This Weekend's Christmas Spirit

Good morning, blog friends.

♥

I can't imagine a better way to begin a Monday morning than a writing a weekend recap full of Christmas preparation, friends and family, cupcakes, and music. And two movies. Plus, usually when I click that "Publish" button I switch gears and start getting ready for work, but I have this week off so I won't be playing the role of Office Manager today. Instead, I'm going to spend my day making lasagna for tomorrow night's Christmas Eve gathering and tying up the loose ends of Christmas preparation. It's the best way to spend a Monday, I think.

 

I ended up embellishing 10 dish towels to use as gift wrapping this year, and I finished tying all those up this weekend. I'm really happy with how they turned out! I used some of the towels to wrap around loaves of bread, and the others to tie up some brownie mix. {recipe here}

 

Saturday night was spent enjoying the company of friends and family at an annual soup party. This year's festivities included a house concert by our friend, Rachel and my nephew, Ryne. It was so cool to hear these talented young people sharing their gifts. I loved every bit of this!



Same night/same party... We also celebrated our niece Kaycee and her recent graduation from Arizona State University. I volunteered for cupcakes, and Kaycee chose red velvet.

I don't go to the movies very often, so it's really unusual for me to see two in one weekend! We saw "Hunger Games - Catching Fire" on Friday night. Carrie and Doug loved it, I fell asleep. :o\  Then yesterday Carrie and I saw "Saving Mr. Banks" which was an utter disappointment in so many ways. I think we both were expecting the lightheartedness of our beloved Mary Poppins, but it was actually a rather depressing movie. Pity.

 

Our friends, Samantha and Adam came over yesterday and it was so nice to spend some time with them. Sam and I stamped a few dish towels, and our guys made sausage from venison and pork. I'll spare you the graphic photos, but let me tell you, it was an interesting process. Adam is a pro, and Doug thoroughly enjoyed himself. And even though I don't eat venison, I did try some of the finished sausage and it is the BEST I've ever eaten. Hands down. We are really excited to share some of the sausage with our family at tomorrow night's Christmas Eve gathering.

 

So that, in a nutshell, was our weekend. I need to click that publish button and get busy. There's lasagna to make, a few gifts to finish wrapping, and Christmas to celebrate.

 

I feel so grateful for this blog space and for those of you that visit regularly.

I'm sending heartfelt wishes to each of you for a very Merry Christmas.

God bless us, everyone.

♥

Winner of Ryne's CD ~ This Tempered Tongue

Hey there friends ~

Thanks so much for the love and support you've shown for my nephew Ryne and his new solo CD. It's time to announce the winner of the autographed copy of "This Tempered Tongue."

Congratulations, Jo from Buckingham's Palace! You're the lucky winner of Ryne's new CD, This Tempered Tongue. Please email your mailing information to me at paperturtle(at)cox(dot)net and I'll send you some happy mail of the musical kind!

And because I want everyone to hear just a little bit of Ryne's music, I've included the song he wrote about my grandma in this post {thanks to Carrie for helping this old dog learn a new trick}. Just click the play button and enjoy. :o)

 

Download a copy of the CD from iTunes by clicking here.

♥

A bit of family history, my nephew, and a giveaway.

We grew up in Dos Palos, California. Life was simple then, and I have so many fond memories of growing up in that small town - rich with agriculture, a strong sense of community, and Grandma Bessie's house.

♥

Ryne @ 3

My "baby" brother Tim loved Grandma Bessie like I did, and he spent a lot of time at Grandma’s house with our two cousins, the Jones boys. They were my grandma’s younger grandkids, and by the time they were old enough to make their way to Grandma’s on their own, she was well seasoned in the art of grand-parenting teenaged boys. They lovingly called her Bess and she ate it up. Oh how she loved having those three boys pay her visits.

My nephew Ryne grew up hearing stories of Grandma Bessie as told by his dad, my brother Tim. He loved those stories so much that while he was writing songs for his solo CD he wrote a song about his Great-grandma Bessie.

Last year while we were all in California saying our final farewells to my mom, my brothers had their guitars out and Ryne played “Ole Bessie” for us for the first time. We loved it! I asked him right away if he had plans to include it on his CD and we were all really happy when he said yes.

In the past year I’ve heard Ryne play “Ole Bessie” a few times, but it wasn’t until I heard his recording, with my brother Tim singing harmony in the chorus that it really hit me. It was so amazing to hear my brother’s voice, blended so beautifully with his son’s in a song about our awesome grandma.

I sent Ryne a text and thanked him for that song. I thanked him because it’s just the perfect tribute to a really cool ol’ gal like Bess. I think she would be crazy about that song, and probably very tickled that Ryne would write a song about little ol’ her.

Today I’m hosting a giveaway, and the prize is an autographed copy of Ryne’s new CD, This Tempered Tongue, including the song “Ole Bessie” for your listening pleasure. I know you’ll love the other songs too – I have a few other favorites myself.

To enter the drawing, just leave me a comment here on this post, or you can leave a comment and/or like my post about this giveaway on Facebook. I’ll randomly select a winner and announce it on my blog on Monday, October 21.

If you don’t want to wait until you see if you’ve won my giveaway, you can download This Tempered Tongue on iTunes as of today.

I’m so proud of you, Ryno!

