A Wonderful Christmas Day

Wanted to recap our great Christmas. Usually it is fairly quiet. The kids love to just be at home and we have a set routine. I worked on Christmas Eve, so got home at about 8:15 and they were waiting for me. The first things they always do is open their socks:
This year they got gift certificates and chocolates. They usually get socks in their stockings, but they teased me so mercilessly last year, that I thought they didn't like them, so I didn't do it this year. Catie acted out her rebellion in the no socks thing by actually putting on their Christmas stockings.
Then I slept for about 4 hours and we opened the other gifts:
Candice played Santa this year. We have the tradition of hiding the Christmas pickle on the tree and whoever finds it gets to be Santa:
Then we read the Christmas story, which was done by Catie and we pray. What a wonderful way to start our celebration every year.
Like I have said before, a big part of our Christmas was the animals we purchased for Heifer International. That was one of the first things that we opened.
Everyone had a great Christmas:

The very old Merry Christmas box reemerged. Catie was very happy about that.
Grandpa got a neat manly gadgety thing.
Catie gave me a sea grass basket made in the low country of South Carolina. I also received two movies, a Cricut Jukebox, and new winter boots, among other things.
Candice said I am the stylin' mom because I got her these kickin' boots.
She did get two pair of boot socks from us.
Catie made some very pretty packages.
Chuck got some lovely slippers from Brookstone with cushy soles.
I made the girls aprons with matching oven mitts and have since made matching pot holders.
We had our traditional meal following the gift opening, which is ham, potato casserole, green beans and cherry jello.
All in all it was a great day, but we were all a bit lonely without mom. We talked about her and missed her, but know that her celebration was so much more than what we had.
Hope your Christmas was just a merry!!

What a find!!!

I will update you on our wonderful Christmas later when I have more time, but have to share the fabulous thing my sister-in-law and I discovered yesterday. We went to Springfield for the Tindell Christmas and I have wanted to explore quilt shops in that area for quite some time. The shop that is just down the street from my mother-in-law's is closed until the 5th of January. We found one on the internet that is closing December 31st and was having a huge liquidation sale. All of the fabric was 3.00/yard and patterns, stencils, thread, etc. were 75% off, and some were 50% off and the second one was free.
Look how much fabric there was:
I was on such sensory overload!!! I ended up with about 50 yards of fabric, for myself, my sister and Celia:I bought 9 yards of neutral fabric for myself because after taking a workshop on scrappy quilts at the Madison show, she said to collect neutrals. I also bought at least 11 yards of 30's repros, some batiks and novelties. I could have gotten at least 50 more yards of fabric, but I think the "cutters" were getting irritated with me.
Some of the stencils:
I also took a machine quilting class recently and she said the best thread for machine quilting is Aurofil in the orange cone:

I also got some wonderful verigated threads.
All of you quilters out there, please wipe the drool off of your chin now.

A Very Merry Christmas from our Home to yours!!

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Christmas 2008

Dear Loved Ones,

Many of you probably were wondering what happened to the Tindells in 2007. Well, we are alive and well, but timing last year got away from us and we didn’t have time to send out Christmas greetings. We were able to send out a few e-mails, but just ran out of time. This year is busy also and a lot has happened.

We started the year with Chuck turning 50. As usual, he didn’t want a lot of fanfare, so we celebrated quietly at home. Because he has been with the Sheriff’s department for 20 years, he could have retired this year, but due to the state of the economy and the fact that he has a steady job, he declined for now. He has kept busy with his many adventurous activities such as biking, caving, and rock climbing. Thankfully, there were no fractures to report for this year, but he did feel every inch of his age this fall with some serious back pain. Starting the first of November he was home for a month, flat on his back and went back to light duty the first of December. He will be back at his regular job after the first of the year and is almost back to normal.

Catie also had many changes in her life this year as she graduated from Wheaton College in May with a degree in Biology and a minor in Music. We enjoyed having her so close to home and were able to attend all of her concerts in the three years she was at Wheaton. Last year, she lived in the “Hearth House” with 7 other girls, which is located very close to the science building and the chapel, where she spent so much of her time. She actually graduated in June because she took her last class at the Au Sable Institute in Florida. She learned about growing food and providing sustainable resources for people around the world. In August, she moved to John’s Island, South Carolina to St. Christopher camp and is teaching environmental science to school aged children. This is a new experience for her and she regularly interacts with crabs, fish, dolphins, and other kinds of shoreline creatures. She was able to come home for Thanksgiving and will be home for Christmas.

