Hi, all!  For Florida, IT’S COLD!  It’s 37 degrees F out there and it’s the first real cold snap of the season.  Tonight it is supposed to get down in the 20’s.  Brrr!!  To some of you in colder climates, you are probably laughing, but, it’s all relevant.  We’re just not used to it, plus, with the humidity, the cold permeates into everything and sticks.  We just aren’t accustomed to it.  I recall a young man, a friend of my ex-in-laws, coming from Illinois to visit Florida, one summer.  The man was complaining that, in Florida, “It’s so humid and rains so much, you can’t tell when it is raining or if it has stopped.”  It hangs in the air.  I lived up up around Chicago a few years when I was married.  I was not cold for even one second the entire time I was there.  It was a dry cold.  Even when the wind chill factor made it 70 degrees below zero and with 6 feet of snow on the ground, I was never cold.  I come back to Florida and see 45 degrees and I shiver.  LOL  You know what, though?  I would much rather have the cold than the heat.  It’s alot easier to get warm than it is to cool off.

All over digi-land, folks are gearing up for the holidays.  We ramble along, shopping, decorating, visiting, and cooking, all to the red and green theme of the season.  Salvation Army bell-ringers provide the soundtrack and the smell of pine teases our nostrils.  All thoughts are on gifts.  What will we give?  What will we get?  My family always asks me what I want and I tell them, “I am the easiest person to shop for!”  But, this year, I told them I wanted a new External Hard Drive.  The one I have now is almost bursting at the seams.  Time for more space!  I hear there are some out now that can hold a Terabyte.  Whoa!  That’s what I need!  I would never have imagined that, one day, I, as an older person, would be wanting electronic equipment for a holiday gift.  The times, they are a changin’!  LOL  What are you wishing for?

Yesterday was my oldest step-grandson’s 16th birthday.  What a nice party and cookout there was for him.  My son and his wife out did themselves with food, family, friends and fun.  It was so fun, but, more than anything, I saw what a great home they have made for their children, all 5 of them.  Oh, and two dogs and some fish, too.  Their house is open to all of the children in the neighborhood, as well, with rules.  While there yesterday, every child who walked by, my DIL spoke to them and invited them in for cake.  Some of the parents of my grandson’s friends dropped them off, but, still, she was there, speaking to each of them.  The home is warm and comfy.  There are family photos everywhere, which just echo all the living that is going on within those walls.  

On one prominent wall in the great room area, there was a collection of green, construction-paper wreaths, each decorated in very different ways.  My DIL had sat everyone down together and they made a fun thing out of decorating individual wreaths with little bits and cut-outs like sleighs, trees, bulbs, whatever.  Everyone of them, my son included, made their wreath and they’re all very different.  They were all awesome.  From 11mo Kaleb, up to 16yo Chad, everyone had a wreath up on the wall!  The atmosphere was, above all else, loving.  With all of the kids and friends and family and pets, even my DIL’s ex-husband and his new wife, everyone was respectful, kind, generous and loving.  The children, even those of the neighborhood, were well-behaved and everyone looked out for each other, toddlers and teen-aged boys alike.  Like the old adage, ‘ran like a fine-tuned machine’, my son and DIL were the picture of relaxation and happiness – contentment, I guess it is.  There are two people that genuinely “get in to” their children.  And, it shows.  My son pulled me aside at one point and noted that ‘this was like our house used to be when we were growing up’.  I am so proud!.  Too often, I dwell on past mistakes, errors in judgment and things that just couldn’t be helped.  I wish that some things had never happened and I mourn the things that have been taken away from me.  I can stay busy dwelling on the bad in the past, but, rarely, do I ever stop and think that I might have done some stuff right.  It is a good feeling.  One that I like.  I couldn’t have done it, however, had it not been for the three wonderful children I have or the other members of my family.  Thanks, guys!  I love all of you!!

Now, what I know you have been patiently waiting for, the December Collaboration with Miss Edna, “Visions of Sugar Plums”.  I wrote in another post of how I used to have the book, “T’was the Night Before Christmas”, or “Visit From St. Nick”.  In it was an image, on the page where it said, 

“The children were nestled, 

All snug in their beds,

While visions of sugar plums

Danced in their heads.”

This isn’t the same exact image, but, you get the idea:

The image fascinated me!  I don’t know what it was about that one image, but, all the candies, cookies, cakes, pies, trinkets and ‘sugar plums’ really tickled my imagination.  (Just what exactly is a sugar plum, anyway?  LOL)  I’ve kept it in my store house (brain) all these years and it is still vivid!  You know, I think I still have that book.  It may be in my old trunk.  I’ll have to go check it out.  If it is, I’ll copy the image to digital and show ya’ll.  To me, the ‘visions’ epitomize childhood fantasies.  LOL  They have just never gone away.

Below are the previews.  Beneath the image, there are two(2) links to go to MediaFire to download.  There are two(2) files each week, until, in three weeks time, you have six(6) parts from each of us, Miss Edna and myself.  I separated the papers from the elements for the preview only.  Each download will have some of the papers and some of the elements.  There are a couple of extra ‘pages’ I threw in there that I tinkered around with.  You are welcome to fix them up and, with one, add decorations(enclosed) to it to get your own “Christmas tree in a room”.  There are lots of sparkles and fairies, candies and flowers.  I hope you have as much fun playing with this collection as we did making it.

Part 1:  http://www.mediafire.com/?m9y5yes4tyxrde2

Part 2:  http://www.mediafire.com/?43y6aumua7rge46 

After downloading my two parts, you need to stop over at Miss Edna’s Place to pick up her two parts.  Click the link or on her preview to go to her blog:

 Try as I did to spread things out and come up with file sizes close to 25 or 30 mbs, with all the glitz and images, each file is closer to 50mbs.  If you have a problem with files that size, leave a comment and I will re-post the two files in to four parts for you.

There you have it!  Do enjoy and have fun!  Until the next time, take care and remember to

smile!

Hugs,

Su