knitorious

What's working, what's not

Well, it's "the holidays" and, considering that it's the holidays, I think I'm doing okay. My weight has fluctuated a bit but given the added imbibing and indulgences, I am very okay with that; last Saturday I finally hit 30 pounds lost.

Thirty pounds! That translates to something like over 100 pounds of pressure taken off of my knees (and, I suppose), ankles, and toes.

My back is finally feeling better. I was beginning to wonder if I had a kidney stone. Oh! You want to know what my sweet daughter said? She told me that my sore back could have been my body adjusting to the weight loss -- Whoa!! Isn't that the sweetest thing?

So, what's working? I've been trying to use my Yummy - Paleo Pinterest board more, especially for things I find online. The stellar Bacon-Wrapped Smoky Chicken Thighs and Pecan-Crusted Sweet Potatoes that I made at Thanksgiving are both there. They both made encore appearances at Christmas and were devoured! I've recently pinned, made, and loved Balsamic-Glazed Drumsticks and Balsamic Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Mustard Vinaigrette (once with added carrots) -- balsamic vinegar obviously being my new best friend! The brussels sprouts also were requested at the Christmas table, also, and I was happy to oblige.

And I've finally made cauliflower "rice." I'm SO happy that I found this video... OMG, so fast & easy! It takes longer to get the equipment out than it does to chop and "rice." (I have an old Osterizer commercial blender, so that's what I used and it worked great!)

(And isn't that funny? I have a Big Red Kitchen, too!)

I usually rice a whole head at a time. Sometimes I cook it all up (in batches) and store the leftovers that way, but I've also stored the extra uncooked. It's super fast to prepare, either by sauteeing or just throwing it in a pot with some butter. Most important of all, it was very well-liked by all -- including Rusty, never a huge fan of cauliflower and an almost daily consumer of real (brown) rice!

I've roasted cauliflower (and broccoli - sometimes together), too, and it is SO yum. I have been winning people over with the roasting, especially when I do it with my new best friend (balsamic vinegar), and even the previously detested brussels sprout has been declared "delicious."

I'm still motivated and eager to try new things.

What's not working? OMG, the sugar!! It's hard to avoid right now, and I've indulged, but waking in the middle of the night with horrible heartburn tells me how much I've OVER-indulged -- as do some other "systems" conditions. This all serves to remind me how far I've come and just how much better I feel overall! I won't have time for a Whole30 before leaving for Brazil, but a Whole15 is looking pretty good!!

Also not working are some overly involved "weeknight" meals I've prepared. One of the things I like best about "paleo" is rediscovering how delicious and satisfying a simply prepared meal can be -- season, roast, steam, saute, or bake, sometimes serve with a simple sauce or glaze. I enjoy putting together an elaborate meal occasionally, but definitely not the norm.

Just for the record, it was a mid-afternoon Christmas Day meal this year at my house:

• HoneyBaked Ham (Mom)
• Rolls (Mom)
• Pecan-Crusted Sweet Potatoes (minus dairy components)
• Steamed Green Beans
• Balsamic Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Mustard Vinaigrette
• Cauliflower Rice
• Tortilla Wraps (Katie)
• Gluten-free Bread w/Olive Oil & Balsamic Vinegar (Ali)
• Apple Pie with Rice Flour Crust (Rusty)
• Everyday Paleo Pumpkin Pie w/fresh whipped cream

And before I even knew it, Annie had the kitchen all cleaned up! That works!!

 

Thanksgiving II

It's 3:00 a.m. I'm up to put a couple of turkey breasts into the slow cooker, sprinkle them with seasoning, and turn it on. Please, let me remember to turn it on. I'm actually writing this at midnight to automatically post at 3:00 a.m. and we can only hope that I really am up and doing those things.

Today's menu:

• Slow-Cooker Turkey Breast from A Healthy Whole9 Thanksgiving
• Pecan-Crusted Sweet Potatoes (modified) from Stone Soup's "No Worries" holiday cooking
• Paleo Parsnip Mash from Amazing Paleo's 4th of 7 Thanksgiving recipes
• Roasted Beets & Pastachio Butter from an earlier Whole9 Thanksgiving post
• Scratch that, Katie's making Salt-Roasted Beets with Whipped Goat Cheese & Pistachio Vinaigrette as an appetizer (one of the yummy dishes we had at The Purple Pig in Chicago last week)
• Sauteed Green Beans
• Mom's bringing Corn Pudding and Fruit Salad
• Ali's bringing Pumpkin Bread and Cherry Pie
• Rusty's making an Apple Pie
• I want to make Everyday Paleo Pumpkin Pie, too! I even found some pumpkin in the freezer.

