A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day....12-9,10,11-05...From East to West Freepers Decorate Best

Billie

[Billie]

A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day

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A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day was introduced on June 24, 2002. It's only a small room in JimRob's house where we can get to know one another a little better; salute and support our military and our leaders; pray for those in need; and congratulate those deserving. We strive to keep our threads entertaining, fun, and pleasing to look at, and often have guest writers contribute an essay, or a profile of another FReeper.

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We're having fun and hope you are!
~ Billie, Dutchess, DollyCali, Mama_Bear, GodBlessUSA ~

Good morning, FReeper FRiends! We're Christmas'ing all this month at the Finest, and this weekend you are invited to join us on a tour of the Finest Homes, where many of our regulars are going to share their decorations with you in their posts throughout the weekend. In addition, we would love to see your Christmas trees, your outdoor lights, favorite decorations, recipes, Christmas traditions in your home.

Because the thread may get really *graphics-heavy*, I ask that you keep your photos a reasonable size (both physical and in bytes), but do hope you will feel free to post as many as you like, and drop in often to see the offerings of others. I will start with a little bit of Christmas in my kitchen, which helps get me in the mood to bake cookies and other goodies we don't need but think we can't do without. :)

As we share our photos and traditions with others, I'd like to share a link to a wonderful Christmas album: "Merry Christmas With love" by Clay Aiken, who has one of the most beautiful voices I've ever heard. My favorite song is #6: "Mary Did You Know". I've been listening to it over and over and over, but you should be able to listen to all of the songs on that CD.

Clay Aiken ~ "Merry Christmas With Love"

Mary Did You Know

Mary, did you know
that your Baby Boy would one day walk on water?
Mary, did you know
that your Baby Boy would save our sons and daughters?
Did you know
that your Baby Boy has come to make you new?
This Child that you delivered will soon deliver you.

Mary, did you know
that your Baby Boy will give sight to a blind man?
Mary, did you know
that your Baby Boy will calm the storm with His hand?
Did you know
that your Baby Boy has walked where angels trod?
When you kiss your little Baby you kissed the face of God?

Mary did you know.. Ooo Ooo Ooo

The blind will see.
The deaf will hear.
The dead will live again.
The lame will leap.
The dumb will speak
The praises of The Lamb.

Mary, did you know
that your Baby Boy is Lord of all creation?
Mary, did you know
that your Baby Boy will one day rule the nations?
Did you know
that your Baby Boy is heaven's perfect Lamb?
The sleeping Child you're holding is the Great, I Am.

From My House to Yours.....

Merry Christmas, Ya'll!

09-27-05 ~ Hall of Fame #13

THIS WEEK'S THREADS 12-05-05 Military Monday 12-06-05 Finest Christmas Tables, Part I 12-07-05 Christmas in New York 12-08-05 Bush Booming, Democrats Still Depressed

Opinions by our own 'King of Ping' Every Thursday at the Finest The guy's good, folks!

[Billie]

Does "red" fox count?

Well, just don't tell jwfiv. :)

[Billie]

Lovely Billie.Simply beautiful table. And man, no one is going to get NEAR my kitchen, yet alone me post pix of it! Yours is gorgeous. Looks like something out of House Beautiful.

I hope you post more of your home. Each room that you have something in. All of us would love to see them.

Thanks, dolly - you always say the nicest things. :) I do put a wee bit of Christmas in every room, even if it's just a Christmas music box or Christmas teddy bear on the bed, but the three photos I posted are pretty representative of the kinds of decor we use throughout.

Lori, Billie, I could not play it either. I downloaded a few different things.

:( Sigh. I tried very hard to find a linkable MP3 of Clay singing that particular song. Found a few sites where we could hear only a sample, but that one seemed to let us listen to the whole song. Maybe it's just a very busy site at Christmas time. That CD came out last year, and if I remember correctly, it was a HUGE hit, selling more copies and in a shorter time than any new Christmas album.

[DollyCali]

it is not your fault re: music.. I am not good/into music on computer. I have a loaded "media" computer which is supposed to do all but many times I try to open something, I get message that I need to download this or that. so I do. I really don't know what I am doing along those lines & possibly am in conflict with one or more programs.being incompatible.

If some are able to open it, you have done your part! can't be resposible for all having or not having various programs.

looking forward to seeing what folks will share over the weekend. Looks like our total snow is about 5 or 6 inches. some places deeper with drifts. So we got off easy.