2008 was a year of many new and exciting experiences for Candice. She is now a junior at Hope College in Holland, Michigan. This year she has a car, so we have been able to see her fairly regularly. Even though she no longer is a theater major, she has had the privilege of being in two main stage productions. Last spring, she was Babe in Crimes of the Heart and this fall she was Ginger Brooks in 1940’s Radio Hour, and she stole the show as far as we were concerned.

She was able to attend the Hope Vienna School for 7 weeks this past summer and has been infected with the travel bug. Candice’s quick wit keeps us in stitches continually.

Chuck isn’t the only one in the family with a notable birthday; I also turned 50 last week. I feel good, my health is good, but man, I can’t believe I am this old!!! I still work in ICU at a local hospital on the night shift. Nights work out really well for the stage in life we are in and I only work 3 shifts per week. All my hobbies keep me very busy and I am often found sewing or crafting away. Last winter, I bought a new sewing machine and it has made my quilting hobby that much easier. I have started to venture into machine quilting on a small scale and with practice, may even attempt a larger piece. Scrapbooking, stamping and card making round out my activities. I am still leading a ladies small group Bible Study in our home.

This year, my mom went to heaven. After 3 years of cancer treatment, and almost continual chemotherapy, the decision was made in April to put her in hospice care. We celebrated her 80^th birthday on April 20^th with an open house. In May, my sister and I took leave of absences from our jobs and lived with mom and dad for 7 weeks. Mom left us on June 20^th. We celebrated her life on June 28^th and all of us were there, except for my youngest niece. I was privileged to have her as my mom and miss her every day, but I am grateful for the assurance that she is now whole and worshipping at the feet of Jesus.

This Christmas season, may your days be filled with the wonder and glory of our Savior.

With love,

Chris for the Tindells

Check out the Tindells on the web:

katanachuck.blogspot.com

threadsandscraps.blogspot.com

catietindell.blogspot.com

What a week!!!

I have been recuperating from 7 parties in 6 days and two days of work and also work tonight. It just seems like the past weekend is socked full every year, and then things slow down quite a bit. I even put off my Christmas shopping until this week and believe it or not, got most of it done in two days. It was power shopping to the max. With list in hand and keeping careful track of my spending, I was able to knock out a bunch of stuff in a matter of about 8 hours. My list is rather small as I buy for my immediate family, my dad, my mother-in-law, and the name drawing on the Tindell side. Yesterday, after getting a delicious latte at the coffee shop at the hospital, I had enough buzz in me to wrap most of them before my nap:

I have already done all of the charity shopping for the mitten trees and A Safe Place. Work is also doing some charity things, which I am contributing to tonight. You see, the Tindells are very blessed this year. We look around and see all of our friends and neighbors who are struggling in this economy and we have our jobs with very little chance of being laid off. So, with a united consensus, we decided to buy some animals from Heifer International. Check out their cause. Catie first introduced it to us last year as she gave us a flock of chicks. This year we bought a Llama and a goat. These animals will go somewhere in the world where the people need food and sustainable resources to stay alive. We are very excited about it and don't in the least bit feel cheated for Christmas gifts.
I stayed home all day yesterday because we got socked with quite a winter storm overnight. The drive home was pretty bad as the snow was falling at a rate of 2 inches an hour for about 5 hours. I think our total, which I really can't confirm any where is about 10-14 inches. Our neighbors had a shoveling party and cleared 7 driveways yesterday morning after Chuck went to work and I was safely home.
That is the pile at the end of our driveway. Catie is in Illinois, but we won't see her until tomorrow as she is downstate in Peoria at her Wheaton roommate's wedding.
More shopping and gift making today, then I am off to work.
Have a joyous pre-Christmas weekend!!!

