Family Surprise!

I surprised my family for my birthday in December...

I know that is backward, but that is how we roll around here.

Seattle, Washington

Our very favorite singing group was performing in Seattle and we HAD to go! 

Well, I HAD TO GO! So, I decided to take them with me. 

Our son and I worked it out so that he could stay at home for a few days after Thanksgiving

and then fly back to college from Seattle after the concert (cheap flight!)

We were so excited!

 

The Tenors, formerly the Canadian Tenors, have been a favorite of ours since the 

first time we saw them in October of 2009. 

Hubby, Son and Daughter*4

Our son, who is very musical, was not able to attend that performance and he was so disappointed. The next concert I took the girls to was while he was on his mission in Brazil. So, when I figured out we could actually make this work,  he was very happy!

Daughter*4 did not know about the trip until that morning. She woke up to get ready for school, and I told her to go back to bed, we had a surprised planned for my birthday. I had made arrangements with the school and her coach and everything was set. I had surprised her one other time with tickets to their concert, so when I told her about the surprise she said, "Really..? Is is what I THINK it is....REALLY!??!" I nodded my head and she freaked out a little jumping up and down and said  "You are so awesome, Mom! Thank you! I am so excited!", hugged me and got back into bed to sleep longer.

If you are not familiar with The Tenors music, 

they are Pop Opera. It is like four Josh Grobans...

Four handsome guys in Armani suits,

amazing harmonies, classy performances, their songs are all uplifting, their show is entertaining, clean and fun. Their music literally
brings me to tears, it is so beautiful. 

Here is a link to one of my favorite songs of

The Tenors

Of course, I could add their complete repetoire here,

they are SO wonderful, and even better in concert!

When we saw them in concert that first time,

I was in the beginning of an anxiety time,

This song was a real inspiration to me over the next five months of recovery.

I almost gave them a standing ovation on this opening number of their concert. 

We had great seats and just absorbed in all the music. It was their Christmas Concert and it really got us in the Christmas Spirit.

We have their Christmas CD, The Perfect Gift, and it was really hard to NOT sing along as they sang. 

We have been fortunate that after each concert the circumstances were just right that we have been able to visit with

the group. And after this concert, we were able to

visit with them again!

 

Daughter *4, now 17, got to visit with Clifton Murray, she was smitten by him after the first concert

when he spoke with her in a very charming manner, she was 13 at that time, and personalized her CD.

She was ecstatic!

This is our Son speaking Portuguese with Remigio Pereira, 

they both talk with their hands!

We were able to share some of our  Sheffield Sparkling Cider with them,
we have another time as well, and they were very appreciative. Fraser Walters, the one I am standing by, asked about the farm and the cider, they are interested in their fans and such appreciative performers.

Daughter*4 was in heaven in the center of all those handsome men!
Victor Micallef, the Tenor with the hat, has an amazing opera trained voice,
they teasingly refer to him as "Pipes" because he can really get the notes out there
in such a beautiful way.

Their newest CD, "Lead With Your Heart", came out last year and we
love it as much as the other two. "The Canadian Tenors", their first CD, is also wonderful.
They sing in English, French and Italian and it is all so thrilling!
As you see, I cannot say enough good about them.
If you love all genres of music, try listening to this group.
You will be impressed.

One of my favorites from the "Lead With Your Heart" album, is
"Anchor Me".

The first time I really listened to the CD,
I listened to the song for about an hour so I could learn the melody and lyrics.
It brings me such comfort, and I open my heart and voice and
sing it out...in the car, of course! And I cry.

It was a GREAT BIRTHDAY present to share with my family!

I hope you have music you love to listen to that touches your heart and fills your soul
with the Love for God, Love for self, and Love for Family.

Love is all you can take with you.
Feel it and offer it to all you get the chance to.

Life if so much more full when filled with Love.

Hugs to you,
BETSY

15th Annual Christmas Tradition ~ Part Two and Giveaway

Welcome back! 

Continuing.....

SonIL*2 creating...he is an excellent artist
and very creative!

Daughter*4 enjoying candy and watching
BroIL fix her wire...What are they making???

Look at what they made!!!!

They were trying to out do themselves after the carousel last year. I would say they succeeded!

Hubby's Mom decided to go easy and made an igloo out of Mini Marshmallows.

I love the teeny tiny marshmallows I got for hot chocolate, but they decided to use them as snowballs
in decorating their Cottages!

I decided that I deserved a pre-made gingerbread house kit after all these years of being such a fun mom

so here is my rendition this year. Usually I just get a kick out of all of theirs.

Just a plain old plain old, but it was fun.

And my hubby??? What was HIS Christmas ... hmmm....  

what would I refer to it as...oh, ... structure!

This didn't take him hardly any time at all to make... 

