Christmas lights make for great bokeh opportunities!

Enjoy the lights this weekend!

I’m pretty sure you all know I live in an old colonial style home. Our bedroom is on the first floor and we have 3 additional bedrooms upstairs. A few years back we did some rearranging with those rooms. Hannah moved into the bedroom on the back of the house, giving her more room and more privacy. The middle bedroom became a guest room. And Hannah’s old bedroom became my craft room.

I’ll pause for a moment while some of you get over your jealousy.

Are you better now?

Anyway, at the time Dale painted the room for me. It’s got some interesting angles so we went with red paint on the straight walls and taupe on the slanted and low walls. I moved some furniture from other rooms around and wound up with an old bureau and an old chair. I set up my sewing machine and brought my spinning fiber bench into the room. We bought a kitchen island at Ikea and I was set.

It was pretty good but I wasn’t really invested in the room and it got messy.

See? That’s junk piled on top of the center island thingy.

So this fall I made up my mind to clean up and organize and reclaim the space.

It was pretty good once I got the junk put away.  That bureau is full of my fabric stash. And I love having my swift and ball winder set up all the time.

I had this chair in the corner and, while it looked fine, I never sat there. It’s not a very comfortable chair and it just didn’t give that cozy feeling I wanted. There was no place for yarn storage so all my yarn was still downstairs on the bookshelves in the room that’s truly Dale’s office.

So we made a plan and after several trips to Ikea I had a much better space to use. We moved the bureau of fabric into the attic and added two new bookcases for yarn storage and books. We also bought a new and very comfortable chair for that corner.  Wanna see?

Here’s a view of the whole room from the doorway. You can see that the island piece is a great spot for wrapping gifts.

And here is my new oh-so-comfy chair from Ikea. We were all set to buy it at full price for $199 when we checked the discount department and found the exact same chair for $135 instead. The reason it was discounted? It was assembled. I think Ikea is the only store in the world that charges you less for having something assembled. The chair is perfect for spinning and I have sat there so many times already! It’s wonderful.

The bookcases are on either side of the window and they hold (almost) all my yarn and knitting books. There’s even an empty section on this one. Room for expansion! Yay!

And in this corner is my spinning bench/drawer which holds all my spinning fiber, along with a couple of Longaberger baskets full of handspun and cotton. It’s all neat and organized and great.

My space is so much more pleasant and I’m truly invested in the room now. It’s easy to keep it neat and tidy and I love spending time in there.

The only thing missing? Heat. Damn it.

It’s been nearly 2 years since I knit Dale a pair of socks – the last  ones I made for him were finished in January 2009. What kind of wife and knitter am I?

I’m the kind who rectifies a situation when she realizes that socks are overdue, that’s who.

The yarn is Dream in Color Smooshy and I love using it for Man Socks because it’s a generous skein and I don’t have to worry about running out.

The whole time I was knitting them I was thinking they were brown. And they are – but there are so many other beautiful colors, too. Light browns and tans and blues and reds and even a bit of rosy pink.

I made a nice deep 2×2 ribbed cuff so they will stay up. Ribbed for his pleasure. Heh.

And I made a slip 1/knit 1 heel so that they are comfortable to wear, whether he’s stacking firewood or driving the school bus or hiking in the woods.

Man Socks take a while to knit and that makes them a slog but Dale loves to wear them and that’s motivation enough for me.

Well. It’s motivation every 2 years, anyway.

I don’t know about you all but my To Do list is about to explode. Carrie told me yesterday that the secret is to cross things off faster than you add them but she hasn’t mastered the ability to do that and neither have I. This is all just a convoluted way of saying that today’s Ten on Tuesday topic is 10 Things On Your To-Do List.

