Memories of Christmas past.

I've been thinking a lot about how joyous and wonderful last Christmas was.  It was heartwarming and full of love.  On Christmas morning, I had everyone I love the most, under one roof.  I truly loved it. 
I loved preparing our lil Christmas tree with handmade ornaments that my Mom & I came up with:

I remember the late nights staying up sewing ornaments together with my Mom.  Sometimes we'd sit in silence, concentrating on the task at hand, and other times we'd have on Hawaiian or Christmas music.  This Christmas, I miss that.  I miss late night sewing sessions with her.  

I miss sewing ornaments for a Christmas tree.  I don't know how to describe the beauty of homemade Christmas ornaments.  I see burlap Christmas ornaments and wish I could make them with her, but I think I'll just wait til next year when I have a sewing machine of my own.  
As I've been reflecting back to last Christmas, it made me miss having all my nephews & niece together.  I wondered how my oldest two nephews would spend their Christmas away from home, living on their own. 
It made me miss them more. 
Then I received the wonderful news that my oldest two nephews would be home for a visit.  That cheered my heart so much! I miss having them all under one roof.  I can't wait to see this again;

 These boys...I love them so much!! Them, along with their sister, are the joy strings of my heart.  
This is just what I need to make this Christmas so much better (than it already is, thanks to Santa Levi---more on that later)

Workin' some wood!

When I first started talking to Levi, he mentioned that he made wood toys with his Dad on the weekends.  They were gettin' ready for an arts & crafts convention in New Mexico.  At first, I thought he was making little wood toys that are found in dollhouses.  I didn't think much about it til I visited his Dad's house and saw him at work.  Man, I was blown away!!!  It was NOTHING like I had thought! Nothing remotely close!

I was completely wrong and I was taken back by the beauty of the wood toys he & his Dad had created.  I wish I had taken pictures of all the wood toys I saw that first night.  Man, they were just so....beautiful!  I loved each piece and in my heart, I was hoping and wishing my future children could have toys as beautiful as the ones I saw.  There were wood bulldozers, tractors, helicopters, airplanes...a lot of other farming and construction equipments that I can't recall the names of....but he had the whole lot of them.  Not only were they beautiful, but they were fully functioning and worked together.  Seriously, I was in love!
I've always marveled at the craft of woodworking.  I think it's such a beautiful art--to take a piece of wood and shape it into something, even more so, something beautiful.  I love the fact that Levi knows about this artform and has this talent of creativity.
As soon as he mentioned woodworking, I immediately wanted a box.  I wasn't sure how to tactfully ask him, but I did.  I cannot wait to see the box that he'll create for me.  I don't know exactly why I'm so enamored with the idea of having a handcrafted wood box.  Maybe it stems from when my friend was dating her then boyfriend, and he knew he wanted to propose to her.  So he went home to his Grandfather and they created a jewelry box for her, and he proposed with the ring inside of it.  I was completely captivated with that gesture of love and hoped that someday a special man would make a box for me, as well.
I'm so fascinated by this beautiful talent.  I just wish I could watch them cut, shape and sand the wood into the pieces that they create.  Thankfully, Levi & his Dad are perfectly okay with that and luckily, I had the opportunity to watch them work last weekend.  Trust me when I say that I've been making a mental note of ALL the things I would LOVE for Levi to make for me.  Let's just say I've already got a "HoneyDo" list of wood things that I'd like him to [help me] create.