Christmas Tea, the big secret project reveal....

Sit back & relax....it's a VERY long post and deserves all of your undivided attention  :~).

I was up early on Friday (11/30) with lots to do to get ready for my Christmas tea!  I got the mulled cider started in the crockpot before coming downstairs to get my blog out, as well as the minutes from Scrap Happy.  After that I made up 4 runs of homemade Bailey’s, moved all of my food supplies off of the island and into the front bedroom, and set up extra chairs and tables.  

I think I've gotta make a Christmas one of these...right?

Of course this all happened with Michael’s help…including a quick run to the store to get things I had forgotten!!  I got the plates/napkins/silverware all set up on the island, then took a shower and got dressed in time to greet my guests at NOON.  

The food was fabulous:

Of course I TOTALLY forget to get any pictures of the desserts!

I got pictures of most, but not all of the guests....at some point you just have to stop taking pictures and start enjoying the party!

Anne, Linda, Kay

Susie, Barb

Mary Ann, June

newly retired Ellen, Floy

Linda, showing woven gift to weaver Rosalie

June, Mary Jo

Ginny, Barb

Ellen, Sue, Floy

Karen, Martha

Anne, Barb

Sandy, Floy

Connie, Joanne

Linda, Linda, Rosalie

And if the noise level was any indication, it was a fabulous party!!

At the end of the party, I did the big reveal of the secret Christmas present project….Anne M was the recipient and her reaction was even more than I ever could have hoped for  :~).  

reading the card that explains this all started in July!!

Everyone wants their gift to be liked, but Anne said she had never ever felt so special in her entire life…..I think my face hurt from grinning.  Several of the guests who know Anne well commented on the fact that she was absolutely speechless!!  She said she never had the slightest inkling that the secret project was being done for her (YAY!!)  You have no idea how pleased I am that she likde it so much….she even sent me pictures from her house of several of the many places the pillow will ‘live’ over the years….(notice how everything it is sitting on...is PURPLE!!!)

I was absolutely beat after everyone left and sat down with my feet up while my honey totally cleaned up the kitchen.  After that we headed out for a quick doctor’s appointment….Michael’s stress test results indicated that his heart is sound as a drum...thank goodness!  We made a quick library stop on the way home, and I got to snuggle in with a new book and my feet were still up until 6:30 when Candyce & Ralph picked us up for dinner.  We headed to Red Rocks Café and met up with 4 other couples and the 12 of us had a raucously good time until we got home at 10 PM.  We were both kind of done in by then and just read quietly for an hour before bed.  What a FABULOUS day!!!

I thought I'd include a few pictures of the secret project construction:

picking out colors and cutting strips

strips sewn and pressed

adding beads to strips

getting ready to sew

my random number generator sheet to help with placement of the 6 fabrics

starting to sew

tree done, first border on

second border on

thrid border done and zipper in

voila!

An interesting op ed type piece from Dan Rather:

In Watergate, the public originally knew very little about the litany of crimes that would bring down President Nixon. The obstruction of justice, the witness tampering, the lies to federal officials, and all the other grave offenses were topics of speculation until the truth finally came tumbling forth in a burst of revelations.

With President Trump it's quite different. These same charges that cast Nixon into infamy - the obstruction of justice, the witness tampering, the lies - all one really needs for proof is the President's Twitter feed. The truth is hidden (if you want to use that term) in plain sight. Now add all of that other serious criminal concerns around collusion with a foreign power and it seems the President's braziness is his final line of defense. We will see how well that works and how long that lasts. One can feel the vise tightening rather rapidly.

All of this certainly deserves the attention it is getting, but I worry that with the focus on the very serious legal and ethical questions swirling around President Trump and his administration, we are losing a more basic foundation for outrage.

Even without Russia, or the corruption of cabinet members, or emoluments, or the threatening of the DOJ, the President could well be judged as a threat to our democratic institutions. We should be asking, is it presidential to be so divisive, to lie, to denigrate science, to stoke racial animosity, to be distracted, to attack the press, to be uncivil, to lack empathy, to not visit our troops on deployment, and all the other things big and small that separates this president from those who previously held our most exalted political office.

This is a Rorschach Test for what type of mettle we should require of those who would serve as our president. The oversight by our Congress, the scrutiny by the press, and the judgement from our fellow citizens should not be limited to questions of criminal and Constitutional law. That is far too low a bar, nevermind that it is one by which the President seems to be failing.

We need to recognize and remember how a president should behave. When we repair our national fabric, let not the character of President Trump become in any way the mark of the acceptable.