'Twas The Night Before Christmas...

When all through the house, 

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

When I was little we spent Christmas with my grandparents in Lubbock. We moved to Albuquerque when I was about three, and my parents always went ‘home’ for Christmas. Both sets of grandparents lived there so it worked out fine because we got to see everyone.

My dad’s mom, my grandmother, always said “Christmas Eve Gift” when we got there. Sometimes it was in the middle of the night but if it was Christmas Eve, that’s what she said in greeting, as soon as we walked through the door.

I never knew what it meant. I thought it was just one of those weird Grandmother things that she did and said. Later, when Grandmother and Granddaddy were no longer around to celebrate Christmas with, we still said it. It didn’t matter if we were at my house, my mom’s or my brother’s, that was the first thing said when someone arrived. It was kind of a joke to Grandmother I guess.

One year, on a knitting list I’m a part of, one of the ladies posted about Christmas Eve Gift. I was surprised! All this time I thought it was just something in our family, so I checked it out on the Internet. (I really don’t know what people did before the Internet. That’s my main source of information!) Anyway, I found out there is a custom, more often than not dealing with gifts, centered on the saying, “Christmas Eve Gift.”

I still remember Grandmother, happy to see us, saying Christmas Eve Gift. I remember walking through the garage, to the back door, and the smell of her house as we came in from the long trip. I remember her having the beds ready, pallets on the floor for us kids, and the warmth and comfort that was offered.

We don’t give or get an extra gift for being the first to say Christmas Eve Gift in our family. I know now what the gift was, as we came through the door and she called out, “Christmas Eve Gift” and we said it back. It’s the gift of being with those you love. It’s the gift of family, together at Christmas.

Remember, the things you get and give this year, the material things, are just that; things. And they will soon be forgotten. The best gift of Christmas is the gift of yourself, spending time with those who mean the most. That’s the gift that will be cherished and remembered, for the rest of time.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, 

In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there...

I found this poem, written by Howard Epstein. I adapted it...just a little, just for fun. Enjoy!

A Knitter’s Christmas 

‘Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house, 

 Knitting needles were clicking, by way of my spouse, 

Knit one, purl one, and yarn over too, 

Her fingers were flying, so much left to do, 

A ski hat for Ty, a warm scarf for Jen, 

A sweater for Bryce, He’ll start a new trend! 

A silk shawl for Judi, some argyles for Dad, 

A knit toy for Caleb, that loquacious lad,

I watch her with wonder, as objects appear, 

Some flowers, a castle, a river, a deer, 

An edging, a ruffle, are done in a whiz, 

She’s painting with yarn, like the artist she is, 

Her patterns are perfect, there’s never a glitch, 

And I know she is knitting, a kiss in each stitch, 

I think that all knitters, who labor away, 

Giving joy unto others, must feel good every day, 

Her needles stop clicking, nothing more left to do, 

So I sit down and say, “Merry Christmas to you” 

And to all who are knitters, may I say with delight, 

“Merry Christmas To All, And To All A Good Night!” 

But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight, 

"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!"

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas…

Ev'rywhere you go;   

Take a look in the five-and-ten, glistening once again   

With candy canes and silver lanes aglow…   

And so begins my love hate relationship with the Christmas season. Understand, I’m not a Grinch by any means. There are some things I absolutely love about Christmas. But at the same time, some things just make me crazy!

I love the music. I start listening to Christmas music right after Thanksgiving. I have satellite radio and they dedicate several channels to solid Christmas music. I put it on the autotune selections and I scroll through all my favorites. When I taught school my room was full of computers. I had all kinds of Christmas CDs, some good, some not so good. I would put them in and play them in the background during class when school started back after Thanksgiving until the Christmas break. At first some of the kids would resist. They had some silly idea I was trying to torture them! But after a day or two even the most resistant would be humming along.

