Feeling very silly today! Must be because it’s Friday and we are planning some fun this weekend. Plus, I came downstairs this morning and noticed
. . . that Joe has been decorating. ♥
Despite the silliness, I have rather a serious subject to discuss with you.
OK, here goes: I have a very difficult request to make of you. It’s something I thought I would never say in my life, EVER. It’s actually against everything I stand for. 🙂 I’ve been so torn as to whether or not to even bring it up; I’ve racked my brain to think of a good way to do it. I’ve written it six ways from Sunday and I’ve come to the conclusion, there is no good way to say this without sounding like I’m looking a gift horse in the mouth, the opposite of gratitude, which is the way I truly feel: Grateful. But I have to do it, so taking a deep breath (as I said a paragraph ago but chickened out), here goes.
Please, darling wonderful creative people, don’t send me any more presents. I said it. That wasn’t so bad. It feels like a terrible thing to say for more reasons than one — you send me darling things! What am I thinking? But it’s gotten to be too much to handle. Joe is in line every day at the post office waiting for the man to give him the packages, he’s beginning to give me the evil eye about it. He’s a doll, but he has his limits, which are now overwhelmed with boxes.
You should know that the greatest gift you can give me is when you comment, share, and are a part of this blog. That’s what I love best. You inspire me! You give me gifts every day when you do that! Plus, by freeing up my P.O. Box, you give me the gift of time, which is the greatest gift of all (as the Gladys Taber quote above says). ♥ XOXO 
And these girls are what our weekend will be all about . . . This is Eliza and Maggie, coming from New Hampshire today! Aren’t they darling? So off I go, to finish getting everything ready for them.
What I love about this season is the colors, the twinkling lights, coming in from the cold, to the warm kitchen filled with cookie smells, pine tree smells, our walks out to the water in the morning, crackling fires, candlelight, secrets, jingle bells, all the old movies on TV. . . they get my heart going pitter-patter.
Martha makes Gingerbread Houses every year; she’s a Gingerbread House artiste, has made castles out of gingerbread — she gallantly volunteered her time to our local kitchen shop to give us a basic lesson on how it’s done. 
She’s made Gingerbread Houses with Annalee, the daughter of our friend Annette, for the last three years! Annalee is now an expert too.
Martha wrote this little How-to Book.
It’s so much fun to watch . . . They made it look easy! I really don’t think you could make a mistake that would actually matter!! These two girls were so cute, I wanted to make a Christmas decoration out of them and put them on my tree. 
They made 
Afterwards, we decided to walk through town so I could take pictures to show you. Rainy Day is famous for the painted snow globe they create in their window every year. 
I know lots of you have been to the island and wonder what it looks like during the Holiday season. So here you go: that’s Claudia’s on the right, looking up past Jane’s store, The Beach House; and then across the street to Gerda’s, Timeless Treasures.
Fred Fisher brings his sweet faced horses and wagon into town and takes people for rides; they clip-clop down Main Street to the ferry and up Beach Road, sleigh bells ringing.
Emily goes all-out decorating the windows in her darling vintage shop called Mix.
Just past Mix, there’s the harbor and the ferry.
I bought this rose yesterday, just one, big enough to handle a whole room with all that gorgeous color! Couldn’t resist taking a picture. Couldn’t resist giving it to you! 
This morning after I discovered that the storm we were having had blown the kitchen door wide open, freezing me all the way to my studio, I turned up the heat, and made myself a toasted English muffin. I slathered it with homemade marmalade that Rachel brought with her when she came from England for Thanksgiving (thank you darling Rachel! 
