Tuesday, December 28, 2010

I can't believe Thanksgiving and Christmas have come and gone and we are ready to welcome a New Year! We had a wonderful time with family at Thanksgiving. Both of our daughters and sons-in law were here with us as well as my Sweetheart's brother and his wife. We enjoyed our time together so very much.

Sadly, at Thanksgiving my Sweetheart's sister's husband went into the hospital after battling cancer for seven months. We spent two weeks visiting the hospital and spending precious time with the family. He went to be with the Lord on December 8. The family gathered for a funeral just before Christmas for the third time in the last 10 years. It certainly changes the focus of the holiday season and emphasizes our appreciation of family time and the fragility of life. The birth of Jesus, the Messiah and our Savior, had an even more special meaning for us this year.

We had a quiet but wonderful Christmas. I did get a little sewing done for Christmas. I loved seeing the mug rugs being made by so many quilting bloggers so I had to give them a try! Here's the result.




This year I hope to make a few Christmas projects each month so next Christmas will be a "handmade" and "homemade" celebration :)

Thankfully my doctors decided that I have completed chemotherapy and am ready for the stem cell transplant. I'll spend next week doing some pre-transplant tests and then be ready for the harvesting of my stem cells, the heavy chemotherapy and the transplant. That will include about 3 weeks in the hospital after mid-January.

Before then, I'm going to get my year of sewing and quilting planned so I can look forward to doing what I love while I am home and recovering. I won't be going out much until spring so I should be able to accomplish a lot on the days I feel good.

Wishing everyone a blessed new year filled with happy stitching,