Merry Christmas 2023...

Merry Christmas, friends!  We had a wonderful family gathering at Kasey and Beau's  yesterday (Christmas Eve).  

Our tree has given me a lot of joy this year.  Retirement gave me more time to decorate than I've had for awhile.  And the new living room furniture, that we've been acquiring and arranging over the past month or so, makes things feel light and free.  (Not that IT was free, hence the absence of Frugal Friday's lately.  😂)

The top photo shows the 'C' and 'K' (our initials) that I made for our very first Christmas tree in 1976.  There are a lot of handmade ornaments on the tree, and the other ornaments are full of memories.  There's a helicopter to commemorate when Carey was back to working on land again, and never had to make another offshore trip in helicopters.  There's a shamrock teapot from a trip to Ireland.  

The disco ball is always on for my little disco baby (Kasey, born in 1977) and the drummer is always on for Jared since he played in the drumline.  Lots of candy and sweets are represented (visions of sugar-plums).

And now that the grandkids are mostly grown and into places of their own, I'm starting to make ornaments for them to hang on their own trees.  

 Carey was cleaning up some trees in the yard and trimming branches last year.  I asked him if he could cut some of the larger ones into disks and drill a hole for hanging them.  A few days ago I used a wood burner to  add Christmas-y designs, and I burned our names and the year onto the back.  Later I wrote the kids' names on them, and they served as their package tags.

I wish I could send one to each person who reads this!  Wishing you all the best!