I was thinking of a Squash & Sweet Potato Bake or Baked Sweet Potato Chips, but I'll save all that for another time. We're not going to need any more!

 

Makin' do

Thanksgiving kicked off this most unusual of holiday seasons for our family, and we did our best to make it our own.

Yesterday, Mom and I began the day with yoga. She'd never done yoga before, and it's been years since I've practiced, but we did great. You'd never have known that Mom didn't know her Shavasana from her Sha-Na-Na, and I was surprised at how quickly it all came back to me! I didn't even mind Downward Dog as much as I used to (that probably has everything to do with my improved physical condition and health). It was the perfect start to the day. Aligned. Calm. Om.

I was in the zone when I got home, cleaning, prepping, baking, playing a few rounds of Bananagrams with the girls. Katie helped by putting together a batch of autumn sangria with apples and cranberries.

Yesterday was the first of two all-out Thanksgiving meals I'll be preparing this year and I didn't want turkey for both. I kept it in the family by making chicken thighs -- specifically, Bacon-Wrapped Smoky Chicken Thighs (a recipe from Practical Paleo). Hello. They were absolutely delicious! I didn't have enough bacon for all the thighs (16 in all), so I left the skin on some (it's good that I overlooked the "skinless" part when I was shopping). I'd planned for a few to be left over, and so I'm very happy to have a couple of them in my lunch today.

I served simple mashed sweet potatoes (peeled, cut, boiled, mashed with a little coconut milk, butter, salt and pepper), steamed asparagus, and corn (bought/froze from the farmer's market) to accompany the chicken.

For dessert, I made Everyday Paleo Pumpkin Pie (scroll down) from Everyday Paleo Family Cookbook. I think I overbaked the crust just a touch, and forgot to add the honey to the filling mixture until after I'd poured it into the crust -- I probably didn't add as much as I should have (didn't measure) and stirred it in as best I could. Ha. It turned out fine. Ali brought whipping cream... everything's better with whipping cream.

Ali also brought some homemade Brussels cookies (shaped like Milanos) and they were fabulous!

I'm really happy that I was able to prepare and eat a terrific meal, that everyone fully enjoyed, and that was still very much within my guidelines. It's a holiday! I'm so okay with a little whipped cream and a couple of homemade cookies!!

* * * * *

A note about ingredients and their cost, the cost of eating "this way." The main "guidelines" stress any/all of the following when it comes to choosing ingredients: fresh, real, organic, pastured, grass-fed, etc. Some of those descriptors can add up to BIG BUCK$ right quick. A resource I forgot to mention the other day is this:

The Kindle version is $2.99, or Prime members can borrow it for free. Basically, DO THE BEST YOU CAN. You know? I certainly can't afford to buy everything that way all of the time, so I pick and choose and make compromises -- I do the best I can. Yesterday, our chicken was plain old chicken from the grocery store -- it was the best I could do -- but I'd splurged a while back on some really great bacon, and I'm so glad I did. It was *so* worth it for a meal like this. Our asparagus, too, was right from the regular produce department at the store; the sweet potatoes were some I had that were locally grown and organic; the corn was fresh/frozen last summer from a local farmer. I tried to make my own pumpkin puree for the pie but I wasn't happy with it, so I got out the can opener and Libby's came to to the rescue. Not organic. I can live with that. It was still delicious.

And, really, the main thing IS to choose ingredients. I always think to myself when I buy something that's not *perfect*, "Well, at least it's not Hamburger/Chicken/Tuna Helper." That's one of my benchmarks, though probably not even the worst example, of the processed type of "food" that I'm trying to avoid.

Okay, climbing down from the soap box. Again!