I like the lights. There’s a park on the south side of Odessa that sets up elaborate light displays. I come home that way every day. I was a bit late the other day and it was dark. I could see the lights at the intersection where I turn. So I didn’t turn. I went straight and I waited in line and drove through the park. I had a good time! It would have been more fun had I had company but when my oldest son gets home I know he and I will go again. We don’t put up lights at our house. Not outside lights anyway. We did once and I really don’t know why we didn’t ever again. We live outside town so there isn’t any peer pressure from the neighbors to do much outside decorating. It’s a good thing. Nobody has the time now. Instead, I enjoy the generosity of others who are so generous with their lights. And I’m thankful they continue to go to the trouble.

Lights at the park

I love the inside decorations. When I pull out the red and green afghans and blankets and pillows and put them on the chairs I get a cozy feeling. I like spreading the knick knacks throughout the house. I like the smell of the spicy candles and the light of their flickering flames. I like the many trinkets that have amassed through the years and take pleasure in the memories as I unwrap each one and place it on the tree. I like the twinkling lights. I don’t care if they are white or multi colored as long as there are plenty. I even like icicles, the silvery strands draped across the branches. When we’re lucky enough to have a cut tree I love the smell of the pine.

Welcome!

I love snowmen. I really love snowmen! I have snowmen dishes. I have snowmen figurines. I have a snowman wreath. I have all kinds of snowmen. I have bathroom snowmen and kitchen snowmen and bedroom snowmen. Snowmen are lovable and I like the fact that they can be legitimately left out through the end of January. I have a lot of snowmen. So many, in fact, that I have found a stray in April or May that somehow was forgotten when the others were returned to their boxes. And if it’s cold the day of the find, well, that makes it okay!

Happy Hook 'em Holidays!

Let it snow!

I like presents, both giving and receiving. I like how it feels to find something that I know is just perfect for that certain someone. I like watching the expression as the gift is unwrapped. I like the look of surprise and pleasure as they gaze at the treasure. I like opening a present that someone took time to think about. I’ll wait until I have everything that was meant for me. Then I’ll tear the paper to reveal the surprise. I especially like gifts from the heart. But mostly I like that someone thought about me.

Presents!

I have an idea of the perfect Christmas in my mind and it’s never going to happen that way, no matter how hard I try. I won’t have all the presents wrapped. I don’t like to wrap and I put it off. Sometimes I’ll get some help and sometimes not. The house won’t be clean enough. It probably is clean enough but it won’t be to me. I’ll see things that should have been done. I’ll worry about it and fret until my stomach hurts. I won’t have all the food done on time. I’ll cook and wash dishes and cook and wash dishes and then do it all again. I’ll run out of time and I’ll stay up til all hours, catch a two or three hour nap and then get started again. I’ll be stressed. I’ll look for a place to hide and I’ll cry.

I know that I bring on most of the stress myself because of that perfect Christmas that’s never going to happen. Nobody else seems to worry about any of it so why should I? Nobody is going to go hungry. Everyone gets a present. There’s a place to sleep and there will be plenty of blankets and clean towels for all. And if I hurry maybe I’ll get it all done.

Christmas is a time of celebration, not just something to get through. I’ll remember that when we’re all together. We’ll eat and play and have a good time. We’ll talk of Christmas past. We’ll laugh and plan for Christmas yet to come. And we’ll love and enjoy our gift, Christmas present.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, 

Toys in ev'ry store, 

But the prettiest sight to see is the holly that will be 

On your own front door. 

I belong to a Yahoo knitting group. It’s ladies from across the state and I’ve made a bunch of friends, virtually and also in person. It’s called Lone Star State Knitters and if you are a female Texas knitter then it’s open to you! We get together for a face to face meeting at least once a year. Other times, at fiber festivals and the like, if we can, we meet up. Another annual activity we do is our Secret Santa exchange. It’s voluntary and it’s a lot of fun. I’m getting my box ready to send off. I hope she likes what I picked!

Ready to send off!

I made a simple ornament for her that I really liked. It’s a clear ball from Michael’s (or a similar store). I stuffed it with bits of yarn. I gathered the yarn and cut it into little pieces. Then I stuffed it all down into the clear plastic ball. I put the lid back on, tied a couple of pieces of yarn around the top and voila! A yarny ornament for Christmas! Look at some other great ideas over at Our Creative Spaces.

