Panic! Panic!

I have no idea why the holiday has caught me so unprepared this year, but I simply CANNOT keep hold of the fact that Christmas is this weekend. It literally keeps slipping my mind until something pops up to remind me, and then I get all spazzy and short circuit for a minute. Earlier I noticed a facebook post from the yoga studio where I signed up a few weeks back for a candlelight yoga class they have going tomorrow night and went "Oh, shit, that's TOMORROW? HOW IS IT DECEMBER 22ND ALREADY TOMORROW? HOW?"

I pretty much have all our gifts bought (not wrapped) and the cards are addressed, stamped, and ready to go (other than the prints of our Christmas photos, which have yet to arrive). I don't have much baking to do and we only have one gathering to attend each day of the weekend. And yet, the panic!

I will say this - if you have the time and the right people to invite, I fully recommend having friends over to watch old Christmas specials and eat snacks. We did that last night and it was awesome. Really, seriously great. I wish I could take credit for the idea but we were just the hosts.

Okay, move along. Nothing to see here, folks. I'll just be over here, rocking back and forth and humming.

It's almost Halloween!

So let's talk about Christmas! And some other stuff.

Cold November pain

Is anyone signing up for NaBloPoMo this year? I've done it every year since it was invented so I sort of feel like I have to do it, but for the first time ever I'm really not sure I can pull it off. It wasn't that bad the year I was pregnant and was surprisingly easy last year, but this year…I dunno, man.

And then I rolled my eyes.

I was on YouTube last night to watch the trailer for the badass-looking upcoming SyFy miniseries Neverland and clicked through afterward to watch two allegedly "official" trailers for The Hobbit. The first was more of a teaser than a trailer, since more than half of the footage used came from the existing Lord of the Rings films. The second had more original content, but started with a narrator intoning, "Everyone knows the legend, but no one knows how it all began." Except, yeah, we do, because it was a book first. And I will grant that many fans of the LOTR movies didn't read the books and that many who did read the trilogy didn't read The Hobbit, but still. Hold the hyperbole there, Mr. Movie Announcer.

Seriously?

I tore out a couple of things from the Toys R Us holiday ad mini-catalog thing as possible Christmas gifts for Nico and then looked them up online to see if they'd be appropriate for his age, worth the money, etc. One that I was really tempted by was this Imaginarium brand firehouse / police station playset:

Then I read the description, which includes the following:  "This exciting new Imaginarium Police Station & Firehouse Play Set combines a Police Station and a Firehouse all in one! Ring the working fire alarm bell, slide a fireman down the firehouse pole & watch as prison inmates work out in the jail gym." Wait…what? So, cross that one off the list.

Lame segue

Speaking of Christmas and gifts, how do those of you with young kids handle the whole thing? Do you set a monetary limit and then buy whatever you can get for that amount, or do you set a limit on how many items each kid receives, or some combination of both strategies? Do you have some kind of traditional plan for gifts? I saw a forum post at some point where a woman said that for Christmas every year, her kids get something they need, something to wear, and something to read…so each kid gets a nice but utilitarian item, a new pair of pajamas, and a new book. I liked that idea, but also kind of like the idea of our kid(s) getting one big item for Christmas each year that we wouldn't normally shell out to buy (plus some small items in a Christmas stocking). I'm definitely going to do a new book under the tree "from Santa" each year and already can tell the hard part will be narrowing it down to one book (okay, or two).

Thus far this year, we've set a budgeted amount of money for gifts for Nico (which we'll probably exceed a bit, but that's how Christmas budgets go) which is not extravagant but which I can definitely stretch pretty far using my bargain-shopping wiles. There's not really anything coming to mind to get Nico as his one big gift, and I have a pretty long list of smallish to medium things that I suspect he'd love. Because of this I'm having some debate with myself over how many items equals too many items for Nico at not-quite two. On the one hand, he might be too little to know the difference or remember later how much stuff he got, so maybe it doesn't matter if we go a bit overboard with the number of gifts. On the other, I consider it one of my sworn parenting duties to not spoil the child utterly rotten. Oh, and since MB and I are generally the ones who have to pick up the toys, that also weighs into the decision.