1. Finish the library budget for FY 2012. The numbers are all plugged in but I need to write the narrative. Sadly, the numbers are still low and that doesn’t make writing the narrative any easier.
2. Send out our Christmas cards. This needed to be done yesterday.
3. Wrap Hannah’s gifts. I really want them all wrapped before she comes home . . . tommorrow!
4. Bring my Kindle to work. I had a fun discussion at a work meeting yesterday about Kindles and Nooks and eReaders so I said I would bring in my Kindle to let people see how it works.
5. Fix the button bands on my Twist sweater. The bands on this sweater are wavy and it has always bugged me – to the point where I don’t even where this sweater. When I reorganized the craft room I found two more skeins of the Peace Fleece I used to knit it so I’m determined to rip out those button bands and knit them again.
6. Make Peanut Butter Balls. These were on my list for last weekend and I put them off. I definitely need to do them this Friday.
7. Buy 2 gifts for the Yankee Swap at the Kiwanis meeting this week. This isn’t difficult as I’ll probably just do $10 from Dunkin Donuts and $10 from CVS but I need to make sure it gets done.
8. Set up and decorate the Christmas tree. Probably Friday night on this one.
9. Make a doctor’s appointment to look into the heel pain I’ve been having. I’ve self-diagnosed it as plantar fasciitis but I suppose it might be good to have it checked by someone who actually graduated from medical school.
10. Submit the Kiwanis monthly reports. I’ve only been secretary for 2 1/2 months and I’m already behind. How did this happen?

Yikes! That’s only the really important stuff!

I know from emails and Facebook status updates that lots of people purchased, set up and decorated their Christmas trees this past weekend. We bought ours last week, in fact, but we won’t be putting it up until the end of this week for a couple of reasons. One is our wood stove, which dries out a tree faster than you can say Merry Christmas. The other is that Hannah begged us to wait for her to get home.

I don’t mind waiting, though, because we have this beautiful jeweled Christmas tree to enjoy in the meantime.

My mom started this tree when I was around 10, I think. She scoured flea markets and yard sales and thrift shops for months, purchasing only very special earrings and pins to use as the decorations. After she amassed her collection she cut off the backs of the pieces and filed them smooth. In the meantime my dad cut out the background plywood and shape of the tree and my mom glued white and green velvet on those pieces respectively.

And then the fun began. She set up the velvet covered tree on the dining room table and laid out all that jewelry beside it. My brothers, my mom and dad, even my grandparents, all took part adding and subtracting and rearranging that jewelry until we got it just right. It was like putting together a jigsaw puzzle and everyone in the family seemed to have an opinion on the placement of the pieces. I can still remember the debate over whether to put those green pieces on the trunk of the tree. And I remember when my mom went to her own jewelery box and got that big round pin that it’s in the center of the tree and decided to sacrifice it for the project.

When I was a kid those intertwined pinkish hearts were my favorite. These days, though, I keep looking at it and seeing new favorites and thinking about what a fun and satisfying project this was.  My mom was so proud of it and it always hung over the piano in our living room – which was especially nice for me since I was the only one who played the piano and I loved looking at it while I practiced.

It’s hanging in my dining room this holiday season and it’s the first year I’ve ever hung it in my own home. It has brought back such great memories of my family and especially my mom.

Oh Christmas Tree, indeed.

A portion of the mantel decorations in my living room. Are you all decorated for the holidays?

Have a great weekend!

It’s Thursday and I’m random and that can only mean it’s time for three lists – - -

Three Things I’m Knitting:

1. Socks for Hannah. This mother can’t help herself.
2. A Baby Surprise Jacket for a friend’s grandbaby.
3. A shawl for me. Okay, maybe I’m a little selfish.

Three Things I’m Happy About:

1. All your wonderful compliments on the Through the Woods Hood. Thank you!
2. The Pats game last Monday night. And they said it was going to be close. Hah!
3. Cookie baking. It’s time to make Polish Tea Cakes and Sugar Cookies and Gingerbread Men and Toffee and Peanut Butter Balls. That part is a lot of work but then it’s time to EAT them and SHARE them and that makes me happy.

Three Things I Have to Do:

1. Figure out what I’m serving at the annual library staff Christmas lunch on Monday.
2. Address and mail our Christmas cards.
3. WRAP! My shopping is done but I haven’t wrapped a single thing – time to get cracking on that.

