Christmas and Projects

Rachael and her stocking (full of chocolate) wearing her stocking cap that she just finished knitting. 

     Hello, all of you lovely ladies! I have been enjoying my time without school so much that I haven't even turned on my computer since the time I posted last. Sometimes a break is just necessary (albeit too long...). I had a lovely Christmas, as I hope the rest of you did as well! Since most of my family are in college right now (and therefore poor), we decided to draw names for Christmas presents. I received my Dad, and my brother-in-law received me. Since my Dad is a mountain man reenactor, it is pretty easy to shop for him (unlike most men). I got him a book about Bent's Fort and season 1 of Mountain Men (which I still haven't watched, it's a fairly new series and I had never heard of it until I did a search). I also got him a book of phrases beginning with 'Dad, you're dynamite because...' and wrote some special notes in it of my own, and I got him a CD he has been wanting for a long time. It is one of his favorite groups, Daniel Amos, from when he was young, and they recently released a brand new CD, which is pretty cool.

     Johan (my brother-in-law), got me some beautiful presents! One of which, my sister informed me, he chose without any help from her! A lovely calender full of pictures of hats (they have always been a weakness with me), a thrifted book (written in the 70's) called 'History of 20th Century Fashion', and one of my favorite movies, 'Thoroughly Modern Millie'. I had never heard of this movie until this last semester, and I absolutely fell in love. If you like Julie Andrews, Mary Tyler Moore, the 20's, and kooky fun, you will love this movie! It is crazy and weird and wonderful. My Mom and Dad still gave us 'Santa' presents. This year it was all of the Narnia books in one.

      I had this lovely, unrealistic goal of finishing a dress for Christmas Eve. That didn't happen, but I am still sewing the dress. I am using a lovely chocolate brown, silky fabric. I decided to line it in flannel to make it warmer and more wearable, and I am so excited to finish it! I think it is going to be very comfortable, and since I don't have many warm dresses, this is needed. I have plans for many more projects while I am at home, but I don't have much time, since school starts again on the 8th. Oh well, I will just have to be a sewing fiend for the next few days!

The lining

Reading and knitting

New purse!

      Now for some cliche stuff! Christmas is a wonderful time of year. I actually really love drawing names for Christmas. I feel that it keeps giving a part of Christmas, but one is not overwhelmed with more presents than they need. My favorite part of Christmas has always been all of the traditions, as well as our Christmas Eve service (which is also a tradition...). I love hearing the Christmas story, it reminds me why we are celebrating. Christmas is a time of celebrating the birth of Christ and spending time with loved ones. It is a time to show love to everyone you come into contact with. I don't need to say that materialism is a problem around Christmastime, because everybody says that. I think that a bigger problem is not taking time to enjoy Christmas. I went to the store a few days before Christmas. When I checked out I said 'hello' cheerfully. The lady at the counter's response was to say that I must have finished all of my Christmas shopping. We then had a little conversation about her children, and it was nice. I felt so sad, thinking about all of the cranky customers she had obviously been dealing with. I encourage all of you to make an effort to smile at people, not just at Christmastime, but all year long. It is amazing the difference it can make in someones day to be smiled at by a stranger.

      I must get back to sewing my dress now, and soon we will be eating. We are having meatloaf and black eyed peas for dinner, and we have sparkling cider for later. So, without further ado, Happy New Years, everybody stay safe!

Lots of love!