To Andyk: azdreamhome said EXACTLY what I was going to say in response to your original post and the pics of your house! I'm so excited for you and hope this turns out to be everything you hoped for, and more! Congratulations to you and your wife. To everyone: Aren't we glad to have this place to share? My mom ran away from a dismal life on a farm in North Dakota at the age of 18 -- she was the daughter designated to keep house and cook, and was forced to quit school in 8th grade to do so. She settled in Indiana, met and married my dad and NEVER EVER stopped feeling and expressing gratitude for the life she had. She and my dad were never wealthy but they had all they needed and more. I learned from her that gratitude is a very attractive and important quality. When we built our lake house we tried to keep things in perspective and not go overboard . . . it's a warm, welcoming house with a lot of style -- but not show-offy, and our friends responded positively to it. I guess people who would have been jealous disappeared from our lives before the project! Hope we have as good luck with the new one in Tennessee.

I love this thread and glad to see it back! I am kind of hit and miss at doing crafts. I have done lots of the glass garden totems, I posted some pics here of them some time ago. And I do make jewelry as my hands allow these days. Right now I have been named Project Manager for our Garden Club and I come up with crafts and projects we can all do for fun and also to sell at our yearly sale. This is one of the more recent ones I taught them and I made for the sale. They are fall leaf covered candle holders. Super easy.

I'm going to my second organized scrapbook get-together at a place that sells supplies this weekend. They charge $10 and supply a table, meal, soft drinks and snacks. You can use their equipment like punches, stamps, etc., but have to use your own paper, scissors, stickers etc. Of course, you are free to wander the store and buy more stuff. A friend and I got together at her house last month. We shared our equipment like cutters, etc, but we each had our own paper and supplies. I'd invite everyone over and have a simple snack like cookies and cake and coffee. Ask your friends to brink snacks to share also. Have everyone bring their equipment and personal supplies that they would need. I wouldn't be worried about being to formal or organized about it. Just have fun.

What are we hoping to gain from this exchange of cards? Pictures of the family cards have replaced the traditional boxed greeting cards in my life 5/1. I enjoy getting a glimpse of what old friends/relatives look like now. I do not understand the point of purchasing a card, singing a name, addressing envelopes and sending them out. What message was conveyed? I am alive, we are related?? I prefer to get some news of those who sent the note. At the very least an explanation of the pictures they so painstakingly arranged on a post card. I think it is naive to think money is limitless and not realize some have to make choices, financially. Is it in the holiday spirit to resent those who had to make those choices? I wrote my 26th Christmas letter this year and sent it out--some by e-mail some by snail mail. I find it rather silly to get a signed card in the mail from a friend I see weekly if not daily. That seems wasteful. I do want my friends to be included in my traditional letter. I find the electronic e-cards amusing but of no real value when all they did is entertain for a moment. I would also like to know if the sender is ok, what life brought them this year. When I get these I appreciate the fact that they reached out, but it has done nothing to further our understanding and knowledge of each other. Considering the popularity of Facebook this baffles me. We are a changing society. With e-mail/Facebook perhaps the NEED and purpose of holiday cards no longer exists. I can now dial up Facebook and find out what great aunt Martha did yesterday and the day before and the day before. I don't need the once a year letter she wrote and I waited for. Traditions are wonderful, but if we do not know the purpose of them or if they no longer fulfill a need then I have no trouble ending them. I tell myself every year this is the last. The money is not justified. Then I attend a family function and all my aunts and cousins rave about my letter and beg me to never stop or not cut them off the list of receivers. This is when I know the reason I continue the tradition has been accomplished. I communicated. I gave them something they wanted something that enriched their lives. I often do not get cards in return from most of them and that makes me sad but it isn't about the getting it is about the giving. I remind myself of this when I go to my moms and see the cards my siblings sent to her--across town. I remind my kids of this when they notice and ask why aunt "Jane" didn't send one to us, who live hundreds of miles away....