A Musical Christmas Greeting

By my husband and son. I put a couple more videos in this set on Flickr.

We can always buy the hot fudge sauce

My Christmas to-do list is getting shorter, not because I am accomplishing the tasks, but because I am surrendering. I had a revelation yesterday when I was talking to my sister-in-law about dessert for Christmas Day. I told her I had peppermint stick ice cream, and if I had time, I'd make some hot fudge sauce, otherwise we'd have the ice cream without hot fudge sauce. She said, "Well, we can always buy the hot fudge sauce." It was a slap-forehead moment for me. Of course we can buy the hot fudge sauce.

It's time to cross everything off the list and just enjoy.

Happy Holidays! And thanks for reading and commenting. I really do appreciate it.

(Photo is of a photo ornament of my daughter when she was 3, wearing her favorite pink kitty dress.)

Christmas Ornaments: Handmade

The best ornaments are the homemade ones. This is just a small sampling of ornaments in our home that were made by me, or by the children.



Jingle bell wreath. I bought the bag of bells the day after Thanksgiving, thinking I'd fill a small glass bowl with them, but in the very next store I visited they had a sweet little jingle bell wreath that stole my heart, and I knew what to do with my new purchase! Felt ornaments, from a kit. I made these ages and ages ago, I think when I still lived in Minnesota.

Crocheted Korknisse! Who can resist a wine cork masquerading as a gnome? Not I.

Cross stitch stocking, new this year. Pattern by Blackbird Designs. (I just googled that name, to verify I had the name right because for some reason it didn't look right to me, and holy cow, they have a blog! How did I not know until now?)

Baby Jesus in a milkweed pod, made by my daughter in preschool.

Button snowman, strung on a pipe cleaner! You'd think one of the kids made this, but actually, I did!

Perler bead gingerbread man, made by son or daughter, can't remember which. They went through a short Perler phase and made a bazillion things, most of which I turned into Christmas ornaments, but there are so many that only a few make it onto the tree every year.

When my niece was in preschool twenty years ago, she made the loveliest angel ornament out of noodles and beads. The body was a rigatoni noodle, the head was a bead, the hair was alphabet pasta glued to the bead, the wings were one bowtie noodle, and the angel cradled a little candle made from a tack in her elbow noodle arms. The whole thing was spray painted in a metallic gold, and it was glorious. My niece brought it home and told my sister she made it for Aunt Tracy and no one else, so my sister let her give it to me! I never fully appreciated how generous my sister was by letting me have that angel until my own children started bringing their own glorious handmade things home from preschool. The gold noodle angel always had a special place of prominence on my tree, but I started to feel guilty about it. If my son or daughter had told me that their splendid one-of-a-kind creation was for someone else, I would have said "no, mommy is keeping this for herself." I'm greedy that way. Two years ago when I unpacked my niece's noodle angel, I didn't hang it on my tree. I took it back to my sister. It seemed only right, and my sister was glad to have it back. I do miss it, though!

Favorite Things Friday #5: Easy Treats

Holiday Pretzel Treats, from my favorite source, Family Fun. Easy to make, even easier to eat. I love that you can make as few or as many as you want, although when it comes to these, more is always better!

Spritz cookies. You do need a cookie press to make them, but it's so much easier than rolling and cutting dough. My mom always made these when I was little, and my dad, without fail, would walk through the kitchen and say "Ready. Aim. Cookie!" He's one of those dads.

I don't do complicated recipes this time of year. Too many other things to do. My baking has to be quick. Most cookies are in bar form. I will be making layered mint brownies this weekend, also from Family Fun. I love those because even though they look really complicated, they are easy to make, and soooo good.

edited to add: If I am reading things correctly, this is my 200th post!

Christmas Ornaments: Travel Memories

A lot of the ornaments on my tree are souvenirs from trips and vacations. We go "Up North" to northern Michigan every summer, so we had to have a cherry "Up North" ornament!

Some of the travel ornaments are obviously souvenirs, with the place name printed on them.

Sometimes the gift shops don't have ornaments. In those situations, I'll find a keychain to hang on the tree.

I don't always buy the souvenir ornament just to have the ornament. I have to like it to buy it.

There are many times when I'll see an ornament on a trip that has no obvious connection to the place we are visiting. I'll buy it anyway as a reminder, and write the date and place of purchase on the bottom. We got this colorful cat at an art gallery up north a few years ago.
I bought this frog at Biltmore in 1994.

