Another day of Christmas

Our family gift exchange was great, thanks to Sara (who got me!) I got a new VB bag for my dpns, a Diana Krall CD, and a new Barefoot Contessa cookbook. I look forward to swapping cooking experiences with her, the recipes look yummy! We had some wonderful snacks (almost all new concoctions), and great wine, and of course a great time. Mary did a great job with her photos, so I'm glad to tag onto her posting, takes a bit of work out of the recap. I've done my first mosaic, thanks again Mary!

This gathering has become a highlight of the Christmas season, especially when we don't deviate from the list! I hope even as the grandkids grow up, we will be able to stick with this tradition, and who knows, maybe include their kids as well-but NO time soon.

Look forward to some musings and ponderings for the new year tomorrow, hope to make 2008 fun filled, thought provoking, and totally memorable. One thing I have learned from blogging is that not everything has to be elaborate and over the top to fuse into a memory. Some of the most simple things such as a photo of a favorite flower, or a bird in a tree can bring back very fond memories, and keeping only positive things in the posts (a bit of a challenge at times!) Especially if you can share the memories with family or friends (like with a blog!)

TTFN

Gratitudes:

Learning new skills this year (knitting & some computer software)

Seeing things through "new" eyes (blogging)

The Spirit of Christmas

This Christmas has become very special to me, I've been able to reflect about the traditions that have been part of our family for several years now. We did most of the old stuff, and have added some new. This year we attended the candlelight service at church as a family for the first time, and it was very special. Our family did the Advent reading and lite the Advent candles, and at the last minute I was asked to help serve communion, which is always a very special task for me.

I was amazed at the number of our congregation that came to this service, which began at 11pm and ended just after midnight. Not only was the music spectacular, but the fact that these individuals came to this service because they wanted to, not out of obligation was a real eye opener for me. We were just there for regular Sunday service the day before it would have been so easy to skip this service!

You could definitely feel the Spirit moving, and a sense of peace resting as we lite our own candles, and filed out of the sanctuary at the end. There were well wishes and hugs by all, everyone seemed "merry and bright!"

Perhaps we are just lucky to be part of such a friendly and family centered church, but I would like to hope that others who attend church regularly and are active can relate.

It is my goal to keep the Spirit of Christmas with me throughout the year. Charity, family togetherness and showing compassion to others should be a goal for everyone everyday.

More Christmas happenings to follow in another post, Santa was good to us this year- what was your most unusual gift this year, I'll reveal mine tomorrow.

TTFN

I'm ready for a nap . .

i can't believe it's christmas eve- i slept in (5:15), headed out for my walk, and yes, it was very cold. for some odd reason my right hand was colder than my left. i'm thinking i need to either invest in some heavy duty wool gloves, or underarmour, or both. it's 39 degrees now, so i'm sure it was about 20 something then.

i enjoyed the stillness of the early morning, and unfortunately my photo of the stars did not come out, perhaps i'll master the art of night photography this next year.

cooked a casserole and lemon-poppy seed muffins for breakfast, and finished up the last of the holiday treats and did the cooking for tonight and tomorrow. the only thing left to cook are the yorkshire puddings which have to be done right before we eat.

will need a nap today since we have the 11:00 pm service at church, and won't get home and settled in for the night until probably about midnight- hope i can make it.

our christmas eve/day menu rarely changes and it's one of the traditions we stick to no matter what day of the week christmas falls on or how busy everything else gets.

christmas eve dinner:
roast beef, yorkshire pudding, gravy, mashed potatoes, brussels sprouts, green beans, christmas pudding, and christmas crackers (we have to have our funny crowns!), and this year will have the cookies and treats i've already baked plus ice cream for dessert.

brunch christmas day:
maple-vanilla french toast, potato sausage (thanks to polly), scrambled eggs, fruit salad and mimosas.

after we open gifts, we have brunch, while watching a christmas story, continuously until it goes off for the day, i love that movie!

this is the one day i really get to sleep in, and do pretty much nothing, knit, drink, and eat-that's it! i've got a laundry list of stuff to do on wednesday beginning with dropping pj off for his trip with the youth group at 7:30 AM,

so i really want to accomplish eveything i need to that day, so i can devote saturday to our family gift exchange and enjoying an extended holiday-day.

i'm really loving the holidays this year, and i hope to be able to do some better planning (and executing), so things don't seem so last minute-especially the baking, cards and decorating. i don't mind shopping at the last minute, but i'd like to have my house deocrated before dec 15.