Our issue is complicated by the fact that Nico's birthday is three weeks after Christmas, and he'll almost certainly be receiving a half-dozen new toys from family and close friends at that time. Last year we got him his play kitchen and the Little People Noah's Ark set for Christmas, and other than some books under the tree from Santa and his stocking, that's all we bought. I don't recall buying him anything for his birthday, though I might be mistaken. Advise me, wise internet types…what is your plan, or what do you think mine should be?

While we're on the subject

What are you putting on your Christmas list this year? I have the worst time making Christmas lists for myself, I swear. I can never think of anything I want other than boring, lame stuff like new bras and new trainers and casserole dishes. (Seriously, last year I asked for a casserole dish with a carrier and a rolling pin.) I think my list so far this year is a new pair of small plain silver hoop earrings and a book light. I'm so dull I bore myself!

Obligatory baby picture

After posting those photos of Nico with his crazy hair I finally caved and let MB give him another haircut last Sunday. I was a bit angsty but it turned out really cute (even if he does look way too big now):

(Fret not…the curls came back.)


Reading:  The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson

Playing:  an old mix CD

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone had a truly wonderful holiday! xoxo

Handmade holiday

I signed up for Jett Superior's fantastic internet ornament exchange this year, and I'm so glad I did. My ornament arrived yesterday courtesy of @angi33 and I love it:


The ornament is from Designs by Wesley and the technique was inspired by an old Japanese decorative process called Mokume Gane. (I'm suddenly kind of nervous about the way-less-fancy ornament that I sent out in the exchange!)

The only downside to my ornament is that I can't put it on our tree this year. With an almost-toddler in the house and an actual toddler visiting us the week after Christmas, I decided to decorate our tree only with non-breakable ornaments this year. I was worried it would look skimpy or lame, but once I got my decorations out I realized I actually have dozens of really nice non-glass things.


My favorites are the ornaments that were handmade by someone, so I thought it would be nice to show off some of the best ones. The first one is a beaded spiral that my sister made. I can't quite articulate exactly what it is that makes me love this ornament -- maybe the beads, which we used to make bracelets as children -- but it's one of my favorites of our entire selection.


She also made this one, a cute owl picture decoupaged onto a CD. It's a bit big, but worth the space on the tree.


A friend brought this ornament from Nepal, where it was handmade from what appears to be gum wrappers in a sustainable co-op set up to allow women to earn a living wage from selling their work. I think it's really beautiful.


My mom made bundles of these beaded icicles when I was a kid and used to sell them at craft fairs. I have four or five on my tree that I inherited from my grandmother.


The bibliophile made the next two from plain papier mache ornament balls. She used yellow as the base because it's my favorite color. I like them both, but the second one, with the little bits of tissue paper, is my favorite of the two.



Norahs1213 made paper cranes for our annual Thanksmas ornament exchange one year. It's such a simple but lovely idea.


Teacher Incognito painted snowman faces on plastic ornaments for another year's exchange.


Evilducky knitted "stockings" from a baby bootie pattern one year, though my favorite ornament-like items she's made have to be this year's adorable owlies.



Just for kicks, I'll include some that I made. These all came from the sets I made for the ornament exchange, except for the reindeer. The first one was based on a Chinese paper lantern pattern that I got from a girl at work. I had MB replicate the pattern in AutoCAD and shrink it down to miniature, then printed the patterns on Christmas-appropriate scrapbooking paper, cut out oodles and oodles of tiny pieces, and glued them together. It was a lot of work, but these are probably my favorite of all the ornaments I've ever made.


I think I made these the first year we did an ornament exchange at Thanksmas. They're from a kit, but I really liked the results.


