Christmas Weekend

This weekend was heaven.
Lots of snow, no need to shop or visit.
Cookies, fudge and peanut butter balls.
The Bishops Wife and Love Actually.

Christmas is here...

Comfort and Joy

These two words from my favorite Christmas carol describe this week between holidays perfectly.  I  love Christmas, but the week between Christmas and New Year is my very favorite.

I love the joy of a day spent with family, the look on faces when they open new things they have been dreaming and wishing for. I love the comfort of no more rushing, no more wrapping and no more wondering.....

What did I get?
Will he like his present?
What if it doesn't fit her?

Now is the time to watch epic movies (LOTR is a favorite anround here), read new books (I've already finished one), eat up those cookies so you never have to see them again (until next year) and play with new toys. 

I am even looking forward to this weekend, when to start my new year I will be taking down all our Christmas decorations with Gone With the Wind playing in the background all day.  I have done this for years, even the girl is looking forward to seeing Scarlet and Rhett.

So party all night and nurse your first hangover of the year on 1/1/12 if that's what you love to do, but frankly I don't give a damn...

And then it was done....

Christmas was wonderful....

The joy on our daughters face when she looked at us was worth every minute spent in a mall. 

We shared our day with family and had laughs and tears. We held a brand new sleeping puppy and marveled at his cuteness. We ate delicious things we only eat once a year ( my sister-in-laws Christmas pudding) and we came home tired and happy to put on new Christmas pajamas and watch the best movie ever made, It's a Wonderful Life.  I cry every time Mr, Gower hits poor George's bad ear and each time I see his friends and family come together to help him at the end.

May we all be as blessed as George Bailey...

Freedom…

…is that moment when you admit to yourself you will not get those knitted slippers done in time for Christmas.


Ahhhhhhhh…..



They will keep his feet just as toasty warm for New Years.

Ten On Tuesday

10 Things To Do Before Christmas

1. Giftcards - I leave these to the very end because I hate them. I understand they are easy, but something about them just rubs me wrong. They never seem like enough, $25, really? But when I have to buy 5 of them at once and shell out over $100, I am annoyed.
2. Watch 13 Christmas Movies - We are woefully behind on our holiday movies. I have no excuse, other than our level of laziness must have decreased from previous years. We have a Christmas chorus concert tonight, so I am going to have to do nothing but sit on my ass all day and watch Rankin & Bass if we are gonna pull this off.
3. Stocking Stuffers - Another little thing that annoys me. After 24 Advent gifts and paying out the national debt in chocolate chips to make every melty, peanut butter treat on pintrest, sticking a shiny new penny and a clementine in that stocking seems like a good idea.
4. Knitting - I have 1.5 slippers to knit and felt. I have 5 secret knitted gifts to finish for my aunts and a hat to line and finish.....by Friday (this is where those movies come in!)
5. Christmas Cards - My cards are done and have been for weeks. They are sitting on the back sit of my car, sorted and ready for stamps. See gift cards and stocking stuffers.....annoyed.
6. Christmas Lights - All month I have wanted to go see the Christmas light show at the lake. Now we are into the last week before Christmas and I am running out of opportunities.
7. Christmas Eve - We are having people over, I guess I should have a plan....
8. Be Thankful - I desperately want a moment to sit in the glow of the tree lights and appreciate all that we have. I am too busy making it happen to enjoy it.
9. Bruggers Bagels - These bagels have been a tradition since my mom died and my dad used them to replace a big Christmas morning breakfast. Our local shop was chased out of town by Tim Horton's and their crappy bagels. My husband will have to get us some from the "big city"
10. Pickle Present - Every year we hid the pickle ornament in the tree and the kid gets an extra present if she can find it. It still must be hid and a special gift selected.

Well, I thought I was pretty caught up until I started this list. Thanks a lot, Carole.

***Update***

I HATE THE POST OFFICE. I finally psyched myself up to go in and buy $30 worth of stamps for my Christmas cards, only to be told EACH CARD required another .20 cent stamp because they were too small!!! ARE YOU SERIOUS?! This is why snail mail is dead. I will not be sending the "too small" cards at .64 cents each. To all of my friends and family who are waiting by their mailbox for our annual card, go inside and have a cookie and hot toddy because that shit ain't coming....

All I Want For Christmas Is You.....

I made these this week.

I found them on pinterest.

I have decided Santa can keep my presents.

Hustle & Flow

 

We are in full holiday tilt over here and the month seems to be flying. Today is my one day off a week and I have so many little details to work on that I almost want to just sit in my chair and knit to a marathon of National Treasure, do you ever feel like that?

 

Here are some bullet points of the last 13 days....