Was he cheating?? And what is it?

Look closely at the above Picture and if you can guess correctly what it is....

I will send you one of what is in the picture in the mail this week!

He is a sneaky guy when he makes stuff...

**shaking my head**,  but I did laugh and think it was very clever!!! 

Leave a comment below and your guess at what it is....I will contact the winner on Friday and 

get it in the mail to you right away! 

 Here is our completed "Cracker Christmas Village".

It sits on top of our computer armoire. I haven't told you about the armoires... oh boy, what a story!

And that lovely candelabra on the right is a birthday gift to me from my kids!

I will have to tell you about that too!

Too many stories and I take too long telling them!

Hope to be here more often posting.

hugs and Christmas Cottage love,

Betsy

15th Annual Christmas Tradition ~ Part One

I have been a busy bee and have taken lots of pictures, but have not done any blog posts!

 I will begin with Thanksgiving weekend, and eventually post about

the other things! I am sure you can tell what we have done every Christmas for

all these years, and now there is no getting out of it.

Daughter*3 and her roommate, who was here for Thanksgiving.

Hubby, explaining why he shouldn't be in trouble
for his VERY easy project...

Daughter *3

First, we plan and plot, and see what we can make differently
than what we have done before.

I always wonder what everyone will come up with.
I never cease to be amazed at what they decide to make.

A "Pine Tree House"...can you tell???

Sometimes, they don't look anything like what they are supposed to be, and other times you can tell exactly what it is!

Daughter*2 

And other times,
we are just feeling tired and just stick with what we
do best... Christmas Cottages.

We aren't like everyone else,
we don't use gingerbread cookie pieces,  we are lazy and just like to use Graham Crackers to make our  "Cracker Christmas Village".

When we started making these, our oldest was 14 and the youngest was 18 months and it just made sense to
make them easy and doable.

My MILaw has been a cake
decorator for years.  We use her Royal Icing Recipe because it dries hard and holds the houses together
 very well. This started out as a Grandma and Grandpa time with our family.  It has been so much fun!  I was having extreme anxiety the Christmas my MILaw suggested it and I just felt sick about doing it. It was overwhelming.  But she bought and brought the stuff, and it was great for the kids.

It has become a tradition and even the years I have had anxiety we have still done it.
Candy lasts forever, as long as you don't want to EAT it!!!

 

and her "Christmas Cottage".

We have had many cracker things built through the years...my hubby comes up with the most ....a....clever.... ;) things to make.
One year, it was an outhouse, with a Nerds banana on the side, for the moon on the outhouse...
One year it was a cliff tent, hanging with a string of lights on the outside...
SILaw*1 made a tank one year,...you can tell he works for the Army! SIL*2 and Daughter*4 made a carousel with swedish fish and molded starburst candies as the animals.
We have had a log cabin made from pretzels,
complete with a fireplace and smoke coming out of the chimney.We have had a sled with marshmellow snowmen riding it. We even had a mobile home that looked about like the one we used to live in. A candy necklace was used as the lights around the roof of the trailer.
Once, we had a "Mansion" that collapsed from the  weight of all the frosting and the treats on the roof... It was very hilarious! but you had to be here to understand why it was so funny...

Our only Son

Our son returned from a two year mission in Brazil for our church this last August, and it was so much fun having him here to create with us instead of just sending him the pictures.

He was the "Mansion" architect all those years ago, and still is pretty creative on his projects for the Graham Cracker houses.

We all love music, but he plays the most instruments of anyone in the family,  so what do you think HE made....
"A Baby Graham Piano"

ha, ha, ha....





I bought this vinyl tablecloth a few years ago, on special after christmas,  so we could have a festive easy clean up for our event.

It makes a great backdrop for the pictures. I wish I would have taken pictures each year, I don't know what I was thinking. I will be taking them from now on, however.



One of my nieces came to our home for Thanksgiving because she could drive here with our kids the 650 miles, and she didn't have to purchase a plane ticket to go home back east. It was wonderful spending time with her. Her parents, her mom is my sister, introduced me to my hubby. When I was in high school, they lived across the road from where we built our house. Her father's family also lives here so she was able to visit with them.

Niece from Kentucky

Didn't she make a cute little house?

This was supposed to be a quick post.... yeah right, I have much to learn...

Okay, it is so confusing on my template right now, I will have to make a Part Two!! Hopefully you'll follow over!  When I get it posted I will add a link HERE to take you to Part Two!

Happy Christmas Cottages to you!
Hugs,
Betsy

My Talented Friend!

My amazing Mom in law is so much fun!

She is a wonderfully talented woman who has been so willingly to patiently teach me 

how to do so many things!

She made and decorated our wedding cake 32 years ago, she has made and decorated
hundreds of cakes through the years.

