I have been thinking about what is important to me around the holidays. I try to remember family holidays when I was growing up. I remember making Christmas decorations for gifts for my grandparents, decorating our tree, visiting my grandparents, lots of people in one room, everyone talking to each other, big meals with the grown up table and the kids table, getting stuck in a snow drift on the way to my grandmother's house and my uncle coming with a tractor to pull us out, hitting a deer on the way to my grandmother's house, a crisp new dollar bill from my great uncle, my grandmother's fudge and corn pudding, cousins, and cedar Christmas trees that grew on my grandparents' farms. The things I remember are the things that don't happen every day. They are the things that are different; they are also memories of the people. My holiday memories are not centered around presents I have gotten. I think I remember more the gifts that I give. I enjoy thinking about each person and making something for them. I hope that they will see in it why I chose and or made it for them. This brings me joy.I am trying to keep all this in mind with my own family. I do not like how commercial our society has made this holiday season. I have avoided stores and shopping this year and we are focusing on doing things together. We had a wonderful visit with family the week of Thanksgiving. We will not travel over winter break but will try to do some special, memorable, family things so that my children will have memories of family togetherness too.
Snowmen
One thing I like about getting out the handmade Christmas decorations is the memories associated with them.
These snowmen always make me smile. The one on the left was made by M. when he was in the third grade. The one on the right was made by B. the same year with left over plaster from wall repairs on our house. I love how much each expresses the personality of its maker.
Rudolph
Last night we watched our first Christmas special of the season. Rudolph. There are really only a few shows that we like to watch each year. Our family favorites are Rudolph, The Grinch, Charlie Brown Christmas, and "It's a Wonderful Life." They have become traditions here.It is interesting what each person remembers from the movies. I remember being terrified of the Abominable Snow Monster in Rudolph when I was little. M. likes Hermey who wants to be a dentist! P. likes the doll on the island of misfit toys.
This is my favorite version of the book. It is a 1950 Pop-up!
The story was changed a lot when they made the movie.
There is a line in the movie that gets repeated around here a lot."What do you say we be independent together?" The boys can say it justlike Hermey. It is a good thing to know--how to be "independenttogether."
Secret Sewing
We have been cleaning up in anticipation of getting our tree this weekend. We have moved some furniture, which, in a round about way ended up leaving the sewing room less cluttered. And, now I am energized for new projects.
I have to finish up a few secret projects and then I'll start something new.
In the meantime, I'll ask if anyone knows the intended use for this rayon yarn. I found it while thrifting years ago and never knew how to use it. It is packaged in small hanks. Any ideas?
First Snow
Yesterday was a very soggy, foggy day and not advantageous for taking photos indoors or out, so I'll share some shots from earlier last week. Here are some pictures of our first snow this year.
The highlight of my weekend was sitting in the old train depot listening to the Chelsea Chamber Players along with the Chelsea High School Chamber group perform their holiday concert.
As I sat there listening to them perform Telemann's Concerto for Viola, Greensleeves, and Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 I was struck by how lucky I am. I live in a small town in Michigan with a high school of less than 1000 students, yet, our town is rich in music, art, and theater opportunities for everyone in the community.
I am sure that my son does not realize how unusual his situation is, that as a high school student he can perform in a chamber group with professional musicians and also to be a part of a high school celtic music group that travels and performs at festivals across the midwest - to him it is normal.
My little bit of holiday sparkle that is shining through the gloom today.
Advent Calendars
Today is the day. December 1. Do you have your advent calender out?
About 15 years ago I made four of these. Now, my kids and all their cousins count down to Christmas on these trees. That was a lot of buttons to sew on. I especially like that giant vintage button at the top of the tree.
My husband had the clever idea to use a current coin as one of the ornaments. He drilled a hole in a penny for the ribbon. Now, we always know what year we started this tradition.
Count down the days with delight!
baby quilt
Scrappy quilts are my favorite kind of quilt.
The more fabrics in a scrap quilt the better it looks. Add one or two fabrics to give a unified design.
This crib size quilt belongs to my youngest niece. She is in first grade now and it is used as a couch throw.
Nephew's quilt
I love sleeping under quilts. This is the quilt I am sleeping under while visiting my sister. I made it for my nephew a few years ago.
I saw a quilt done only in red and white in this pattern.
It inspired me to use the same pattern with light and dark fabric scraps instead. I like the way there are light and dark diagonal rows across the quilt.
There are two double four patch blocks that constitute the pattern, one of light large squares and the other with dark. Just make sure that the blocks are rotated the right way when sewing them together to get the lines of light and dark.
This is an interesting design because different parts of it "pop" depending on the angle and distance from which it is viewed.
My niece
We are visiting my sister and her family. Today as we headed out to see a matinee (a big thrill for me as I very rarely get to see a movie in the theater), I noticed my niece wearing this shrug that I sent her last year for her birthday.
And don't you just love those acorn earrings with it?
I made this with some of Chris' yarn from a pattern in Wrap Style.
Tagged
Thank you Stefani! I was wracking my brain trying to think of a post-Thanksgiving blog topic that didn't involve food, tight jeans, or dirty dishes, when Stefani graciously tagged me for the "5 random things" meme.1. Here I am at three.
