Christmas Vignettes

This morning we awoke to a light dusting of snow. The woods are clothed in their fairy dress.

Son #2 has been trying to bake whole grain bread. We had a tutorial a few days before Christmas. Our whole wheat loaves were as tasty as they look!

Son #3 is a talented mandolin player. He played a little concert for his grandmother.

My son was so surprised that I was able to finish the sweater I made for him. The day before Christmas I was knitting on another project and he said, "Now you could be working on that sweater for me."

Tee hee. It is a perfect fit! He loves it!

The Birds' Christmas Carol

One of my favorite holiday books is The Birds' Christmas Carol by Kate Douglas Wiggin. My copy was a gift to my grandmother from her older brother in 1907. My grandmother read it to me before I could read myself and eventually she gave it to me because I loved it so much. The story could be considered sappy by many but I still love to read it each year. I don't believe my three sons were as enamored with it as I was but they listened and even tolerated my tears at times.

After Dec 25th I will post a photo of my son wearing his sweater. I believe it will be a perfect fit! If you have never made a saddle shoulder sweater ala Elizabeth Zimmerman, I encourage you to put that on your knitting "to do" list. It is so much fun!

Finished!

Today (Friday) I finished the sweater for my 26 year old son. I began it the Saturday after Thanksgiving. It is drying out from blocking right now. I was fortunate that I didn't have any problems with it. Will post photos soon! The cable pattern is one of my favorites. It looks a lot more complicated than it is (to non-knitters). You pretty much glide along most of the time.

We have heavy fog today which might affect travel plans for our youngest son who is flying home from Phoenix. He leaves tomorrow morning so hopefully the fog will lift before his flight arrives.

I have a lot of cooking to do between now and Tuesday. My plan is to make most of the dishes ahead of time. The menu is:

Beef Brisket (make day ahead and just heat up)
Sweet Potato Casserole
Spinach Casserole
Cranberry Sauce with Ginger
Potatoes Romanoff (Mashed Potatoes with Cheese and Green onion)
Biscuits and Rolls
Apple Pie
Chocolate Pie
Chocolate Chip Cake

For dinner we will eat left over beef sandwiches with chips, etc.

I am also making some breakfast and lunch meals to pull out of the fridge. Better get busy now that the sweater is done!

More Sunday Snow

We've had a very snowy December. Each weekend, and sometimes in between, we've had snowfall. Our house looked so pretty this morning with a new blanket of snow. Since we don't have any garden or landscaping yet, it has looked quite barren.

The birds are hungry. I captured this photo of a downy woodpecker at the suet feeder. We also have goldfinches, purple finches, juncos, chickadees, nuthatches, red-bellied woodpeckers, and hairy woodpeckers. The feeders are nearly always crowded with our feathered friends. Looking at the bleak landscape I really don't know where they would get food if we didn't supply it.

I did some knitting today on the sweater for son #2. I am nearly done with sleeve #2 and am up to the armpits on the body. I will soon join body and sleeves and from that point on we will sail away. It will be difficult to get it done by Dec 25th because I also have a lot of preparation to do for the holidays but I'm trying my best! I also baked shortbread for a friend who is having an open house today and made pie crust for Christmas. I wrote quite a few Christmas letters and I'm proud of myself for that! Sometimes I don't do that until after Christmas and it has been as late as Easter. Now that is pure procrastination! One of my resolutions, and yes, I do make them, is to teach myself to NOT procrastinate. My motto is "Proactive not Procrastive!" Do you have a New Year's resolution?

Ravelry Invitation

Has anyone else had as much trouble as I in coming up with a name to use on Ravelry? Each acceptable one I have come up with has been taken. Since you can't change it later I want something I'm happy with in the long haul. Any suggestions?

I've joined the legions who have knitted "julenisse" from Saartje's blog. Now my friends are saving wine corks for me.

In 2005 I used my sons' mittens for holiday decorations. I put them in a basket along with photos of them playing in the snow or wearing them. They really enjoyed seeing these mittens after many years and we had good family moments as a result.

This last photo is one of my favorites because the afternoon memory is so clear. Our oldest son was in school and the youngest one (above with sumglasses) was napping. Our 4 year old went outside by himself to build a snowman while I watched from the kitchen window while working. He was so proud of the snowman he built all by himself. It was a little cone of a snowman. When I grabbed my camera I told him to "smile like the snowman". He looked so adorable.

Winter Dreams

In my bleary eyes of the early dawn of Dec 1 I knew immediately that our woods were different. It had snowed during the night. What a beautiful awakening! And even more so because I knew I didn't have to go out in it!

The sweater for my son is coming along nicely. I chose a cable pattern from Barbara G Walker's Charted Knitting. After knitting about 3 inches on the body I checked gauge again and it is perfect. I had also checked on sleeve #1. I've been knitting so much that my hand just below the left thumb is sore.

Our home is decorated for the holidays. I had invited my customers to the annual Holiday Open House last Saturday. The ice storm began in the morning, just before they began arriving. I was flattered that so many ventured forth on such a day! With a fire in the fireplace, it was a pleasant time for everyone.