Sleigh Bells Ring....

Well it seems like the very second we were done eating our Thanksgiving meal at my mom's new home here in KY, the girls were asking when we could put up our Christmas decorations. I had been avoiding bringing this up with them this year because we are going to be spending Christmas in California this year with my Grandma and Charley's parents and all our other relatives and friends that we miss dearly, so I was not sure what I was going to do. Needless to say, their little eyes just touched my heart too deeply not to put up some things, however, the big tree did not come out & I have not made up my mind on how far I am going to go on the outside of the house, but that can wait til next weekend! I decided this year to just do some simple vignettes on the mantle, the pink buffet, somethign pretty for the cofee table, and one one the low china cabinet that is in our entry. In the setting above I placed some vintage mercury glass beads in a crystal bowl and placed 3 of my vintage blown glass santas that are no longer in perfect condtion, but that I cannot part with. I placed the bowl on a silver tray with some candles and lots of pretty vintage pink glass ornaments and it just looks gorgeous on my cofee table.

The mantle above is simple, but I love winter whites and soft pastels at Christmas, and this year I left ALL the reds upstairs in the attic. My dearest friend Tracy sent me these gorgeous white feather trees as a gift this year, and I LOVE the way they look on my hearth. She is so generous in every way, but her friendship is my greatest gift!
On the pink buffet shown here above, I just put some pretty winter fruits in one of my favorite antique bowls, and I love this vintage white feather tree that I adorned with vintage mercury beads and some pretty blown glass birds.
On the low china cabinet in my entry I almost always place this tree with my most favorite antique ornaments and the girls love our pastel glitter christmas houses. I must say though, at night, when the sun has gone down, this tree gives me much joy, and as I walk up the stairs each night, it makes my heart fill with joy and I hope that I am creating good memories for our girls.

May the joy and peace of the season fill your hearts and be with each and every one of you!

Sanya

A Week of Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is one of my most favorite times of the year. I have always loved that a specific day is set aside to give thanks. In our home we talk about thankfulness daily, but I love having an entire day devoted solely to it. This year I have so much to be thankful for, and of course on the top of my list is my sweet Baba's triumphant surgery to remove her lung cancer. We found out today that the lymph nodes that were removed were cancer free, Hallelujah! She actually went home from the hospital today and sounded so much better with some drugs out of her system. She's been sounding pretty loopy to say the least! Secondly, my mom is here. What a blessing. After living apart from her for the past 3 years, having her move here to KY is such a gift! My brother and his family will arrive in town on Tuesday and for the first time in decades, we will all be together for Thanksgiving. Last year Tom was in Iraq and my mom drove up from Alabama with my sister in law and the kids, and we all were missing him terribly, so this year will be extra joyous. There is nothing like family. I am sure at some point in the coming week, we will all irritate each other in some way, but that is life, we love each other warts and all, so we tolerate our differences and try to embrace them with as much love as we can.

I am going to spend this next week just loving on my family, so I will not be posting new items on my website, but the sale is still going, don't miss out, it ends next Saturday night. I may post a bit on the blog, I will just see if something happens that I have to share, or maybe I will find something that will inspire me that I think you will all need to see. I will tell you that I will have some fabulous new specialty items to post next Sunday as well as some amazing antiques (I do have to say I love all of them or else I would not buy them) so be sure to check it out.

I wish each and every one of you a blessed Thanksgiving. I am grateful for you all.

With Love,
Sanya

The Purest Justification

Today was much more hectic than most, my feet are killing me from being on them most of the day, but today was beyond meaningful as well. I recieved an amazing and very unexpected gift at a luncheon that was held in honor of the PTA presidents of our school district today. I was presented this letter from my two oldest daughters along with some other neat things, but the letter is something I will treasure for the rest of my life. You see I got a lot of heat and I mean A LOT of heat, from my friends and family for taking this position, and I know it was out of love, they all worry that I do too much, but how do you say no to the school principal and your kids? I can't when it comes to things like this. I know that there are a lot of you out there just like me, lots of irons in the fire, burning the canlde at both ends, but we do manage to get it all done, don't we? Sometimes it may not get done perfectly, but it gets done, and generally people are pleased. I want my children to grow up with a sense of responsibility to serve others and get a good warm feeling in their hearts when they do and hopefully they will pass that on for generations to come. I faxed this letter to my in-laws today and I can't wait for my mom to see it in the morning, I know she will not be able to read it without crying ( I cried all afternoon), and I don't think Charley will ever grumble under his breath about the time I spend on PTA stuff again after reading it when he gets home from work. The greatest gift was this letter and knowing that our girls wrote every word themselves, together (and without hurting eachother) and that it comes from their hearts and they are proud of their mom. Could you think of a better reason to be involved in your children's school? I can't! If you have a minute, click on the photo and read the letter, I am so blessed!!

Enjoy,

Sanya

My Favorite Lady

My 84 year old grandma had surgery yesterday to remove a cancerous tumor from her lung, and she made it through with flying colors. She quit smoking 35 years ago, but somehow it still got to her. Luckily the doctor says that she has the heart and lungs of a 50 year old and ties that to her daily walks of 84 blocks. She has never driven a car, she has walked everywhere her whole life and it has kept her very healthy. This is a picture of us from last year when she came to KY from CA to visit our family, I did not want to let her go back! Is she not just the cutest thing? She is the sweetest soul I know, and I pray daily that I will one day be as wonderful a grandmother to my grandchildren as she has been to us. I can hardly wait till December when we go to CA for Christmas and we can be with her, it has been hard to not be with my grandma for the past 3 years on Christmas, but she will never leave my heart.

For those of you who are blessed to still have one, give them a call or send them a note and tell them how much you love them, and if you are a grandma, know that your love is a love like no other, it is the most precious gift for grandparents love in such a non judgemental way, and can spoil and do things that mom & dad just cannot do. What a blessing!
Sanya

A Letter Just For You

I could not resist buying these fabulous charms for the website! I love them and have one for each of my girls names, I may even add them to a bracelette with mine and Charley's initals as well. I also purchased some gorgeous charms with antique lace in them from the same artist and I am hoping to have them up on the site for all to see tonight along with the alphabet girl charms. I am thrilled to have found Shari here in Kentucky and I cannot wait to add more of her fabulous hand made treasures to my website. Charms sell for $16.50 and chains are $2.00 each

Enjoy!

Sanya

I'm So Excited!!!!

I think that the title to this post says it all! I am truly beside myself over the new look of my blog. When I first started this little venture I had no clue about blog customization and I was so unhappy with the way that my blog looked because it did not represent me and what I love in any way! For a couple of months I tried to make the best of it until I was blessed to find Shawn from Eclectic Whimsy. She is my blog angel, and I just cannot thank her enough for making my blog so fantastic! She has been very patient for the past 2 months, making sure that everything was just right and adding things for me here & there. I was determined to have my brooch that I love so much as somthing special and she created it perfectly for me. She truly took all of the elements that I love and put them together for me to create something magically beautiful, so if you like the new look of the blog, we all have her to thank! The world wide web is such an amazing thing, I get to make friends with such wonderfully talented people that I have never met face to face, yet with whom I share many of the same passions, and creativity, I feel very blessed!
Thank you Shawn from the bottom of my heart!
XO~
Sanya