Day 1 ....

~ Greetings and warm welcome to ~

It has been a long time... hasn't it my friends?! I've used my time this fall to recover from my surgery, care for my family and myself, support my eldest children in their weekly Cross Country Meets and to just Be. I am so very blessed! I am so very thankful! Of course I've been busy stitching and finishing for myself and others. Busy hands make for a happy heart and that is always what I strive toward ~ a happy heart.
Can you believe... one whole year has gone by and here I am, thanks to many of you who have e-mailed me and encouraged me to do the 25 Days of Christmas with The Twisted Stitcher again. I hope to do not only the projects directed toward the season justice, but I also hope to spotlight and focus on the season and the dignity it deserves according to my faith tradition. It is a special walk that my family and I take each year, awaiting the birth of our Lord and Savior. The fun, frivolity, mirth and traditions just make it more special :)
Day One... Today, I have to share with you a project series that is dear and close to my heart. It is: The Calendar Girls by Little House Needleworks . I was blessed to be the model stitcher and also the model finisher for this series by Diane Williams. The series is completed this month with the debut of Miss December. There are so many options for stitching and display of these sweet little misses, let me show you the way I display my gathering of girls.
Our home is a two story home over a full basement, it has an open floor plan with cathedral ceilings in the entry and a sweet balcony overlook. When you climb up the stairs to our second floor I have my great-grandmothers bureau standing right by the balcony. I decorate it seasonally with little tidbits and greenery. My girls have taken up residence there and if you look closely when entering our home, you can see the girls peeking at you from the level above.

The Calendar Girl of the month... resides on a easel, taking place of honor, while the girls waiting in the wings get corralled in a big brown ironstone bowl that was passed to us from my husband's grandparents. I add greenery to match the season we are currently in ~ this month of course evergreen boughs, some sparkly ornaments and a big gold jingle bell. Each new month the little girl of honor gets to jump out of the bowl to show off her designated month. It is sweet and simple and makes for a darling display! See Miss January patiently awaiting her turn to jump from the bowl ;)

Yesterday (Sunday, November 30)... marked the First Week of Advent. Advent is a holy season of "expectation" as we await and prepare the way for the coming of the infant Jesus. Advent is taken from the Latin Ad-venire meaning "to come to". As a Catholic family we participate in the Advent Season by marking the 4 Sundays of Advent by lighting a candle each week on our Advent Wreath, saying our Advent devotional prayer each evening as a family, confessing our sins to our confessor, making reparation for the sins we have done and participating in doing good works ~ particularly of the seven corporal works of mercy (feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked, caring for the sick, housing the homeless, visiting the imprisoned and burying the dead).
Our "Advent Wreath"... isn't a "wreath" in the true sense of the word. We used to have a wreath on our table and light the respective candle(s) at dinnertime. But one year we had a mishap and I've changed our tradition to having the respective candles (3 purple and 1 pink) around our main Nativity Set. The candles are battery operated and non-flameless (note the aforementioned mishap!). Here is our Advent "Wreath":

On this First Week of Advent...
we light the first purple candle and pray:

"Heavenly Father, as we begin this Advent, give light to our eyes and peace
to our hearts. May the Lord find us watching and waiting in joy when He
comes. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen."

and may it be so!

So folks...
that does it for Day 1 of The Twisted Stitcher's 25 Days of Christmas! I hope I didn't disappoint. Tomorrow there will be a new stitch and a new tradition to share. Please come back and visit with me!

:)

Until tomorrow...
I'll be keeping my hands to work and heart to God, just like always!
Join me!

Love in stitches,
Vonna xxxx