Christmas

I have been keeping up with Daisy Yellow's Index Card a Day (ICAD) challenge every day this month but haven't got round to putting a post together yet (sorry!). I will do soon, honest, but In the meantime, I have taken yet another two photos for the Gallo Organico Summer 2013 Photo Scavenge.I went with my youngest son's Year 6 class to Drayton Manor Park & Zoo in Staffordshire yesterday and apart from getting soaked, I managed to come away with two more of the subjects I needed:RoaRRRRR! andI'm never very keen on seeing animals in zoos and did think the cages were a bit small there. I have to say the best conditions I've seen for animals in captivity were at the Jersey Conservation Zoo a few years ago. We went there for the weekend for our son's 2nd birthday (and he slept through it!) That same son (at 11) is definately braver than me for theme park rides. I just about managed the gentile horses bobbing up and down on the carousel but he went on this roller coaster ten times!:He didn't go on this, though, would you?:!!!* * * * *This weekend I'm going to (once again), be attending our annual (free!) Leamington Spa Peace Festival. I go every year and it is such a creative place, full of colourful music, crafts, good music and interesting people. You can see what it is like from my photos from last year on my set in my flickr account here.I was hoping that the weather would be better this year, but the forecast isn't good. Brollies and wellies (flowery ones) are at the ready!...Enjoy your weekend and thanks for visiting,Nicky

Hello Friends,Thank you for visiting Seasons Of Joy. As I have mentioned earlier, I'm not doing regular posts.My season of life is filled with taking care of family.Thank you for your emails and concerns.Life is good. All is well and I hope all is well with all of you!I love creativity in every aspect of life.You are welcome to follow me on Pinterest.I could never give up Pinterest!I appreciate all of you and the friendships and acquaintances that have come along since I started this blog.I will return in the fall with more fabric pumpkins from my Etsy Shop!Wishing you all the very best and many Seasons of Joy!Have a beautiful summer!

Somebody knows how to hook me for Christmas – I love vintage styles, especially with bits of tinsel and glitter.  We just received a whole new collection of vintage ornaments and decorations .. be still, my beating Christmas heart! Snowman Bubble Light There are a few other ornaments that I haven’t yet photographed – I love the style and detail on display in each piece.  The collection includes some charming accessories as well – fuzzy red string for garland or tying packages, mini vintage glass ornaments, crystal snowflakes, and there may be more to come. Do you have a favorite era for Christmas decorations?  I remember the silver tinsel tree (with color wheel, of course) from my childhood in a part of the world where the typical North American Christmas tree is not available – that’s probably when I acquired my love of things sparkly.  We used our oversized cardboard toy bricks to build a fireplace every December, hanging stockings from it and keeping the air conditioner on maximum cold to survive the heat of the tropics.  My father would make me leave my glasses on the nightstand when I insisted he take me to the kitchen for a drink of water in the middle of Christmas Eve night - no glasses meant I couldn’t see the treasures laid out for us for the morning! I hope you have good memories of childhood Christmas celebrations – and are looking forward to making some new ones this December. ~Janet @ The Christmas Place P.S.  It’s less than 200 days to Christmas – are you thinking about it while you’re splashing in the pool this summer? We’re celebrating Christmas in June at the Smokies baseball game next Tuesday, June 25 – exactly 6 months til Christmas, so come and see Santa and Mrs. Claus at the game.  Santa likes to sing for the fans!

Not sure we needed this, but here we go!!! Can’t get enough of Duck Dynasty’s Southern-fried home sense? Your favorite A&E redneck millionaires are coming out with a Christmas album, the cast announced at Saturday’s CMA Music Festival, according to the Great American Country website. “Faith, family and ducks — in that order — have always been our priorities,” star Willie Robertson said. “Christmas is an important holiday for us not only because of our strong faith, but also our holiday family traditions. We’re having a great time making this album.” Are you giving up on Bones next year? Duck the Halls: A Robertson Family Christmas hits stores Oct. 29. It will feature Robertson family vocals, humor… and maybe a few well-placed duck calls if we’ve been nice? Robertson’s wife, Korie, added, “The whole family is going to be involved. It’ll be kind of a variety show-style music CD, and we’ve got some surprises for you. So it’s going to be a lot of fun.” This isn’t the first time the family has been involved with the music scene. Members of the Robertson family also appeared in Darius Rucker’s “Wagon Wheel” video. Will you buy the Duck Dynasty album? What songs do you want to be on there?

Unusual graffiti eh? Such nicely joined up writing! Loving the reversed out hand print that's above it too. It's the latest picture that I've put on my Instagram:Still trying to use Instagram more than I do, so if you are on it yourself, please look me up (Doodledoo) and give me some gentle words of encouragement. Something like 'PUT MORE PICTURES ON!' should do it... * * *I found another photo for the Gallo Organico Summertime Photography Scavenger Hunt that I spoke about in my last post: Think it looks a bit like a dog with it's tongue hanging out......and this side view looks a bit like a face, doesn't it?:(or is that just me...?) See you again soon,Nicky

