Post-Christmas Round Up

I can’t believe it’s New Year’s Eve already. How did *that* happen?! Christmas was pretty good; it was really weird to not have my dad there but my mom, both brothers, and my brother’s fiancee all came down so it was good. Luke was very excited to get camouflage pajamas this year:

The tree got pretty ridiculous once everyone was here. See that big box on the left? That contained my brand new 600 Series Kitchen Aid Mixer!

Somehow Luke managed to sleep in until 7am on Christmas morning. Maybe being up until 10:30 the night before because of the candlelight service had something to do with that. Here he is next to his stocking (and Nintendo DS, from Santa):

And a few minutes later with the contents of the stocking revealed. I don’t really understand his current fixation with camouflage, but he sure does love it these days:

He got a new bike from his grandparents on his dad’s side; well, they sent me a check and asked me to pick something out for him. He got that and a new game for the Wii, both of which he loved:

And, finally, I finished the last of the needlepoint candies that I have kitted up so I have to wait until mid-January to do any more. This is the Mint Petitfour:

I may be able to finish up one last project tonight; I have a small Shepherd’s Bush band sampler that is SO close to being finished.

As I look back on 2007 there were some good things that happened, to be sure, but between losing my dad, adjusting to post-divorce life, and watching my neighborhood burn down, well, it could have been better. I think I can look back on the year and recognize that I am happier now than I was at the beginning of the year. I need to get back on track with my diet and exercise, but I’ll get there. Here’s wishing all of my friends a very Happy New Year!

Another Pre-Christmas Post

I finished my fifth needlepoint candy last night, Black Raspberry Creme:

Monday night we went to a house in Poway (adjacent community) where the couple dress up as Mr. and Mrs. Claus every hear and have this amazing display of Christmas stuff. They hand out a toy to every child and have cookies, hot chocolate, cider, etc. They even had fake snow. It was amazing! Here are just a couple pictures from that:

They had this whole room filled with a jungle Christmas theme, including a tree decorated with small stuffed animals. Luke had a great time; we went with his friend, Marc, and their family. I can’t believe Christmas is in just a few days! Yikes!

Lots of Productivity

Instead of finishing one needlepoint candy this weekend, I finished two! Here they are:

Buttermint Petitfour:

Cherry Cordial:

I’ve started another one as well and am almost half done with it. After that I only have one more kitted, since I get two a month, so I guess I’ll have to go back to some other stitching soon. I am really loving these! I think I’m going to sign up for the Shiny Brites or the Vintage Ornaments next…I’m not sure which. I see small needlepoint designs as a regular sort of thing for the foreseeable future; it’s fun to do something different for a change.

I also baked about 8 dozen cookies yesterday. Luke has been wanting to decorate sugar cookies (note to self: don’t roll the dough quite so thin next time…) and I made a batch of chocolate crinkles as well. My uncle Mike got in town around 3pm so he got to help decorate the cookies. My brother, Michael, got here around 4pm and he decorated too, but I don’t have an action shot of him:

I made five colors of homemade frosting (if you include white as a color) and then Mike mixed up some brown. Between the cookies, the full house cleaning, and the homemade beef stew I made yesterday, I think I’ve reached my domestic quota for the week. Chores for the day included (but were not limited to): vacuuming, four loads of laundry, cleaning the kitchen (3 times because of cookie batches…), catbox maintenance, toilets (ugh), general picking up. Did I mention my day started out with 3.5 hours at church because the bell choir played at both services? Yeah. I’m ready for a weekend to recover from my weekend! It was a good day though; I love the feeling I have when I’ve gotten so much done and my house is *clean*. Hopefully it will mostly stay that way through Christmas since I’m having a bunch of family down!

I Think I Might Still Be Alive…

No pictures today, although I am getting close to finishing up a third of the needlepoint candies. Those are SO much fun to stitch up.

I think I’m back in the land of the living, finally. Last weekend was the Yuletide concert at church, with three hours practices on Wednesday and Thursday, and performances Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I was sick before Yuletide but I sang anyway (big mistake, laryngitis sucks). Monday I went to Disneyland for a friend’s birthday; it is so awesome at Christmas with all the decorations! By the end of the day I couldn’t talk at all and it only got worse the next two days. The little cold I’d have before Yuletide moved into my chest so I’ve been up coughing the last couple nights (2am to 3am last night). I feel better right now than I’ve felt in about two weeks, except for some lingering hoarseness in my voice. I’ve managed to take it as easy as possible the last couple nights; Tom took Luke to Cub Scouts Wednesday and I skipped choir last night since I can’t sing anyway. I have nothing planned tonight so I’m hoping to take it easy.

I got a surprise phone call from my uncle Mike (the one I visited in Washington and backpacked with in July). He’s going to be down in Riverside so he’s driving down to visit for a couple days. In the 11 years that I’ve lived in San Diego I don’t think he’s ever made it down here. I’m really excited! I don’t get to see him very often and, since it’s the first Christmas since my dad died, it will be nice to see his brother around the holidays.

Well, so life goes on, even when sick. At least I can talk again; I sure did hear about that at work this week! Most of my present shopping is done and I have ideas for most of what’s left. I’m planning to rest and stitch as much as I can this weekend so hopefully I’ll have some more pictures to share in the near future. I tried to take pictures at Disneyland because the lights were amazing but my camera is not good enough or I couldn’t hold it steady enough. Oh well!

Breakfast With Santa and Boats

So like I mentioned in my post yesterday, the weekend was filled with fun kid-related events. My church had a Breakfast With Santa event on Saturday. Luke got his picture taken with Santa; when did he get so big?!

In addition to a picture with Santa, a good breakfast, and socializing for the kids, there were about 20-25 decorated artificial trees there for a fundraiser. You could buy tickets and put them in the box for whichever tree, or trees, you liked and the money that was raised went to the preschool at the church. I wasn’t planning to buy any tickets but Luke really wanted some so I put in $5. He put each of his tickets into a different box so I was hoping that would lessen his chances. As it turned out he won the “snowman tree”:

It came with a couple of stuffed snowmen and a lamp with a painted snowman on it. I thought the lamp was cool. I’m not really sure what to do with a second tree, but it’s in the living room for now. I think he will take it to his dad’s house since he wasn’t planning to do a tree this year.

Sunday afternoon was the Raingutter Regatta for Luke’s Cub Scout pack. This is what Luke’s boat looked like:

Check out the action shot:

Luke’s winning streak from the day before continued and he placed second out of the ten Tiger Cubs in his pack. It was really cool; he even got a trophy:

We bought a “real” Christmas tree as well over the weekend and decorated it last night but pictures of that will follow…

Christmas Card and Stuff

I’ve meant to write a lot more than I have; I’ve just gotten busy I guess. I had some fun over Thanksgiving weekend. One of Luke’s friend’s moms invited me to make Christmas cards with her and some friends and this is the result; I made ten of each design:

Card making was SO much fun! I’ve resisted it thus far because the last thing I need is another hobby but it was a great time (the margaritas didn’t hurt either!).

I also have a new Japanese Garden picture; sorry it’s kind of blurry:

I had a pretty decent past weekend although I was sick. We went to a “Breakfast With Santa” event at my church and the Raingutter Regatta with Luke’s Cub Scout pack. He took second place out of all of the Tiger Cubs (there are 10 total) so it was pretty neat. I’ve got pictures from those events but I’ll post them next time…