Christmas is a time of year that I absolutely love! I know, I know, I said that about Fall, but I DO love Christmas. I love the reason we celebrate, I love the sights, sounds and scents of Christmas. I love the baking, the decorating, the cards from friends, the whole shebang! Usually I start decorating the day after Thanksgiving and continue until everything is out. I'm a little behind this year, but the Redwood Forest quilt has been put on the bed in the "red" room and the red log cabin that I made for my dad's 90th birthday is on the sofa in the family room. The red and green 9-patch quilt is in the family room, too. Today, I'll show just the Redwood Forest quilt and then continue to show other pine tree and Christmas quilts throughout the month of December. When I made Redwood Forest, I thought it would be on the cover of my book, Pine Tree Quilts, but the editor chose a different quilt. I'll show that one and the cover of the book later this month. Last year I made red and white toile pillowcases and with the red work pine needles pillow shams, the "red" room looks very festive and ready for guests. Today I'm working on a deadline so this will have to be short. I'm hoping to get to bake ginger cookies from Gary's grandmother's recipe later today, but I thought I'd get to it yesterday and didn't. When I do bake them, I'll share the recipe here. What are your favorite Christmas memories? One of mine is all the cookies my mom used to bake -- especially what she called date pinwheels. They were even yummy frozen, but don't ask me how I know this. I would never have sneaked them from the plates in the freezer. Blessings of the season, Lois
