What's Wrong With This Picture? A Give Away

A few days back, I posted pictures of my Christmas decorations.  One of them was my full Nativity.  Today, Jan 31st, I discovered that my 23 y/o son had some fun with the Nativity on Christmas Eve.  Can you see what's wrong with this picture?  I cropped out my shepards to make it a little easier. 

The first person to identify BOTH things that are wrong with this picture will win the paisley origami bag below.  It'd make a great gift bag for Valentine's Day!

There might even be a little surprise inside.  You never know! :)

Happy Holidays and Happy 2013

December has been a busy month!  Amidst the Christmas preparations, along came the Blizzard of 2012.  19 inches of snow!  And a several inches since then.  Ten days later, I'm still shoveling the side lane and widening the end of my drive.  The deciduous trees fared alright but many of the evergreens suffered from the heavy, wet snow. 

I considered having these pines taken down last summer, wondering if they'd make it through the winter....now I know!  LOL  Despite missing work and spending many, many hours shoveling, it DID make for a picturesque white Christmas.  Speaking of which, I've been busy decorating the tree...

...the mantle...

...putting up the Nativity...

...and all manner of decorations!

I never consciously decided to collect Christmas Beanie Babies, but at some point I realized I had quite a few - and my little collection to keeps growing.  Probably cuz they're so darn cute!  The red Teeny Beanie is this year's addition.

Between the blizzard and Christmas, there's been NO sewing and very little blogging.  After New Year's Day, I hope to settle in for the winter and sew to my heart's content.  :)

Happy Holidays & Happy 2013!

Pre-Christmas Nativity

Not much stitching going on here.  But my nativity set is up, in its pre-Christmas state.  Mary is still great with child, Joseph is watering the donkey, and the manger is empty.  The shepherds tend their flocks, while the Roman guard is at the gate, taking the census. 

The shepherd's camp is new this year - a 50th birthday gift from my sister.  I'd been wanting that for several years.  Thanks Laura!  The ducks are also new.  All the other animals have had a story card in the box - and the stories are quite dramatic/sappy.  I couldn't imagine what sort of tale the Fontannini family might come up with for Mama Duck and her babies.  Alas, there was no story card.  I guess that's where the Fontannini's draw the line.

The star, angels and magi will be set up closer to Christmas. 

I'd love to do some stitching today, but it looks like (more) snow shoveling will take priority. :)