Christmas Craftiness

Now that the big day has come and gone...I can share my handmade Christmas presents!!

A knitted scarf for Tracy! Actually, I haven't given it to her yet, but she knows about it. I actually combined two different knitted stitches to create stripes. (and I'm already working on another one!)

Blue earrings and necklace set for my aunt Nancy.


And I made three bracelets for Kim (green, red and pink) and two necklaces for my mom. Of course, I managed to DELETE those pics before I could post them! Better luck next time.

Favorite Christmas Things

(Meme stolen from one of my favorite blogs, Confessions of a CF Husband....)

These Are a Few of My Favorite Christmas Things

Movie - Christmas Vacation (y'know, the one with Chevy Chase having the whole family over for the holidays and well...things go awry!) I also enjoy A Christmas Story and White Christmas.

Sweet - Rollo cookies!!! Also kahlua fudge, though I didn't make any this year.

Song -O Holy Night for seriousness, The Waitresses "Christmas Wrapping" for silliness

Tradition - Opening one gift on Christmas Eve

Gift Received - Brian coming home from naval deployment the first year we were dating.

Gift Given - That's a tough one. I love it when I give a gift to someone and it's a surprise and the person is pretty excited about it. (Thinking about it, who DOESN'T love that!!) My dad really liked his fishing vest this year, and Brian loved his new Alton Brown book.

Meal - Roast beef

Happy Christmas

It's the day after Christmas, and we're winding down from such a great day. Good food, lovely family, fun presents....this year's holiday has all the makings of a great time!
First, we got up late to open presents and peek in stockings. (I DO realize that this is probably the last time Will is going to let us sleep in on Christmas morning!!) Santa was very good to Will this year, with "Cars" books, a Backyardigans bath boat, Mr. Potato Head and other goodies, not to mention his very first camera!! That is the favorite toy from Santa this year, he loves to walk around with it like he is a little photographer. And best of all, it takes real pictures!!

We had a houseful of guests yesterday, and a wonderful meal followed by more presents and then dessert. It was a magical day!

These are the pictures I had on my camera, I'm sure "Aunt Razzi" will send some very soon!

All Dug Out....and Excited!!

The aforementioned snowstorm lasted...three days! All told, it left us with about a foot-and-a-half of snow and plenty of ice, as well as negative temperatures on Monday. We didn't venture out for most of the weekend, other than me going to the grocery store Saturday night. That wasn't a lot of fun, pushing a fully loaded grocery cart through the snowy, half-plowed lot!! By Sunday we were all a little stir-crazy from being home. But there is something to be said for being home three days, I got all of our wrapping done (including Will's presents from us and from Santa!) and I baked cookies. I am glad that our holiday shopping was done.

Once today is over, I'm off from work until next Monday, and I'm so excited! I can't believe Christmas Eve is tomorrow....and I'm not the only one that is excited!! Will and I read a book every night before bed called "Ho Ho Ho Tucker!" He always asks for Tucker, to take the book to bed with him. Last night, every time we saw Santa in the book he would yell "SANTA!!!" and kiss the book! Someone also taught him how to say "Merry Christmas" this week! It's really cute. Last week, he also learned "Happy Birthday" and kept pestering me on my birthday about the whereabouts of my party hat!

I probably won't post again until the weekend, so I want to wish all of my Blogland friends a Merry Christmas!!! Hope it's a great one!

Cabin Fever

It's been snowing for over 24 hours now, and the stir-crazy boredom is starting to settle in. I'm glad that I finished all of my Christmas shopping yesterday morning. Today has been about wrapping presents and baking another batch of coconut macaroons. (Brian's favorite.) I wanted to go grocery-shopping but that'll wait till later.

I hope that my family can make it tomorrow to celebrate my birthday and watch the game!! It's not looking good, though. Another storm is brewing right on top of this one, starting tomorrow afternoon last I heard. Welcome, Old Man Winter! (Now get the hell out!) :)

Happy Birthday to ME!!

Happy Birthday dear Ginny........Happy Birthday to me!

It's 8am on Friday, December 19th and I've already had oodles of birthday wishes. Thanks!

I am (gasp!!) 32 years old today! Hard to believe. I used to wake up sad on my birthday that I was getting older, but why would I do that???? Life isn't perfect but I have a lot to be thankful for!!! Let's see....

1. First and foremost, my family. My husband rocks and my little man is the best!! I'm so lucky to have them in my life. And my parents and my brother and his fiancee....they're all awesome as well. I'm blessed to have such people in my life.

2. My friends. I have a great group of friends! Some are old friends that go all the way back to childhood and some I've made as recently as this month. Some are close aquaintances, and some are close enough that they'd hide a body for me. (not that I've ever needed this!!) Thanks for your friendship.

3. I have a snuggly dog that loves me unconditionally, even when some days all I do is yell for him to get off the couch/pick his food off the floor/stop being so jealous of Will.

4. I've got a roof over my head. And after last week's storm, this is no small feat!! We're thankful for not having lost power or had tremendous damage in last week's ice storm. But we know plenty of people who were affected, and some that STILL don't have power!!

5. I have a job that I love, and I have a job, period!

So I have a lot to be happy about!!! And in the past year I've learned to take a deep breath and make some time for me. Something I plan on still doing over the next new year. I've learned new crafting skills and discovered blogging. And to celebrate ME today, before the snowstorm hits, I'm going to treat myself to a massage and an eggnog latte at Starbucks. And since it looks like we'll be snowed in all night and not be able to go out to eat as planned, I'm going to bake a cake!

Thanks for all of your birthday wishes. :)

Wednesday: Show and Tell!!

I know that it's Wednesday, but the pictures this week cannot be explained wordlessly. I finished my ornament for my knitting group's ornament swap, and well, I want to brag about it!
The rule was that the ornament had to be handmade, but it didn't have to be from yarn. So I cross-stitched a snowman and turned him into a little ornament to add some cheer to a lucky recipient's Christmas tree. :) Also, I finally used my sewing machine...

Thanks, Mom, for showing me how to do it right!

Cross-stitching the snowman holding some Christmas lights

Finished Cross-Stitch Design

Sewing the fabric back and the cross-stitch front

Turning it right-side out

Hand-finishing the bottom. (My sewing by hand needs some work!)

Voila! The snowman does a practice run adorning my tree.