This little snowman I purchased at a non-descript grocery store somewhere in Pennsylvania ages ago. My husband and I had road-tripped to New York one November to visit some friends, a spur-of-the-moment trip when we were much younger and childless and could do such things. On the long drive home, we stopped at a grocery store in search of a cheap dinner, and I saw this ornament. I wasn't yet purposely buying souvenir ornaments, so this snowman was the unintentional start to that collection. I'm so glad I got him, because now every year when I see him, I remember that otherwise forgettable stop somewhere in PA, and it makes me smile.

German Ducks

My Christmas tree doesn't have a theme, unless you want to call it a Hodgepodge of Memories.

Every single ornament on my tree has a story or memory behind it. For the next few days I'll blog some of my ornaments.

These little duck charms were given to me by my friend, Lynn. She brought them to me from Germany. I thought they would make cute Christmas ornaments, so every year they go on my tree. I absolutely love them because they remind me of my childhood. My mother was born and raised in Germany, so there was a German influence to my childhood (even though my mother fully Americanized herself, and, sadly, I've never been to Germany myself).

This little hanky was given to me by a German relative when I was a child:
I don't think Lynn ever saw my hanky, so little did she know what a perfect gift the duck charms were for me! When she reads this, she'll know. Thanks, Lynn.

She knits!

Well looky here, I knitted something! Woot! When I visited my family at Thanksgiving, my sister asked me if I could make her a cup cozy or two. I said yes, figuring it would be a quick-to-crochet project, but after I got home and started thinking about it, I was overcome with the urge to dust off my knitting needles and see what I could do.

Knitting and I go way back. I always wanted to learn how to knit, and when I was pregnant with my first baby (13 years ago already!) I thought it's now or never. I signed up for an evening class that met once a week for 6 weeks, through January and February, and I dragged my first-trimester-nauseous self there through sleet and snow. I wanted to make a baby blanket, but the instructor said "You won't learn anything making a blanket! Make a baby sweater!" When I told her I wasn't sure what size to make because I didn't know how big a baby was, I got the impression she thought I was a hopeless case, both for knitting and mothering.

I realized very quickly that I am a very slow knitter. By the time the class ended I had less than half of the sweater pieces knit. I hadn't done anything tricky yet, like making buttonholes or picking up stitches. I ended up having to do all that on my own, without the teacher's guidance. I worked as a reference librarian at that time, so on quiet afternoons I'd pull knitting books from the shelves and study them carefully, writing notes to myself, puzzling out the pattern. Through the spring and the hot summer months in my un-airconditioned home, I propped my increasingly swollen ankles up on any elevated surface I could find and knit, knit, knit. I was shocked and proud when I actually finished the sweater before the baby was born (just barely!). I felt slightly dazed by what I had accomplished (both baby and sweater).

Over the next few years I tried to make a blanket for my newborn nephew and a little elfin hat for my toddler son, but I never got very far. Knitting required too much concentration, and with two small children to care for, I didn't have any concentration to give to knitting. I didn't understand how the stitches went together, and I could not fix mistakes. I had to be so careful to do it perfectly, otherwise it was all over. Knitting was too frustrating, so I gave it up.

Until last week, when I decided to knit a cup cozy. I searched on ravelry to find a simple pattern. I found my needles and selected some yarn. I was absolutely shocked when, after one quick glance at my notes from my knitting class, I remembered how to cast on. Look at me, I'm casting on! The pattern is a simple ribbing of k2,p2. I struggled a bit at first because I forgot to move the yarn to the front for purl, but then it all came back to me. Knit knit, purl purl, knit knit, purl purl. I was in the zone. I was slow, but I was definitely in the zone. I only had to knit 2.5 inches. I was at 2 inches and feeling pretty celebratory when, OMG, I made a mistake. I made a mistake! What do I do? How do I fix this? I don't even know what I did wrong!!!! I hate knitting I hate knitting I hate knitting! I am so not a knitter! I flipped through my two knitting books, feeling panicked. The instructions made no sense. It was all words and smug diagrams, taunting me from the page. Argh!

And then I remembered that you can get all kinds of video help online these days. I pulled myself together and sat down at the computer. I watched a couple of videos, then watched them again. I realized my best course of action was to frog back two rows, and put my stitches back on the needle. This has always confused the heck out of me because I don't understand how the stitches must sit on the needle, but the videos boosted my confidence, and I figured I had nothing to lose. So frog I did, and then very painstakingly, with sweat on my brow and curse words on my lips, I put the stitches back on the needle. I held my breath and started to knit across the row. To my astonishment, it worked! It actually worked! Hooray! I continued on my merry way, and a mere six hours after I started it, I had successfully made one 2.5 inch cup cozy. Whew!

Now what knitting project shall I tackle next? I think it had better be something small.