* * * * *

We cleared the table after the wonderful hubbub of dinner and, as I put away leftovers, Maddy took over the kitchen clean up! She had later plans with friends, so declined our invitation to go see Lincoln (loved it -- so many amazing performances!) and was still humming along with a sink full of suds when we left, which meant that I came home to a completely cleaned up kitchen after the movie!

Thanksgiving, indeed.

 

Thankful

Working in the kitchen early this evening -- I'm not sure what I was doing exactly, peeling sweet potatoes, wrapping chicken thighs in bacon, prepping asparagus, doing dishes, washing my hands for the umpteenth time -- I heard Maddy & Katie talking and laughing on the back porch. Maddy had made a fire in the fire pit and they were just hanging out. Before long Ali joined them, with Rod and his daughter, and there was even more!

It's one of the things I love most -- have always loved -- about the holidays: listening to people talk and laugh. Oh, especially the laughter.

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

O Tannenbaum

A traditional Christmas tree is not easy to come by in Rio de Janeiro. The "town tree," as my sister calls it, is a gigantic tree covered in millions of lightbulbs floating in a lagoon. This year's tree hasn't been lit yet -- luckily, my mom and her husband will see it when they visit during Christmas week, but the lights will be out by the time I go in mid-January. Here's a video from The Telegraph of last year's lighting:

There's still a need for a tree at home and, luckily, due to the magical worldwide bulletin board that is Pinterest, I was able to share an idea with Annie that she is now making her own:

I'm pretty sure that's a present for my mom under the tree! We are all to send drawings or photos of our favorite ornaments that they can add to their tree in Rio. So fun, and a great way to connect with our far-away family this season.

Also, what in the world did we ever do without Skype, Facetime, Facebook, Pinterest, email, and the whole entire Internet?

 

Christmases long long ago

Well, the last few are all from the same Christmas -- I was in 2nd grade when I got that guitar! I remember watching "Santa" unload the goodies from the attic right outside my bedroom door, and seeing the guitar from my bed -- I was supposed to be sleeping, of course.

For the past many years, until last year, our family has drawn names to exchange gifts -- oftentimes handmade, always heartfelt. Things were different last year and we gave in a different way. And things will be different from now on.

We talked at Thanksgiving about some other things we could do, such as adopting a family but, though we all live in Wisconsin, we're all from different areas and thought perhaps some would prefer to give in their own communities or have something else altogether in mind.

Like me! I decided to give the gift of sheep and support the Knitter's Review 2011 Heifer International fundraiser with the money I'd have otherwise spent on a gift (or the yarn for the gift). It's perfect, with all of my girls knitting in earnest this year, and because my sisters have all knit, and my mom taught me, and there's that great old picture of my grandma holding a lamb on the farm. I think the KR registry will still be up for a bit.

What I really want to tell you about, though, is my mother's brilliant idea! I just love it. She decided to give every time she passes a Red Kettle this season -- sometimes it's only whatever change she can find in her purse, sometimes it's a dollar, sometimes a fiver, sometimes it's a few different bills. It's always with purpose and intention and she knows she's going to do it, so is prepared and it's not an annoyance like it sometimes can be when you're trying to get in or out of the store and your arms are loaded with milk, powdered sugar, chocolate, and bacon. Or some other stuff. Anyway, I think it's just brilliant. Go Mom!

* * * * *

Boy, it sure felt like Friday today... one more day and then a few extra days off next week for Christmas Vacation!!

 

Ten on Tuesday: Traditions

Ten on Tuesday: 10 Favorite Holiday Traditions

1. The stockings are hung on the staircase with care, in the hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there... He comes every December 5th, leaving a stockingful of treats and always a new ornament for each of the girls. When they were little, they'd also receive a book or CD; now, it's more likely a gift card. There were some years when not a single thing more could be stuffed inside. I don't know what he was thinkin'.

2. St. Nick must shop at the same candy store I do! There's always popcorn balls, Necco Wafers, chocolate coins, peppermint sticks, and other old-fashioned candy in our stockings!

3. After 20+ years, the girls have a nice collection of ornaments to call their own -- not only those brought by St. Nick or made by me (like that jointed Santa), but also quite a few handmade by their Aunt Karen (many of which doubled as gift tags), and including many of those that they made in school. I'm still holding on to some of those school ornaments for myself, not able to relinquish them just yet.

