I forgot to post pictures of my ornament from the bank ornament exchange this year!  Tami drew my name this year, and since she had worked in my department before, and we lunch together every few months, she definitely knew what to get me.  My ornament was a beautiful snowflake ornament!

After the ornaments were opened at the breakfast, Tami came over and told me that the snowflake ornament wasn't my 'real' ornament.  But I love it!!!!  Luckily, I didn't have to give it back - she had ordered a 'special' one for me, but it hadn't come in yet.  The next week, this ornament came inter-office to me:

Tami had actually spent several weekends here at my house learning to quilt - she made her very first quilt for her great-granddaughter - who must be 4 or 5 by now - scary!!!

AJ and I took Luna and Koori for a walk on Christmas day.  Lassen got a new cover of snow....

And what is it about water, rocks and boys?  AJ is still trying to 'beat his record' for skipping rocks on the creek - though he said the creek was a lot bigger when he was younger......

And Koori sat so pretty for her picture....

And I, once again, had help putting a quilt together....in this case, I really did have help - AJ (the large bare feet...) was helping me pin it together.  Chewie on the other hand, wasn't helping much at all.

Merry Christmas!!!

I got a little inspired Sunday - Carole did my nails Sunday, and I commented on her cute Christmas tree earrings.  She said she got a kit for them at The Beadman......hmmmmmm....The Beadman is the next building over from the salon, and they were open!  I stopped by and grabbed a couple of kits (20% off!!!) and made a two sets.  Too cute!  I wore the white ones to work on Monday, but the green ones will have to wait until next year now.  Now I want to do more beading - after I finish the baby quilt I have started, the scarves I have started, the blankets that need to be edged in crochet....I may get to that in January, or maybe February.

Indy was hiding from me.....

Happy Christmas Eve!!

Christmas pictures!!!  Here is a group photo of my department Friday at the Christmas Breakfast.

Me getting ready to go to the Christmas party:

My table (at least the ladies....) at the Christmas party.

More pictures from Saturday.....

I went over Saturday to 'rescue' Chewie.  Ronna had taken him with her at Thanksgiving to do some dental work (bye-bye teeth and bad breath!!)  Kirby, Max and I did a day trip over.  While we were there, we took the dogs down to the beach.  This is one of the best photo series I think I've ever gotten.....

Fall leaves - the Walmart parking lot:

We survived another Thomas Clan Thanksgiving.....14 people and 7 dogs.....It was good to see everyone again.  Every year I say we should do this more often - once a year just isn't enough!  We do get together separately, but it's fun to get everyone together.  Joe and I talked about planning a summer camping trip this year.  Usually, our summer get-together is put together at the last minute.  Maybe we should actually plan for one???

Here are 6 of the 7 dogs - Koori and Grute in the back, Lily in the middle, and then Oscar, Jasper and Luna in the front (look how nice Koo is sitting!!!)   Chewie wasn't playing with the 'big dogs' by this time....it's tough being the 'little dog' with this mass of big dogs!!!

Ronna and Joe came in Friday night, and Joe was a great help getting things ready.  About the time I needed to get the turkeys on, Ralph got sick.  Joe helped me truss up the turkeys and get them on the grill and into the infrared cooker.  I can do the infrared - it's pretty easy, but I had no idea how to hook up the rotisserie on the grill!  My hero!  The birds came out great!  

Kirby brought in most of the sides, so I did the potatoes, the turkeys, and some appetizers.  The boys brought pies, and Dave and Lisa brought appetizers.  Unfortunately, Dave and Lisa showed up right as dinner was being served (Dave took a longer nap than he planned - he had to work, so was up at 2:00 a.m., and was just going to take a quick nap before he drove down....) so their appetizers didn't get served.  Next year, I need more than 10 pounds of potatoes though.....we just barely made it through!

I did get a picture of Picot napping with my napping quilt.....it's officially a napping quilt!

I finished it!  This is my "20 shades of gray" quilt - 20 different fat quarters of gray fabric.  Technically, there are 22 grays here - 20 in the quilt and then the outside boarder and the backing are a different fabrics, but  "20 shades" sounds better than "22".  The pattern is here.  I really like how it turned out - even with my quilting...I made it for me - a nap quilt.  It works well, too.  I lay down for a few minute yesterday, and woke up an hour and a half later with two dogs and a cat sleeping on the bed with me, two other dogs sleeping on the floor (only because they can't jump on the bed....).  The only one missing was Indy. 

AJ and I worked in the yard Saturday, and we had a visitor.....

Another huge fire - Paradise destroyed......

We've always said that the town of Paradise was a fire trap, but I don't think we really thought it would happen.  Almost 7,000 buildings destroyed, 25 confirmed dead.  The fire started at 6:30 a.m. and Veronica was evacuated at 9:00 a.m. and left with fire at her heels (and along the side of the road).  Her house survived - the only one in the neighborhood to do so, as far as she knows.  She evacuated with her cat to Rosie's in Chico Thursday morning, and then Rosy was evacuated Thursday night....Veronica is still at Meredith's, but Rosy went back home.  

Dave was working in Magalia when the fire started, and he had to 'shelter in place' with helicopters dropping retardant on them while the fire passed them.  He's been on the fire pretty much the whole time since.  He was able to go to Caroline's, take a shower, video in the Veronica, etc., but then went back to work.  (He was also able to stop by the house and clean out the frig/freezer at the house and take the stuff to Caroline's, since there is no power in the area - it would have been one more issue to deal with when Veronica CAN get back in to the house.)

There are no words.........

Last night I was working on Christmas presents, and I had a little help....

Last weekend, I got my quilt top put together.  Saturday afternoon, I got all the blocks put together.....

Sunday. I got them all sew together and the border on.....

And yesterday, I got the sandwich made....with a little help from my friends.....