Winter Wonderland

Our mother LOVES Christmas. She's the type that once Thanksgiving hits, we were only allowed to listen to Christmas music. Seriously, that will turn anyone into Scrooge. You can only hear "Little Drummer Boy" 11 times before you want to beat your head to a bloody pulp. Too graphic? Since moving out, I've started to experience the Christmas spirit a little more each year. Kind of... I love the idea of Christmas. Good will towards men. Cookies and handmade gifts. Ornaments full of childhood memories. But as you get closer to the date, my love for the holiday starts slipping away. I get mad at all the people in Target that aren't usually there (kind of like the Christmas People at Christmas mass, Where'd they come from?) . Do I make or buy gifts for the daycare? If so, who gets them? What are the nieces and nephews into this year? It just starts to pile up. This year, I'm going to try real hard to enjoy Christmas all the way to Dec. 26. Starting with last weekend.


Enjoying Christmas is a lot easier with Gus in the picture. He has discovered Christmas lights. We visited the ILs this weekend and MIL really wanted to go to Children's Wonderland. It's held at an indoor fair ground building. SK used to take field trips to this place as a kid. He warned me that it was real cheesy and some of the displays would probably have duct tape holding the arms together. However he was really excited to get a wax Santa (Put money in & two metal arm close. Wax is shot into a mold and then the Santa is dropped. 4th picture from the top). He kept telling me about the wax figures like they were as common as Sesame Street. Anyway back to Winter Wonderland. Not sure how to describe this place. Kind of like the "Small World" ride without the boat, song, or class. I can't explain how much Gus loved this place. He couldn't even smile. He just walked around with his mouth open and pointed to every light. "Ights! Ights, Momma. Ights!" Watching him discover each new scene would make the biggest Scrooge soften.

Knitting new, lady! I haven't been doing much. I finished the stockings' linings last night. Since the sewing machine is out, maybe I'll work on my Amy Butler purse. I made a hideous hat (Spidey makes his return). Oh, gauge is my devil. So screw it, I picked up a snappy beret at Target and called it done. I've made some progress on the Grandma Afghan. My crochet is slow going, but it's going. I'm trying really hard to not commit to any Christmas Knitting. But I really want to try Paton's SWS. I think that an entrelac scarf would look fab with this yarn. Not to mention the price! We're talking 50% the cost. I will not commit. I will not commit.
Off to clean up the fake tree needles! I thought that didn't happen with fake trees? Let me tell you, that fake tree may have saved our marriage. Every year, the real tree almost kills me. Making sure the trunk is straight. Needles are green and not too pointy. Trying to get it to stay in the stand. Watering and vacuuming, oh my! SK said, "I think we should go with a fake tree this year." Oh thank you Santa, thank you. I got my gift early this year!

Tomorrow I will post some of my fondest Holiday memories. Just to show you how much progress I'm making on shedding my Scrooge exterior.

p.s. & edit to post: The lovely, Mrs. Frick, posted about multitasking the other day. Here's something you shouldn't multitask: felting and cooking. I was assembling a casserole while felting my FiberTrend clogs. I'd flip the veggies and run downstairs to check on the clogs. This went on for about 15 minutes, checking every 5 minutes. When I took out the last batch of eggplant, I noticed little fuzzies on some of the spears. I thought that I'd picked off all the wool, but found a couple strays as I was mixing the concoction. Don't tell SK... At least I'm not pulling it out of the trash and serving it like our mother used to do if she forgot to save dinner for Dad. I feel a little better.