4. I hang some ornaments special to me, too; from my grandmothers, from my school years, and just because they make me smile.

5. It was decided over dinner on Sunday that this year we'll put up the artificial tree. We love the real-ness of a real tree, but the sturdiness of the fake. The girls want to load it up this year, apparently. My minimalist decor of a few years ago (above) was heartily poo-poo'd. (I liked it!)

6. We get Snowed In. The girls can't help it. Neither can I. So darn catchy, fun & happy.

7. We spend Christmas Eve at my mother's. We've had a lot of different things for dinner over the years: Cornish Hens, Ham, Beef Wellington, Crown Roast, Standing Rib Roast, Turkey, Yorkshire Pudding, Waldorf Salad. The one constant lately -- ever since the girls were able to express their desires -- is Corn Pudding.

8. And Rusty's pies. For 25 years, Rusty has made ALL the pies for ALL the holidays (save one Christmas). Usually apple or pumpkin, but sometimes cherry; he loves pie, and it's his thing.

9. We usually go to a movie on Christmas Day; in fact, Santa usually stuffs a movie pass into everyone's stocking! We don't always all go to the SAME movie, but we all go at the same time.

10. New Years Eve is almost always celebrated with a gathering of family and friends around a fire in the ravine, complete with champagne and fireworks!

 

Let it be known!

I have ornamented the tree with things most dear to me.

I had cookies for brunch yesterday; peanut butter balls and homemade caramels today.  I did just have some minestrone soup... with cookies for dessert... and a peanut butter ball chaser.  Oy.  Soon it will be all gone.

Speaking of minestrone soup -- this is a great recipe and QUICK, just as the title would lead you to believe.  It's a delicious, warm, nourishing soup that provides a great meal even when you're pressed for time -- as we all are this week -- throw in some ham or turkey, if you've got it, or some other kinds of beans, it's easy to play around with, too.  I have no idea where it came from -- it's scratched on the back of one of the kids' old "Book It" forms (my note from 12/4/93 says, "GOOD!)).

QUICK MINESTRONE SOUP

16-oz. can cannellini beans
16 oz. can red kidney beans
16 oz. can seasoned-for-pasta tomatoes
4 c. chicken broth
1 box frozen chopped spinach
1/2 c. orzo
season to taste

Combine beans and tomatoes in a large pot.  Add chicken broth, spinach, and orzo.  Bring to a boil, stirring to break up spinach.  Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes, or until orzo is tender.  Makes about 10 cups of soup.

See?  Couldn't be easier.  You've never tasted a more delicious "homemade" soup that came from so many cans.

 

Crafty corner

I finished with the lights yesterday and unpacked boxes with ornaments and decorations.  I placed a few very special items on the tree myself, then Katie came along and did hers and a whole bunch more while I watched (and dozed) from a chair.  Ali and Maddy have yet to hang their ornaments.

St. Nick brought the girls S'more ornaments a few years ago and I was thrilled to find a knitter for myself this year!  The cross-stitch ornament was an unexpected gift from my SIL.  I always remember her giving it to me and telling me that she just couldn't resist because it was so perfect.

The inscription from Grandpa & Grandma is on the bottom of a ceramic "holiday" igloo.  It has cut-out windows and colored plastic pegs that look like lights on trees when illuminated -- some of the pegs are broken, damaged or missing altogether.  There's been a big crack from the bottom edge to nearly the top and I handle it with extreme care every year, wondering if it'll be the last.  I imagine that when it does eventually break, I'll have not choice but to glue it together.

Katie broke (beyond repair) her 1988 ornament from Grandma & Grandpa last night.  It wasn't one of her favorites, but it's still very sad.  I told her that I broke mine from 1977 a long time ago, too.  I still remember.  It was a cardinal.

'Tis the season

Unfortunately, even by the end of the day the tree wasn't much more improved than in this earlier-in-the-day photo, except that I did put the tippy-top of the tree in place... after ripping all the friggin' lights off of it because half of them weren't working.  Yes, I know all about pre-lit Christmas trees.  Let me tell ya... if you think my tree looks pathetic, you should have seen my mom's yesterday.  It is a pre-lit tree that she's used for enough years that much of it now needs to be re-lit.  She's threatening to use the table-top tree instead, or even the feather tree!

