Julie Magerka

Any time I've visited the Big Apple in the colder weatheer, I've always bought a bag of fresh-roasted chestnuts. But it's been quite a while since the last time.

F = feasting (which we are fortunate to be able to do)

Lookin' good girlie!

C = candles that used to be put on trees

Oh man! Because I know brolly and bumbershoot I'm an old girl? I'm heartbroken Susan. 😇 (But the truth hurts sometimes, right?)

I was also taught that way many years ago. It makes sense to me that the punctuation (period) is the actual end of the sentence, so the quotation marks would be outside after that.

Well done Susan. Balanced and intricate and worth the time you spent on it. Love kitty's attitude! Are these your pix?

Never done that, have you? But it would be fun.

T = twigs (and branches) used for decorating

When I was young, my stocking always had a piece of coal at the bottom of it! My father had a ready supply of it in his shop. He was a blacksmith/welder who used a forge fuelled by coal. It's such a precious memory.

Wow! such a lot of great info. Thanks so much Susan. I do need to hear of the successes folks have had with surgeries for this type of issue. I will get in touch so we don't drive everyone else on here a bit batty with the pain talks.

A new and fun toy! That's a lovely thing. Expect to see lots of your pix here.

Still trying to get jolly. Decided on a layout that is NOT made of traditional red/green colours. The image is AI-generated by a designer on Etsy (AI WearGallery), and I thought it was something different to work with since I don't take a lot of pix in everyday life. Concentrating on a layout and all the details keeps my mind off other things.

As far as I know, it's an extruded (not herniated) disc at L2-L3 that has been bothering me for almost 3 years. It got a whole lot worse recently, and I'm just worn down with pain, so any solution (other than long-term painkillers) will be my choice. I've had spinal injections of steroids several times which work...some of the time. This latest did not help much so there's one source of relief off the table. Not many choices left, but the surgery. I know it will be worth it, but it sounds scary right now. (Corrie's words gave me courage too.)

Thanks for the encouragement Tigger . I have hoped over the years that surgery wouldn't be necessary, but now I'm starting to wonder.....anything is welcome soon to help.

I've been a bit distracted and not feeling great for a while (back pain), so the Festive Season has not been on my mind. But I'd better get on it b/c the time is getting shorter! I have so many kits and elements to use, so that's what I did. No photos included, just decorative elements mostly from Di Hiller and Ericka Designs. Trying to get jolly....

What a family heirloom that will be! Imagine in 20 or 50 years, when someone looks at that labour of love! A treasured and very special keepsake.

This is lovely, Michele, in its simplicity.

Day 5 of Christmas Countdown: a chance to hear the song again! I needed that! It lifted my spirits.😍

I think if I hear/see the phrase "Black Friday" this many weeks after the actual one, I will scream!

Happy trails, Sue! You will be getting a break from the cold and winds of the prairies and using a brolly instead I think. Looking forward to the layouts to come from the trip.

This seems to be a layout that is a hybrid between the November Word Challenge (Cold) and the December (Christmas) Challenge. Just playing with lots of elements and basing it on a layout I saw on Jessica Dunn's Curio Pantry site.

Makes me feel warm & fuzzy that others have this going on too! I will swear it's a Wednesday, for example, and then realize it's Tuesday. Better to call 'em brain f@rts than senior moments.

Here's what I came up with for COLD. A pic I took last winter or one before of a squirrel waiting for food. I can't help it; I feel sorry for them in bad weather and do the handouts for them and the birds year round. Costs a lot more than it used to! The background is a paper from somewhere, vector frames with bevel. (Might have used the photo here before?)

I think I might try this one. I used to have one I really liked (can't recall name), but then started using builit-in Windows snipping tool, but it's limited for adding embellisments. Thanks for the tip. The Mac has a much better built-in screenshot captor, but I tend not to use it b/c I can't use PSP on it.