New traditions

We ended up on our own - just the three of us - this year for Christmas day. We had intended to go see family in Idaho, but ended up staying home after hearing the terrible news that my boss and his son were killed the weekend prior to our trip by a drunk driver. We are still recovering from the news, and find it difficult to convey to others what awesome men they both were. I was blessed to have a supervisor that was like part of my family - at times like a father, guiding or gently correcting; other times a partner, fussing together over our staff in the office or, rarely, arguing over how to get something done; always a friend. Everybody who spoke at the service fondly remembers his smile - it could light up a room, and disarm even our toughest critics. The son was an All American kid who showed his classmates it was ok to just be yourself, and had recently been accepted at a naval academy. I felt when I met him at 7 years old that he was destined to do great things. There is definitely a void without them here on this earth.

In any case, we were left to our own devices to figure out what to do Christmas day. We bought Hank way more toys than we were intending (our Idaho Christmas would have been very simple with only handmade mama presents).

(wearing his Christmas raincoat. The rainboots will have to come in Spring, I suppose)

Then we made steel cut oatmeal for breakfast

which has been requested every morning since. Hmmm - could it have something to do with the marshmallows?

We also made nachos for "dinner." BT is an avid nacho fan, and requested a big heaping mound of them for Christmas. This was the first plate of nachos I have seen that bested him, as we barely made it through a third of the platter.

That evening we walked through Naples to view the decorated houses lining the canals. We had done this a few years ago, but after this year's trip will definitely try to squeeze it into the holiday schedule every year.

Hopefully we will be with family again next Christmas, but good to know that we have a few traditions of our own to fall back on just in case.

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Recent favorite: Banana muffins

Working on: NYE prep

Christmas comes early!

Due to a change in plans about where we will be spending the big day, my parents and I made arrangements to do our Christmas early this year. They made it in last night for a "traditional" dinner of appetizers and sweets galore. We finished most of the Christmas checklist prior to this weekend, including -

a visit to Santa (he's pointing to a piece of candy the photographer was holding up as a bribe to make him smile)

making a Christmas ornament (this one was made using a footprint painting Hank made at day care. I cut out the individual feet shapes to use for the reindeer face, then cut out his hand prints to use as the antlers)

baking cookies

opening a present on Christmas Eve, reading a Christmas book the night before, wearing new Christmas PJs,

and leaving cookies for Santa and carrots for his reindeer.

Hank was in shock this morning to come out and see all the presents Santa left for him and his family!

As BT and I will be going out to a holiday party this evening, I decided to do a Christmas lunch instead of a dinner. We did a Who-ville themed meal to go with the tree.

We had Roast Beast sandwiches, Who pudding, and more sweets to celebrate. Such a fun weekend, and to think we will have another Christmas to celebrate next week!

(Mama is still working on the annual knit Christmas hat. *Fortunately* I have a 12-hour drive to look forward to haha, so saving that project for when we are on the road.)

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Favorite of the day: Love it all!

Working on: Oh, I forgot to mention that we will be doing another Christmas shindig tomorrow with the other side of the family. Christmas overload this year!

Uni-gifts

Many of the individualized gifts I make each year are influenced by something I have on hand and want to get rid of (i.e. make space for more stuff). These are often items I receive as gifts but do not use (and see the potential for somebody else - a re-gift if you will), or items purchased at after Christmas sales, etc.

First up, my dear friend Leslie. I think most years I have made her an ornament (2007, 2009), so I decided to keep with that tradition. I made a terranium-inspired ornament in one of those glass bulbs from Michaels. This isn't a living terrarium, so it can be packed up with the rest of the ornaments when the tree comes down.

For the girls, I made a hot chocolate gift basket. Although I had already made the scarves for them, I had all of the elements in the gift basket on hand, and just needed to buy the bucket at the dollar store. Getting rid of this stuff will free up a lot of space!

For a co-worker who recently graciously gave us a free trip to Disneyland, I used some copper elements I have held on to for some time - a bottle of room spray and a container that probably once held a watch. Hank picked out a lovely owl brooch to accompany a gift card to Nordstrom (intended for Nordstrom Rack - the office is all abuzz that one opened recently nearby).