Ho ho ho.  We listened to Christmas music, but I sure wish someone could find our Hanson Snowed In CD -- if that doesn't get me a little pumped about the Christmas hullaballoo, nothing will.

Quite a many several years ago, I came home to find the oval window on our front door positively aglow with lights.  I'm not sure from whence the inspiration came, but DH had made this thing resembling a fish skeleton out of lumber scraps and wire, cleverly fashioning loops so it could be secured to the door both top and bottom, stapled 200 lights to it employing the willy-nilly method, and called it done.  This year, it was time to replace the lights and we used cute little clear button lights purchased on clearance last year (or maybe even the year before).  He was a little more orderly with the new arrangement, thinking stars and space, galaxies and orbits.

* * * * *

I had Breakfast With the Boys on my way to work this morning and those boys made me cry!  It's only by chance that I catch the show on Thursday mornings, and I've enjoyed it every single time.  I'm really going to have to make a note -- Mark Tauscher is hilarious.  It was co-host John Maino who brought the tears this morning, though.  He was on the phone from Washington where he was to deliver gifts to wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center this afternoon.  There are plenty of Packer items in that Santa sack, of course, including 100 jerseys signed by Brett Favre earlier this week.  Maino was embedded with local troops in Iraq for a week last summer and this morning he talked about what the Packers mean to our local troops -- it's something to think about, talk about, concentrate on, fight for...

It just made me think, you know.  I'm not going to complain about my Christmas tree lights any more.  I'm going to hope that the Packers win at least one more game before Christmas -- for the troops -- but even if they don't, I don't know, just play and do their best.  Pray that our guys will come home soon.  Lots of stuff like that...

The jolly guy in red

"St. Nicholas" filled the stockings tied to the stairway last night.  In a very practical mood, she left slippers for the girls and insoles for DH -- he's been complaining of sore feet.  ; )  The girls each get an ornament from St. Nick every year and this year it's the angels above, which are reminiscent of just like our horn-playing tree-top angel, except that it wasn't discovered 'til the very last minute that only one of these ornaments actually has a horn -- the others have cymbals or harp!

Is it pathetic that I fill my own stocking?  I don't give myself a gift because, well, I've actually been quite wild and free of late with the "add to cart" buttons -- nothing huge, but a pamphlet here, a booklet there, a magazine, a book... now I've got to find that Noro book with the Blossom vest pattern that I mentioned yesterday.  It's not yarn that makes my finger twitch, it's the patterns!  So, let's pretend there's a back issue or two of Wool Gathering sticking out the top there.

Coup d'Etat is off the needles!  I short-rowed and did a three-needle bind off at the shoulders and there's just no other way... totally love that technique.  I also did full-fashion decreases and increases throughout and I'm anxious to seam.  My blocking board is already in use at the moment, but perhaps later today I can give all the pieces a bath and pin them out.  It's going to be button time soon!

I saw Katie for the first time yesterday when I came home last night and she noticed that I was wearing Williamsro.  Not only did she notice, she told me how wonderful it looked, that it was her favorite of all the sweaters I've made, why don't I wear it more.  I proceeded to tell her/consult regarding that bottom Blossom part and she confirmed the conclusion I'd come to after wearing it for the whole day.  Yes, there's the whole horizontal stripes can make anyone's anything look big, but I don't think the horizontal-ness is the problem here.  Can't get much more horizontal than Fib, which is also one of my favorite sweaters, so I obviously have no issues with the horizontal.  The biggest thing with Williamsro is that there are too many stitches picked up for that bottom part -- so many that it is actually distorted -- and there's no elasticity to the Cash Iroha so no resistance and it just let's itself be pulled.  There's a bit of a flare, a swing -- even bulbous quality -- to that Blossom section that maybe isn't so evident in the photos, but it'll make a huge overall difference if I can find the magic number.

I think that the rest of my December knitting is going to be devoted to The Fix & Finish.  I've got Shirley Shrugs and Williamsro in need of attention, there's Coup d'Etat seaming in the wings, along with a button band and many buttons to be sewn... there are buttons to be sewn on sweaters that haven't seen the light of day in so long, I'm sure you've forgotten.

