worse off than us. Which is awful to think about, especially at this time of year.

Count your blessings

So I've thought a lot about the holidays this year. I've done Christmas every which way I could think of -- Sue with her familylooking for the perfect balance between getting ready for it, and enjoying it. What turns out to be the most fun for me is all the little things; and they require TIME, for family, for friends, for spirit, and for community. None of the rest of it hardly matters at all. A heart full of peace matters, love matters, Christmas carols matter. Cookies matter. Watching Cary Grant, Loretta Young, and David Niven in The Bishop's Wife matters.heart

It's Christmas in the heart that puts Christmas in the air.

Mug

Reading

And another thing, tradition matters; I need to sit in front of my fireplace, with the tree lights on and my Grandma's nap blanket on my lap, and listen to Dean, Nat, and Frank sing carols, while I write in my diary. I've been doing that since I was 10 and it wouldn't be Christmas without it for me.

Holly

As for gifts, it's really the thoughtful things I love, a book, or some organic tea that has little rosebuds in it, or best of all, something someone made. More difficult these days with Bag of cookieshow hard we're all working, but anyone can bake a little loaf of tea bread, bake a tin of cookies, tie it up with ribbon and present it with the recipe card tied to it. That's a present I would love! And a child would just love a little bit of someone's TIME, maybe they can help you cook!heart

Bread

Stocking

Even in the book Little Women, no matter how deep the snow, no matter how hard the times, with the father away fighting in the war and Marmee having to do everything, and even with Beth getting sick, they managed to keep their Christmas bright. Mostly by giving it away to others. So we know it can be done. Because joy comes from inside, and we are what we think we are. And that's my wish for you and a very happy holiday season -- you can start it off with a Cookie Exchange of your own -- Choose your favorite recipes from our COOKIE JAR! And you can forward our Cookie Jar to your friends for an early, and very inexpensive, holiday gift.

Holly

So to answer the question everyone always wants to know:

WHAT'S NEW?:

We have some of the most wonderful "Little Things" in our WEB STORE -- we really tried hard to gather together thoughtful, useful gifts that help you show you care, because we know you doSue with Santa. Everything from signed Heart of the home BOOKS and CALENDARS, to darling applique SEWING KITS you can make your gifts with. Of course we have RECIPE CARDS, and adorable CHILDREN'S HOLIDAY APRONS, plus all our new NOTECARDS and greeting card assortments, and way too much more to try and write here . . . so it's SURF CITY for you, and remember, they just discovered that surfing the net is GOOD FOR YOUR BRAIN!!! (I love it when something I actually like to do turns out to be GOOD for you! Shocking. )

Binder of recipes

But the biggest excitement for us today is our brand new RECIPE SCRAPBOOK. You're going to love this -- mainly because it's NOT scrapbook origami (sometimes the kits are so complicated I get scared!), but this one is a piece of cake; everything you need is there, papers, stickers, all in a darling book, for you to collect your Grandma's recipes, or your own and make a keepsake gift to last through the generations.

Christmas book

W

e also got in a new shipment of CHRISTMAS MEMORIES, my 5-year Christmas Scrapbook -- perfect for a young family, this spiral-bound book holds 5 years of your Christmas memories: 5 years of photos of your tree, 5 years of letters to Santa, 5-years of Christmas Dinner menus, 5-years of your children under the tree . . . and much more -- even 5 years of New Year's Resolutions. Another true keepsake book to last through the generations, my absolute favorite kind.

Salutation