This little spool / pipe cleaner reindeer was from a kit my mom bought when I was in middle school. I vaguely remember wrapping the thread around the spool, and I'm sure it was a bit tedious, but the end result is pretty darn cute.


I made this type of ornament for Thanksmas this year. Another kit, but it's exactly what I wanted. I love these not because I have a thing for sequins, but because my mom made a set of these for her tree when she and my dad first got married and they couldn't afford fancy store-bought ornaments, and they were always among my favorites of all the things on our family Christmas tree.


Do you have a favorite ornament, handmade or otherwise?

Merry Christmas Eve!

Halls, decked

Instead of shopping on Friday, I stayed home and made two loaves of banana bread, a batch of blueberry muffins, a cheesecake, and two sweet potato casseroles. Then my awesome sister came over in the afternoon and helped me put up the Christmas decorations. It's kind of hilarious how many times the tree poked me in the belly while I was trying to put the lights on it.






MB and I had a really nice weekend visiting with his family. We came home with a truly obscene amount of leftover Thanksgiving food and three bags of baby gifts, including these, knitted by MB's mother's cousin, whom I've never even met:


Indy spent the weekend at my parents' house playing with their dogs, and this is what he looked like at 7:00 this evening:


Overall I'd say it was a pretty fantastic holiday. How was yours?

Because this year I might actually start early. Well, early-ish.

Every year I tell myself I'll start my shopping and crafts for Christmas early, and every year I'm scrambling to get done a few days before. Last year it really backfired -- I got some kind of zombie death virus on Christmas night and didn't get the ornaments I was making finished in time for our annual Thanksmas party two nights later. This time around I have a few gifts that I've picked up here and there, and since we're keeping Christmas very low-key and low-cost this year, I'm probably in pretty good shape as far as shopping. Ornaments, though...I meant to start them in early Fall since I knew November and December would be hectic, but of course I haven't. I don't even know what I want to make this year, so I can't start planning.

The first year we did a homemade-gift exchange at Thanksmas, I made beaded snowflakes:


(I'm sure I have a picture somewhere taken after I trimmed the extra wire off, but I'm too lazy to go find the CD of photos from that year :P )

The second year, I made tiny paper lanterns out of Christmas scrapbooking paper:


(These were popular, I think!)

Last year, I made but didn't finish these:


I was thinking about making birds from this pattern, but all in red felt. But are red birds actually Christmas-y? I always see cardinal ornaments at the stores for Christmas, but I'm not sure why.

Anyway, internet, I turn to you. Please hit me with your favorite easy-to-make but nice Christmas crafts! I'd prefer to do another ornament, and it can't be super, super expensive since the point is to save money as well as make something handmade. And I'd really like to not end up on craftastrophe for my efforts ;)

Record!

95% of my Christmas cards have been addressed, signed, and sealed. This is without a doubt the earliest date at which this momentous achievement has ever...been achieved. I'm going to pretend that this is a victory in itself, rather than worry about how long it's going to take me to get them to the actual post office.

December? Really?

As always, I set up our Christmas tree during post-turkey weekend:


I pink-puffy-glitter heart Christmas decorations, so every year I try to maximize the amount of time I'll get to spend looking at them. Shiny!


At our apartment, I always hung these ornaments from strings of lights that I looped over the curtain rod of the sliding door, but we don't have a big sliding door at the house. I decided to pin them to the curtains and see how I feel about it in a few weeks:


Every year MB complains that his stocking is the smallest in the family (evidence here), so this year I thought I'd give him something to whine about:


(No worries, he got his real stocking back a few minutes after I got done laughing at him.) I think people will expect our stockings to be hung by the chimney with care since we have a fireplace, but I did the math. A fireplace we actually use + stockings that probably are not machine-washable + a mantel that is easily within the dog's reach = sooty, smokey, chewed-on Christmas decor. Not so festive!

