Back to Real Life

First, a quick peek at my now-cozy comfy feet. Real UGGs! New slippers! Yay!
I always ooh and ahh over the UGGs in the stores, while simultaneously noting that they are really not appropriate footwear for a person of my age and girth. But I had been hinting for new slippers and D4 saw her chance, and the rest is history.

I got several very thoughtful and delightful presents, but since none of them (well, except for the SnB calendar from D5) were knit-related, I'm not going to regale you with all of them.



The gifts for the "rest" of the family, ie the East Coasters, Denverites, and the Vegas Crew, have finally gone into the mail. I don't know why we were so lax this year with the preparation and mailing--well, actually, I do know why, it seems to be tradition, and every year I say it's going to be different.

And it never is. But here are the boxes of gifts, loaded into the Purple Present Mover, and after a few adventures with Office Depot and their errant printers, they have been consigned to the trusty services of UPS. I know that the USPS will also allow us to track packages, but there's a funny little quirk in mail delivery to some of my family--packages don't get delivered to them. Instead they get a notice and have to go into the Post Office to pick them up. In the kind of weather the East has been having, I think that's just not cool, so I sent things UPS. Brown will take them to the door.

Have I mentioned that there have been windstorms here? This is what the driveway looked like as the liquidambars dropped their collection of seed pods. Hazard underfoot! Fortunately for all, while I was at Jury Duty today (did my service, released for another year, yay!) the gardeners came and swept all this up. There are now 8 trash cans lined up at the curb, waiting for the green waste collection in the morning.


The wind also left some interesting stuff in the yard--seeds from the Chinese elm tree that is two door up from us, leaves from trees halfway up the block, papers from who-knows-where. The trees are not bare, though, and so it's likely we'll have another crop of burrs.

Too bad I've left my artsy-craftsy stage behind: these would look wonderful sprayed with gold paint or dusted with fake snow to make cheery wreaths! Oh well. Been there, done that, got the glue gun scars to prove it!

The Stockings Were Hung...

...on the stairway, since hanging them on the mantel means you can't light the fire, and it was just chilly enough today for a fire.


You may notice some bags on t he stairs behind the stockings. The elves who fill these often find that the stocking itself is not big enough to hold everything it's supposed to, so there are usually "annexes" to hold the overflow.
Mine is the grey one, fourth from the bottom, right next to Audrey's. It's the "silver fox." Silk and velvet with beads and crystals. Not my usual style, but I love it!


Audrey enjoyed her first Christmas. As is often the case with new babies, a full tummy and a dry bottom leads to great contentment. Who cares about presents??
Little Sweet Pea had a red "pod" for the occasion. You can't see the details in this picture, but there's a little kangaroo pocket on the front of the jumpsuit. And those are Dodger booties on her feet--her dad is a big Dodger fan. (He also was the winner of the Eric Gagne lookalike contest a year or so ago.)
Speaking of gifts, there were a few silly ones--this was a stocking gift for the Carrot's daddy. A blow-up Cheesehead... I did get pictures of several people wearing it but this was the cutest.
The grandcarrot had a lovely time. He's still not quite into the whole idea of Christmas--his M.O. today was to tear strips off the wrapping and either stack them neatly on a chair, or tuck them into his little step stool's "cubby." He's 18 months old, so we figure by next year he'll definitely be able to go with the plan. And then Audrey will be the one who's not quite there...

And this is the gift that had us all in tears:

It's one of the Willow Tree series, called Generations, and it shows a mom, grandma, and little girl all working on a quilt together. Since I am a quilter (as well as a grandma) and all three of the local daughters quilt (as do D1 and some of the Conn. group), it struck a chord with us and we were all teary. Of course, all of us were sleep-deprived and that may have had something to do with it! D4 found the figurine at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels when she was on jury duty last summer--she definitely makes the most of her jury duty time!

I hope that you are enjoying the season and spending time with friends and family and "good people." I had a wonderful time on Monday knitting with a great group of ladies--in fact, it was such a good time that I forgot to take any pictures! I think Ellen did, but even though I had my camera with me I was just too busy knitting and talking! Top it off with a great meal and it was a perfect lead-in to the barely-controlled madness that is Christmas Eve chez mehitabel!