52 Weeks, 52 Letters - A 2011 Project

I have always had a love for handwritten notes, cards, and letters, but with the fast pace of our current society and the advent of email, cell phones, text messages, Skype and Google Talk, I feel like handwritten letters are a dying art.  I just recently was talking with a friend about this and began feeling impressed in my heart that I wanted to do better in 2011 about writing more handwritten notes, cards and letters.  There is just something very special about letters that are actually handwritten and mailed ... and not delivered to the desktop of a computer!

I think that someone taking the time to write you a handwritten note means so much.  It shows that they put a lot of thought into the perfect card or note, they had to plan ahead to have postage stamps on hand and they carefully thought out exactly what they wanted to say... from their heart to yours!

Who doesn't enjoy getting mail from a precious friend or loved one?  I don't know about you, but when I go to the mailbox and find a handwritten envelope in the midst of the plethora of bills, I immediately grab that card out and rip it open - FIRST!

I am also one of those people who save EVERY card, note or letter that I receive from my loved ones and friends.  I have a card box on my dresser that is OVERFLOWING with precious memories that I have received just over the last couple of years!  I have at least TWO other such boxes in the floor of my closet right now!

I also have another VERY special box that contains every "love letter" that my husband and I exchanged when we were dating - while he was away at college in NC and I lived and worked in GA.  As you can see....I am a little sentimental when it comes to handwritten cards, notes and letters.

When I started back blogging recently, one of the first blogs I revisited was my sweet friend, Anita's, at A Woman, A Wife, A Mom.  I saw this post on her blog and I felt that it was another confirmation that I was supposed to write more cards and letters this year...and what better way to do that than to commit to writing a handwritten note to someone for EVERY week during the year 2011!  52 Weeks, 52 Letters!


The details from the blog that Anita linked to in her post were,

“One piece of “real” mail sent out each week. It can be a letter, a postcard, a care package, a thank you note, handmade art, etc. I’m searching for all of the cards and stationary I have collected over the years and gathering them into one place with pens, envelopes (regular & padded), lots of stamps (.28 & .44), a glue stick, unlined index cards (great for making postcards), and a few USPS Small Flat Rate boxes. Oh, and I’m updating my address book.”

So...Thank you for giving me the extra "nudge" I needed, Anita.  I think this is going to be such a rewarding goal for 2011!

Now.....how about you, my friends?  

Would you like to be the recipient of a nice surprise letter in 2011? Share your mailing address with me, if I don't already have it, and who knows what might happen!

Or, maybe this sounds like something you would like to commit to with me this year? 

I would love to have you join me in bringing some much-needed love and encouragement to others this year ...

52 Weeks, 52 Letters in 2011!

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas....

I know, I know.....you're saying FINALLY, right?!?!?  I really wanted to get some Christmas pictures posted last week, but I just could not get it done in time, but I have finally gotten a few pics to share with you.

This little guy is on my back door welcoming all.  After all, back door friends are best, right! Ya'll come on in!

I have my Willow Tree Nativity on a table in my kitchen.  I absolutely LOVE it and just stop and look at it every time I walk by. 

 
I hope to be able to add additional pieces each year, but for now these are all the pieces I have. I really would like to leave it out year-round because I love it so much!

This is the table in my breakfast area.

For some reason the jeweled fruit in the vase look fluorescent pink, but it is actually red.

These are my little poinsettia balls that I have hanging from my kitchen light fixture.

A Fontanini snow globe that I have had for many years which I dearly love.

Some pictures of my fireplace and mantel....

Just some fun little frosted glass balls that I have in a vase on the trunk that I use as a coffee table in my living room.

This is another nativity set that I have on a table in my dining room.  

I actually received this set as a gift at a Christmas office party over 15 years ago and have always loved it.

We have really down-sized with our decorating and we only put up a small tree.  I have it sitting on a trunk next to my china cabinet.

This is an ornament that Josh made me in Sunday School one year and is one of my favorites.

This little girl goes on the tree every year, too. Believe it or not, when Faith was a baby, we all called her "Miss Piggy" cause she was such a chubby little thing. This reminder has been on the tree every year since!

 

This is an ornament that Grace made at church and is one of my favorites, too! What a special little angel!

And this is my treetop angel that has been on our tree for as long as I can remember.  She's not really anything special, but my tree would not be complete each year without her!

And, finally one of my very favorite Christmas things are these....

My sweet husband gave me these a couple of years ago and my kids have added some special pieces to them since then.  I just love the red cardinals and I can use them all through the Winter -- not just for Christmas.

So that's just a short little tour of some of my Christmas "stuff". Thank you so much for stopping by for a little visit.  

I hope all of you have a  VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS and a BLESSED NEW YEAR!

OWLS ARE MAKING A COMEBACK!