[Aquamarine]

I wasn't able to play the song either. Could access the site but not the song.
My source for Christmas Music over the years has stopped working recently (something about not licensed to use) so am against the wall on finding music to use this year. It's getting harder and harder to find wav's that can be linked.

[DollyCali]

That is what heppened to me. I was able to go to the site & saw all the selection.. but couldn't play. Said I needed a "plugin".. but none was available

>????

I did reload media player & real player. still no cigar.

[jwfiv]

Too late.

The word's out, but that's OK.

Foxes of any color always count ... double ... )

[Billie]

Sorry to just now get back to the thread.

Mornin' Billie. Your decorating should be in the Good Housekeeping Christmas edition. Great pictures! You must have a very big living room with two trees side by side. :)

LOL! Yes, of course, and they're decorated just exactly alike! :) Thank you, Dave. :)

Our decorating is a work in progress. Photos will be posted a little later. Meanwhile, thanks for "Mary Did You Know."

Good - look forward to seeing some Christmas'ing at Diver's home. Glad you could get "Mary Did You Know" to play - at least once (saw your next message) :(

[Billie]

Hi, Colleen - love the way you showed off your Christmas Cards. I used to never decorate until December 10th, but lately try to get it done much earlier - about a week after Thanksgiving I get started so we can enjoy it longer - also easier to get in the mood to bake goodies if it's Christmas'y inside. :)

[Billie]

Is that your house outside? I like the reindeer and the sign!

[Billie]

Hi Billie :-) Love your decorations, beautiful!!!!

Thank you, Colleen. It looks almost the same every year, but every year it seems new again. :)

[ST.LOUIE1]

Afternoon, *BillieBlue*!

Beautiful thread, beautiful home decorations. TWO TREES? I love it! : )

[Billie]

This post is just beautiful Billie, everything about it including the pledge. Love your Christmas decorations, your kitchen looks immaculate.

Afternoon, Aqua. Thank you - your posts are always so classy, I'm glad you like this one. I don't have a LOT of countertop space, and the granite is so easy to care for and always looks shiny.

This is the wreath on my front door.

What a cute Santa - is your wreath fresh pine or silk? Hard to tell - but I like it!

[Billie]

Thank you both for LOL! :)

[Diver Dave]

I'll post these two from last year while we all wait for some Kodak Moments...

[Billie]

I wasn't able to play the song either. Could access the site but not the song. My source for Christmas Music over the years has stopped working recently (something about not licensed to use) so am against the wall on finding music to use this year. It's getting harder and harder to find wav's that can be linked.

It's strange that today they're not playing, except that maybe there are just too many hits at the same time. I must have clicked on 50 sites yesterday trying to find one I could link to. For some reason, one of them I saved to my playlist is working like a charm, and I didn't download it to my harddrive. But now I can't find that particular site again either, and the one I linked today isn't working for me either. :(

But THIS is what I was talking about with what a huge success his Christmas album was - also his very first album, *period*, was out of sight!

"Dynamite debut: Aiken's first single, "This Is the Night," made history when it sold more than 392,000 copies in the first week and landed at No. 1 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart in 2003."

"Happy holidays: Aiken's first holiday album, "Merry Christmas Wth Love," made its debut at No. 1 on Billboard's Top Holiday Albums chart in 2004. The album also scored the biggest debut-week sales figures for a Christmas album in the history of Nielsen SoundScan, which tracks music sales."

[Billie]

Foxes of any color always count ... double ... )

Well, foxes and wolves always count *HERE* at LEAST double, maybe triple or quadruple, and I can't even spell any higher than that. LOL

Watch out! It's mistletoe!

[Billie]

Beautiful thread, beautiful home decorations.

Thank you, wolfie. I'm glad you think so.

TWO TREES? I love it! : )

Well, of course, doesn't everyone have TWO TREES in their living room? I also have two pianos, two coffee tables, etc in that same room. Oh, wait! I do believe that's a mirror behind the tree. :)

[jwfiv]

Oh, my goodness ... almost forgot about my miseltoe-proof kevlar vest.

Thanks for the reminder ... )

[Billie]

Beautiful, Dave!!! And so is Logan. :) (Okay, not beautiful - handsome!) :)

[Billie]

:)

Are we going to see some of the fox's Christmas decor? :)