Not a creature was stirring, though I suspect the cat was hoping I'd leave the tree unattended:

Twinkle twinkle, little AIIEEE!

As long time readers of this blog know, my close group of friends celebrates the holiday season each year with our Thanksmas Eve party, a tradition that probably deserves a post all to itself. Several years back, someone suggested that to save money and reduce the amount of stuff we were all accumulating at disturbing rates, we stop buying individual gifts for everyone in the group. Instead, it was put forth, why not bring something small, inexpensive, and home-made for each person? We went with it, and now each year I look forward to coming up with a cool ornament concept.

Two years ago, I made beaded snowflakes from an old kit my mom found while cleaning out her craft room:


Last year I adapted a paper Chinese lantern craft I saw someone do at work and made mini paper ornaments:


But this year, I'm totally stumped. I am stuck for ideas, and I need to get started soon if I want to have any hope of finishing them in time. I poked around on Etsy a little bit tonight, and learned that I am vastly, tragically outclassed when it comes to making ornaments.

I suppose it could be worse. I could be making squirrel paw earrings for all my pals, or anatomically correct stripper sock monkeys, or whatever the fuck this thing is (seriously, that is some freaky shit).

So let's just hope I come up with a good idea soon, lest my work be featured on the hilarious (if sometimes scarring) craftastrophe. It's not looking good, though...so far the best option I've got is this soul-eating "twinkle star" thing:

"Braaaaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiins..."

Truth in advertising

Grandma's Skillet Cookies Recipe

Combine in a saucepan:
          1 stick butter
          1 cup sugar
          1 egg, beaten
          1 cup chopped dates

Bring to a boil and boil for 5 minutes.

Add:

          2 cups Rice Krispies
          1/2 cup nuts
          1 tsp vanilla

Make into balls and roll in coconut.


Actual Skillet Cookies Experience

Combine in a saucepan:
          1 stick butter
          1 cup sugar
          1 egg, beaten
          1 cup chopped dates

Bring to a boil, stirring somewhat frantically as sugar begins sticking to the bottom of the pan. Stare at pan for an eternity, waiting for the boil. Worry about sticky sugar in good saucepan, husband's reaction to it. Boil finally happens. Boil for 5 minutes.

Add:
          2 cups Rice Krispies
          1/2 cup nuts
          1 tsp vanilla

Stir up in shiny new mixing bowl. Contemplate whether or not there will be enough cookies. Decide to maybe make a second batch once first batch is done.

Make into balls and roll in coconut. Attempt to roll into balls. Burn fingers on hot sticky mix. Stuff in refrigerator to cool.

In the meantime, scrub sugar out of saucepan. Keep scrubbing. Get a hand cramp. Almost done. Oh, thank God it came out after all.

Retrieve cookie mix. Still hot, but not blistering.

Make into balls and roll in coconut. resist urge to hop up and down while chanting "hot! hot! hot!" Roll in coconut. Watch as 95% of coconut falls off. Smush coconut into surface of hot date ball. Watch as 85% of coconut falls off. Decide you don't care. Repeat. Gain new respect for grandmother, who made these cookies every Christmas until she passed away.

Grow concerned as mixture cools and becomes more likely to stick to you than to itself. Abandon coconut and quickly roll non-coconut-coated balls for family members who don't like it anyway. (And thank goodness for them, because there's no way coconut would stick now.)

Decide there's no way you're doing all of this again today.

Makes approximately two dozen.