For this small one, I used a book we received as a gift but didn't think we would re-read (I *know* it's a classic, but kinda short and wasn't too entertaining for any of us) and added a Little Seed onesie purchased from Target one they went on clearance plus a carrot softie I made using some beautiful handmade felt.

(I have a travel wipes package inside so I crinkle!)

So happy with how this turned out! Will keep this idea in mind for future baby gifts (I bought a few of these onesies in various colors).

I will do a separate post for the gifts I am making for Hank, provided I - er - get them done...

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Recent favorite: This looks really good to me - brussel sprouts and all

Working on: Last of the gifts besides those for Hank

Multi-gifts

I think my Christmas list grows exponentially year to year - more people who deal work with Hank at school, more friends, more neighbors, more co-workers. I tell my hopeful husband each year that we will cut back on the gifts. But...when it comes down to it, it just feels good to share and give even a small token (these gifts were all very inexpensive - we're talking a few dollars each save the movie tickets) to show our gratitude to all those who impact our lives.

So here are a few things we gave this year. Not anything earth-shattering, but nice to share ideas with each other in this forum.

Our hostess gift for parties we went to this month included a jar of homemade salsa (this one was lime-based, versus vinegar based like the one made here) and my favorite corn chips.

For co-workers and a few other key people, a chalkboard mug (inspired by this purchased one) with cocoa and a homemade marshmallow.

So happy with how these turned out! I used contact paper to cut out the speech bubble shape, and chalkboard paint left over from this project from long ago.

For the teachers and aides at Hank's school, the ubiquitous movies tickets in a popcorn box. I saved some money by using these cute squatty boxes bought two for a dollar, and using Christmas candy (chocolate Santa and a candy cane) instead of the typical box of movie candy.

For the neighbors, a jar with the ingredients to make love soup. I guess this is typically more of a gift for newlyweds, but thought the colors were kind of Christmas-y, so I went with it. Plus, I got the jars for free at Cost Plus with a coupon, and we had a lot of the ingredients already on hand.

For my grandma and a couple more folks we will be seeing for Christmas, a pair of hot mitts (like these) made with another sacrificed old towel. I love sewing projects where it actually takes more time to cut the pieces than sew them up. These go together lickety-split!

What small but thoughtful gifts are you giving this year?

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Favorite of the day: A new blog for the blogroll (via The Crafty Crow)

Working on: Christmas cookies - another gift for multiple people

Holiday greetings

I don't know why, but every year after checking the Christmas cards off the list, I feel a huge weight has been lifted.

Not that there aren't bigger and more pressing projects on the list. I guess it's because I take care of so many people in one fell swoop. In any case, you may recall that I like to make homemade cards for friends and family (2005, 2006). In recent years, I have taken this a step further and challenged myself to come up with a small gifty element to accompany the card (2007, 2008, 2009).

This year's cards were fun to make. I ordered the mini calendars after seeing this post by Maitreya. In deciding what to do with the calendars, I determined that though I wanted to have a picture of us, I didn't want it to be overwhelmingly us. What could we focus on instead -- how about a big boat? The cards were finished off with a note indicating where the picture was taken and a holiday greeting to have a good year plus a magnet on the back to hang it on the fridge. It was a pleasant surprise that the calendars had a holiday page on the front to lend a Christmas-y feel to the cards that I kept otherwise neutral so they could be displayed (in theory) all year. They were packaged in glassine envelopes.

Fun and easy to make!

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Favorite of the day: Cute!

Working on: Back to a project from last year

The stocking dilemma

I have been touting my stocking tutorial shamelessly the last couple of weeks without disclosing an important piece of information - we won't be using them this year.

This year was a little rocky in the extended family department. Nothing new or incredibly unique compared to the average American family, but made for some difficult conversations and hurt feelings. We are basically back on the right track, but all felt it may be good to do our own thing for Christmas this year.