My hubby's niece is getting married in a few weeks and her Bridal Shower was last Saturday.
I helped MomIL put these adorable tiny wedding dresses and frosting borders
on the sheet cakes she made for the shower. My hubby's nephew's wife is an
artist and she drew the shape of the dresses for
MomIL to use as a pattern.

MomIL put parchment paper over the drawn patterns and then used a Royal Icing
to form the outside of the dresses. She filled them in and used a
heart shape to make the bodice of the dress.

Then she piped the sleeves, the sleeve ruffles, the ruffles at the "hem" of the dress,
and added a soft pink frosting bow. 

Aren't these just so sweet?  

Her borders around each piece are so perfect. . .

Mine, however, are NOT perfect. I need more practice. She was kind enough to say, "They don't all have to be perfect, they just need to all look the same." DO NOT look too closely at mine! They aren't all the same! I even took some off and did them again! I should have redone more of them!

She is so fun to make things with. She always encourages me... And lifts my spirits.
I do not know what I would do without her!

Because of her encouragement, I have learned to sew more accurately,
learned patience in hand stitching quilts, patience in making bread, learned to not
give up on myself when I needed to rip out that seam AGAIN! Many times she would rip it out for me, and by then I would be more calm and could continue again without cutting the project into pieces!

She has also taught me, it is alright to recognize when enough is enough! 

A few weeks ago I asked about a project she was knitting. 

Her answer..."Oh, I threw it away! I was so tired of trying to fix it, 

I had just had enough and threw it out!" 

She has done that more than once through the years!!! 

It makes me laugh and feel so much better about myself!  

We were laughing and talking to Daughter *3 when we took this picture.
She said, " I look terrible!" And I said, "Well, so do I and I don't want to look bad alone!"
So here we are happily looking "terrible" together.
She is a very classic woman, she always looks dressy, she even wears nylons with her jeans!

So, this was a Betsy Inspired picture....just smile and we can look great another time! 

She is my dear, dear friend. I am so grateful to have her as a Mother! 

And so grateful for all she has taught me and the patience she has shown me.

Love to you, Mom E.!

If you notice when I comment on your posts, that is also the name that shows up 

with my picture. She is MY Mom E.!

Make frosting dresses sometime, it's kinda like paper dolls! Only sweeter!

Hugs to you all!!

Betsy

This Week's Projects!

I have had lots of fun, and learned much working on things for the spring play 

Daughter*4 is participating in next week....

Here is a "CLUE" about the play. . .

Since I am the Parent of a Drama student who is also a "FREAK Decorator",

I have again appointed myself the Set Decorator for the play.

**shaking head and rolling eyes at self**

The play will be performed in the School cafeteria and will be decorated to

 look like a "French Cafe" 

with the audience seated around the "Stage" table where the Play happens.

It is a cute play and will be fun to watch.

So, I have been gathering and planning and printing and cutting and glueing and 

sewing, and painting and painting and reformatting and reprinting...

My brain and my hands hurt! But I am excited. It has been and will be fun! 

I really enjoy helping with things, I just drive myself and others, including my family crazy with my perfectionism! Hopefully, I can get over that and everyone will be more relaxed around here!

I will post tpictures of the play next week and include the decor and the Menus. It has been fun doing these!

Daughter*3 is Graduating From College this weekend! 

Good Work, Girl!

YOU ROCK!!!

Lots going on around here!

Have a Great week and weekend!!

Heart hugs to you all!

Betsy

Merry Christmas!

Silent Night Lullaby

Sleep little Baby, sweet little Baby,

The sky is alight with one star shinging brightly.

The air's filled with music, a song on the breeze.

All nature in harmony echoes the peace,

And the angels of heaven are singing Thy praise...

So, slumber, my sweet Little Baby.

 (oops!!)

~ The composer is actually Darren Major

A version of this sheet music can be found at 
https://www.quarternote.club/christmas

It does not, however, have the two part descant that the 
original version he wrote had on it. 

I am so sorry I had the wrong composer on there until today! 
October 20, 2019!!

"And there were in the same country shepherds, 

abiding in their fields and watching over their flocks by night.

And Lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them,

and the Glory of the Lord shown 'round about them,

and the angel said unto them,

"FEAR NOT! for behold I bring you good tidings

of great joy which shall be to all people!

For unto YOU is born this day, in the City of David,

a Savior, which is Christ the Lord..."

"And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of

heavenly hosts praising God and saying,

"GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST! 

and on earth peace....good will toward men"

Family Traditions hold us and carry us, remind us and renew us. My birth family tradition that has become my own family's Christmas Tradition is Christmas Caroling on Christmas Eve. I have done it as long as I can remember and my family cannot do without it....it is as much a part of us as breathing....