You can see from the photo I started early with my love of chocolate chip cookies. Today I still love to have cookies for breakfast (or any other time of day).2. My sister and I have birthdays that are nine days apart. We always celebrated together, but our mother made sure we each got our own cake. That is me on the right with the fashionably wide collar.
3. While in middle school I had the unusual ability of being able to do a backbend on my elbows. Back then I thought this was really something special. Now, after spine physical therapy and massage therapy I am not so sure.
4. I fell in love with and married the first and only boy I ever dated. We were married in the gazebo where the movie Dirty Dancing was filmed. My husband and I were honored to have Janette Carter (who at the time was the last surviving member of the legendary Carter Family) and her friend, Bill Cliftons, sing and play at our wedding.5. My last random fact is that I once almost threw up on Jeff Daniels. Really. When I was pregnant with P., I had difficulty keeping anything down. Even water. I went to the doctor to have the glucose test. I had to go in the little blood draw room and drink a bottle of nasty syrup and wait for an hour to have my blood drawn. As I was waiting, and trying very hard to keep the syrup down so as not to have to drink another bottle, Jeff Daniels came into the lab area. He sat next to me and I just sat there thinking "Please don't let me throw up on Jeff Daniels..." The nurse looked out of the little window and asked if I was OK. I guess I didn't look good. I said I was OK. I sat quietly until the hour was up. They called my name and I carefully went to the back and had my blood drawn. I just made it out to the parking lot before I threw up! I'm sure Jeff Daniels does not realize how lucky he is!Thanks to my sister for the old photos, scanner, and the super fast internet connection to do this post. My set up at home is a super slow dial up connection. We are eagerly awaiting another faster choice...
Thankful Jar
Our Thankful Jar. 
This jar sits next to our dining room table all year long. We keep a small pad of paper and a pen inside. Throughout the year we write things that we are thankful for on slips of paper and leave them in the jar. The boys used to tell me things to write, but now they are old enough to write their own. During our Thanksgiving dinner we put the jar on the table. Throughout the meal we take turns pulling a paper from the jar and reading it aloud. I enjoy hearing the things that make people pause and write something down. It is especially nice to hear things that the kids are thankful for. I keep an envelope for each year of our thankfuls. We sometimes go back and read them from years past.Enjoy your day of giving thanks.
Leaves
This morning we walked in the woods near Grandma's house.
Last month was the warmest October on record here in Virginia. They also have had a drought for several months. I wonder if that has anything to do with the leaves staying on the trees longer than normal. One of our usual Thanksgiving week "chores" is to rake all of the leaves in Grandma's yard. We make a huge pile for the kids to play in. When they have had their fill of the leaf pile we drag the leaves down to the back of the yard on tarps. This year most of the leaves are still on the trees.
There were enough leaves to make a small pile for P.
Grandma's swing
After twelve hours in the car, we are thrilled to finally be at Grandma's house!
Grandma has lots of tall oak trees and the absolute best swing! The kids enjoy swinging in the same swing their dad enjoyed when he was growing up.
Hope all of you are having a swingin' week too.
Peach pit basket
I am fortunate to have an uncle who is just a few years older than me. It was fun to grow up with an uncle who was old enough to lead outdoor adventures, use a pocket knife, and take us to movies. When he took us to see The Love Bug at the movie theater he bought us Hershey bars AND let us wipe our chocolate covered hands on his WHITE t-shirt. I wish I had a picture of that. He was still young enough to want to spend lots of time with me, my sisters, and cousins. He was lucky; he got to choose to sit at the kid's table at Thanksgiving.He has many talents, but one is the ability to carve monkeys and baskets out of peach pits. He made all of his nieces these peach pit baskets when we were little and we wore them as necklaces. We thought we were really something.
Celebration
My daughter is teaching me a lot of things. The other night we had candles on the table for dinner. She was so excited and thought it was a party. She tried to blow them out. She then got out the ice cream scoop and said she wanted ice cream on cake!
Why can't every day have some excitement? We need to find a way to celebrate a little something each day whether it is a birthday or not. We will use the good china and have candles at dinner more.
Halloween
Happy Halloween.
We carved our pumpkins last night. Below is the best of the bunch. P. drew the face and I cut it for her.
Grandmother
My grandmother taught me a lot of needlework crafts. It is because of her that I know how to tat.She encouraged my sisters and me in all things that we did and made. My grandmother was also a master of simple fun. She could entertain my sisters and me all day with a piece of string, a button, and a handkerchief! She knew a lot of tricks. We learned to make a doll from a handkerchief and also the love knot!
She taught us the magic trick of how to cut off our fingers or head with a piece of string. She even taught my son that trick which he performed for his second grade magic show years ago.My grandmother always appreciated the things that we made for her. Even when we were very young and our attempts were not of top quality she always complimented us and said whatever it was that we had made was "the most beautiful she had ever seen." I always loved hearing that. My sisters and I sometimes joked about wanting to be the last to give her a gift because then our gift would be "the most beautiful." I know now that the beauty she saw in all the gifts was not just in the item and how it was made but in the love, thought, and time that went into its creation.When I was young she made these pin cushions for me. I don't think I appreciated them when she gave them to me but now I think they are truly the most beautiful I have ever seen and they are the ones that I use all the time when I am sewing.