I did have some stocking making obligations to attend to this year. Since we won't be doing the big family thing, I decided to procrastinate and put off making stockings for a new husband and his son who became part of our family. Will catch them, the couple's baby girl, and two more nieces/nephews in 2011 (that's 5 stockings for those of you who are counting - another example of present Jen screwing future Jen through procrastination...)

One stocking I did want to make, though, was for our new cousin-in-law from The Reception. We see this couple quite often now, and, after finding the young woman's stocking this year, thought it would be only right to make one for her main squeeze. You recall that he likes Dr. Pepper, right? Well, it seemed there was only one thing that could be used to adorn his stocking - a can of DP! He was very excited to see his stocking, and I hope that they decide to continue the tradition with their new family.

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Favorite of the day: Amanda does it again! A meaningful and interactive activity for the entire family.

Working on: Present for Grandma - gotta get to the post office this week!

Who-presents

A bit more on the presents to accompany the Whoville tree

As mentioned, I had good luck finding plenty of wrapping accompaniments to go with this year's Grinch-y theme. In addition to the fun wrapping paper, I envisioned huge pompoms adorning each box.

The yarn I wanted to use for this purpose is a big, fluffy yarn that usually is (or used to be) available this time of year. It was sold on a spool , and was located in the ribbon section of the craft store. According to my pal Barb, it is used to wrap presents, just as I intended to do. Well, I couldn't find this yarn. Hrmpf. So, I was forced to buy "real" yarn. A yarn this thick was not exactly cheap - about $6 per skein. In theory I could have spent $24 on yarn just to use for pompoms to adorn the packages that will be ripped open in 10 minutes flat!

Now, I did get the yarn on sale for 40% off, but still looking at a hefty chunk of change for package adornments. What to do...?

Well, the first skein was easy. This yarn brand only came in 6 colors, and the green did not end up working for my packages. It worked great, though, to make a Grinch-y green wreath!

The purple and aqua were used to make...

scarves for the Bluebird girls! I made these on size 35(!) needles, so, yeah - it only took about 30 minutes to knit each from start to finish. I just have the red left, but I am sure I will come up with an alternate use for it as well.

Back to the Who-presents. The paper pad I bought at Michaels (shown here) had a great assortment of paper and stickers. Instead of focusing too much on labelling each present with names, I "character-coded" them to make it easy for the little one to see which gifts belong to him. Hank is Max the dog, my mom is Cindy Lou Who, and my dad is - well - the Grinch. Not too far off the mark on that one :)

In a further effort to use the yarn efficiently, I will be saving the pompoms to make a Christmas craft for next year!

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Favorite of the day: I thought there was something, but I lost it...

Working on: Cards (still)

Whoville Christmas, 2010

Here is our lovely Christmas tree for 2010 - a Whoville tree!

I refer you to this classic Dr. Seuss book (here is the text online).

The Christmas trees in Whoville all seem to have a jaunty curve to them.

We initially picked out a tree that matched the one in the book to the letter - narrow and slightly curved. Due to a mistake at the pickup point, we ended up with a different (and more expensive) tree. But, I think it still plays the role nicely. The star on top is wired in place at top to purposely be a little bit wonky.

(also notice on the right the silver bells to represent the ones that are ringing when the Whos are singing)

I picked out a majority of the ornaments on the tree last year at the after Christmas sales. Even the extra-large ornaments were super cheap (but unfortunately required extra storage boxes to keep them safe for the whole year).

Most of the ornaments are just filler ornaments in fun colors like orange, magenta, purple, and aqua, with a healthy dose of lime green, stripes, and red and white polka dots thrown in to reflect true Dr. Seuss style.

There are only a few character ornaments on the tree,

including the Grinch.

In watching the movie version of the story for inspiration for what to do at the bottom of the tree, it appeared that the tree was set in a wooden box on top of a round rug. My dad said that he seemed to recall people using boxes filled with sand to hold trees upright before tree stands were commercially available - can anybody confirm of deny this? In any case, we made a bright blue enclosure that covers our tree stand (no sand) and set it upon a round orange rug from Ikea.

(looks like somebody was messing with the lights...)

