Merry Christmas!

A wonderful holiday was had by all. So much to share, but as it's approaching midnight I will show my two favorite pictures of the day

A different Christmas List

Have you started your Christmas shopping? Well - it's December 23rd. I hope I'm done. No matter how early I start there is always little last minute stocking stuffer items to buy.

Tell me about your special traditions. Baking cookies - epic fail this year. Nicole did bake some but I have been out of the house most days so it hasn't happened yet. In the last few years I put off the baking until after Christmas when I have more time. I do make Italian cheesecake and that is breakfast on Christmas morning. We always have the typical Italian Christmas Eve with all the fish.

Are you a Black Friday shopper? Oh yes - the highlight of Thanksgiving weekend! This year was even more fun because I had an app on my iphone that gave all the sales ahead of time and allowed you to make a list for each store. I go with my friend Diane and now that our kids are older it is more fun - there isn't that pressure to find Tickle Me Elmo for $4.99. And the key to the day is that you can't take it too seriously. It's not the day that I get most of my shopping done, it's just the one when I get the best bargains.

When do you put up your tree? 2 weeks before Christmas. It is real, we have a woodstove, you can guess what happens if we put it up too early. Fire hazard anyone??


Do you travel at Christmas or stay at home? We go to my moms on Christmas Eve which is a huge trip - 2 blocks away. On Christmas Day we go to my Dad who lives about 20 mins. away.

What is your funniest Christmas memory? One year my parents let my brother go pick out the tree by himself. He had a big truck and a friend who had a tree lot. He came home with a tree that should have been at Rockefeller Center. It was huge. I think it was over 20 feet tall and so damn wide you couldn't see the TV. We laughed the whole season. The best was trying to remove it from the house AFTER Christmas. It was not going to fit back out the door. A chainsaw was needed. Can you say "mess". My stepmom did. And still reminds him of the mess to this day 20 years later.

What is your favorite Christmas movie of all time? I have a bunch - Love Actually, Elf, The Grinch, Home Alone, and Christmas with the Kranks. I think the best is Christmas Vacation. That is a Thanksgiving Tradition - we watch it after dinner.

Do you do your own Christmas baking? What is your favorite treat? See above

Holiday spinning: Don't have time to spin before the holidays but you can bet the day after I will be at that wheel.

Fake or real tree? Got to be real.

What day does the actual panic set in to get it all done? If there is a panic it is Christmas Eve and it's usually brought on by my hubby who thinks he can accomplish 20hours of cooking in 7 hours.

Are you still wrapping presents on Christmas Eve? Not usually. I try to keep that day low key - see previous question.

What is your favorite family fun moment at Christmas? Watching my daughter open her presents. As she becomes older it is harder to surprise her. Last year was a good one. We got her tickets to see Chris Brown with her cousin and the concert was 2 days after Christmas. She was crying. It was great.

What Christmas craft do you like the best? Sometimes we attempt the gingerbread house or make some sort of jewelry but in recent years the time hasn't been there.

Christmas music – yes or no? Absolutely! I put the Christmas station on the day after Thanksgiving.

What is your favorite song? Merry Christmas Darling and Have Yourself a Merry Christmas

The Last White Post

This is my last post on the snow around here. I promised pics of what it looks like at my house so here ya go:

This is my basement door. We aren't using that for a while. The house in the background is my neighbors.

I think the happiest of all was Magnum

White Christmas? Sure!

The totals were around 18" to 24". Schools are closed. The roads are in pretty good condition. Temps in the 30's all week so the white stuff will be around for Christmas! Not real good pics but just to give you an idea of what it looks like outside my office. They got less snow here than at my house. We have a 5' drift at the basement door!





- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

What to do on a snowy day

Ummmm.....


Knit?

Got one thrummed mitten done

And this is a test to see if I really can do a blogpost from my phone.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

It's Beginning To Look Alot Like Christmas

In my house





On my needles


Outside


The timing of the snow couldn't be more perfect. It is a blizzard out there, which leaves us all in the house in front of the woodstove with nothing else to do but knit, watch TV, listen to kids laugh, and enjoy the tree.

And it's a good thing I have time to knit. I am working on a pair of thrummed mittens for Nicole for Christmas. And did I mention that I wanted to knit Christmas stockings for me and hubby? What am I thinking???

Random Wednesday

For all who were asking - yes, I did get the red scarf done and out by the 15th. I was actually a day early.

This was actually one of the nicest parts of my holiday season so far. It felt great to give.

Another fun thing has been checking out the local decorations


That is only a small portion of what this house looks like. I would have loved to walk around and take more pics but Nicole said we looked like stalkers. I would have been willing to make a donation to their electric bill. It was beautiful.

I did cave in and do some Christmas knitting.


Aren't they cute? They are a sock bookmarker. And I am glad I took a picture of them before they got mailed out (incidently - they were finished just as my hubby was packing the box for UPS. Can I ever do anything on time?) because I never did take a picture of the finished "adult" version which was gifted to my aunt for her birthday. Hopefully she isn't reading this - or there goes one surprise for Christmas.

Tonight is our Bayberry Spinners Christmas party and I am excited as can be to just relax and knit with my buddies. And eat and drink of course! And speaking of relaxing, I won't be doing much of that this week. Hopefully I will have pictures soon of my latest brainstorm. It goes in the category of "what was I thinking?'

Hurry Up!

This year I made a concentrated effort to keep the holidays more simple and just enjoy it. My tree isn't up yet - it still looks like Thanksgiving in my house. No lights outside yet. I cut way back on the gifts. With the exception of a few items I am done with my shopping. Not sure if I am sending out Christmas cards this year. I didn't last year and we all lived. When Nicole was little I was busy taking the perfect picture to put in the Christmas card and rushed to get them out in the mail. Now that she is older, and not so willing to sit for a photo session during these teen years, I am not so compelled to have to get the cards done. So if you are reading this and don't get a card from my family please know that we love you, but just didn't get around to putting it in writing.

I have been reading about the Red Scarf Project for a couple of years now and each holiday season seems to be busier than the last - so I never got to do it. I did some charity knitting last year and enjoyed the feeling of helping others during the crazy season. It put the focus back on the real meaning of Christmas. I have been working on my red scarf and have a little more to go.



The pattern is Palindrome and it couldn't be any easier. I was intimidated by the cables. I have done them before but I don't love them. These are reversible and it gave me the idea to make an afghan in the same pattern.

So the scarf needs to be sent by 12/15. I want to get it in the mail by tomorrow which means I have to do a decent amount of knitting today and tonight. I'm in work all day, then Nicole's show opens tonight - doesn't leave much time for knitting. It's not the type of project you can do in the dark in the theater.

And speaking of traveling with knitting - what do you do when you leave your cable needle at home? Well, I can cable without one, but this yarn is slippery and was a hassle to do without.



Yeah - it's a Q-tip. Thanks Lisa.

New England Weather

Only here can you have it almost 70 degrees one week and this the next


It looked like this yesterday


At least there was still a hint of autumn. Let the winter begin.

Wordless Wednesday On Thursday. Always a Day Late!

Sorry for the silence

Most of it brought to you by



I don't know how I lived without it. I am hardly on my computer anymore. I haven't even begun to check out the apps that are available. I did download the black Friday one, which was very helpful on shopping day!

I can't believe Thanksgiving has come and gone. And now onto Christmas. I decided not to do much Christmas knitting for a multitude of reasons. I never said I wouldn't weave though.