Merry Christmas!!
We love you all!
Love, Nik, Laura, Ellie and Mark
“Hurry! Hurry! Have you heard?
A child was born tonight,
And every creature large or small
Is precious in his sight.”from Hurry! Hurry! Have You Heard by Laura Krauss Memed, illustrated by Jane Dyer
Thanks to all for your kind thoughts and prayers for me about my recent sorrow-filled post. I probably shouldn’t allow myself to press publish when I’m tired and sad. I’m feeling much better now and the past couple days have been calmer. Although I didn’t (and won’t) have time or materials to sew Ellie the present I’d hoped to sew her, last night I sewed two for her, in less than 90 minutes! These are things that I’ve been meaning to make for her for awhile, just because she needs them. So it feels a bit as if I’m giving her a vacuum cleaner or something else equally boring and prosaic rather than something fun. Regardless, yesterday, when I asked her what color she would want the cover of her corn sack to be if she had her own, she immediately answered, “Brown!” Skeptical, I asked her again and then she said, “Pink and brown!” I had already chosen the fabric for another pillowcase for her and it, providentially, was pink with brown accents. So, ta da, a matching set!
Now she’ll be warm and cozy for bedtime!
On a lighter, happier note…
The other night I happened to mention that on 12/23, it would be our 7.5-year anniversary. Nik, being the mathematician that he is, pointed out that this means we are 75% of the way to our 10-year anniversary!
In honor of that, here’s where we were at 25% (i.e. 2.5 years into our marriage):
stuffing our faces with smoked turkey leg at the state fair in September of 2009 (the closest I could get to December 2009 with a picture of the two of us)
50% (i.e. our 5-year anniversary, more traditionally celebrated!)
in London’s Trafalgar Square, on our Grand European Tour, 6/25/2012 (Mark’s in that picture too, just far too little to be seen and not even known as B2 yet!)
just for kicks, since this was taken on our actual anniversary, 6/23/12, even though it’s plus my brother and his family and minus my husband (the whole point of this post)
Two and a half years later, here we are at 75%!
the best picture of all of us that I could come up with, from a basically failed family photo shoot from November 2014. I haven’t shown you any pictures from it because, well, a little girl who shall not be named was NOT in the mood to take pictures. Luckily, our friends’ pictures came out great!
Here’s to our “500% of 10 Years” anniversary! I love you, Nik!
(But stop the presses! After I had finished this post, and just before pressing publish, I found two more pictures, even closer to 12/23/2009! So just for fun, I’ll leave the fair picture and show you these too!)
on 12/27/09, while visiting my family in Alaska
all dressed up and ready to go to a friend’s wedding, where Nik was a groomsman and I was the wedding planner of sorts (just for the weekend), 1/16/10
The past four and a half months have been unusually busy for Nik and me. I participated in a major project at church, which consumed just about every minute I could spare at the computer (including the evening hours when I normally would have been sewing). Right around the time that ended (at the end of September), my other responsibilities at church became fairly all-consuming (at least of my computer time) and that meant that my sewing time really dwindled to nothing. In the meantime, through a perfect storm of new responsibilities at work compounded by some other negative things, Nik was also forced to work many more hours than usual. Things are generally calmed down now but for too many months, it felt like we were just running, running, running and never catching up.
For a couple hours during the day we were supposed to leave for our weekend up in western NY in October, I thought we were going to have to cancel our trip and my first thought was, “Oh GOOD, we can stay home so I can get more work done.” Really? Is that healthy? To be glad to cancel a trip to see one of my closest friends who I haven’t visited in years? Just so I can get more work done at home?
Looking back on this crazy time now, there are many ways in which I know I could have asked for help, said no, delegated, lowered my expectations of myself, and done less. I hope I’ve learned my lesson there.
One thing, right now, however, that I am mourning is the lack of sewing I was able to get done for this Christmas. Usually by now, I not only have all our Christmas presents sewn (or close to done) but I’ve even photographed, written, and scheduled the blog posts about them. Look! Handmade Christmas! How great! This year, along with all our busyness, the kids and I also took an unexpected trip to Alaska to see my family. There were several reasons, both happy and sad, calling me home. We left on 12/6 and got back home on 12/14. I’m so glad we went and it was really wonderful to spend that time with my family, especially during the Christmas season. That week away, combined with the week that it took us to recover from the brutally-long trip back (if anyone asks you if a six-hour layover in Seattle in the middle of the night is going to be fun, tell them no), plus the loss of this weekend to a stomach bug, has meant that I’ve done almost no sewing in December.
Today I had to acknowledge that I’m not going to be able to start, much less finish, Ellie’s present. I don’t even have the fabric for it. So I’ll wrap up the book that has the project in it, tell her that she can help me choose the fabric, we’ll order it together, sew it together, and it will be OK (probably even more fun for her). But I’m still really sad about not being able to give it to her on Christmas morning. It feels like I’ve failed her, although I know her precious, 4-year-old heart won’t see it that way.
Every night, before we get down from the dinner table, each of the four of us take turns saying what we’re grateful for. Last night, I told my family (in not so many words) that I was grateful to have been reminded this Christmas that ultimately, it’s not the presents or the perfect house or the perfectly decorated cookies that matter.
And now I’m off to attempt to finish Mark’s present so I can at least have one finish under the tree this Christmas.