Let's get crack-a-lackin'

Imagine John Travolta, a la Grease: "It's petrifying!"  Really, it is electrifying -- I can't leave the Petrified Socks alone.  There's been precious little time, but what there is has been split between the sock and the Wee Weasley.  Mack is leaving tomorrow morning and my sister said she's taking the sweater whether I've finished with it or not!  It fits him perfectly with a little room to grow and he just couldn't be more adorable.

I've turned the heel on the sock and, as of sleepy-time last night, the gusset is finished, too, so now it's just foot for a while.  We'll just have to see if there's any pooling or flashing as that progresses, but I'm very pleased with how the leg turned out -- very even color distribution on both sides.

Turns out that last Friday -- an extra day off of work/school due to icy conditions -- the ice quickly melted, the sun came out and the temperature was nearly 40 in the afternoon.  Made for good last-minute shopping weather, and I also filled in at the antique mall for a couple of hours.  It was nice to share some of my bonus day helping someone who needed it.

My sister and her family arrived from the northland quite late Friday night -- or was that quite early Saturday morning?  We had a nice day on Saturday with last-minute bustle and then headed over to Mom's.  An aunt that I haven't seen in a long time brought Grandma to the festivities, along with birthday cake to celebrate Gram's 93rd birthday!  DH celebrated his birthday on the day after, but no cake.  Ugh.  Can't even think about cake or sweets.  Maybe I'll surprise him with a belated cake just before Katie leaves for England.  Or maybe defrosted brownies!  (Haha -- thanks for the brownie advice; I've never before had to deal with too many brownies.)

More later...  it's back to work for the first time in a week and I've got some catching up to do!

The next step

I finished the wallpapering yesterday and I had a feline supervisor.  The tile that you see behind Duncan is a problem.  They're nice tiles -- handpainted trillium and mushrooms stuck randomly throughout -- in good condition.  They don't "go," but they're not coming off -- that's too big a can of worms, too many unknowns.  I'm happy to ignore it, but it's a thorn in Ali's side.  Do we dare paint it?  Can I fashion some kind of cover-up?

I had plenty of wallpaper and only had to use a few of the pieces that had registration problems -- and those I placed mostly above doors and windows.  DH stained the crown moulding yesterday and might put it up today (it's pickled, same as the ceiling).  He'll work his way down, building the cap and applying the strips to the paneling, and then he'll bow out and let the painting/decorating team take over.

Here's a closer view of the paper.  The background is off-white, but with a hint of pink -- the wood on the ceiling has a bit of pink, too, and they really look nice together.  There's kind of a dusky, antique coloring to the paper, which I really like.  The yellow pansies have an almost parchment look, very similar to those in a favorite, vintage Paul de Longpre pansy print* I have in the living room.  I'm no professional, but I don't think I did too badly matching at the seams.  (I did get paid to paper once; DH worked for a firm that designed trade show displays and one of their customers was Kohler.  They had a few displays that needed papering and I was tapped.  It was very cool, but scary -- limited quantities of expensive, handmade wallpaper made me kinda nervous.)

I had an email last week from Shelli in Canada.  She'd been searching for paint in a terra cotta color and was having a hard time finding one that wasn't too orange or too brown or too red.  She perused the While You Were Out album and asked for details about the color we used.  I copied and sent all the information from the sticker on the paint can.  She wrote yesterday to say that she'd taken my email with her to the store, had a can mixed to specs and it's perfect!  Yay!!

*I meant to tell this story at Christmas, but now's as good a time as any.  Quite a few years ago, I was at an auction with Mom and my sister Sharon.  I must have been distracted because by the time I realized that a beautiful, half-yard-long pansy print was on the block, Sharon was already bidding on it.  And she won it.  And I pouted and drooled.  Even though it wasn't mine, I think it's the item that made me a bonafide pansy collector.

A few years later, downsizing and preparing for a move from Wisconsin to New Mexico, Sharon decided that she didn't want to take the print with her, but neither did she want to give it up, so she gave it to me for safe-keeping.  Eventually, she landed in Ohio and had room for it, but knowing how much I loved it, she let me keep it a while longer -- with the understanding that I'd (happily/sadly) give it back at any time.  During a trip to the Outer Banks one fall, we planned to stay overnight at her house.  Knowing we were coming, she asked if I'd bring the print.  Oh, I was very sad to give it up, but it was time; we had a few good years together.

