We had a tree this year for the first time in several years. We used only a fraction of our ornament collection on it but we think it's just wonderful. I don't know what type of pine it is but it is very fragrant still. Here's a picture of it--we finally got some sun so I could take some photos. The gold ornament on the left side, kind of hidden by a branch, is the first I remember making--from cardboard egg carton sections glued together and edged with trim and painted gold. A small red ball is suspended inside on a wire. The red ornament near the top is also an early one--it's a plastic round (from some gift cheese spread) backed with tinfoil and coated with glitter. I've moved on a bit from those early crafting days. Most of the handmade ornaments pictured were by me, a few made by friends, and a few are old family ornaments.
I finished Bill's stocking on time--with the usual last minute crises. I dug out my sewing machine a few days before Christmas but waiting until the day before we were going to my sister's to set it up to sew the stocking. The machine would only sew backwards. I fiddled, Steve fiddled, but nothing helped. So I decided to sew it backwards. The tension was off, too, and as I fiddled, it came to me that I could just drop the feed dogs and sew it freemotion. So that's what I did.
Stockings are a big thing in our family celebrations. I'm older than my siblings and when mom was done doing stockings, I took up the task. I was probably in college at the time. I still do it. When my nieces and nephews were born, I made them each a stocking. The parents are responsible for filling them and I know my sister still does. Stockings are also a big tradition in Bill's family. Theirs are knitted and filled by Bill's dad.
Here is my original stocking, I'm not sure of it's date. It's exactly like my sister's and she was born in 1957, so I'm suspecting they both date from then. Although, I do remember having a stocking before that...I need to check old photos. The crochet stocking is my husband's, made in the 70s when I was madly crocheting. It's also big so it can hold a lot. I had forgotten about the stretchability of crochet. That stocking will hold A LOT!
We celebrated the holidays with my family on Sunday. Here are some pictures--the tree surrounded by presents. The dinner table awaiting the ham. I made nut cups from old Christmas cards and a niece is nibbling as she awaits dinner. We had a nice dinner (ham, mac&cheese, loads of veggies) followed by a chocolate feast.We are serious chocoholics in my family. There's a family schism between those who prefer milk and those who think they're wussies and only want deep, dark, rich chocolate (guess which camp I'm in!). My brother made amazing individually-sized deep, dark chocolate cheesecakes for everyone.
My sister made cookies with chocolate frosting. My hubby got everyone a large Lindt chocolate Santa (on sale after Christmas at the outlet store--sometimes a delayed holiday is good!)--you can see them on the dinner table. He also obtained several boxes of amazing homemade truffles that a friend makes every year: dark chocolate, chocolate covered cherries and turtle truffles (caramel and nut in chocolate). Plus the usual small holiday chocolates. We rolled home in a state of OC (over chocolate).
This last photo is of some of the family, the new couple are in the center. That's my sister on the left and other niece on the right. We've mostly done the rip-n-tear and things are calmer now. My sister's holding the needlefelted cat. Everyone seemed happy with their gifts.Tomorrow starts a new year. Changes already--my wonderful assistant for the last six-months has completed his projects and today was his last day. I'll really miss Jacob a lot and it was great getting to know him. We learned today also that a temp worker that I like a lot was hired permanently--that's good news for the secretarial pool where he's been working.
We had some minor flooding over the weekend and my car is now full of empty copier paper boxes so I can hopefully get things sorted out one corner of the basement. I'd been working to sort out what to keep or discard, mostly magazines but also some pattern books, charts, kits. The keep pile of magazines was soaked and went to recycling.
I lost all of my Fine Lines magazines, some Pieceworks, some Annas, and some other odds and ends. I knew they were in a dangerous spot, we have occasional seepage, but hadn't had a chance to get down and get things better organized. I think the experience will make it much easier to get rid of the piles of discards now. I kept a list of the soaked magazines but doubt I'll replace them and if I ask myself seriously about it, I doubt I'll miss them.
Last night I got back into the swing of things and finished the embroidery on November's TIF.
Happy New Year to All!