It's Christmas time in the city

Against all reason, my sister and I went out today to finish up our Christmas shopping. Surprisingly, it really wasn't all that bad. I've seen the mall and Target busier on normal Saturdays than either were today. JC Penney was the real hero of the day, I have to admit. Since Sis is spending next semester studying abroad in Ireland, I thought it would be nice to get our picture made together as a surprise for Mom before Sis leaves. With a ridiculously fab coupon from the internet, the whole photo thing was less than $20. We had an 11:40 appointment, but we got there around 11 and there were tumbleweeds rolling through the studio, so we actually got photographed, ordered, paid, and were on our way before 11:40 rolled around. The girl shot three poses, and even though only one of them turned out really well, it was okay since we liked it the best anyway. The photos are due back on January 4, two days before Sis leaves for Ireland, so we're going to keep it a secret and surprise Mom on the trip to the airport. I hope I didn't spoil the surprise...we both wore jeans and plain black longsleeved shirts, and when Mom asked us if we dressed alike on purpose or by accident, I wasn't quick enough to come up with a fib, and just told her "you'll see."

Besides the photos, JCP yielded two new pairs of jeans on sale for $22 each, which I definitely needed after witnessing the tragic and still-traumatizing demise of my favorite pair of jeans (and one of only three pairs that fit) last night. Also, I got Mom this pretty necklace for Christmas:



We ended up finding just about everything we went to the mall to find, and survived the sporting goods store, Target, Cold Stone Creamery, Barnes & Noble, and CVS relatively intact.

Even though presents aren't the point of the season, I still love seeing our little tree with packages piled all around it. All the gifts are wrapped, the stockings are stuffed, and the apartment is almost clean enough for Sunday night's Thanksmas party.



I should probably come up with a cute and clever way to tie this all up neatly, but I'm too tired, so here's a photo of one of my favorite portions of our Christmas decorations, and more fucking cookies. Man, I am sick of baking cookies.



Goodnight and hooray and yum!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

I stole this meme from Random Mommy (and added a 24th question to make it more Advent-calendary). Please feel free to use it, and let me know if you do so I can see your answers!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? wrapping paper

2. Real tree or artificial? artificial

3. When do you put up the tree? the weekend after Thanksgiving

4. When do you take the tree down? I try to drag it out as long as possible without being absurd, but it's usually down by the first weekend after New Year's Day.

5. Do you like eggnog? Yes, but only in moderation.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? When I was about 7, one of my aunts made me a Barbie house for my Heart family. She took four boxes and cut the flaps off, then turned them sideways and made them into rooms. She papered the walls with wrapping paper, cut tiny pictures of clocks and art out of craft catalogs for decoration, and put Contact paper that looked like wood on the floors. She made furniture for all the rooms out of small boxes. She made a couch, an armchair, a TV, and a coffee table for the living room, and stitched cushions for the couch and armchair. She made twin beds and dressers for the kids' room, and a bed with three working drawers for the parents' room. She made pillows and blankets for the beds. She bought a Barbie kitchen set, complete with a fridge full of food, which I loved to organize. It was really and truly amazing. I finally had to get rid of the rooms a few years ago. I wanted to put them in storage, but as my Barbie family had expanded, the tops of the boxes had become "upstairs" rooms, and they sagged and wore out. I saved all the furniture, though, in case I ever have a little girl.

7. Do you have a nativity scene? I have the set that my mom used to put up when I was a kid, which she got from one of her great aunts. I didn't put it out this year, because there wasn't a clear safe surface available.

8. Hardest person to buy for? Maybe my sister...though this year it wasn't too bad.

9. Easiest person to buy for? Usually MB, though this year I felt somewhat challenged.

10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? It's always somewhat of a bummer to receive something that is totally not me / not my style, especially when it's something like perfume or a bath item that I'll never use. I always try to remind myself that it really is the thought that counts, and that just being included in someone's Christmas celebration is a kindness. I do have a rather large collection of unused bath stuff, though.

11. Mail or email Christmas cards? mail

12. Favorite Christmas movie? the version of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer with Yukon Cornelius and the Bumble

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? I always promise myself I'll start in the summer, but I usually don't get anything until November, and I'm almost always still finishing up a few days before.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? I don't recall ever giving a Christmas gift to someone else as a Christmas gift, but I have given away quite a few Christmas gifts, either to friends or just to Goodwill.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? A tie between the tuna noodle casserole my mom used to make and the homemade candy and cookies at my family's Christmas Eve get-together.