All my siblings were home for Christmas (festivities at my house!) and another sister, Karen, had my name that year.  When I opened her gift, I immediately turned, in complete and utter disbelief, to Sharon and said, "Thank you," then, rather confused, to Karen.  On my lap was the pansy print I'd just delivered to Ohio.  Karen had bought it from Sharon to give to me.  It was one of the best gifts I ever received -- so completely from the heart -- and like a gift from both of them!  Sharon says that that's the best gift you can give anybody -- something that you have that you know would make someone else happy.  I think she's angling to have it re-gifted one of these years...

If you've stuck in there this long, then run right over to see Celia.  She is a funny, funny lady and sure makes me look forward (even more) to International Pajama Day II.

He sees you when you're sleeping

I'm smitten with a mitten, and I'm not the only one. Katie loves it. Maddy loves it. Ali hasn't been around much, but I'm sure she'd love it, too. Maddy wants it/them -- even more than the pink thrummed mittens. I think the thrums will win her over on her first walk with Mickey on Christmas Day when it will be 20 below with wind chill. After the photo op, I picked up the stitches for the thumb (peeking out at left) and knit about half. Woo.

Katie's home! My heart's been warmed this week, reading about holiday prep and homecomings. I couldn't help but remember this time last year when Katie came home after her first semester away at college. We hadn't seen her in four months, and the whole family went for a late-night greet at the airport. I spotted her before she saw us and busted my buttons -- I was speechless. DH stood right next to me and asked, "Where's Kate?" Expecting to see the high school kid we'd sent to college, he didn't recognize the sophisticated, confident collegiate that returned. "Did you know she was going to look* like that?!"

As the Christmas ornament parade draws to a close... Hey, there's Peanut! This is probably the dumbest ornament on the tree, but we've all grown quite fond. It was one of many gifts/ornaments I received at the cross-stitch retreat where I got my tree skirt project. It's a regular old peanut in the shell, painted to look like a snowman -- he has a painted carrot nose and a HUGE charcoal smile. Next to Peanut is one of a pair of small nutcracker ornaments that has a working lever in the back. In the rear is a bunch of gold plastic grapes that Mom gave me; they'd belonged to her mother. I found that there is significance to grapes on a Christmas tree, as well as pickles and many other things!

As at the end of every Christmas parade, Santa Claus brings up the rear. You better watch out! Even with only one remaining googly eye, this Santa can see you when you're sleeping and he most certainly knows when you're awake! This is Katie's second grade handiwork. Our one-eyed Santa joins many, many other ornaments made by the kids -- among other things, there are be-glittered pinecones, pipe cleaners, cotton balls, clay, paper, plastic lids, puzzle pieces and old cards.

In yesterday's comments, Cara wrote, "Every Xmas I send my best friend ornaments for her tree. Every year she says when they set up the tree, it's like I'm there! I love that." That just couldn't be more true. It's been so much fun to share some of my ornaments and their stories and memories with you -- and to hear about yours in the comments you've left and to see and read about them in other blogs! I have plenty of plain jane ornaments, but even many of those have memories attached... the shiny blue and clear green ornaments in the Santa picture were Grandma K's... the crocheted stars made by my aunt... lots of ceramic ornaments made by Grandma B... the glitter-covered, pock-marked, styrofoam balls that hung on the trees of my childhood. ;There's one ornament that I swear I won in a first grade spelling bee, but Mom recalls that I made it -- we "argue" about that every year -- it looks like shit (it's been a WAY lotta years) but it gets a place of honor every year. Katie put her ornaments on the tree yesterday and later told me that she moved that one, briefly wondering why such an ugly thing was on the tree, and then she remembered... That's what it's all about.

*She did get a tattoo while she was away, but that wasn't the big difference. DH was not privy to our chatty, girl-talk emails where I'd learned that she was styling her hair differently and shaping her eyebrows and wearing make-up -- those things were part of it, but even more, I think, was the confident and sophisticated air about her -- there was truly Something About Katie...