Before it gets too crazy, or too weird, or too insane to enjoy it all, I’d like to take you back. Back to a time when for me, and my family? It was about enjoying the season for what it was. A time of peace, joy, and love… as seen through the eyes of a child.
When my daughter was not quite 3 years old, she asked for the first time for her Christmas wish: a pink, triangle napkin holder. A what, you ask? A napkin holder. Triangle shaped. For her play kitchen that she had received the previous year. The fact that such an object did not exist was of little consequence to her; Santa would make one, of course.
Hoping to catch that request on video, I’m sure, my husband broke out the camera. And, well, two-year-old girls are fickle. On this day, a pink present was just about good enough.
I submit the following for your enjoyment:
The napkin holder? Miracle of miracles, Santa came through. (You knew he would, didn’t you?)
There’s nothing that Santa can’t make out of wood, don’tcha know.
Christmas is coming,
The goose is getting fat.
Please put a penny in the old man’s hat.
If you haven’t got a penny then a ha’ penny will do…
(Well, you know the rest…)
This is the time of year when I just get crazy. So much to do! So little time! Christmas comes on the same freakin’ day every year, and yet, I can’t ever avoid the last minute hectic feeling. It’s like I’m singing in rounds all the time, except the song’s never over, and I can’t catch my breath. For instance, just this week alone:
My little boy is sick. Not just a little bit sick. He got sent home from school on Thursday morning, and we took him to the doctor right away, and though he looked awful he didn’t even have a fever and so they just sent us home and said, oh well.. wait it out. So we’re waiting. And waiting. It’s Day 5 now and really? We’d really just like him to be well already. We’re going back to the doctor tomorrow because the fevers that were nonexistent on Thursday? They won’t go away now. Not to mention the whoopsie tummy incident on my den carpet (right behind me, at the computer) that somehow made a red Slurpee live forever in monument on the rug. Ok so the carpet doesn’t owe us a thing, but I had been hoping to replace it sometime after my elderly cats weren’t around to leave their own monuments on a new carpet. Oh well, just my luck. Anyway, I’m really hoping BoyZilla gets well soon… I truly hate seeing him so miserable.
Second, the Christmas Cards. The cards are here, but still in boxes. The newsletter that I had been skipping the last four years suddenly got done this year (my daughter volunteered) but now it means an extra trip to Kinkos at some point for copying. Sigh. And is there anybody out there who can run to the post office for me? I need about a hundred stamps, quick. Thanks!
Third, the office potluck, scheduled for Wednesday, at a time when I already had a meeting on the top floor (a big deal where I work). I struggled all weekend to find something I could make in the crockpot for ease of carrying. Except the group couldn’t decide whether it was going to be breakfast or lunch. If it was breakfast then there are others who are the queens of breakfast casseroles and quiche, so I needed a sort of side dish, that was festive, and good for either situation. Not as easy as you’d think.
I settled on Potatoes Au Gratin with Asiago and Gorgonzola and cream cheese with turkey kielbasa. (Did I mention that people in my office don’t eat pork?) So I send the poor husband on a cheese hunt in the market (We’re simple cheese slice people and typically can’t even spell Gorgonzola) and after much searching he was successful. Yay! Gourmet cheesy potatoes! Except you know what? The boss tells me today that our potluck has been postponed. So has my meeting on the top floor, by the way, so I’m feeling all cheesed up and nowhere to go. Harumph.
My wedding ring has been broken since before Thanksgiving and it has been repaired and is waiting for me at the jeweler, except I can’t seem to get there, what with the sick kid and cheese quest and all. I guess it’s ok, though because my nephew already has the book I bought him for Christmas so I have to go get something else this weekend. One last trip to the mall. I guess I’ll pick up my ring this weekend.
So, as you can imagine, I’m a little stressed out. So much, in fact, that I got all teary-eyed at one of those Folger coffee commercials, you know, where the missing family member gets home for Christmas, and starts a pot of coffee for his sleeping mom and dad? Yeah that one. Totally bawled. I think I need a cuppa and a hug.
But, it’s not all bad… today the mailman brought this:
Gedifra Cashmere pink yarn
That’s right, Trish. Go pet the cashmere. It’ll all be over soon.
Here’s the proof. This is why I don’t do holiday knitting, or occasion knitting in general. It’s been a month and a half since I started this hat, and I’m still working on it. Yes, this has been my main project in most of this time. I’ve done a stitch here and there on a couple of things, but nothing else to write home about. If Christmas depended on my knitting? Christmas would just never come.
But hey! I made a milestone on the hat today. I am on the ribbing! I asked my daughter to try it on and it is just about the perfect size. I am not going to do a very deep rib, because it doesn’t need one. Then the last thing will be to add the words, “Lady Hawks” to the white band in duplicate stitch.
I started feeling stressed about all there is to do over the next several weeks, and I made myself stop and knit for a bit instead. It helped. Now, if only I could teach my DH to knit… We’re seriously behind. No decorations are up and ready. The shopping’s about done, which I guess is a good thing! But I think it remains to be seen whether we will have outdoor lights or Christmas cards mailed before Inauguration Day. And you know what? I’m going to do my best not to care.
I’m getting the feeling it’s going to be a long, cold winter here. It is unseasonably winter-like for this early in December and we even had some snow yesterday. The wind has been cold and biting. Perhaps I should start a countdown calendar for Spring. I’m so ready already!
Hopefully I’ll write again soon. If not, you’ll probably find me buried under a pile of unopened ornaments somewhere.
