christmas monthly dinner

After many e-mails, some cancellations, and a few reschedules, we were finally able to get together for our monthly dinner.

December is such a hard month and I really threw a wrench into things when I decided to take a quick Hocking Hills vacation right after Christmas so we had to find a different night to get together.  Tonight was the night, and since Adrianna was going to join us, we ended up just having pizza at Katie's house.

There was a lot of catching up to do and it was perfect.  Pizza is always a delicious meal, and there were lots of Christmas cookies to share too.  Adrianna was adorable and I was able to give her the Christmas present I made for her.

She had more fun opening the box and tearing off all the paper then she did with the blanket, but hopefully she will enjoy it.  By the end of the night when she was getting sleepy she was laying down half on the floor and half in the box with the blanket, so cute!

I love celebrating lots of little Christmases with all of my wonderful friends.  Here's to one more day of work and lots more holiday celebrations!

2 years in the making

So two years ago I decided to cross stitch my sister a Christmas stocking.  I had a cross stitch stocking that our grandma had made me.  She passed away before my sister was born so she never received one.  No big deal, all these years she has had a cute little stocking, but I thought it would be nice if she had one that was handmade too.  It is just so much nicer and has meaning to it, and I like to try new crafts so I thought why not.

Well, I never finished it before Christmas.  The holiday season gets so hectic and we lived together at the time which made it really hard to work on when it was supposed to be a gift!

At Christmas I gave her what was done and told her I would finish it.  Then the following Christmas came around and I still didn't have it done.  Grad school got in the way, other projects came up, plus work, and a house, and a million other excuses.

Eventually the cross stitch part of the stocking was finished.  Then it came to sewing it.  So I put that off for awhile too.  Well I finally got my sewing machine from my mom's house and decided the stocking needed to be finished.

I spent two hours this afternoon putting it together and I couldn't be happier with the finished product.  It was my very first cross stitch and the first time I have sewed in awhile!  She loved it and it is hanging on my parents mantel already.

Merry Christmas Heather...hope you love it!

hello december!

When I turned the page on my calendar today I could not believe that it was actually December.  The last month of 2011.

I feel like this year just started!  So much has happened this year, and it has definitely had its ups and downs.  At this point in the year, I know everything that happened did for a reason, and even if it is hard to think about sometimes, I am happy with all of the decisions that were made.

Today I received the first two Christmas cards of the season.  It makes me think that I need to get my act together and get mine done.  But then I realize that I have plenty of time still.  With December comes the Christmas season, and I love Christmas.  Not because of the presents, although those are nice too, but because of everything that it means.  Because of the happiness that you see in the people around you.  Because of the good cheer that is spread.  Because of the time spent with friends and family, and all of the fun times that are to be had.  Because it is the beginning of the new Church year, and there is even more to be celebrated.

Something else that I am very excited about is news that I got today.  One of my very good friends just found out that she and her husband are pregnant!  They haven't been trying very long and were extremely surprised that it happened so fast, but are so excited.  This was such great news and I can't wait to start a new project to have ready as a gift for them!  Now I just have to decide what to knit...and wait 2 months because they are going to find out if they are having a boy or a girl.

Welcome December and thank you for the great news!

a day for family

What a beautiful weekend!  The weather we had in Cleveland could not have been any better.  The sun was shining, there was barely a cloud in the sky, and the air was the perfect crisp fall type of air.  It was wonderful and I could not have been more thankful.  Beautiful weather like that just makes you happy and puts you in such a great mood.  Especially when we know snow is just around the corner!

Ben and I spent the day visiting family.  This morning we got up and headed to the eastside to visit with his mom, grandma, and brother for brunch.  We took Breckyn with us and she got to run around on their property and play with his grandma's puppy Abby.  I like Abby because she is a bad dog, and she makes Breckyn look like a good dog!  I know that is so bad, but it makes me feel like I'm raising a half way decently behaved dog (is that really the right way to say that?)

His mom showed me some new knitting projects that she is working on and even gave me 2 pieces for the project that I'm working on with Knitting Club at school.  I can't wait to show the kids Tuesday and hopefully it will help to motivate them to get theirs going.

We headed back to the westside, ran some errands, and then headed over to my parents house for dinner.  We left Breckyn at home even though my sister's dog would have loved to see her.  She was plenty tired and could have used the rest. 

We caught up with my parents and had a delicious dinner.  Of course there is never enough time to sit around and talk and laugh, because we ALWAYS have something to do!

Ben headed to his Chapter meeting and I headed to JoAnn Fabrics for some crafting stuff that I'm going to motivate myself to work on, which means I have to get off this computer now.

Hope your weekend was wonderful!

Christmas Countdown

Yesterday while driving to work I was listening to the morning radio and heard that there were only 2 months until Christmas. 

At first I was thinking there is no way this is possible and actually sat and pondered whether or not it was true (why, I have no idea, it just didn't seem possible!)  Once I realized that the radio was telling me the truth, I drove to work with my mouth hanging open thinking how is this year going so fast?

And why are we counting down until Christmas?  What happened to enjoying the moment?  I love fall and I'm not ready for it to be over.  It isn't even Halloween yet!  After that we have Thanksgiving and then Christmas is allowed to start.  Not. any. sooner.

I think the real reason I am so not ready for it to be Christmas yet is because I just started crafting again and I am looking at my to-do list and thinking there is no way I have enough time for all of this.  I started and finished a blanket for little baby Luke in two days (success!).  His birthday is Saturday and he is going to be one, which seems crazy because it feels like he was just born.  We will be going to his party on Sunday and I can't wait to see how big he has gotten.

in the works

Other things on my list so far are:

• a hat for Ben
• a few 7x9 pieces for Knitting Clubs charity project
• a cross stitch stocking
• cross stitch baby booties
• a baby blanket
• some scarves (if there is any time left!)

We will see how it goes.  I love crafting and love that colder weather brings me back to knitting and crafting.  I can't wait to see what else I can get my hands on!