And I know that Grandma Bessie would be too!

♥

My Weekend

Good Monday morning, friends.

♥

 

Our weekend was half awesome and half not-so-awesome. I wasn't feeling well at all yesterday, still not too groovy this morning, but this blogging habit of mine calls to me on a Monday morning. Here's a look at the awesome parts of my weekend:

 

Saturday morning I finally got a start on a blog friend mini-book I've had in mind. I have all my photos printed, and spent some time gluing the first part of my pages and setting them aside to dry. I had some help from my furry friend... 

 

Made a yummy good-for-us-lunch on Saturday afternoon... 

Tried to get a few photos of this friend in a shell...

 

Got super mad at our dog for not heeding the warning sign...

And went to my nephew Ryne's concert on Saturday night. The boy is so talented, and his first solo album is coming out soon. I am one proud aunt!

 

Wishing you all a fantastic week ahead!

♥  

My Nephew, the Musician

My Nephew, the Writer
My Nephew, the Artist
My Nephew, The Birthday Boy!

♥

When we were all in California last year celebrating my mom's life, my nephew Ryne played a song for us that he had written about our dear Grandma Bessie. I told him, "Ryno, if you record that song I will promote the heck out of your album!" Well, Grandma Bessie's song is going to be on his upcoming album! So...

Photo credit: Speaking of artists, Ryne has a good friend who is a

crazy good photographer - SO much talent going on with these

young people! The photographer is Robert Conrad and you can

see his work on Facebook.

So anyway, Ryne used a platform called Kickstarter to raise funds for recording fees for his first solo album. With the support of friends and family, Ryne met his goal, and we are super excited for him to complete this project and have his own music recorded for all of us to enjoy.

And here's a video he recently did with one of the songs that will be on his album. {Video also by Robert Conrad}.

We are so excited for Ryne and his talents to be recognized.

Check him out - he's awesome. And he's my nephew. :o)

Here's a link to his Kickstarter page {link} where you can
pre-purchase your own copy of his music.

♥

PS: Today happens to be Ryne's 21st birthday. {Happy birthday, Ryno!!!} I love you so much, and am so super proud to be your aunt!

Thanksgiving Weekend Recap

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Hello, friends.

And happy Monday morning to you!

The past five days were filled with fun, food, laughter, wine, desserts, washing dishes, music, cleaning up messes, hugging family, and very little sleep. I'm not sure if I want to go back to work for the routine, or if I'd rather just crawl back in bed and rest for the day. {I know what my body would choose if I wasn't such a responsible employee!}

As I searched through my photos this morning for a few to post here on my blog, I realized that the majority are family shots, so I'll just share a few of those and then be off to tackle my day.

This is the first Thanksgiving in a very long time that all of us were together - every sibling, spouse, niece, and nephew. We thought of my mom all day, and mentioned her many times. One of her very favorite things was having us all together, so I know she was smiling right along with us all day!

After the "serious" group shot, there's always a silly one too...

My mom called these kids her "grands" - and I call them nieces and nephews. Hearing the words "Aunt Deb" so many times over the past week has been music to my ears, and I miss these guys already.

The day after Thanksgiving is always a chance for my sister to take some of the kids out shopping for Black Friday. That's not my bag, so I took the opportunity to spend some time with my 7-year old niece, Presley while the others were tearing up the mall. We made a quick trip to a scrapbook store, a pet store, and this really cool candy store. The best part of our day was a little crafting time when we got back to my house. I love this kid!

Saturday night we went downtown to see my nephew Ryne play with his band Downing Street. We are so proud of this kid, and how appropriate to end our time together with one last shot of music.

But wait, we aren't done! Yesterday we had another Thanksgiving gathering with Doug's family - more food, laughter, family hugs, and this time: babies!

and a pup.

 and some more love...

♥

Now it's time to switch gears and start wrapping my head around Christmas.

I need to shake off this food coma and get my jolly on!

Are you there yet?

A family birthday.

My nephew, Ryne is 18 today.

I wanted to write a post about him today and as I looked through my pictures, it was difficult to find one of him without a guitar. He is an amazing musician (takes after his dad/my brother) and this instrument is always with him.

This young man has always held a special place in my heart. I love him to the sky! I'm emotional just typing this...

And then! I read my SIL's blog this morning and now I'm at a loss for words. She wrote a beautiful tribute to our Ryno-man -- a must read tribute from a mother to her son on his 18th birthday.
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If you are so inclined, hop on over to her blog and leave her a little love today.
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Happy Birthday, Ryno!!!

We ♥ you!!!

xo

Ryne's Birthday Gift

My nephew, Ryne is turning 17 this month. This is a very special young man! Great kid, and an incredibly talented musician. These pictures were taken by someone in Europe (sorry I can't give props) while he was in the Czech Republic last year. As soon as I saw them I knew I had to do something with them. I love these pix of him!
I put the pix in a shadow box along with a Bible verse recommended by my SIL (and Ryne's mom).

Make a joyful noise unto the LORD,
all the earth: make a loud noise,
and rejoice, and sing praise.
Psalm 98:4

And I wrapped it like this:

And Carrie and I cropped with his mom and sister all day yesterday! :o)!!!♥ Carrie, Liz, me, & Savannah ♥