Christmas Joy Part II

What can I say...I seem to be on a roll, at least I was.  Now I'm just tuckered out and "paying" for all that I've been up to. I tend to not know my body's limits until it's too late. Oh, well, this too shall pass, right? Now I sit back with some eggnog and relax (and berate myself for overdoing it! LOL)  But I am satisfied that I've accomplished something good, so sometimes the pain is worth it. It nourishes my soul to be creative and well, sometimes I need that. Creating is my outlet, it's who I am and I need to stay in touch with that, no matter the price. Okay, enough of that, now, let's get to the nitty gritty!

It's all about the Joy of the season.

After decorating the inside of the house, I wanted to find a "cost effective" (free) way to decorate the outside. I started by walking around our little neighborhood and collected fallen tree branches. 

I gathered some in a large galvanized basin. Added some berries and rose hips for color, a few lights from the strand I put around the front door.  I sat the basin in my antique sleigh (so many wonderful memories brought back by that old sleigh). Oh, wait! I have skates...hmmm. Add some fur to them, replace the laces with ribbon and a little ribbon to decorate them. I added various branches of greenery and Voila! 

 A few more branches here and there...

The bench was looking a little bare, so I made a sign simply by spelling out "Noel" in driftwood on an old piece of wood. I framed it with scraps (using a small manual hand saw! No more power tools for me!!!)

I added the garden angel my son gave me and a tiny white bird. My watering can with some branches in it, & moss for the angel to rest on.

 I think of all the decorating I've done, this little vignette is my favorite! 

The wall next to the mailbox looked a little bare too...

I found an old weathered board behind our workshop, this time I spelled out "Joy" with some driftwood, a little white rope to hang it and I'm almost done...

For the last little touch of Christmas magic I needed snow!

I sprinkled flour lightly on everything. So pretty!

 I enJOYed every minute of it!

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Total cost: $0 

 I hope you enjoyed my photos.

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On a different topic, my son organized another charity event on Dec. 7th, with all proceeds to be shared between the Richmond Firefighters Charities & The Richmond Sockeyes Scholarship Fund.

Because money is so tight these days, and I wanted to donate some things for the silent auction, I decided we needed to make some things.  

  The Three Kings.

Mike did the building & sanding, I did the painting.

We also had parts of a 100 year old door in the workshop, just waiting to be used for something...

 We also framed two photographs I took at Finn Slough.

 The Fire On Ice Event was a success with over 200 people attending, many great items donated for silent auction,
a fifty/fifty draw, raffles and tickets sold for the pub night.

I am the very proud mother of a wonderful, kind hearted son. There's a lot of JOY in that too!

Wishing you and yours much Joy in this season of giving.

Thanks for following!
xx
Sandra

Happy Holidays!