Friday, December 31, 2010

Holiday Projects

As Eloise would say:
"I'm Rawther Proud of Myself!"
I've been cross-stitching the better part of 20 years, but I've never
actually finished an entire project. I have box full of projects
I've started but never finished for one reason or another.
In November, I found a sampler I really liked and started
working on it in hopes that I could gift it to my older
sister, Allison, for Christmas. If truth to be told, I never
actually thought I'd finish. I kept waiting for my trusty old ADD to
kick in and lure me away to some other 1/2 finished project. But eachnight I put away the project just a little nearer to completion.
And then, to my (and everyone's) surprise,
all I had left were the french knots.
Ah, French knots, my old nemesis.
Many, many projects have been abandoned over french knots.
As I sat watching Poor Little Rich Girl on TCM I tied off another knot
and sat scanning the pattern trying to figure out what needed to be
done next when it occured to me that I was done!
An entire pattern, finished, with the right colors, the right stitches
and even the right name!

Betsy Ross, I ain't!

But I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I
was prouder than a peacock at a pagaent!

The finished product:
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Merry Christmas!

MERRY CHRISTMAS
from our family to yours.

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Every holiday season, about a week before Christmas,
I sit down and decide how I can better avoid the Christmas
Eve all-nighter I'd pulled the year before.
I resolve myself to have as many gifts as I can
manage wrapped ahead of time, have the stocking
stuffers seperated and organized ready to be dropped
at a moments notice. And I remind myself to buy extra tape
(as not to have to relive the duct tape disaster of '04)!
But most importantly, I want to be in bed at a relatively decent hour.

Yeah, it's never happened. Ever.

Every single year I am up until at least 4am, scrambling around
the house hunting down hidden gifts, more tape, more bows and generally
chugging enough coffee to keep Folgers in business for a good 6 months.

But the outcome is always worth the effort!
Watching the kids faces as they descend the stairs
and make their
way to their stockings is as exciting
for me as I'm sure it is for them.
And unlike christmas
mornings past, the kids did me a generous favor by staying
in bed until 8am. (I think Ed might have bribed
them in order to give me a few more zzz's,) Even m
ore
surprising than being able to sleep in a bit, was the fact that
they made Christmas morning last into the afternoon.
There was no crazy sprint style gift opening,
but they kept a nice, slow pace which allowed them to
actually SEE what they were getting and from whom before
moving on. (I suppose this is one of the perks as the kids get older!)

Here are some pictures from our Christmas morning:
Enjoy!

Diana's excited expression after opening Dominick's gift to her: A Salon Stylin' chair
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Brooke opening her gift from Ed and I: A purple silk Kimono
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Dominick opening his gift from Brooke:
The Fast Lane Parking Garage (for matchbox cars)
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Diana using her new Karaoke microphone
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Brookie on Christmas morning!
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Dominick taking his gift from Santa for it's first spin!
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Sunday, December 05, 2010

The tree be trimmed...

The tree is trimmed!
As much as I gripe about having to decorate the tree,
I really do love the finished product.

There is something so magical about a Christmas tree.
The way the lights twinkle...
The ornaments that remind you of Christmases past....
The gold and the glitter...

It really is a testimament that this is the most wonderful time of the year!

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How to decorate a 10ft tree in 50 seconds....

OK, not really.

This bad boy took me about 3 hours!
And I'm not bragging ... I wish it had taken 50 seconds, or even 50 minutes!
But, apparently, I have ornament OCD and constantly placed, removed, replaced, stepped-back, removed, replaced, and approved each and every item...multiple times!!!

I like to think the finished product is worth it though!