Wishing you all a wonderful New Year… and huge thanks to everyone who has stuck it out during another tough year! Thanks for following me & my pottery adventures throughout the year. Thanks for supporting artists. Thanks for supporting small businesses. Thanks for all of your comments & kind words. Here’s to a better New Year… with less pandemic & more pottery for everyone!!!

Hope everyone is celebrating the end of 2021…
another mishigas of a year with so many highs & lows.
Looking forward to a better 2022.

So go out there and celebrate the New Year…
even if “out there” is your own back porch!!!
Make friends, make resolutions, make memories…
but also be thoughtful, be kind & BE SAFE.

Yesterday I made a quick escape out-of-town for some festive Christmas Lights!!! I went down to Peoria to visit friends and to see the East Peoria Festival of Lights… a former winner of TV’s “The Great Christmas Light Fight.”

Apparently, these light installations have all been handmade by Peoria volunteers, and it all starts with a parade through town closer to Thanksgiving! Now they’re all set-out in a park for a beautiful drive-through light display… just to brighten your already sparkly holidays!!!

Looks like Keith & Julie were celebrating with their “special holiday mugs” for Christmas! So glad my mugs could be part of their holiday festivities… even if one of them is painfully unadorned & unstamped… wait, what?!

Hoping you all made some wonderful Christmas memories with your family & friends yesterday. We had a great time with lots of presents, food, games, desserts & laughter! And since many of you know my Dad… he’s doing great, embracing this new chapter of his life… with his newly-found “pandemic beard” looking like he’s ready to play the part of Santa!

And yes, my sister Jen was there too… but I didn’t get a good picture of her! Just this one… that I was pretty sure she wouldn’t want me to pull her “head-shot” from!!! HA!!!

Festive fun with the family update! So the cling wrap game was great fun. Over 800-feet of cling wrap with a hundred gifts, trinkets, coins, candies, OREOs, money, gift cards & more wrapped inside! So each person has a chance to unwrap the ball and whatever falls out is theirs. The person next to them is rolling a pair of dice and if they get doubles, the person unwrapping is done! Next person, next turn… moving around the room until everything is unwrapped. And to make it even more fun… the unwrapper had to wear a pair of thick woolen mittens!!!

Okay, so this was all my niece Taylor’s idea…
but I’ve made a bundle of fun for our Christmas gathering. Over a hundred pieces packed inside, some good, some not… all wrapped up in 800-feet of cling wrap! My family will pass around the ball unwrapping & discovering some gifts along the way! Might not be the best gift ever… but it promises to deliver tons of entertainment for ME!!!

When tasked with bringing a dessert for Christmas… there are certain expectations. I mean, who wants a store-bought dessert when I can make this for my family??? Yummy vanilla cheesecake with chocolate & cherry accents. Oh yes, and some hot fudge to put over it all just in case you want even more!!!

As you know… MORE IS MORE… especially at Christmas!

Looks like a couple more of my Christmas Trees have found their festive homes…. this one complete with a one-of-a-kind candlestick holder too!!! So festive to celebrate today’s merriment. Thanks for sharing your Christmas with us Keith & Julie!