Well I was up early so went ahead and opened my SS gifts. WOW thank you Plumbnelly! I got the most beautiful hand painted gourd, a snowman spoon ornament, a Christmas Tree cone, a magazine, and a bag of peach marbles. Here is the photo of my stuff below. As you can see in the background, my newest cat just had to get in the picture. I'm single and live alone with my 3 cats so couldn't include a photo of myself. I tried and tried to wrap their little paws around the camera to take my picture, but they just couldn't do it. LOL Thanks so much for all my beautiful things. I had a great time opening them all. Donna in Florida From Garden

GrandmaBarb, Just loved the pretty little birdhouse and the fantastic garden pointer. How clever you are!! Barb sent me a sign that she had made from an old piece of weathered board on which she had painted the prettiest yellow flowers on the left of the board. On the right of the board she had glued little tiny pointed pinecones in the shape of an arrow with blue jewels along the sides showing the way to the garden. On both the birdhouse and garden sign she had painted Ellens Joy. I am so happy that you were my Secret Santa as you nailed my personality to a tee. Thanks for the time you spent on my gift during this busy time of year. I love it. Ellen

I usually don't do much holiday decorating beyond the tree, but this year I couldn't wait to get started. We're taking a DIY approach and it's more winter decorating than holiday. I was so inspired by the thread on holiday decorating in Colonial Williamsburg. We visited colonial Williamsburg last month, so it was fun to do something sort of in that style. It's something I've never seen here in the PNW. Here's the wreath I made: I have a big wooden pear on my table, so I just decorated around it. My kids helped me pick up the Giant Sequoia pine cones. My girls made paper snowflakes and we put them on all the front windows. I put a garland along the window sill and added some lights, with the idea that it would gently light the snowflakes at night. This is lit just by the bulbs on the garland: I started needle felting recently and I've made a few Christmas ornaments so far. Some of these will go on the tree and some will be given to friends and neighbors. I hope to make a lot more. This post was edited by TheRedHouse on Tue, Nov 26, 13 at 22:54

Finally got to the computer after cleaning and making tea -- thanks to everyone for saying such really nice comments! Makes my heart lighter and brighter! :) Blessings on all of your homes too at this Holiday Season! :) I found the square wreath at Target -- left over from their fall Smith & Hawken sale ...... a lone survivor that needed a home! LOL! It simply followed me home -- along with the wreath on the hallstand's mirror .....