I spent the day Saturday with my 2 daughters and my granddaughter.  During the course of the day there were several things said in conversation that made me think about my grandparents that have gone on to be with the Lord - MaMa and PaPa. They were both so very special to me. I was fortunate enough to live within walking distance of them growing up and, as a result, I spent quite a lot of time with them.

No one could cook like my MaMa and I think she is definitely responsible for the love that I have for cooking.  (And the love that I have for dishes/china.) As we were eating lunch, my daughter was talking about how much she loved lima beans and it reminded me of how much PaPa loved them.  Many a night he would tell my grandmother (he called her "Baby") that he just wanted a bowl of cornbread and "pot liquor".  (For those of you that weren't born in the South, that's what us southerners call the juice that the lima beans were cooked in.) He would crumble up his cornbread in the "pot liquor" and eat it and, I must agree, it was DELISH! That was one of PaPa's favorites.

That conversation somehow led us to talk about MaMa's love for OWLS!  She collected owls and I was blessed to have received a couple of her owls from my Mother on my last trip home. I thought that I would share a couple of them with you.

This one sits on the floor in my Dining Room. I love the way he is so"weathered" looking.  He just looks so wise, doesn't he?

This one is actually a little sachet holder. It has a ribbon on it so that you could hang it, but I keep him inside my china cabinet.

 
This little guy is actually a napkin holder and he resides on my kitchen table all the time.

Over the years, I have added a couple of owls myself and would very much like to collect more. One of the ones that I have added is a Swarovski crystal owl that my husband gave me. He's a tiny little fella, but so pretty, especially when the light hits him.

By far the most special owl that I have been given is this one made out of soapstone.  My daughter and son-in-law brought him all the way from BRAZIL. They got him for me while they were there on a church mission trip. Isn't he handsome!

Faith has decided that she would also like to collect owls.  She also has a couple of MaMa's owls that my Mother gave her. She told me about a piece of owl jewelry that she was hoping to get for Christmas. She also told me that owls were making a resurgence in popularity! They've always been popular with me!

What about you?  What do you like to collect and why?  What sentimental items do you have that belonged to one of your loved ones?

Gonna Take A Sentimental Journey

I am probably one of the most sentimental people that you know. I have quite a few things that belonged to my grandparents (MaMa and PaPa) and I cherish each and every one of them. They were the sweetest grandparents that anyone could have. My PaPa was a perfect gentleman.  I never remember seeing him in anything but dress pants and a dress shirt.  He even mowed the grass in nice pants!  He also wore a hat most of the time.  My MaMa was such a godly woman.  She taught me so many things about "being a lady" and she was an amazing cook! I can remember sitting beside her on the piano bench in her living room while she played and sang "The Old Rugged Cross" or "Softly and Tenderly". MaMa and PaPa took me to Sunday School and church with them on many Sundays and some of my earliest memories of church included them.

One of the things that I remember about my grandparent's house was a little "man" that hung on the wall of her kitchen. She always referred to him as Mr. Petrie.  For as long as I can remember, he hung right by the back door next to her little breakfast nook.  Since MaMa passed away about 10 years ago, I have often thought about him and  wondered what  happened to him.

While home for my Mother's surgery last week, I asked her if she knew what ever happened to Mr. Petrie and she said that she didn't, but she would ask her sister.  She called her sister, Rosie, and ...guess what?!?!  Rosie had Mr. Petrie!  And...she said that if I would promise to take good care of him that she would let me take him to my house.

So....last Monday morning, Mr. Petrie made the trip from Manchester, GA to Columbus, GA with my aunt and uncle, Rosie and Ben,  and Rosie passed him over to me to take to my home in NC.

How cute is he?!?!??

I asked Rosie what the story was about him and she said that she bought him at a "five and dime" store years ago for her mother (my MaMa). Rosie thought that he looked like the father of a friend of hers, so they decided to call him by that man's name! MaMa hung him on the wall, stuck a flower in him and he became Mr. Petrie!  

(As you can probably guess after looking at Mr. Petrie's picture, they never told Rosie's friend or her dad about the name of the figurine.  I don't think he would have been real flattered!)

Now I know to many people they would not understand why I would be sentimental about a little figurine from the dime store, but he is very special to me.  I have so many wonderful memories of times spent at MaMa and PaPa's house. This is just one of the things that makes me recall those fond memories, Now when I look at Mr. Petrie on the wall in my breakfast nook beside my back door, I will be reminded of some wonderful times with two very special people.

What about you?  

What special item do you have that brings back memories of loved ones that have gone on to be with the Lord?  

Is there something that makes you recall "good times" every time you look at it? 

Are there any "Mr. Petries" in your life?

Thank you so much, Rosie, for sharing this special family memory with me!  I will cherish him always!