It's beginning to look a lot like...the 4th of July??

Mini-sneak-peek at part of the July design

Working on the July design for my 12 month calendar 2 days before Thanksgiving and 5 days after posting the "Merry Making Christmas Gift Guide" is really messing with my internal holiday clock!! To top it off, my family is heading for a beach house on the Texas coast for 4 days to celebrate Thanksgiving and relax together - talk about confusing!! Oh, but it gets better - a nice cold front is heading our way and will reach us by Thursday so at least it will be cold at the beach... huh??

Actually, my family went to this same beach house last year for Christmas and it was cold but WONDERFUL! Here's a few photos from that trip...

Brrrrrrrrr - what kind of crazy people fish in 38 degree weather?? That's my sweet sister-in-law under all the layers...

We're heading back to this same beach house for Thanksgiving...can't wait!

Actually I love the beach any time...it was quite beautiful!

This year will be EXTRA special because my Sweet Hubby will be there by my side - our first big Holiday as husband and wife - joy, joy, joy!!! We are going to have such fun with us and all the family there together!! And to make things even sweeter, his second daughter and 2 grandkids (10 and 8) will be joining us all too!! Yay!! I LOVE BIG FAMILIES!! I am SO BLESSED!! I will have LOTS of photos to share, no doubt - please stay tuned...

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas too...

OK, back to Christmas for just a bit - these days it seems you have to start gathering Christmas stuff well before Halloween if you're going to have a shot and having a decorated house for the season. I'm not quite sure what happened to the days of trudging around in the chilly Texas air looking at Christmas tree lots for a REAL tree on about December the 17th or 18th - but that's how we used to do it. The tree went up about a week before Christmas and we all gathered around and decorated it with one or two colors of glass ornaments, handmade felt ornaments, silver "icicles", and a star on top - that was about it...and we loved it! But hey, I have to admit I love decorating the "new" way too - designer colors, gorgeous trimmings, swags and sparkles and candlelight and on and on...the main thing that will make today's designer Christmas like the spirit of Christmas' past is to have family close by to share the season and to keep God at the center of everything....then no matter how humble or how ornate, the real reason for Christmas is what will shine through in everything you do...

SO, here's a little peek at some of my Christmas decorating goodies I've gathered (not the greatest photo, but you get the gist) - we'll start the decorating process after we return from the beach this weekend - should be fun!

But for now, onward to the beach for lots of fun, food, family, and RELAXATION...

So, to all of you I wish a safe, tasty, fun, family-and-friend-filled Thanksgiving Holiday!! I am so thankful for so many things - the Lord and the miracles He's done in my life, my incredible new Hubby (one of those miracles), my wonderful family, this great country we live in, all my many blessings...WOW, I am so blown away!!! And I count YOU, beautiful blog buddies, among my many blessings!! Sharing my heart and art with all of you and having you share your life back has been an incredible joy to me! Thank you for being a special part of my life....

"I thank my God every time I remember you." Philippians 1:3