 

• The sun porch (cold room) is full of fudge, white trash, cookies, peanut butter balls and a Oreo/Reese's combo that is still in the works. Even with all that chocolate some people still ask me if there is anything good to eat, jeesh....
• We are behind on our Christmas movie list, but we have not given up. We took a break to watch Friends With Benefits, JT was adorable.
• We have been to one Christmas get together and we have another one this weekend, yay!
• I am completely caught up with wrapping and now am just doing them up as they arrive.
• We had a dusting of snow that is melting away as we speak and the child is getting nervous about her white Christmas.

 

Now I think I will go toss a coin to see what gets done today....

Ten On Tuesday



I am a sucker for traditions. I love them. I love the security and comfort that comes with the repetitiveness of them. Christmas traditions are the  best and we have many...

1. Christmas Music - I could, and sometimes do, listen to Christmas music 24 hours a day. I am one of those people that is super excited when they start playing them on the radio in October.

2. Christmas Movies - We have a list of our favorite movies for each holiday. Halloween, Thanksgiving, Easter and Christmas. The Christmas one is the longest, we try to watch one a day until the 25th and then A Christmas Story marathon on TBS is usually in the background of our festivities.

3. Christmas Treats - My daughter and I make the same stuff every year. Fudge, white trash, truffles, peppermint bark, mincemeat cookies and buckeyes. This year we have been swallowed whole by pintrest and have discovered some delicious goodies that we may have to add to our list.

4. Mimosas - Christmas is a long day and I truly feel that you can't give it your best with out a mimosa for breakfast and a bloody mary for lunch. Who's with me?!

5. Christmas Pageants - We use to go to our church pageant when our girl was little. She was an angel one year, a sheep one year and one year she even got to be the Virgin Mary with her baby doll ,Jermaine Johnson, in her arms as the Baby Jesus.  Now that she is older we go to her chorus concert at school and I am always brought to tears by it.

6. Christmas Stories - I read the Little House on the Prairie books every winter. Almost every book has a Christmas celebration in it and I love to experience the joy of the holiday with Laura and her family.

7. The Bailey Girls Christmas - When I was growing up Christmas Eve was spent at my grandparents house with the whole family.  These memories are still some of my very favorite .  Shortly after I got married and had our daughter my grandparents packed up and moved to Florida for the winters. My aunts get us all together each year to celebrate and moan about being left behind. I look forward to it each year.

8. Christmas Presents - I love to wrap presents. I am on a life long quest for the perfect gift label. I turn on my itunes, Christmas music of course, and wrap away in my present cave. It is one of my favorite parts of the holiday.

9. Hu-Lane Farms - My husband and I had a December wedding and we went to a small tree farm here in town to get our trees and wreaths to decorate our hall with. We have gone back every year and the sweet, elderly couple that own the farm never forget us. They always wish us a happy anniversary. We have taken our girl with us since she was bundled in a baby snowsuit to hike out into the field and help her daddy cut down a tree. Now our 6' girl smiles down on cute Mrs. D and could pat her on the head if she wanted too.

10. Christmas Morning - My husband and always get up  go downstairs first and make our daughter wait at the top of the stairs. She has to sit up there until our coffee is ready. It is pure torture. This year we have a Keurig, she is thrilled....

Bury Christmess

The chaos of the season is upon us and I can hardly get a breath!  Between the confused Fed-Ex man that has left a door tag requiring a signature on each of the outside doors to our house, the tower of boxes brought down from the attic filled with our Christmas cheer and the Russian roulette of opening multiple Amazon boxes, I forgot to tell you about my prize!!!

Pam at Living Rancho Delux, had a little giveaway a few weeks ago and I won!!  She was giving away a copy of The Beekman Boys Heirloom Cookbook. I have always been interested in the boys, mainly because I have a little hometown version of my own.  I was so excited to win and I got a wonderful little package in the mail this week, complete with chocolate!!! 

Today is back to the chaos of setting up Christmas, but come happy hour I know I will get to sit and sip and glance through my new cookbook. Thank you Pam!!

25 Days of Christmas

It is finally December and that means CHRISTMAS!!!!  My very favorite time of year is right now. I have been listening to holiday music for a month already. I have my grocery lists ready so we can start making all of our delicious treats and I have even got some shopping done!

We have had some sort of advent calendar since our teenager was just a baby. We started with one of those cardboard ones that you opened a little door and saw a little picture each day. We had the same one for years and she was just as excited to open that little door as if she hadn't seen it the year before.

Then my Martha Stewart kicked in and I made twenty five little felt mittens that were numbered and we hung one on a tiny tree every morning, another big hit that we used for years.

About two years ago we made a tiny matchbook tower with numbered drawers and put a tiny little gift in each box to be opened every morning. While she loved this one, I found it hard to find things that would fit in the small boxes.  No reason to add this kind of stress to the holidays.

