It was pretty amazing. I still have not caught up on returning phone calls, emails and other correspondence. So if you are reading this and I haven’t gotten back to you, I will, soon, I promise!
We visited a local tree farm and cut out own tree (during which we had the discussion of “What are we doing cutting down a tree???”). We decorated it while watching Charlie Brown. It was pretty magical.
PopPop was here for Christmas and with all our talk to Iz about Santa coming down the chimney and filling the stockings and putting presents under the tree, you’d think we’d have been prepared for her reaction. She walked into the living room and stopped in her tracks, speechless. For minutes. We finally broker her silence and started with the stockings which seemed bottomless. Lots of candy. That’s what Santa brings C-A-N-D-Y. From the mouths of babes. (ok – just so you don’t freak out, it was 2 packs of bubble gum and 4 little tootsie rolls – she ate 1 pack of gum and the four tootsie rolls in about, oh – I’d say 27 seconds flat, the other pack of gum lasted 5 days under much duress). Iz started opening the presents, and well, it was just plain overwhelming. The first few were pretty fun, but then ALL the presents under the tree were for her and only she could open them. There were threats of her spending the rest of the day in her room if she didn’t let PopPop open his own presents, or us for that matter. We found that the more chaotic the morning got, the more fun she was having. OF COURSE! What were we thinking by only opening one present at a time?!? The gifts were wonderful, very thoughtful and warm. Lots of puzzles, which is great because the single Elmo puzzle we had for 6 months..well, let’s just say that we could all put it together on the back side. Now we have more Sesame Street, Dinosaur, Solar System and Kitty puzzles than we ever could have imagined. It was pretty fun.
Our tree is still up and the Santa and Christmas decorations are still up around town, Iz keeps asking me, “Mama isn’t Christimas over?” then looking at the Bank Teller or the Cashier, “Christmas is OVER!”. duh
I have yet to finish my handful of handmade presents. They are going to have to wait. Next week I leave for NYC (wooohoooo – it’s been a while), where I’ll be at PrintsourceNewYork. I really can’t wait. If you are going to be there- visit me at Patricia Nugent Textiles. I’m helping out at her booth for the week. It will be nice to be back in the thick of it, if only for a week! Stop by and say HI!
I’m working on a pair of corduroy jeans for my NYC visit as well as a bias A-line skirt and a few stylized T’s and turtlenecks:
Fingers crossed I can finish at least the bottoms. Jeans are almost done. I finished my muslin today and started cutting the final fabric. (There’s a jeans class at LuckyStitches that starts Feb 3. I am so excited about it. For me – I can’t find great fitting jeans, so making them was kind of intimidating, but let me tell you! They are super fun and easy – but time consuming, and tweaking them to fit proper may take a few tries if you are new to sewing and making clothes. I’m planning on having a serger and a few extra machines with twin needles on them during the class so all the tools are handy for making a rockin’ pair of jeans! – ok – more later…)
And speaking of LuckyStitches, have I told you HOW MUCH FUN I AM HAVING??? I have a HomeSchool Sewing class – and these kids ROCK, we made scarves and last week, fabric belts!!! I think they are having at least as much fun as I am, but what’s even better for me, they’ve made me realize that I need to just do it, just sit down and try it. I tend to do that with sewing, but with other things, I play it safe. I have to try to remember to try things I wouldn’t normally try – learn more.
That’s kind of my mantra and has been for the past few years. What new things will I learn this year? One year, I taught myself to knit. Another year, I made jewelry. So – with only 354 days until Christmas – what are we all going to learn this year? I’ve already started on one – Making a Pair of Jeans. There’s more… Learning Balance – or at least how to practice balance in my life, Learn to Organize…and IMPLEMENT it! Argh. My Franklin is much smaller these days, but still super useful, now if only I could get it to do the laundry.
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