The wave of Thanksgiving wonderfulness has passed over me, and while you might think I’ve been lying on the couch with a cold cloth over my forehead all week, I’ve just been sucked into a new round of Christmas activities!

But’s let’s go back to Thanksgiving– I prepped as many dishes as I could and stocked two refrigerators with delicious food. I got the house completely buttoned up, right down to my hand stitching nest!

The gang arrived at midnight on Tuesday– and the delights started immediately. There was an early Christmas present for Mr. SFO from our son on a huge trailer– but the lights on the side of the trailer were so bright at night Mr. SFO couldn’t even see anything on it! He kept saying from the windows, “Why did he drive the trailer up here?” I was in on the surprise, and couldn’t contain my laughter. In the morning, the gift was more than visible.

Have you even gotten a really big, expensive gift in your life? I think this tops our list– a pickup truck! Mr. SFO has been wanting one for the farm– our son is a mechanic, bought this one used but with a body in great condition, then put it on a new frame. I am still amazed! I do intend to drive it as well, even though it’s jacked up on huge tires. Imagine the possibilities for fabric shopping– or for draping quilts over it for photography. It’s love at first sight. ❤

From there, the joys just continued on. Our granddaughter, six months old, is a happy little sweetheart and was generous with her smiles. I think she has grandma’s sense of humor; she laughed at all of my jokes. The turkey was the best one I have ever made. The DD had left for her in-laws, but my DIL really stepped up and helped me bring a beautiful dinner across the finish line: turning off the oven when I forgot, removing a steel wool splinter from my hand after I scrubbed a pan, and even whipping up a pumpkin cake I needed for dessert.

On Black Friday, we did some fun shopping at Marden’s and a huge antique store nearby. Nothing was busy because there just aren’t that many people up here! Marden’s is a salvage department store with tremendous inexpensive gifting opportunities. How about this gnome tray for $5?

Or a moose cutting board for $8?

The antique store (60,000 sf) had a fabric section right by the front door– I never got out of it. They had all kinds of vintage sewing machines, old patterns and books, and a few UFO quilt kits (this was a bit of gut punch– will my projects have a similar fate?) There was also quite a bit of older fabric. I got this four yard piece of a Christmas design for $7.

I’m really curious if it is more substantial than the stuff we are buying now– I think many of us suspect the quality is not improving. I get a lot of raveling on the backs of my quilts, do you? I haven’t cut it up yet, but I’m going to Google Images to see if I can pin down the year it was printed. I think it will make a perfect Christmas quilt backing or I could just quilt it as a panel– the blocks are very pretty. We shut down the store and at closing time, one of our guests bought a vintage pair of wooden snowshoes for decoration– in perfect shape. When she got up to the cash register, she called them horse shoes! I think everyone was pretty spent by that time and we all howled with laughter, including the people behind the counter.

The next day, we did more shopping in Farmington. A visit to Farmington is like stepping back in time– someone should film a movie there. Main Street was all decorated with neon white snowflakes. Our first stop was Reny’s– a Maine department store dating from the 1950s that has survived the onslaught of Walmart. (The only chain store I spotted in town was Dunkin Donuts.) Reny’s has lots of local goods at very reasonable prices– great for gift boxes to my family who are really spread out all over the country. There’s also a fabric store in town, a fabulous kitchen store, and bookstores– and a geology store, where I had my picture taken in front of a geode, which someone explained to me later was supposed to look like angel wings. Don’t I look like an angel?

Although freezing– we had ice cream for lunch.
Maine loves ice cream and my favorite shop does not close for the winter, but thank goodness there’s inside seating!

During the visit, productivity did not go by the wayside! Nights were spend crafting–these three diamond painted ornaments from Michael’s were completed by the women in the group for Harlow’s first tree!

On the last morning, we got a beautiful snow storm! The opportunity for Christmas pictures was fantastic. Here is part of the gang, but not everyone was present– I’m going to have to photoshop all of them in!

It didn’t even hurt to say goodbye–as our son observed, we’ll be seeing them all again twice this month. As they pulled out, I couldn’t have been more pleased with how Thanksgiving 2025 went down. Best of all, I was able to keep up with all of the activity. Maybe I’m not aging as badly as I think I am.

As they reached the end of the driveway, I jumped right back into sewing! I got the borders on Ho, Ho, Ho!

The December Tiny Sampler is ready to go– the set of twelve is also bundled and ready for sale at a reduced price. These cute cross stitch designs are ten minute stitch outs and if you have any imagination at all, could be used multiple ways. I’m hoping to have time to make “Jolly” into a little pillow. The first design for January said “2025”– that has now been updated to “2026” and is added to your downloads if your purchased “2025” any time this year. I will be updating that one each year for free, if you buy it, so it will never go out of date.

I also started the “2026” mug rug/journal motif– this design has been going since 2009 and it has its own fan club– I know you’re out there!

Then I started a new project! Haha. That’s not anything new. I did buy Erica Arndt’s Complete Candy Cane Lane set of quilt pattern, ornaments, and cross stitch designs and it’s official– I am, for the first time in my life, loving PINK! It is so funny what a granddaughter will do for you!

Quite a few years ago, in what must have been a strange premonition, I purchased this Brenda Riddle collection– with So. Much. Pink. It is perfect for the quilt.

But first, I’m actually going to make some Christmas stockings using the candy cane blocks for the girls and the tree blocks for the boys– I think they are going to be super cute.

I figured I could use strip piecing to make the candy canes more efficiently– I’m using fat quarters, so out of one strip set, I can make 9 pieces. I’m going to shoot for 9 girl stockings and 9 boy stockings. That might seem to be a lot, but I signed up for a sewing day at my favorite LQS, so we’ll see if I can do it– I’ve been wanting to give out Christmas stockings for years. So far, I have peppermint sticks– aren’t they great!?

For those of you who have to mail Christmas gifts, the last day is December 18th for priority mail, so we have basically two weeks. If it’s not going to happen, there’s always next year and Sugar Meadow maple syrup will be shipping out!

I’m very happy right now– can you tell? I’ve had a bunch of nice finishes in the past couple of months, my family is growing, and there’s no better time to be in Maine than the weeks before Christmas. It’s going to be a busy month and I’m ready to enjoy every minute of it–hope the season has you merry and bright as well!

xox
Carol