I hope all the things on your lists are making you happy!

I finished the Through the Woods Hood in time for Hannah to model it for me when she was home last weekend.

I absolutely loved knitting this. The yarn was great to work with, the cables were fun, and the whole thing knit up really quickly.

Hannah chose the color and it suits her well. She has a history of playing Little Red Riding Hood and that makes this even more appropriate for her.

The finishing was a wee bit fiddly but it was worth it to end up with something so warm and wearable.

I used buttons from my mom’s button box and even though they aren’t all the same I think they work. Hannah is a bit OCD about this sort of thing but I think I convinced her that they are fine.

She took it back to college with her and my wish is that it keeps her warm and reminds her of home and the mom who loves her so much.

This week’s topic came from my dear daughter, Hannah. I started with 10 Favorite Christmas Specials but decided there aren’t enough for any real variety and then Hannah said there are great holiday movies, too, and then she said these magic words: 10 Favorite Holiday Shows. Perfect!

1. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town. This has been my favorite since I was a little girl. I like that it explains everything about Santa Claus in a way that makes sense. Well, you know what I mean. And I love the song “Put One Foot in Front of the Other.”
2. Year Without a Santa Claus. Who can resist the charms of the Heat Miser and the Snow Miser?
3. How The Grinch Stole Christmas. You’re a mean one, Mr. Grinch. And I named my first cat, Max, after the Grinch’s dog.
4. Elf. I can watch this one over and over. Santa! I know him!!
5. Borrowed Hearts. Anyone remember this movie with Roma Downey and Eric McCormack? He hires Roma and her little girl to pretend to be his family and, of course, they fall in love and live happily ever after. It’s corny and I love it.
6. It’s A Wonderful Life. It’s a classic for a reason.
7. The Polar Express. I can’t watch it without drinking hot chocolate.
8. Christmas With the Kranks. Gotta have that Hickory Honey Ham!
9. Christmas vacation. Nobody puts up Christmas lights like Clarke Griswold.
10. Christmas Story. You’ll shoot your eye out, kid!

I really enjoy a variety of Christmas specials, from the silly to the classic to the sappy. It wouldn’t be the holidays without ‘em.

The East Bridgewater Kiwanis Club has been hosting Christmas on the Common for the last 27 years. It’s a great day for the town to come together and celebrate the holiday, complete with a parade and craft fair, games and food, and lots of seasonal spirit.

While the Kiwanis Club no longer runs the parade (it is now run by the town’s Recreation Committee) we still choose the parade marshal and this year’s marshal was none other than my father-in-law, Jack. He was chosen partly because this year is the 100th anniversary of the Boy Scouts of  America and Jack was a Scoutmaster in town for over 50 years. He was also chosen because of his dedication to our community and for being just an all around great guy.

Guess who got to ride with him in the Ford Excursion limo?

My sisters-in-law and I!

We were so excited and it was a blast! We uncorked a bottle of Nouveau Beaujolais to celebrate and enjoyed every minute of our celebrity status.

Jack loved waving to the people lining the parade route and we occasionally popped out of the sunroof to wave to special friends we saw along the way.

Once we reached the reviewing stand we took our places and enjoyed watching the rest of the parade. We liked it so much we’ve decided to pursue careers as Professional Parade Marshal Escorts. I’m sure that profession exists. It must.

There were Christmas dancers.

And sheep pulling a sleigh. I think they were slightly insulted to be associated with the concept of reindeer. I’m just sayin.

After the parade it was time for the tree decorating on the Common.  This is the part of the day that I am in charge of and it involved different community groups from town decorating a tree to go along with the theme of the day. This year’s theme was  Christmas Memories and the groups all did a great job with their trees.

Dale was proud to post in front of his Boy Scout troop’s tree with Hannah, as you can see.

And yes, Hannah came home just to attend this event. It’s a really special day for our community and she just couldn’t bear to miss it, especially when she learned that her grandpa was being honored.

Sometimes I really do think we live in Stars Hollow. Honestly, that feeling of small town warmth and camaraderie just can’t be beat.