TTFN

Merry Christmas to All

The countdown continues. . .

christmas day is 2 days away! see the little calendar- love my vista desktop.




due to a rain delay, i'm enjoying a very quiet house right now, and a relaxing cup of coffee. do hope to get my walk in later, but if not, gilad and i had a nice workout, so not much guilt.

yes, saturday's must-do's are done, and today will be all about knitting, getting prepped for our christmas eve feast maybe some baking, or at least measuring stuff out-i like to do stuff in stages when i can.

our saturday shopping took us to the avenues west cobb, and by luck we found a parking space which i told the boys we should try to sell when we leave. . we didn't but it seemed like a good idea. forgot one gift, but that can be bought on the 26th, and really wasn't 100% my responsibility to remember to buy anyway!

i helped the boys pick something out for me- new sweater from ann taylor loft-they were happy, i was happy, it was a win-win for everyone! our final gift purchases were at barnes and noble (love that store), but don't care too much for the starbucks inside, but needed a "pick-me-up", so we rested for a bit, and enjoyed a snack.

PJ and I- note to self- try to smile more in photos!

okay now i'm off to see what else i can get finished, have to re-cast on the VLace, somehow keep messing up, luckily i haven't gotten past the 4th row, so not much to rip out!

a few more newsletters to print, and get in the mail for tomorrow. enjoy your sunday- although the rain has washed out my walking plans, i am totally grateful for the rain, and would like more over the next few days.

oh yea. . finished the Sweet Revenge, it was okay, if you really want to know what i thought about it, i'll tell you in an email or in person. Not a book i'd invest in- definately glad i got it from the library!

3 more days and counting

friday's list- done. enjoyed the lights, but didn't take any photos because:

1-i stink at taking night pictures

2-i was doing the driving

i was glad that steve and the boys decided to join us, last year was a bit unpleasant, but we also had 2 more kids with us, so this go around- much better. enjoyed a quick stop at starbucks- my favorite one where i go to do my "alone" knitting.

notice Jean's new specs! picked those up friday afternoon.

have most of the saturday "must dos" finished. this will be our final day of shopping for the family gift exchange, otherwise shopping is done!!

plan to add fringe to the gift scarf, it's already blocked, and i can get that wrapped and delivered tomorrow.

added Christmas Vacation and White Christmas to the holiday DVD collection, will probably pop the CV in tonight.

leftovers for dinner, so that's a snap ♥.

now, as long as the traffic is not too dreadful . . .

Making a list and checking it twice

i've come up with a complete, i think, list of what i must be accomplished between now and the 26th (yea, can't sleep in or do fun shopping on this day!). as long as the other shoppers, drivers, and stores cooperate, i'll be right on schedule, and still have some time for a few holiday shows and knitting. am looking forward to planning time off in 2008, probably starting in early january! am getting more excited about the holidays, all of the furniture is finally in, so i think after 19 months in our house we're finally settled.

TTFN

GRATITUDES:
♥i'm thankful for each day i make it to work and back home safely
♥each day of exercise
♥having a very small list of people to buy gifts for this year
♥our mail lady, Cindy, who has been delivering our mail for almost 18 years, even though we moved, we're still on her route, she routinely goes beyond the call of duty-like bringing the mail to the door when mom had her knee surgery, when i had my car accident, etc. she has literally watched my boys grow up, how cool is that?! thinking fingerless gloves for a belated C.mas gift or for next year an early gift.

Since the Stole

It has been a very busy week, since the completion of the stole, but not stressful which is great considering the holiday season alone is stressful enough- not much time for deep thinking, but many things have been accomplished and "marked-off"-
first up-
the Christmas cantata at church- wonderful music, the choir and orchestra's hard work was self evident.
cooked cranberry oatmeal and cinnamon almond cookies (some for Steve to take to work)

♥Monday-Thursday was spent transforming our training room at work into a party room for our annual Christmas luncheon- moving chairs and tables upstairs, moving tables and chairs around- pushing and pulling that required many brawny boys!

♥Monday- blocked the Stole at work- took a while-I was warned by Mary, and I was amazed at how the Stole was transformed by this process-

♥Tuesday- the Stole made a tour around the office- PJ got his braces off (no photo), and Mom and I attended the DBE annual Christmas dinner- conveniently located at our neighborhood clubhouse :-) !

