precious memories / warm heart

top photo of me and my girl friends taken by my brother / L - Nikon

My fiance (sounds so strange to me) and I went to see Trans-Siberain Orchestra perform on their Winter Tour. It was truly amazing.
From the powerful sound of this group to the simple, precious sound of friends of 60 years singing "Blessed Be the Tie that Binds" - it has been a wonderful start to the holidays.

My parents had a Christmas party today with a group of friends (about 8 couples) they have known for about 60 years. My brother and I helped out. But we were the ones blessed. This group of friends took care of us when we were babies, our families camped together when we were children - even after moving to different parts of the city they've joined hands in prayer every year at Christmas time throughout the years. The group, sadly, is getting smaller as husbands and wives have passed on. Now their children, my friends, bring the widowed parent to the party and this year I got to see a few of the girls. It was such a great time of fellowship and good food and lots of laughing.
Later, as I relaxed at home, enjoying some of the hor'derves I had missed and a hot cup of coffee I thought back and smiled inside at how funny they were - poking fun at their age, or at the stories that they retold but also smiled to think of this bond so strong - it truly warmed my heart.

This song that we all sang was the perfect ending to a perfect time together.

Blest be the tie that binds
Our hearts in Christian love;
The fellowship of kindred minds
Is like to that above.

Before our Father's throne
We pour our ardent pray'rs;
Our fears, our hopes, our aims, are one,
Our comforts and our cares.

We share our mutual woes,
Our mutual burdens bear;
And often for each other flows
The sympathizing tear.

When we asunder part,
It gives us inward pain;
But we shall still be joined in heart,
And hope to meet again.

evening black / winter white

L - Nikon / T - Nikon

I don't "dress up" much - the office Christmas party is about the only evening I buy a special dress, get out eye shadow, stockings, and my patent leather shoes. And because Taylor wasn't home to critic my outfit I had to take a photo and send it to her for approval. (wish i could take better self portraits) She said, "it looks cute, especially with the awesome necklace and shoes". I'm not sure cute was what I was going for but I guess it will do. Do you like to get dressed up in fancy clothes? / people always tell me i look too dressed up for the errands i'm running. i just like wearing pretty things and am too impatient to wait around for the perfect event. i've gotten very good at dressing nice things down with thrift store belts and worn boots, haha. i hope i didn't make too much of a faux-pas by wearing white this winter day.

beautiful

solo post again - Nikon D40x
I am so lucky to live close to my parents.
My parents are in their 80s yet they are more active than most people in their 50s. I could write an entire blog just on all that they do on a daily basis - maybe another time. Today they had just been to the church Christmas party (the one she made 50 plus table decorations for), had to attend a funeral immediately after that and were on their way to do some shopping. And here I am wanting to stay home and not go to my party tonight - prefering a lazy evening at home - sad.
Anyway she came by today to let me sample her recipe for Spice Tea that she was giving to a friend. I have always made Spice Tea (many call it Friendship tea or Russian Tea) for the holidays starting at Thanksgiving and this year I wasn't home for Thanksgiving so Mom created her own recipe and wanted me to taste it to make sure it was as good enough for giving. She was sitting there at my table and just looked so pretty to me I wanted to take her picture. My mom is a beautiful woman - not only on the outside but so much so on the inside. She was telling me all about the party and some of her plans for baking for Christmas. There was such a brightness about her but I'm not sure if I captured it. In the photo here she is looking at a little felt gnome I just received in the mail from luckyd and she's wearing a crocheted poppy necklace I ordered from MarianneS. (I was going to wait and give it to her for Christmas but it just looked so perfect for what she was wearing I had to show it to her). Isn't it a striking piece?
Another reason for her visit - she was letting me borrow her jewelry for a party I'm going to tonight. I've worn this set before and it always makes me feel beautiful. The set is stunning- I love the dangling earrings and choker - it's a set she has had since the 40s I think (maybe before). I don't get dressed up much so I usually have to borrow something from my mom to make the outfit. I'm lucky she's close by (maybe I can borrow that poppy necklace sometime : )
Well I need to go get ready - lots to do to make this one beautiful - glad mom brought me those earrings. -Leslye
By the way, the Spice tea was just right.

Sorry for so many solo post lately. With the holidays and school finals I'm afraid we've gotten off track. This post really should have been put on AutumnSun. It might be confusing to some. I hope that Taylor and I get back on track soon.