And How Was Your Holiday?

It's post-Christmas now and our little family seems to have survived pretty well. Here are a few pictures of Dorito's first Christmas :)

This last photo has nothing to do with Chrsitmas- Dorito has a tendency to get stuck in weird places- like the dishwasher...

I hope you all had a lovely holiday and were able to get a bit of knitting in.

Red Cups

Every year the good people of Starbucks bring out their famous red cups. They are simple, pretty little things that hold the delicious and comforting beverage that is my latte. Today however, I'm sipping a Peppermint Mocha and thinking of how lovely this day is going to be.

The family is getting together for Christmas tonight and then after, I'm going out to a jazz club with some girlfriends. Before all of that, time will spent with my youngest brother, Andrew working on Christmas cookies.

There is one mitten left to knit and 1.5 socks. We'll see how that goes. There are four more days until Christmas, and I feel great.

It Just Isn't Going to Happen

This morning, after a rough nigh and a slightly less irksome morning, I fell onto the bed next to Alex and made the announcement that I am going to cancel Christmas. There was little movement or response for a moment until he (very patiently) asked me what was wrong. I filled him in on my morning mishaps and eventually got to the part where the knitting is not done, the baking is not turning out, things are not going the way I think they should and I am overall stressed.

Frazzled, pooped, whatever you want to call, this Christmas I have decided to just kick back, take things as they come and make it as low key and low stress as possible. The baked goods will be modified and the knitted woolies I have been looking forward to gifting will just need to wait until next year. This is a season of love, comfort, joy and blessings. There has been some focus lost on this in my little part of the world and I am reminded of a speech made by one Linus van Pelt from "A Charlie Brown Christmas" where this young boy tells the Christmas story and the wonder of the birth of Christ- "and that's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown."

Whatever Christmas means to each of us, we should not loose sight of what is important in life. By the end of night of December 25th, I will still have a happy wonderful family that will all be together and that's the most important thing.

A New Day

Yesterday, there was no water at work. All day. On the whole property. it turns out that when the temperatures dip down to Ten-Degrees Fahrenheit water pipes have a tendency to burst open. Tank you to the three maintenance men that worked all day in very cold temperatures to get things fixed up. When I left at ten-pm the Independent building had water, but not the other cottages. I'm really hoping that has been resolved by now because having to tell my residents (and staff) that they can't flush the toilet is quite unpleasant...

Enough about that. The Christmas knits are coming along. I'm about halfway finished. I'm looking at the calendar and wondering if everything will be knitted up, baked, and given out by the 25th. I am still trying to convince myself that if it doesn't all get done by my deadline, the world will still turn, people will still talk to me and there is always the postal service if something needs shipping, say next July.

I'm not really sure what the temperature is supposed to be today, but I think the high is predicted somewhere around 35-Degrees Fahrenheit. Leg warmers have always seemed a little dorky to me, but with the cold lately, I'm strongly considering making myself a pair or three...

Have a lovely Monday. I'll be at work (hopefully with water and less stress than last night) ad at some point there will be tea and knitting. Right now, Dorito is pining for some attention.

Baked Goodies (or, why I love the holidays)

This time of year baking becomes a larger part of my life than it usually is. There is just something magical and special and wonderful about mixing together flour, chocolate, spices and sugars to create something delicious for our loved ones. Yesterday I made these:

 

The recipe for this Chocolate Chai Bread can be found here.

 

Tomorrow will be spent doing the laundry and cooking (because some people believe that even though it is the holiday season chores still need to be done and meals still need to be made)...

 

Even with the chore/cooking catching-up I plan to make a few (dozen) cookies and of course, knitting up some wooly delights to gift upon my loved ones. The knitting is coming along and there is indeed an end in sight.

 

I will keep you all posted on the events of the next few days. Cheers!