Haniya’s collage.

Cutie-pie, isn’t she?

Merry Christmas from the Harmon Family!

To family and friends far and wide — we’re grateful for your love and friendship. This video shares some of our family’s memories from 2011. As we look back on 2011 and see all the blessings God has given, we can’t help but be excited for 2012.

We pray God’s best for you in 2012! Merry Christmas!

P.S. This more personal video is not the same as the Christmas video I shared at GNOWFGLINS.

This is our (almost) Christmas eCard. I would have sent it out happily had we not taken family photos yesterday and gotten an official family photo.

In some ways I like this card better than the one we’re sending out. It is more fun, for sure! Except for the picture of Jeff and I (taken at a church potluck) the other pictures are from this past Thursday, when the kids and I decorated the Christmas tree.

Now you might think it looks like a Charlie Brown tree, but keep in mind, this tree came in a pot. We’re going to plant it after Christmas.

He’s been wanting to go bowling with the brothers in this family. So kind of (very) spontaneously we decided to just do it — in celebration of his birthday. Yesterday was the day. Conveniently, it made a great birthday party for which I had to do very little work. Not that I don’t love my son, but less work makes me really happy.

Yesterday morning I baked the sourdough chocolate cakes. The bowling alley took care of the pizzas. Yes *gasp* we ate out and it was not real food. It tasted great though!

And we bowled. Well, the kids did.

I realized that I need to practice hospitality more. The bowling alley provided a table behind our lanes for the food, but did it even occur to me to bring a tablecloth? Nope. I did remember the candles and matches though.

How was your Mother’s Day? Ours was wonderful! Jeff’s parents surprised us with a visit; Jerry (Jeff’s dad) was in Oregon for business so they extended their trip to stay with us for a few days.

Judy and I both had an agenda – pictures. She wanted updated pictures of us for Jerry’s new office. And I wanted pictures… just because.

I realize that there’s alot to catch up on Such Treasures. But because I can’t possibly catch up, I am just going to jump in, and try to fill in the blanks as I go.

On Saturday morning, Judy (Jeff’s mom) took me and the kids out for breakfast. There was a motel with beautiful landscaping near the restaurant and we took advantage.

Yesterday, Sunday, we took some pictures on our property.

Some of the pictures ended up with the goats, because they followed us around … especially Pegs!

We are definitely dressed for the country, but that’s okay!

And here are the kids with their grandparents.

We had a wonderful visit – too short! But sweet.

I did some rearranging yesterday. My desk is in the family room, which also contains the drying rack for wool next to the fireplace (pellet stove), and the other side of the room is my sewing area.

I turned my desk so it would be oriented parallel to the wall, with the computer facing the wall. I also have a bookcase now – it is one of those cheap compressed sawdust bookcases that fits together because of slots cut into each piece. You can see it there creating a boundary between my office and the drying rack.

This is how my “office” used to be, just for comparison. That’s my cute son, Mikah. When we took the picture, we were still waiting for my Mac to arrive.

I needed to rethink the arrangement of my office so I could rig a better background for recording myself during gnowfglins.com video recordings. I’m not sure what I’ll do on the wall behind me.

The rearranging saved me from buying a screen/partition. The view behind me (before) was the fireplace and drying rack. Now it is a wall, which I will work on making pretty. Any ideas? On the wall now are abstract paintings done by the kids a few years ago. I really like them, but I’m not sure how they go with food, which is what I’ll be discussing when I do a video recording.

When I finish tidying the sewing area, I’ll take some pictures and show you that area of the family room. It is almost done. Just a few loose ends to pick up.

By the way, how was your Christmas? Ours was restful. Jeff was ill the whole vacation, so we did alot of sitting around and watching movies and talking and resting. Jeff’s mom gave him the complete MacGuyver season #1 for Christmas, which really came in handy for the downtime. In the quiet weekend, I was able to finish a big video project I’ve been working on for gnowfglins.com, which I’ll be announcing and sharing sometime this week. I also pre-dyed (black) 6 yards of merino wool interlock, which I’ll use for wool pjs, shirts, and hats for all of us. I need to dye more of it; that 6 yards won’t get us that far.

This photo was taken by Jeff’s sister when the kids were in California in the summer of 2009.