Yes, let's open our arms wide....

Yes Pati those are wise words and we have all been trying hard to take this advice to heart, haven't we?
I guess I am trying to do this very thing by going again to the quilt group today. It isn't really "quilt" only, as many of the ladies work on other hand work. One lady makes little girls fancy dresses, one lady was making clown dolls, several were working on needlework patterns, and some with crochet work. Yet several others were working around the quilting frame hand quilting the large size quilt top.  Since this was the final meeting before Christmas, and as I suspected it might be, the lunch was a sort of pot luck with ladies bringing in dishes: salads, pickles, deviled eggs, cheese and crackers etc and trays of dainties. I was not sure what to do ie if I brought a dish and no one else did, or not to bring. So I choose not to bring anything except for my 4 Christmas oranges. I felt a bit awkward but it did not matter. I choose not to eat from the table set with the food, but was just as welcome sitting at the table with the others. A few others did not eat either so I was not alone. Sometimes it is hard to find your way as a newbie in a well established group haha!  And since this was the last meeting until the New Year, I have quite a bit of time now to assess my continued involvement but I am glad that I have pursued it for this long.
Tomorrow we are going to Mike's to visit - he called yesterday wondering if we could come since starting next week he is into final exams for this semester, and will be studying and would not see us until our Christmas Day planned get together. He gets lonely i know, so I do not mind when he asks us to come. It doesn't hurt and seems to appease him a bit. He really wants to vent actually, as he is finding it a bit hard right now and has no one else to complain to when he comes home at night.
Still more snow but very mild making it melt from the eaves. The trees are covered with ice and snow - some branches broken under the weight, and some hydro outages in the area although we have been OK so far.
Time to go. I have to check the little chicks - one of the four hatched is not thriving - there is really no reason to try to feed it since I read that chicks in their first week generally do not survive if left by the parents. It is still sad for me though. Bye for now - take care.