Holiday Recap

Christmas is over and the New Year is approaching.  This year has flown by. Overall, it has been a good year.  It's just ending on a sour note.  My mom isn't doing well.  If she doesn't show improvement by the end of January, she and her children will have to make decisions about her care. It's not something I'm looking forward to, but I'm preparing myself.  It is part of life.

For now, though, I'm trying to recoup my energy.  The past couple weeks were very busy.

We hosted Christmas Eve for my husband's family.  Because my father-in-law doesn't like to drive at night anymore, we had an early dinner. It actually worked out quite nicely.  The guests left early enough for us to go to the 6:30 mass.  After mass we drove around looking at Christmas lights.  This was a tradition my dad had when I was young.  Of course, my favorite lights were the ones on our house. When we got home, the five of use watched a movie together.

Christmas morning we opened our gifts to each other.  The kids still like to have Santa bring their gifts.  It is a little extra work for me to keep them out of sight until Christmas morning, but I didn't mind.  Santa wraps each child's gifts in the same paper but doesn't put on any tags.  The piles are identified by the stocking placed with the pile.  This year the stockings weren't filled with candy.  Sure, there was a little candy, but since the kids are young adults, some of their favorite foods were inside:  tea, coffee, cocoa mix, scone mixes and gnocchi.  I little different, but they liked the idea.

After lunch we headed to Cincinnati to spend Christmas with my family.  I gave my siblings mug cozies, reusable travel mugs and coffee.  

Mom was able to join us for the evening.  She was very tired, but sat quietly and listened to the festivities.  The crowd was mostly adults, but there was one little guy there.

I'm back home now.  I'm not going into the office this week.  Resting and knitting are on the agenda.

Getting back to my niece's shawl is the my first priority.  Her wedding is in about 4 months.  Time to get moving!

Christmas Knitting

Christmas has a different feel this year.  My mom's medical situation has forced me to focus on the essentials. The decorations are slowing getting up.  I've noticed that I want things to be soft and cozy. I like sitting in the evening with only a few lights on and candles lit.

Because of my evening light choice, knitting is a little hard.  There is the fatigue factor also.  I can only get a little in each night before I start getting too sleepy.  My Christmas projects are perfect for my current situation.

I'm making cup sleeves.  I love this pattern.  I have to go to the fabric store and buy small buttons for the eyes.  Each sleeve has three owls.  It is a quick project.  I can make one an evening.  I absolutely love the owl motif.  I can see using this on scarves, headbands, mittens or boot toppers.

Speaking of boot toppers, my girls are getting two-color boot toppers.  I saw this on Ravelry and thought it was a fantastic idea. So that they can tell theirs apart, I did one pair by casting on with the brown and the other pair starting with the beige.  I'm not completely happy with the bind-offs.  I wish I could find a bind-off that is stretchy and looks more like a cast-on edge.  I guess I shouldn't fret about it though. While they are being worn, the flared bind-off edge will be stretched out.

My son is getting a hat.  Actually he knows already because he has seen me knitting it.  I told him to act surprised when he opens it on Christmas morning.  Shoot!  I didn't think of it until now.  I should have put an owl on this beanie.  Oh well!  I might just have to make another one for him.

All of these projects are stash-busters.  The yarn is left over from the afghans I made for the girls.

Now off to get my grocery list made.  Tomorrow will be cookie baking.