Sunday, June 16: National Fudge Day As the celebration is fast approaching, I feel the need to ponder this big life question:  nuts, yes or no?  I am firmly in the ”NO NUTS” camp.  I like my confections smooth and creamy.  There’s no need to confuse my taste buds, while in the midst of savoring the creamy sweet goodness of the perfect blend of sugar and cream and sometimes a touch of caramelized something, with a sudden jolt of rough edges and the slightly-acidic tang of a nut.  None whatsoever.  And I’m not even opening up the discussion of which nuts are more acceptable than others.  IMHO, all nuts should be banned from all fudge, henceforth and forever more.  Not that I’ve really given it that much thought over the years.  I have simply never enjoyed a piece of fudge with a nut component.  Ever. Now please enjoy a few pictures of Mrs. Claus’ fresh fudge, in anticipation of an exciting announcement about a fudge giveaway! Our famous Bear Butter Fudge – chocolate fudge with real peanut butter on top, swirled with a touch of white chocolate.  Tiger Butter Fudge, vanilla fudge layered with real peanut butter and topped with peanut butter and chocolate swirl.  Hurshel’s Kiss – chocolate fudge layered with vanilla stuffed with nuts and miniature chocolate chips – our homage to one of our founders, who always had Hershey’s Kisses in his pockets!  Watermelon!  Layers of green, white, and pink fudge sprinkled with chocolate ‘seeds’ on top.  No kidding, I sampled this one, and it tasted very like a Jolly Rancher Watermelon candy – as agreed between me and a random guest who happened to be at the counter with me and was game for a sampling, too.  Pralines & Cream Fudge – layers of vanilla fudge sandwiching a layer of caramel & nuts, with a caramel swirl on top. (As always, click the picture twice to see the photo full size.)  Have you had enough yet? Fudge Giveaway! The first 25 customers in Mrs. Claus’ Candy Kitchen this Sunday, June 16th, will win a free pound of fudge!  The store opens at 9:00 a.m.  All you have to do is come in.  One winner per household, please.  We’ll have the fudge packaged and ready to hand over to you.  Everyone’s on vacation, so we don’t care if you have it for breakfast, no judging going on, it is yours to enjoy as you wish. Sound easy?  And delicious?  Remember, vacation calories don’t count. We’ll have a little treat for dads, too, since their special day happens to fall on National Fudge Day this year.  Children are invited to make a Father’s Day card from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the courtyard – don’t you think a hand-made card is much more memorable? Come see us for a really sweet time this Sunday! ~Janet @ The Christmas Place P.S.  We ship our fudge from September to April, but it’s too warm in the summer time, sorry…

Based on a popular book, Christmas For A Dollar, releases for general audiences in November 2013. Here is the plot synopsis: America is in the midst of the Depression, and the Kamp family is struggling to get by, especially after Mrs. Kamp s untimely death. Now little Ruthie, with her mother gone and her father overwhelmed by doctor bills resulting from her brother’s polio, expects another Christmas without presents or festivities. But when her father brings home one dollar in change and lets the children use it to buy special gifts for each other, the Kamps come to find that money isn’t what fills Christmas with joy, love, and miracles.

The Duck Dynasty Family Robertson is putting out a Christmas album this year. You had to know this was coming. “Faith, family and ducks — in that order — have always been our priorities,” said reality star Willie Robertson, the CEO of Duck Commander. He added: “Christmas is an important holiday for us not only because of our strong faith but also our holiday family traditions. We’re having a great time making this album. We hope you enjoy it.” Universal Music Group Nashville announced Monday that the album, called Duck The Halls: A Robertson Family Christmas, will hit stores October 29. No other details are available at this time. We suspect there will be legitimate celebrity musicians involved with this project and we expect the usual Christmas fare. Scoffers would be reminded that crafting duck calls is, technically, a musical skill so when Robertson claims that the family has musical ability don’t count them out. Still, we haven’t been this excited since Larry the Cable Guy released a CD with his take on the War on Christmas.

Hello! I know it's been a very long time since I put pen to paper fingers to keyboard but I'm glad to be back and bursting with more creativity! What better way to get back than to get stuck into some of the great Summertime challenges that are lurking around in Blogland. The first one I found was this fun scavenger photo project and for that my thanks must go to Julie Kirk who had pinned it on (wonderful) Pinterest (my second home). For all the details of this project you need to pop along to the blog: http://gallorganico.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/2013-summertime-photography-scavenger.html where you will find the list of 21 items that we need to hunt out and snap during the (hopefully!) sunny months ahead. It actually started on June 1st, but I think it accepts latecomers and it runs until September 21st .I have to say, even though we have all Summer, I have already spotted and taken 8 out of my 21! So many of these were on my doorstep and the weather (up until this week) has been absolutely brilliant. So, enough waffling without further ado, here are my pics so far: Our local Town Hall. Just look at that naturally fabulous blue sky! This man was sleeping in the park in the sunshine. I like the way you can see the bottom of his shoe! This tower was part of a local church called St. Pauls. (I could have had #4 Airplane too, but I'll try and get a bigger one) This 'car' in our local river, is actually a boat. These girls were eying up some lads in another 'car'. Stylish benches found outside our local Post Office Window of a country pub. Popped in for half a cider just so I could photograph this (dedication you see!) Didn't think I'd see a fisherman but spotted these few people fishing 'illegally!' (omve!) ...And, last but not least, the bonus item, someone wearing an item of clothing representing their country. (My mother in law just happened to have bought my son this shirt a couple of weeks ago). Be back soon with pictures of another challenge that I'm taking part in, ICAD 2013.Thanks for stopping by today,Nicky

There are lessons aplenty in Christmas. There are heroes and villains, stories of redemption and forgiveness, good guys and bad guys. As we approach the season of Father’s Day my mind has been resting on the influence of Dads on Christmas. There are a lot here to point out. In fact, there are so many [...]