This year I decided to knit twenty five mittens and hang them on a garland. I finished the 23rd mitten last night and had to admit to myself that I couldn't do them all before the first of December. So I concentrated on the ones I had and two will just be a little late to the party!

She woke up this morning and was thrilled, of course that might be because we can fit bigger presents in the mittens, but I like to think it's because she realizes all of the love her mother knit into each one. 

Yeah, it's the bigger gifts....

Christmas Crafting

I am a list maker. I love notepads and planners and writing stuff down. Partly because my memory for things is just gone (thank you pinterest!) and partly because paper is so pretty!!!

I saw a Christmas planner here that I loved. I knew I could do that and I probably had all the supplies. The original tutorial is from here, and they have tons of great ideas.

I got my supplies out and started crafting. I did have to get some supplies at the store, but I spent about $4 dollars total.

I LOVE this planner! I have already started filling it with lists, holiday movies, delicious treats, adorable Christmas lists written by a not-so-little girl. 

I even made a year-by-year chart of who gets to pick the Christmas tree......just so there's no question it's my turn....

Random Things

1. I hate Fridays, unlike everyone else in the world.
2. I can't wait to start cooking for Thanksgiving.
3. I have been listening to Christmas music all month.
4. I miss my sister.
5. I hate the Twlight movies, but I am kind of excited to see Breaking Dawn.

Christmas Music!!!!

Well, here it is, on the 9th day of the November, on a Wednesday mind you, the Christmas music starts.....and I love it!!

That is 46 days of Christmas cheer, not to mention the eternal loop coming from my iPod.

To celebrate this impending joy let's take a random look at our holiday playlist, shall we?

1. Please Come Home For Christmas-Luther Vandross (the melodic tones of the king of soul)

2. Different Wings-Trans-Siberian Orchestra (classic)

3. I Don't Want To Spend One More Christmas Without You-NSYNC (don't judge)

4. Baby It's Cold Outside-Tom Jones (no one can make Christmas dirty like Big Tom)

5. Opera of the Bells-Destiny's Child (I don't even know where that came from)

6. Sleigh Ride-Neil Diamond (because no one can sing about Christmas like a cute Jew)

7. I'll Be Home For Christmas-Sarah Mclachlan (she had me at SPCA)

8. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer-Burl Ives ( he needs no smart quip, he's a talking snowman!)

9. Christmas In My Heart-Ray Charles (my favorite....)

I can't wait for my James Brown Christmas album around!

It’s A New Day...

It’s all boxed up and put away for another year.

No more soft glow of Christmas lights in every room. No more dangling snowflakes or smell of pine.

It takes me days of careful placing to get that holiday magic and only one day to dismantle it.

We had a nice Christmas, but I never did find that feeling I usually get. It just alluded me somehow.

Today is 1/1/11 and it is a new start. I want this year to be different, not just a replay of the same things I did last year. It’s time to get healthier and more productive. Less computer, iPod, cell phone and camera time and more real life.

I hope your new day is filled with fun, love and learning!

Christmas Knitting

I was extremely productive this holiday. I knit several gifts and managed to get them done wrapped and delivered!

My favorite was the Soft Baskets I made for my sister. I also loved the Snow Cowl I made for my beautiful niece Jessica.

I managed nine other knitted items (really 11 because I made three sets of Peek-a-boo Mitts)

All given away...

I am ready to do some just for me knitting!

Merry Christmas

 

Wishing you a joyful holiday and a merry New Year!!

The Year Without a Santa Claus

Fifteen years ago, the first Christmas after we married, we hosted Christmas morning for my father, his new wife and their baby boy.

My father and his family showed up loaded with packages and smiles. We ate a big breakfast and then got down to the important stuff...presents.

As I opened my gifts from my dad I got to a beautiful Liz Cooper Santa doll. He was just amazing, and a completely unusual gift to get from my dad.

“Wow dad, this is wonderful, thank you.”

“I got him for your collection.”

“My collection?”

“Yeah, your Santa collection.”

Hmmmmm, I had no Santa collection, and let me remind you we were sitting in my completely decorated living room with no evidence of a collection. But he thought I had one, and he has gotten me a Santa every Christmas since. Now, I have a collection…

 

   

I get several Santa’s a year, from lots of people. Santa is taking over our home, I have run out of places to set Santa. My lovely antique nativity set is surrounded by Santa’s like SWAT is coming to get the baby Jesus!

 

   

Too bad he didn’t think I collected money…or diamonds…

Christmas Workshop

I have been a knitting fool this last month! I have cranked out five gifts, a hat for my daughter and a pair of mittens for my god-daughter. I still have two gifts to knit, but I feel confident that I will do it. Even though I have no idea what one will be and I have no interest in making the other, Christmas is about miracles right?