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? Clear all the way! They remind me of stars.

17. Favorite Christmas song? I don't really have just one favorite, though I'm partial to "The Little Drummer Boy."

18. Travel for Christmas or stay home? Since MB's family has generously moved their celebration to the Saturday before Christmas, we now travel to visit them and then come back here to see my family on Christmas Eve.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Of course! Can't everyone?

20. Angel or star on top of the tree? Star! I actually have the star that used to be on top of my parents' tree. When my mom decided to retire it, I saved it. I've been keeping it safe since I was in high school. Two years ago, it somehow didn't make it into the box with the rest of my ornaments, so last year I thought it was lost and was extremely sad. But I found it again, and it's back on top of the tree where it belongs this year.

21. Open presents Christmas Eve or Christmas morning? My mom's side of the family does a name exchange, and we open those gifts after dinner at my aunt's house on Christmas Eve. We usually head back to my parents' house around 9:30 to exchange gifts with them and my sister. MB and I save our gifts to each other for Christmas morning.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? People who let materialism and stress get in the way of the true spirit of the season

23. What do you love most about Christmas? I love the atmosphere and the togetherness. The older I get, the more it's just about spending time with the people I care about.

24. What's one gift you're really hoping for this year? the Dark Materials trilogy

Making a list, checking it twice

It's been all Christmas prep all the time around here for the last few days:


Baking Day #1


ornament factory

Secret Santa loot!


feline supervision

We're almost done shopping, and have one day of baking, one round of cooking, and a lot of cleaning to do before the festivities start. We'll have Christmas at MB's grandparents' on Saturday night, Thanksmas with the friendmily here on Sunday night, my family's Christmas and midnight Mass with my dad on Monday, and then open our own gifts and stockings on Tuesday. I have to say, I'm sort of loving the idea of Christmas as a four-day extravaganza.

How about you guys...how do you plan to celebrate?

Finally, the day I've been waiting for since Halloween!

I bought this tree the first year that MB and I lived together. I remember seeing it in the Michaels ad, and then hustling to get to the store to buy it after the kitschy trinket shop where I worked closed for the night. It's little, but I love it so much. It's just not Christmas without a tree, no matter how small.

I adore this Advent calendar. I had an identical one when I was a kid, but my sister sort of adopted it as hers, and so it stayed at the house after I moved out for college. I always felt sad that I didn't have it, even though I was glad that my sister was going to have the same fond memories of it. Then, at Christmas last year, my mom gave me this one. She'd had a second kit put away somewhere, twenty five years later, and she'd sewn it up for me. She even stitched all the little beads on, just like the first one. I'm almost getting teary talking about it. (SAP. I am a huge SAP.) Anyway...one of my favorite Christmas gifts of all time.

This turkey has become something of an unofficial Thanksmas mascot, though I may be the only one who thinks so. I found the reindeer among my grandmother's Christmas ornaments after she died. I can't really say why, but I absolutely love him.


In other Christmas-related news, the paper ornament project is off to a slow but good start:


I went out shopping with Evilducky yesterday, and managed to score quite a few Christmas presents. I can't say much more than that, because most of the things I got were for my Secret Santa, my sister, and MB, and all of them are aware of the existence of this blog. Evilducky gave me a spare Bath & Body Works coupon, and because of her generosity I can say without hesitation that this is the best lotion EVER. Mmm...pomegranate. I also have to say that I'm immensely pleased with the newly redesigned Victoria's Secret signature cotton bikini underwear. The old style never seemed to have enough space for my junky trunk, but the new cut they've got out now is perfect. Even though I had my typical difficulty finding my size, I scored some really cute prints. (And with that, this may be the girliest entry I've ever written. I'd better stop writing before I admit that I cried at the end of The Family Stone and Junebug yesterd...crap.)