what i did over christmas vacation, by liz

i drove eight hundred miles (and back) with my family in our little car to have christmas with my parents, my brothers, my sisters-in-law, my nieces and nephew, and my grandfather at my brother david's house in north carolina. we had new all-season tires on our car, yay!

my view of my boys in the back seat:
























we checked into a motel room in edison, new jersey, to wait out the so-called blizzard of 2009. my parents stayed in the room next door, and we feasted on indian food (and later, pizza), watched the september issue together, took naps and showers, and read books while the snow fell. bean and i also worked on our felty package decorations.
























bean making a felt pompom:
























we spent nearly twenty-four hours in edison before clearing the snow off our cars and hitting the road again. here is boo's eye view from the back seat:
























after we arrived in chapel hill, i baked and baked and baked.
























david and ellen's house is such a lovely place to bake and cook. you can be standing in the kitchen all day, and still participate in the activities going on in the rest of the house. for example, stella's ongoing project, clipping and unclipping a dog leash. here she is, demonstrating her clipping skills for my grandfather, ribby:
























we made a few expeditions to the grocery store, which is hilariously named harris teeter. here is boo, gathering his favorites:
























santa came. gifts were opened, toys played with. here are some pretty forest animals under the tree:



















i made something for my mom, and i am so proud of the outcome that this will probably not be the only time i mention (brag about) it. i embroidered a portrait of her beloved lulu:
























we gave my bruddies matching slippers!





















a few days after christmas, some of us managed to sneak off for a little tea party at guglhupf, a fantastic german bakery in durham.



















boo, m, and j enjoying coffee and treats:



















and, finally, my little cake freak:
























there was much, much more -- indoor ice skating, m and me grabbing a quiet afternoon latte at cup a joe, cousins playing and reading and laughing together, many 500 piece puzzles assembled, lots of simply gazing at stella as she told jokes and played with toys and petted dogs, eating delicious food, singing along to good music, catching up with my brothers... can you see why i miss christmas so much? my family is the best, most fun, generous, silly, wonderful bunch of people i know.

lucky

i am so lucky to have such wonderful friends, and family members who are also among my closest friends. i hesitate to list the unbelievable gifts i received for christmas this year. because you'll be jealous. but i'm going to do it anyway, starting with these absolutely beautiful felted beach pebbles, a completely unexpected welcome home present from my friend mama d, which were waiting for me when we walked in the door after our long drive home from chapel hill. i mentioned them, almost as an aside, a little while back, but i never expected to find a little box of them on my dining room table! i have a weakness for needle felted things (because i don't get it -- it's like magic to me that it works), and m and i both love those smooth stones with a stripe of quartz cutting through the middle. ohhh, i love them!

december 30

i miss christmas.

war games

the cousins playing a friendly game of risk.

little/big

more video games: robot and m.

look what robot boy got for christmas...

a cell phone!

they caught the fever

my bruddies playing little big planet.

holy laptops, santa!

the girl in the middle got a laptop for christmas.

kiss

stella loves her new bike.

the royals

a few of the holiday kings and queens.

cousins reading

boo and stella reading "good dog, carl."

cousins baking cookies

bean and pink rolling out some german cookies.

baking bread

the eighth night

just before we headed out the door and began our long drive to north carolina.*

*we did not leave lit candles burning on our dining room table, never fear. we ended up blowing them out, because it was truly time to go.

wrapping

my favorite thing, even more than choosing what goes inside the packages, is when i force myself to slow down and wrap them carefully, each one especially for its recipient. i love to use maps. this year, i made some felt pom poms, which are not nearly as goofy looking as i'd imagined.

in my stitchery

my perspective this week, mostly:






























we're working to finish several orders before we take off for christmas in carolina 2009™, so i've been spending a lot of time sitting here, in my corner of the living room, with my sweet old sewing machine and my favorite embroidery scissors.






























also, i tend to watch things on tv whilst i'm stitching, so i would like to announce that i am totally caught up on lost, the office, and glee, and i've started dexter (which is essentially the anti-glee. no singing, no dancing, lots of blood).

the fifth night

bean loves her menorah.

santa's helper

here he is, worrying about how on earth he's possibly going to be of any help to santa...

please please please

how cute are these cross stitched smiths lyrics?

cheer

when i was walking minnow last night, i realized that in my immediate neighborhood (i.e. around the block), there are only two houses besides my own that aren't adorned in some festive way for the holidays, with lights or wreaths or decorations or illuminated trees visible from the street. and i am pretty sure that extremely old people live in those other two houses.

one of these years i'd like to decorate, preferably with meca-style light balls (which were designed by pandora lacasse, by the way) tumbling down the side of my house. and one of these years we'll have another christmas tree (this is the second year we haven't bought one, figuring that most of our holiday will be spent in north carolina, where we'll enjoy my bruddie's tree).

but we do have advent calendars with chocolate inside!



































and a paltry collection of reindeer/other deer. the big black one was found. i think by boo. i think at a yard sale. yes, i am now officially collecting deer, in case you're looking for an odd little gift for me.

























so yeah, we got holiday cheer! in fact, m and i are constantly listening to our various christmas pandora stations, and boo has invented a dozen ways to eat a candy cane. we live on clementines around here (they smell like christmas). and my poor dog wears a bandanna around his neck that says, humiliatingly, "santa's helper."

can i interest you in hanukkah?

maybe the title of this post should be "a very goyish hanukkah!" that will definitely be the title of our family television special. forthcoming. at some future date.

bean and i cooked a hanukkah feast on friday night -- vegan latkes and something very purple that involved red cabbage, beets, and apples (and was delicious). and apple strudel for dessert. enoch joined us!

candles lit. ketchup for m.
























we couldn't locate hanukkah gelt, but we had a bag of walnuts and a brand new dreidel.
























bean was victorious.

s is for so much fun

s is for sale went on last night at jen's house, and it was a smashing success. probably a couple of hundred people came through, ready to shop! they had some amazing things to choose from, too. i was tempted to spend all of my proceeds immediately, but i restrained myself to an annabelle-drawn coloring book, swallowfield christmas cards, and one other thing (a little secret. unless i decide to keep it for myself). also, it couldn't have been a nicer group of people to hang out with for the evening. i can hardly wait to do it again next year.

my table:























the scene from my corner of the dining room:























jen's table:























melissa's table:























nicole's book nook:























officially the best craft fair ever.

lunch

we celebrated the year's first snow day with vegan matzoh ball soup, made for us by bean.

breakfast

clementines, coffee and online scrabble for breakfast.

a few of my favorite things

art by hannah barnes on friday night, and an artwalk so congested with holiday shoppers and oglers that i couldn't bring myself to walk into space to say hi to jen.
























we're already on our second (huge) box of clementines.
























you should've seen how overjoyed bean was that i bought her this menorah.
























silly's on saturday night to celebrate a successful craft fair. a moxie milkshake for bean.
























and also for boo.
























the second sunday of advent -- more treats, and a second purple candle lit.