Two Christmas parties yesterday

Our unit Christmas party was yesterday and I made an appearance. I made a couple of dishes which made yesterday morning very hectic. I have been getting pretty worn down with all of these parties in a row, but tonight is the last of them until New Year's Eve, when we will officially celebrate my birthday.
Last night was our small group Christmas party, which is always such a great festive time. One time we went to a restaurant because we went to see "The Nativity" before we ate, but decided that it is much more relaxing to have it here. And it was not too stressful for me as I only made the entree and they brought in everything else.
I set a pretty table:Heather Bernau brought her pictures of the Holy Land on DVD and after dinner, we watched them while Angie did my dishes!!! What a peach!
Then we had our annual:
This has consistently brought peals of laughter from one and all. Not too much stealing last night because there was so little quality merchandise. Apologies to anyone who may have given these gifts originally with good intentions. Only two decent things out of the entire night!!
Robin was the first to open and she picked mine because it was wrapped so lovely. (this is the trick of all good white elephants. Make your gift as attractive as possible, it fools the eye) So, I went shopping all around my house and found some real wonderful stuff. I was going to just give the embroidered Jesus picture, which my sister graced me with at Thanksgiving, but ended up giving a table runner, a casserole lid, a Bible games book, some candles that are gathering dust, and a 1995 Camping directory. She was agog...simply agog.
Then Angie got this pretty sparkly angel that sings really, really fast.
Deja Vu!!! Marcy regifted this lovely, (broken) mantle clock. Made me laugh, because it is just about polar opposite of Celia's dec style.
Angie also did a little shopping in her house and gave this perfectly good shelf and frames. The plate rails could use some paint, but I see some old Tindell stuff in the mix that was regifted to Heather.
Marcy was quite pleased with her lettuce bowl and it never got stolen!!!


Jean went for the cute package and got this Garfield figurine that was fired and painted by Celia in 1981. It is an antique!! How lovely would that be on her mantle?
Well, that shelf and picture frames, etc was stolen from Heather and she got this cookbook and...um, uh, er, candle (?) from Heather Gackle. The cookbook was interesting because the last names of the people who had submitted recipes ended in quist, or son, or gaard and we figured it was a Scandinavian group that put it together. There was a recipe for salmon cooked in of all places the dishwasher. That was too funny!!!

I opened second to last and no one wanted to steal from me, trust me. This hideous draft dodger Christmas bunny was even missing one of it's ear muffs. I also got the lovely beaded necklace and some other not even garage sale worthy items. Oh, man, revenge is nasty my friends...
Here's a better shot of just how incredibly kitchy this thing is. I think the look on her face says it all, "don't judge me because I am this ugly!!!".
Heather Gackle opened very last. She got this beautiful bag given by Heather Bernau from Jerusalem, but because Robin opened first, she got to steal and did so. Heather then ended up with my box full of treasures. Heather is known as the garage sale queen of the neighborhood, so I am expecting to see many of my things on tables in front of her house come spring.
This wonderful group has been a constant source of encouragement for me over the past 7 years and they have enriched my life with support and growth, both spiritually and emotionally. Although there have been ladies in and out of the group, the constant has been the study of God's word as it applies to our every day life.
This year, I made them oven mitt's to match the aprons I gave them last year. It was so much fun to see them open them.
I also framed a picture of the group for them to remember to lift each other up in prayer on a regular basis:
Thanks, gals for a great year. Looking forward to more memorable times to come.

Second annual Tag Day

Today was "Tag day". What fun to be creative for an afternoon whilst listening to Christmas tunes and spending time with some lovely ladies.
Here are some of the great things made today:
These are Anne's creations.
This is Cheryle's chilly Eskimo gal. I had the hardest time getting her stamped straight!!I cannot figure out why this loads sideways, because in my documents it is straight. Anyway, you can totally see Diane's love of fabric and the vintagy look in her tags.
Joanne utilized some of her Creative Memories tools to create these cute ones.
Again, a silly sideways picture, but these are Celia's . Her talent and creativity awes me.

OK, this looks fixed, but these are mine and they are straight...go figure.
Some shots of the afternoon:
My buds, Celia and Margaret, discussing deep things while cutting, pasting and stamping.
Melissa and Jill. Jill is a promising crafter, having recently made a quilt, makes cards and was a huge help on the blessings books day that we had last fall before our trip to Brazil.
Diane in the middle of my "extra" project. I got infected with a little "Martha Stewart" and tried to provide a special project. Because the drying time was so long, they weren't finished when we closed shop:
The one on the far right is mine, and the ones on the left are drying. They are just beautiful, but time intensive.
Anne loving the camera.
Thought I would also share some of the tags we made in the past, and some of my rejects:
These were my rejects for this year, but they aren't unusable.
These went to the land of misfit tags last year.
These were Celia's fabulous tags from last year. We were the only ones who made the prototypes last year and I hosted here and it proved to be a very stressful time. This year was much more relaxing.
These were my prototypes from last year. What fun!!

Funny thing that happened today. I made a hot appetizer, but needed to bake them off at the church. They only take about 10 minutes and I totally forgot about them. 2 hours later, I smelled them. When I am crafting, I get so obsessed and focused, I forget everything else!!!
Two more parties tomorrow!