We love to sing and harmonize the songs celebrating the birth of the Savior and once again tonight we enjoyed it, even though there were few of us. I love my sister, and her family who we go with each year that we are together. And our harmonies are much more beautiful with all of us together. 

The verse at the top is sung simultaneously with "Silent Night" and it is a beautiful arrangement that we sing every Christmas. Tonight I was priveledged to recite this section of scripture, the full extent of it, while my family and extended family hummed in 3 part harmony the second verse to Silent Night. My father always recited it when I was growing up, but if I could learn it "by heart", he said he would let me recite it while caroling. So, I worked hard to please my father and he allowed me to recite it. I have been able to recite it ever since. After my father passed away in 1993, my family let me be the one to recite it while Christmas Caroling. In turn, my son memorized it and has been able to recite it, at about the age of 8 he started doing that. This year, at the age of 20, he is on a mission to tell the people of Brazil about Jesus Christ and the difference His life and atonement can make in their lives. He has had the opportunity to recite these scriptures during the second verse of Silent Night in Portuguese. He loves music and sharing his testominy of the Savior. 

I am so grateful for my Father, for my Son, for my Heavenly Father and for His Son, Jesus Christ. I am grateful to be blessed with a love of music, and a desire to praise the Lord of heaven and earth with song!

Happy Christmas to you and yours! May the songs of Christmas tug and tighten your heartstrings around you and your loved ones, blood family or adopted family. And may we tie ourselves to God and our Savior, Jesus Christ, who loved us first!

Christmas Hearts to You,

Betsy

Memories of Christmases Past

 I have been thinking about Christmases past. . .

A gorgeous snowy night walking downtown in a large city with

my arm around the love of my life.... It was romantic...

 Visiting a Castle and looking over the surrounding landscape...

I was in awe....

 The details in the decor at EVERY Christmas Market

were so amazing to me...

 Walking on snowy roads from market to market in the moonlight,

holding hands with my Hubby,

watching most of our children walking ahead of us

having a fabulous time in the freezing cold December weather

and loving every minute of it, yet missing the family

members unable to be there with us.

(For some reason, my camera decided to flip out and the above picture is what I got...

I thought is was pretty neat for an accidental picture. After that night, it wouldn't work correctly, but I love this picture and distinctly remember  where I was standing and how magical it all felt to me.)

I just kept pinching myself....I couldn't believe I was there.

From the day we landed in Frankfurt until the day we left,

we enjoyed the feeling of a Christmas 

in Germany with loved ones. 

These pictures are of ONE of the wonderful Christmas Seasons of my life....

There have been 52, all different and all full of wonder,

if not wonderful.....and full of Gratitude for family,

for music rejoicing in the Celebration of the Savior's Birth,

for Love, for gifts seen and unseen,

for another year of growth and learning 

and for the blessing of The Savior of the World in my life.

This Nativity was placed near the Visitors Center by the

Frankfurt, Germany Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

The grounds were snowy and beautifully lighted, 

and focused on Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Christmas begins with Christ

May may we invite Him into our lives every day of every year.

My heart is full from many wonderful memories of

Christmases Past...

and so full of Hope for Future Christmases because of whose birth

We Celebrate!

Hugs from My Heart to your Heart,

Betsy

PERFORMANCE!

My baby girl, 16 year old Daughter*4, played the part of Gabriella Montez in "High School Musical" for their.......High School Musical! The performances were before Thanksgiving, and I was involved with that and haven't been on the blog since!





My daughter is on the right of the picture. Her best girlfriend was asked to play the part of a female basketball player because they needed more "singers" on the "team". She did a great job with the guys. They do lots of things together. They sing and laugh and play volleyball and do what teenager girls do. They love each other like sisters...which is nice for my youngest to have a "sister" that lives near her... And I have fun with them. She calls me Mom E. since that is who I am!

I was privileged to be the Stage Mom.  I helped with things from decorations, to applying make up. It was a great time for everyone. Some of these kids I have known for most of their lives, but I was able to get to know more of her friends better. It was a blast! She has lots of good influence friends, the kind a Mom likes! It was a great group of kids with a variety of backgrounds, some of them probably would not have gotten to know each other if they had not been in the musical, but they were all happy they were in it together, just like the musical talks about. They will be friends for life now.

My heartstrings were bursting with Joy as I watched my "baby" girl sing on stage and play a part very well. She is talented, fun, intelligent, beautiful and most importantly kind. I am glad she is my daughter and friend. I was so happy to be able to be a support to her and her cast members and the teachers who directed the kids in the play.  They all did a fantastic job!

 I helped the Drama Teacher by adding florals and greenery to the stage. She brought a few from home and I brought the rest. My hubby always teases me saying, "They can use it, but they can't bring it back!"

GO WILDCATS!!!

Hearts to you,
Betsy