♥Wednesday-had Christmas lunch with Steve at his office -more wonderful food, and later the usual "yellow cab" services back and forth to church-got the "light" housekeeping done and coordinated the borrowing and delivery of the warming cabinet for our lunch at work.
♥Thursday-put the finishing touches on the training room, did a double check on the availability of audio/visual equipment for showing movies while we eat.
♥Friday-a tad more stuff in the training room- barking (I mean giving) orders-(directions) regarding food placement, and eating, etc. A totally delicious meal, and a great time was had by all, especially our visit from Santa, yes we have our very own Santa at our office. Later on Santa, Chrystina and I paid a visit to the pediatric facility across the street from our office. The kids, who are very sick, were entranced by Santa, and I'm glad we took the time to visit.

Some knitting in between, cast on the Victorian Lace, seems pretty easy so far, and I'm about half-way finished with my gift scarf.
♥Saturday-got some gift shopping finished- gift for the family gift exchange, baby gift for Beth and Sean, and birthday gift for my secret sister, and a quick stop at the grocery store.
Hanging out until time for the Katnik party- watched Elf and some of A Christmas Carol. Realized that we only have 1 Christmas DVD, and we plan to remedy that very soon! Spent some time in the kitchen getting Sat., Sun., and Mon., dinners together, and stuff for the coffee fellowship on Sunday morning-trying to keep things very simple right now.

Also, this week managed to print out about 50 Christmas newsletters, address and seal the envelopes--these are for folks that I don't have emails for, and will be getting a mass produced letter instead- (gotta buy more stamps!)

♥Sunday, spritz cookies and the gelee candy from this month's Gourmet. Andrew helped on this one- Also, made more progress on the house decorations. I spent so much time and effort getting the office decorated, I'm not sure I want to do any more! I still have to finish taking down those decorations and moving stuff back to the proper spot next week!

Oh well, what gets done gets done. I decided to put a link for the photos at the end along with a snap of come cards we've received, didn't want to do all that cutting and pasting as there are quite a few.

Love hearing the sound of rain on Saturday, and was very thankful that it held off while I did my walk Sunday morning!

PHOTOS:

Talking Christmas trees

. . . . no it's not the latest thing for decorating your home. i was pondering on my early morning walk last Sunday, as i admired the neighborhood decorations, and the lack of them on my house. . . what our Christmas trees "say" about us-
♥a single color or perhaps two in various forms throughout the decorations- "i like things simple and orderly, and not over the top", or "these are my most favorite colors", or i'm a control freak so don't touch my tree!!!
♥twinkling lights- "i'm fun and festive", or hyperactive!
♥themed decoration-ie NASCAR cars or racers; Disney or movie characters, etc."i'm so into this, and can't get enough"of course sometimes people have this stuff all over their house throughout the year!

there are times when i like themed trees the best; especially if they feature birds, dolls, things in nature, etc., but you can get carried away with the whole thing-as stated above!
also, i like the trees that go beyond just the shaped balls, and garland, but incorporate springs of holly, or feathers, anything unsual and different.


so I was thinking about what my tree(s) say about me and my family. nearly every ornament on the tree was given to us, some we've been using for almost 18 years, as they were the ornaments Steve's mom put together for him when he had his own place. most of them are homemade which makes them extra special; some of our were made by Steve's Grandmother (GG), my mom and the boys.








it wasn't until i came across the knitting basket that I realized how much of our family is reflected in our tree each year- i've been putting this on the tree for years and never gave it a second thought. someone may need to help me out on this one- did GG make this? it's totally cute with nails as knitting needles, and small balls of yarn!

I purchased this the one from recently from Starbucks-- these are just a few of my favorite year round things!










our smaller tree above the foyer has the Wizard of Oz characters, and the Disney ornaments that my in-laws sent to us each year for the boys. The itty bitty in the powder room has the Ga Tech ornaments, hope to do more with this one. another tree in the foyer has blue jasperware Wedgewood ornaments, most signed by Lord Wedgewood himself! a couple sent from Amsterdam, and other bits of white and blue. even Andrew has one that has sports ornaments and some of his favorites.

i now have a new perspective on the ornaments we have- gifts from family travels, characters from our favorite movies, from family abroad, and the homemade creations- nearly each one has its own story.

there will come a day when i have to divide these ornaments between the boys, and i hope they come to value and treasure them as i have, and will pass along the stories that go with them.

what does your tree say about you? . . .

TTFN