Let's Go Shopping!

I am pleased to announce the first ever Jenny and Pearl preview sale.  Mark your calendars, invite all your friends and break open your piggy banks.

Jenny and Pearl Preview Sale

& 

To Africa, With Love Fundraiser

December 2-4

Thursday and Friday 4:00 - 8:00 pm

Saturday 10:00 am - 4:00 pm

I have stashes and stashes of lovely items

• linens
• glassware
• kitchenware
• gift items

• vintage toys
• pictures
• handmade jewelry
• home decor

Whether your style is shabby chic, midcentury modern, country, rustic, or eclectic, you will definitely find something to suit your style and beautiful treasures for all the ladies on your Christmas list.  This is a sneak peek of some of the items that will be available to purchase.

Along with all these wonderful gift items, there will be lots of delicious goodies for sale, provided by the group To Africa, With Love.

These kids are raising money for their Summer 2012 missions trip to Africa and this is their kick-off fundraiser.

So, come by and say hello, shop til you drop and help out a great cause!

I know, those of you who do not live in Southern California are saying, "What about me?"  I wish you could all fly down here and visit with me, enjoy a cup of coffee, chat and shop, but alas, life isn't like that.

For all my distant and not-so-distant friends, I am stocking my online store with more and more tempting treasures.  Beginning Black Friday (that's November 26th, for the uninitiated) and extending through December 4, I will have a sale in my on-line store, so you can get in on some of the excitement too!

Also, if you see anything you like in the pictures I've posted that isn't in the shop, just email me and I will be happy to ship it to you.  Looking for something special?  Just ask.  I may have just what you are looking for within my secret stash.  I don't want my online friends to feel left out.

Finally,  I am giving away a gift certificate worth $30.00, that can be redeemed at the Jenny and Pearl Preview Sale (Orange location only).  How do you win?  Let me know what you are thankful for in the comments section below.  The winner will be chosen randomly.  Entries will be accepted through midnight on Monday, November 22 and the winner will be announced next Tuesday.  Enter as many times as you like!  Mention the sale on your FB page and let me know for an extra chance to win!

Today, I am thankful for the sound of the birds outside my window while I sit at my computer.  What are you thankful for?

And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
Colossians 3:17

Bah! Humbug!

"Only 40 more days until Christmas!"

"Ugh!"

"Mom, why don't you like Christmas?"

I guess "Ugh" isn't quite "Bah, Humbug!", but to my daughter's ears it did make me sound a bit like Scrooge...okay, a lot like Scrooge.

I love Christmas.

I do.  I just don't understand why we start the countdown before we've even had Thanksgiving!

I love the decorations

• the sparkling lights and the festive colors.  
• driving through the neighborhoods to check out the displays
• picking out the perfect tree
• filling the house with lights and decorations
• the Boat Parade in Newport Harbor.  

Everything is transformed for this wonderful season.

I love the gifts - picking out something special for the people I love and anticipating the look of delight when they open the brightly wrapped package.

Oh yeah, getting gifts too!  That part is great!  I always seem to forget that I will be at the receiving end as well.

I love the food.  I love the food.  Oops, I wrote that twice.

You know what I mean.  All those scrumptious holiday treats that we eat only at this time of year.  Then we ask, "Why don't we make this the rest of the year?" only to realize that if we did, we would weigh approximately the same as a baby hippo (or a mama hippo.)

There are the delicious baked goods for starters (dessert first.)  In my family the list here is long.

Dessert is very important.  Each family event is rated by how many desserts are available. 

One or two, that's for amateurs!

At the top of the list is Grandma's pulla, otherwise known as Finnish coffee bread.  It is the most amazing sweet bread, made in a braided loaf, with a hint of cardamom - off the hook!

All other baking is secondary to the bread.  We must have the bread.  My sister has become an expert at the bread-baking also, so dozens of loaves are baked and consumed over the holidays.  Just thinking about it now is making me a little light-headed.

But, of course, the bread isn't it.  There's

• caramel corn (Kathy's favorite)
• shortbread (Steve's favorite)
• sugar cookies (Sam's)
• chocolate fudge
• Nanaimo bars (an overall fav)
• peppermint bark

• chocolate covered pretzels
• Chinese chews (Rachel's favorite)
• pumpkin pie
• and the must-have jam-jams (Poppa's contribution to the holidays)

just to name a small portion of the required holiday baking.

We eat real food too, not just dessert.  You know, turkey, potatoes, carrots, yams, green beans, stuffing... I could go on, but I think you get the point.

So...what's not to love about Christmas?

It's so much work!

The decorations are beautiful but they don't just fly out of the boxes and land on the tree and around the house by themselves.  Somebody has to put them up.

The gifts are wonderful, but (don't spread the word on this), little elves do not magically appear with them gift-wrapped under the tree.

The food is marvelous, and I know you can buy it pre-made in the store, but in our family, that just doesn't cut it!

So...when I see Christmas looming on the horizon, I get tired before I've even started.  I just see long 'to-do' lists looming and the days shrinking away while I seem to spin my wheels getting very little accomplished.  I want to relax and enjoy the moment, but 'the moment' never seems to come.

Oh yeah, I forgot one thing.  One little thing.  One major little thing.

A baby.

Born in a manger.

I know this is the only way to keep my sanity during the holidays.  I have to keep reminding myself what Christmas is really about - what the fuss and bother really mean to a believer, to one who is a follower of the Christ child born in a manger, over 2000 years ago.

If we had no gifts (now my kids are starting to panic), if the decorations never came out of the boxes, if the celebrations and parties never materialized and the baking never took place, Christmas would still be Christmas.

All of these are trappings and ornamentation - trappings that pull me away from the focus of the season - to celebrate the birth of my Savior.

For a child is born to us,
      a son is given to us.
   The government will rest on his shoulders.
      And he will be called:
   Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
      Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
   His government and its peace
      will never end.
   He will rule with fairness and justice 
      from the throne of his ancestor David
      for all eternity.
Isaiah 9:6-7 (NLT)

Back to the Ranch

What a great weekend! 

Sometimes it seems like the weekend is filled with one activity after another.  This one was blissfully relaxing.

Saturday we returned to beautiful Calicinto Ranch, one of our favorite places on earth. 

 

We went there with our church family from Convergence and we had a blast, in spite of the tarantulas.  Right, Dina?

What I really loved about the day, beside the horses, the great food, the beautiful blue skies, the wonderful Pirelli family, the hay rides

 and all the other fun, was the opportunity to spend extra time with family, our church family. 

Sundays are great.  We get together,  chat over a cup of coffee, worship and learn together, but it's a brief period of time and then we're gone - off doing our own thing, busy with our lives.

Spending this time together, creating shared memories, was a great opportunity to draw our family closer together. 

Thanks Pastor Norb, aka Sheriff Norb, for providing us with this opportunity to be together.  It was a much-needed break.

The petting zoo was a huge hit. 

For these suburban kids, it took a while to figure out which end of the chicken they should grab!

This is me with my cowgirl Rachel and my mom.  There is no place on earth that Rachel would rather be than at Calicinto Ranch, riding a horse.  She has adopted the Pirelli's as her second family.

I have to give a special shout-out to Erick and Mariesa.  Thanks Erick for providing many of these pictures.  Erick and Mariesa are my personal heroes. 

These three boys are the reason why.  Take a good long look at these boys.  They are Sam, Harrison and Zack.  They are twelve years old.  Erick and Mariesa are the fearless junior high leaders at our church.

Pray for Erick and Mariesa.

It was a great weekend.  God is good.

Right Steve?   Steve...