As Nik liked to say, Mark’s hair was “business in the front and party in the back!” for many months. We trimmed his hair a bit in April but Mark really hadn’t ever had a real hair cut. And, as you may have noticed, it was really long, so long, in fact, that he had started to ask for a clip (like Ellie) so that he could keep his hair out of his eyes.
Here, you can see for yourself how long it was (and hear him assert himself as the almost-two-year-old that he is):
We were just up in Alaska for a week, visiting my family and so I asked my mother to cut Mark’s hair. I had been dreading this haircut for a long time (hence the mullet) because Mark absolutely hates to have his hair touched. But, as it turns out, he’s addicted to the television screen and a little video was all it took to keep him mesmerized while Nana cut his hair.
so much hair everywhere!
They had a lovely time together! 🙂
And now, my boy looks so grown up! (I’m not sure if I should put a smiley face or a sad face at the end of this sentence. I’m a bit conflicted about it.)
showing off his new haircut and his cousins’ silly glasses
We certainly have some Thanksgiving traditions in our family. I always make these pumpkin orange rolls, of course we eat cranbrosia, and we (for three years running now) braise our turkey for the most incredibly delicious and moist turkey you’ve ever had.
So the food, for me, is the easy part about hosting Thanksgiving. What I haven’t managed to figure out is decorating. Our table is large and I don’t have a table cloth to fit. (I do feel compelled to confess that I do have the fabric to make one and it’s been two Thanksgiving now where I haven’t managed to make it!) Just before Thanksgiving this year, I heard/read an idea to use brown paper to cover your holiday table and I thought, “This I can do! I have a enormous roll of brown paper!”
So I “wrapped” our table with brown paper, added some folded fabric for a faux-runner (yet another project on my “will it ever get made?” sewing list), pumpkins, and apples, and ta da! A decorated table!
What I didn’t anticipate was all the fun we had drawing on the table after the meal was over! It was a great way to help Ellie and Mark sit with us a bit longer and the adults had fun too!
In the picture of us above, note the “Pilgrim boats” place cards on the plates, which Ellie and Yiaya made. Our friend, Lisa, arranged them on this little map! 🙂
Mark’s contribution
Ellie is really into filling up space right now!
I love these moose! Particularly the one too full to stand up!! Thanks Lisa!
Also unexpected was how easy it was to clean up the table – just roll up and recycle! It feels odd to say this because we avoid almost all paper products in our household but this may just be one thing that becomes part of our Thanksgiving from here on out! 🙂 (And would let me shirk my tablecloth sewing for a few more years.)
He’s forced to use a bag for a backpack because I haven’t gotten around to sewing him one.
For the record, even though I did sew one for his sister, she seems to prefer a bag too.
Silly kids! 🙂
dropping consonants means backpack becomes, “ack ack”!
May your turkey be flavorful and delicious.
May your conversation be peaceful and fun.
May your travel be safe and easy.
And may your almost-two year old not be left unattended with the pumpkin pie.
That was a squirrel eating an acorn, Ellie’s idea because “that’s what they do in real life, Mama!” (And does anyone know how to blind bake a pie crust? Because clearly I can’t.)
It was so warm on Monday that we just had to make a trek to the zoo to take advantage of the warm weather. (It was at least 70 by the afternoon.)
We saw the kookaburra again! The zoo volunteer told us the bird had been really quiet all morning so we were glad to hear at least a bit of its song!
rhinos, eating grass, as Mark had fun telling us about all day and at dinner, to our great amusement! (Mark frequently leaves off the first consonant sounds of his words so I’ll let you work out that joke for yourself!)
Ellie with her friend L, checking out the chimps
Today, it’s down near freezing with snow/rain coming down. Ellie begged to go out to play so even though it’s pretty nasty out there, we ventured out for a few minutes. Our snowballs were really more like snow/leaf balls but it was fun to be outside.
Poor guy – I’ve got to get him some boots!
It’s been the weirdest three days of weather that I can remember in a long time!
P.S. It feels a bit strange to me to be posting this fun, cheery post when my heart is so sad for the people of Ferguson, sad about the clear lack of racial reconciliation, justice, and equity that still exists in our country, and sad for all those who have lost loved ones to brutality of any kind. Lord, bring us your peace.
(I’ve fallen pretty far behind on my sewing posts over the past few months. So look for a bunch over the next few days!)
If it wasn’t for corn sacks, Nik and I probably would have gotten rid of our microwave long ago. But we just can’t make it through the winter without having that steady source of portable warmth available at all times! For those uninitiated in the joys of a corn sack, it’s just a bag filled with feed corn that you heat up in the microwave. Especially when thrown under the covers at your feet in bed, it stays warm for a long time and makes going to bed in a cold house a much nicer prospect!
In September, I made one for my friend’s mother as a commission. I was told that she “liked blue” but that was it. So, applying that broadly, I designed this little yellow and blue case to go with the blue sack of corn.
In November, I sewed this corn sack as a thank to a neighbor friend of ours who oh so generously gave us four blueberry bushes and four pots of rhubarb. I didn’t know her tastes in fabric but figured that you can’t go wrong with green and leaves for a gardener, right?
Why single-stitch when you can triple-stitch, right?
Corn sacks are something that I’ve been contemplating making to sell. Let me know if you’d be interested in buying one!
Salmon and Souvlaki 