I attended my husband’s family Christmas party and had a nice time. All of his children were there as were two of mine. Danica got stuck at work and couldn’t make it in time. She was sad about that and I missed her. A good time was had by all, there were a few performances and I sang a hymn with David, his brothers Steven and Chris, Steven’s wife Kimberly and our nieces NaRhea and Sylvie. Steven played the piano and Sylvie played the cello. I hope their superior voices drowned out mine.  It was very nice and singing often makes me wish I could make myself get to choir more often.  I love singing Christmas music and wish we had sung more. I got to visit with a bunch of people that have made me feel very welcome in this family. We didn’t do the big white elephant gift exchange and I’m a bit disappointed. I didn’t like selecting a gift because anything good will get stolen by whomever gets to pick next and if you’re not willing to steal something (which I’m not) you don’t really get anything good. But still, I enjoyed bringing something in the hopes that someone would really like it and steal it. My first year I failed miserably, having made quickie scarves on the knitting machine that were truly horrible. The next year though I made these great Harry Potter scarves that were stolen by none other than the matriarch of the family – David’s grandmother. This year I made her hats to match the scarves she got last year and she seemed pleased.
I didn’t manage to get a pic of her wearing the hat, maybe tomorrow when we go to visit her, but here is the pic I snapped last year.

Most of our shopping has been done, we have one more present to buy and will hopefully be able to do that in the insanity that is going to take place on Monday. Last minute shopping is always so fun. I know a lot of people don’t like and I see so many vowing to never, ever participate in the insanity shopping that takes place on Black Friday or right before Christmas, but I feel energized by the craziness.

I finished a pair of mitts tonight and will start another pair and a hat tomorrow. I know I can finish them if I can just sit still long enough and do it. It’s not that I’m a slow knitter, I just don’t knit for very long stretches. I like these mitts, I’ve made several pairs and they go fast.

There is a small bit of snow still on the ground and I still hope for more. There are little icicles all over the place, hanging from trees, cars that haven’t been driven and carport roofs. Brrr, I need to make more mittens.

It’s 1:00 am for me and the world hasn’t ended, but just in case it’s a weird time zone leap year kinda thing and the world is going to end a little bit later I’m going to post a few randoms thoughts.

I’m really glad that knitting plans can be flexible. A scarf has turned into fingerless mitts and I’m not sorry.

I have a gift certificate to spend at Knit Picks and I can’t decide what I want. How sad is that?

I almost bought Knitting Around the World today but it was on sale at JoAnns for 30% (ish) off and so I couldn’t use my 50% coupon. I’m kinda bummed by that. I hope it goes off sale soon and that I still have a 50% off coupon to use when it does. It’s a $35 book and getting it for $21 just isn’t as much fun as getting it for $17 and I really want this book. Now.

I need to learn to be more patient.

I wish my hair would dry faster in the winter. This house is really cold and as much as I love winter and hate being hot, I’m kinda tired of being cold.

I’m supposed to be writing something else and for the life of me I don’t know what to write. Maybe I should blorp my thoughts all over it the way I do with this blog.

I want more snow. This has nothing to do with me being tired of being cold. I can enjoy a perfectly good snow storm in a perfectly warm house.

I wish I could eat endless boxes of Cheez Its without gaining weight because wanting to eat endless boxes of Cheez Its is just where I am this week.

This is the picture I used of Ditch to make her ornament for my tree. I really miss her.

We haven’t put the big tree up yet. Danica likes for us to wait until after her birthday and it kinda throws off my Christmas decorating groove. It’s the 21st and still no tree. I’m kinda meh about it. I have my little one, with a couple of ornaments on it and so far that’s okay with me.

Here is the picture I used for Jessica’s ornament. I miss her, too.

This year can really just bite me. I can’t wait for it to be over.

12/12/12 –  what an interesting day, numerically speaking.  I imagine people all over the world are getting married and doing other things to mark the occasion of a fun numerical date. Personally, I plan on trying to get at least my nephew’s Harry Potter scarf finished so that I can get it into the Christmas box and in the mail. Then, I will go get my quarterly depo shot and try to get the Christmas cards finished. Maybe I will even thing about putting up the tree. I don’t put the tree up right after Thanksgiving because my daughter prefers the tree to go up after her birthday.

I don’t have any new pictures of knitting to share so I will leave you with a picture from my knit group’s Christmas party. I hostessed this year and my Season 12 Doctor Who scarf got in on the action.

From L-R you see the lovely Kit, Glenna, Crystal, Jill, Liz and Janalee.

What are you going to do today?

As she continues on in her quest to save the world from digital evil (she’s the red head on the right), my mother continues to be one of the biggest joys in my life. It’s great that I can get up early in the morning and find her online, we play WoW and chat and keep each other caught up on what is going on in our lives. I can talk to her about anything and can always rely on her to be a shoulder to cry on (something I’ve done a lot this year) and to lend a sympathetic ear. I have loved being able to visit her three times this year in Texas and am so grateful that I will always have a place to go if I ever need to, and extra grateful that I have a life that now lets me visit her so often.

I love you, Mommy.  Happy Birthday and I really am working hard on your shawl.