{A Gingerbread Christmas}

'Tis the season for holiday decorating...and my house is finally--after several days of boxes and messes and chaos--looking like it's Christmas Season. I love it!

 I have an obsession with gingerbread. Real, fake, anything gingerbread. I love the taste and the playfulness of the candy decor. I love the colors of the candy and white icing against the dark brown of the gingerbread.

I have dreams of living in the witch's house from Hansel and Gretel.

Wouldn't that be awesome?!

But if I lived there I wouldn't trick children into thinking I was a sweet little old lady and then try to fatten them up to eat them.

Here is a glimpse of my gingerbread collection:

I'm not usually one who likes "cutesy" decor, but when it comes to gingerbread decor, the cuter the better!

I've also collected gingerbread ornaments for years...and I have enough that I think I can title my 9-foot tree a "Gingerbread Tree."

Well, I figured it was high-time that my gingerbread tree had a tree topper that matched it's decor...so I made my own gingerbread star topper!

I bought some brown felt and white rick-rack and whipped this up in about 20 minutes.

I printed out a large star (using the basic shapes in MSword) for a pattern, cut out two layers of felt, sewed them right-sides-together, leaving a couple inches at the bottom open, turned it right-sides-out, stuffed it with batting and a wire coil (stolen from my old tree topper), and then whip-stitched the opening by hand, reinforcing the area around the wire coil to hold it in place.

I think my gingerbread tree is now, officially, properly topped.

Happy Holidays!

--Tammy

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{Benefit For Becca}

Hello, everyone!
We've been swamped lately (again) with life and family and work and vacations and holidays, but we wanted to make a quick post on behalf of our cousin, Becca.

"Becca was recently diagnosed with Myasthenia Gravis.

She is a wonderful wife and mother to 6 children, three under the age of 5 and two with autism. Needless to say, her hands were already very full before this debilitating disease hit.

Myasthenia Gravis is a chronic condition that causes muscles to tire and weaken easily. Common muscle groups that are affected may make it difficult to chew, swallow, smile, shrug, lift your arm up, grip, rise to a stand, or walk up stairs.

When the muscles necessary for breathing are affected, a patient is said to be in myasthenic crisis.

This is a life-threatening situation.

Currently she is taking a large dosage of Prednisone to avoid any breathing difficulties.

She is scheduled to get her thymus removed (thymectomy) on Nov 10, 2011. Thymectomy seems to improve symptoms of Myasthenia Gravis patients. Typically this is an "open chest" procedure, however, she has located a doctor in Texas that is able to do it laproscopically (which will have a much faster recovery time).

As you can imagine, this unexpected family crisis will take quite a toll on Becca, emotionally and financially. She also will not have full insurance coverage since the surgery will be out of state  and she does not qualify for any programs (such as disability) as of now.

Any funds raised will be used for medical and travel expenses (from Utah to Texas) to assist her during her fight against MG."

* * * * *

Our family has set up a fundraiser site for anyone who can help out.  If you, or anyone you know, can spare even small amount of money to help Becca and her family get through this, it will be very much appreciated.

You can access her fundraiser page by clicking the following link:

{BENEFIT for BECCA}

(http://www.giveforward.com/benefitforbecca)

THANK YOU!

If we can answer any questions for you, please don't hesitate to email us at PeppermintPlum[at]Hotmail[dot]com.

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