Merry Christmas

We had a pretty low-key holiday this year. There was vegetarian paella for Christmas Eve ...

And there were gifts ...

Some socks, some toys and some books ...

Some mittens too ...

In the morning I made waffles and the children watched another movie (we watched The Grinch on Christmas Eve, and Love Actually after the children went to bed).

I received crayons with my name on them:

Girl-child made this awesome piece using my grandmother's recipes (I'll try to snap a better pic later):

And I got a CD mix with new music :D

I'm all set to go to Tampa for work tomorrow ... plenty of music, reading material and knitting packed.   

Until Next Year

The gifts have been distributed and opened.

The cookies are delivered.

The knitting is done.

The socks are likely already on feet.

It's fun having little kids around for Christmas.

If a bit tiring.

I have a new owl hot pad.

A jar full of chocolate.

And a new book to look forward to.

And I finished a scarf for myself.

Hope everyone had a fun Christmas!

Little Decorators

Today the pseudo-grandkids came over with Girl-child to finish decorating the tree.

I saved some non-breakable ornaments in a box so that they could have a go.

Of course, the job was done quickly and then they were on to different things.

Ya gotta love the technique small children have at tree decorating time :-D

Happy Halloween

This lovely woman cut my hair this morning:

My stylist loves Halloween.

Looking Back

Girl-child came over today and we found some pictures.

I remember this photo session very clearly; it was for a Christmas card.

Boy-child was not cooperating AT ALL.

The photographer was not set up for kids - especially not for a toddler.

There were weird lights and electrical cords everywhere. It was a disaster.

When I got home I put the kids in the rocking chair and took some snapshots and we used one of those for our Christmas card that year.

A Christmas to Remember

It's been a weird holiday season.

Boy-child was supposed to arrive on Christmas Day but was held in Chile because he overstayed his welcome.  His passport was confiscated.

Family and friends in Chile assured him that it wouldn't matter, but it did.

  

I was in National Harbor for work and became very, very sick.

We were at last reunited.  Boy-child is darker than Girl-child for the first time.

It's good to have everyone together again, even if only briefly. 

All's well that ends well.

Black Friday

Black Friday is the perfect day to start preparing for Christmas ... I decorated last night and this morning instead of going shopping. 

As I emptied out my bins of Christmas stuff, I discovered that I have five salt and pepper sets and three boxes of holiday spreaders (two shown here).  I also dug out the skinny Santa glasses that I salvaged from my mother's things:

The angels out en masse.  Yes, two were made by me when I was very young.  

The tree is up and decorated, the stockings are hung and the Merry Christmas banners are up.

(My tree is pre-strung with lights and opens umbrella-like.  It's all very easy!)

The Christmas playlist is loaded and playing as we speak.

The bed is made with the wondrous Christmas quilt:

And the crystal nutcracker candy jar is filled with Lindt truffles.

Life is good.  The Girls hosted a fun meal yesterday.  I have so much to be thankful for -  Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  Hope you're having a great holiday weekend.

Mothers' Day

In the spirit of having holiday experiences (instead of buying more stuff) I spent the weekend with my kids. Lunch with Boy-child at Dupont Circle in D.C. on Saturday:

A hula hooping class with Girl-child, DIL and her mom on Sunday:

I did not visit my mom today, but only because I got bumped in D.C. on Saturday so had to spend the night. There's always tomorrow (which, since she doesn't know what day it is, really doesn't matter anyway).

National Beer Day

Seriously - I got an email on this today through Mentalfloss

It's even verifiable on the authoritative Wikipedia!

And guess what?  All the snow from last Friday has melted - hallelujah.

I think I'll go celebrate - and have a beer ;-)

Free Day

 I had the day off work today and not a single obligation to anyone.  I hardly knew what to do!

Although I seriously considered going to a movie I decided I was having too much fun knitting, reading, listening to music, etc.  I did go out to Stillwater to visit Darn Knit Anyway; didn't find what I was looking for but did find some awesome stuff. 

On the way home I had an epiphany.  I've had this humungous pile of scarves, hats, mittens and gloves piled up on the dining room table.  How could I organize them and get them out of the way?  A closet shoe organizer, of course! (sorry for the awful quality of the photo)  I may have to alphabetize them or at least organize them by color, but you get the idea:

Also, did you know that, including the Target down the street from me there are five Target stores between my house and Stillwater?   That's one every five miles!

Then I decided to finish a pair of gloves I had started in … 2006!  Urban rustic gloves in Noro Silk Garden.  Clever pattern, awful yarn (they're knit the long way, garter stitch, with a crochet cuff).  I skipped the button closure.  Actually, I made up the whole crochet cuff thing, but it worked:

And I finished my new popover mittens too.  They won't be warm enough tomorrow, but pretty soon I'll be able to wear them:

That's it.  No more holidays until Memorial Day in May.  There will be knitting in the meantime, but no days quite as leisurely as today.  

I am currently reading Hyperbole and a Half, The Warmth of Other Suns and Memoria de Mis Putas Tristes.  No, I don't usually read three books at once.  It was an accident.

Christmas is Now Over

We had to delay our Christmas celebrations and so only finished partying last Sunday. 

This demonstrates why it's so much fun to knit for Girl-child (hand knit mittens, sweater and unseen socks worn in photo):

Auntie is doing well…

…she and DIL have to bundle up when they come to my house (although I remembered to turn up the heat for their visit, really I did!)

Boy-child dragged himself out of bed to kibbutz and nosh:

I received a pillow made from recycled hand-knit socks (Girl-child is starting to wear out a lot of socks):

Today I finished the Seasons hat by Jared Flood (this one is in the spring colors - a kit that was a gift from Rose the Gypsy).  It was a fun knit.

No, I haven't blocked it yet and yes, I still have to weave in the ends.  

I worked from home again today.  Cabin fever has set in, so I walked to the library tonight just to get out.  We got above zero today - hooray!