Several years ago, I planned a list of theme trees to do for - oh - the next 15 years. I have done 7 trees to date ( 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009). The Whoville tree was always the pinnacle - the tree I wanted to do the most. I have been buying elements for this tree for several years (like the red and white pompom garland, and gift wrapping supplies). So, now that I have my ultimate Christmas tree - what's next?

In the words of the Grinch I have been thinking that maybe Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more. I'm not going all religious on you, as I feel - in a similar vein to Valentine's Day when people feel there doesn't need to be a single day to show somebody that you love them - Christmas shouldn't be the only day one (who believes in Him) thinks about Jesus Christ. I think of Him daily, and don't necessarily need a holiday like Christmas to remind me of my salvation.

I do, however, enjoy having one month out of the year where I focus on each and every person that touches my life. I enjoy the hustle and bustle of getting things ready and trying to pack in a whole load of activities that our family views as traditions. I enjoy the quiet moments just sitting and looking at the decorated tree. All of these things I look forward to year round, and feel I can only experience this time of year.

One thing that does give me pause, though, is the commercialism of Christmas. As those of you who are also friends with me on Facebook know, I am a raging liberal. I get very upset about the unfair practices employed by corporations. I admittedly have not instituted a ban of certain stores of products to date, as even the outlets you trust seem to eventually let you down, and then where do you go? But, there are certainly areas I am working on - like making more gifts and even stocking stuffers, and, well, not buying a whole damn tree's worth of ornaments every year.

It kind of dawned on me this year versus any other one that, though I come off strongly against conspicuous consumption, I am the only person I know who buys so much in relation to their tree on an annual basis. Other people focus on the tradition of decorating their tree with the same well-loved ornaments. Meanwhile I am scuttling off the store bought ornaments each year to Goodwill, forcing my handmade ornaments off on friends and family, and then buying a whole new collection of ornaments for ridiculously cheap prices that still represent a profit for corporations employing cheap overseas labor. But I digress...

Believe it or not, we DO have some classic ornaments that were purchased during the years were were dating, and guests at my bridal shower back in 2001 were asked to bring an ornament as a gift. So, I feel we will have a good start to a traditional family tree starting in 2011. I don't want to fill the tree with crap, though, so future trees may look a little sparse for a few years until we get a full selection of sentimental/handmade ornaments built up. It will be nice to have a place for that eventual clay handprint ornament from the Hankster.

Well, sorry that got a little rambly. Thanks for reading all the way through, and I'll be looking on your blogs for tree decorating inspiration for next year!

More about the gift wrapping tomorrow!

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Favorite of the day: I'm calling this as the genius new idea for Christmas 2010!

Working on: Christmas cards

A Winner!

The winner of the Christmas sock giveaway is Smarti! Thank you for entering!

Just in time to get all that generosity out of the way - It's about to get Grinchy around here :)

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Favorite of the day: Soo perfect for our family's obligatory orange in the toe of our stockings!

Working on: A stocking for a new member of the family

A giveaway!!

It's December 1, and I am sure you are already wrapped up in holiday preparations like I am! Just wanted to remind everyone of my Christmas "Sock" tutorial from last year that can be found here. They are so easy to sew up, but have that homey feel that your family will treasure for generations (as my husband's family has for four generations now).

To start this holiday season off right, I will be giving away a kit to make your own Christmas sock! Included will be cut red felt pieces to make the stocking, yarn to embroider the name of the stocking's owner, a bag of felt scraps and sequins to add your design, a bag of seed beads, and a jingle bell. I am also throwing in a cute vintage stocking embellishment kit to finish off your sock with true vintage flare!

To enter, please leave a comment here on this post. You don't have to say anything special - Sign me up! will suffice. In addition, if you give the Christmas Sock tutorial post at http://thefeltmouse.blogspot.com/2009/12/christmas-sock-tutorial.html a shout out on your blog, come back here and leave the link to your post, and you will get a second chance to enter! A winner will be chosen Friday evening, December 3 at 6:00 p.m. PST. Thank you all for your continued readership and your support!

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Favorite of the day: Cute list

Working on: Wrapping gifts