Clear ball stuffed with Christmas yarn scraps.

 

Yes, it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Breathe in…breathe out…

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas; 

Soon the bells will start, 

And the thing that will make them ring is the carol that you sing 

Right within your heart.

So This Is Christmas

And what have we done...

Another year over,

And a new one just begun...

What do they say? The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry. That seems to be what happened. We rearranged the furniture in the living room where the satellite box for the television and the Internet is. All was good then the Internet stopped working. A call to tech support cured it and all worked but it was late so I decided I’d post the next day. Next morning I got up, turned on the computer and tried to start iTunes. No go. I had a lot to do so decided to worry about it later. Later came and went. Finally there’s another excruciatingly painful call to tech support. There is a funny thing about tech support. The hardware people always want to blame the software people and the software people insist the hardware is the problem. The call lasted well over an hour and the issue was still not resolved. And there’s another day gone. Finally, Bryce looked at it, unplugged it and then plugged everything back in. Voila!! One of the people (there were three or four) in the marathon call had told us to plug one of the cables into the wrong port. Jeez.

So, you missed the Fa la la post, the great Knitters Night Before Christmas poem and who knows what else!

The coolest wrapping paper ever!!!

Again, I’m playing catch-up. It was really busy getting everything ready for all to come to our house for Christmas. We always try to squeeze 3 months of work into one week. It’s not like there weren’t 364 days to get ready! Anyway, it was pretty much working, shopping, wrapping and cleaning taking up all the time.

Somebody must have been good!!!

Christmas went off well. There were four that weren’t able to make it in. Dustin is in Afghanistan. Ty is in Utah and couldn’t get enough time off work to come all the way and Ashley had other plans and it was Kevin’s year for his family in Dallas. But we got to meet the new great niece, for the first time.

Unwrapping presents is hard work!

 

Mom and dad enjoying Christmas.

We had a lot of food. If nothing else goes right I can almost guarantee you won’t go hungry while you are here! We had a Mexican feast on Christmas Eve with tamales, chili rellenos, green chili stew, queso, posole and Mexican stack ups which are sort of like build your own nachos. It was good. Then the next day we had traditional Christmas dinner with turkey and dressing and all that goes with it! There were enough leftovers to pick and choose when anyone got hungry any other time.

Look at me Pappy!

Dinosaur hats!

Grrrrrrr!!!

Sunday morning it was time for everyone to leave. I made some orange biscuits, a family flavorite! Then everyone packed up and they were gone. It was sure quiet!

Smile Aaron!

It was a good time. We laughed at the ornament game we play. We enjoyed the little guys opening presents. We had stockings with so much stuff we have to use bags instead of stockings. It was a good Christmas. And we’ll do it all again next year. If I start now maybe I’ll be ready!

And so this is Christmas

I hope you have fun

The near and the dear one

The old and the young…

Knitayear is still in progress but I haven’t taken the time every day like I should. So I catch up and it is all good but I want to try to stay caught up. Hmmmm…maybe a resolution? Day 265, December 21 was a very productive day. I went to Odessa and finished up the rest of the shopping. I get some of the groceries I need and now all that is left is wrapping everything. I love whoever she is that invented the printed boxes and also the bags. Pure genius! I chose a thick green yarn. Reminded me of getting things done. Day 266, December 22 was another fruitful day. I got a lot done. Moved some boxes, made beds, did laundry and wrapped presents. I chose handspun that looks like peppermint. Reminds me that there is a lot to be done but I’m perked up and still inspired! December 23, day 267, and panic is setting in. I’m overwhelmed and there is a lot to be done still. I need to decide that it will work and what is done gets done and if it’s not done most likely I’ll be the only one who knows anyway. I chose a crazy silver fur. It’s frazzled like I’m feeling! Day 268, December 24, and I’m wrapping presents. I’m cooking too and Bryce volunteers to go to the store for me so I make a list and send him and Mallory. It’s coming together and I’m just resigned that it’s going to be what it’s going to be. I chose an alpaca mixed with a ribbon. It’s yarn I got in NC that I made a mobius out of. It’s soft, pretty and reassuring for some reason. Day 269, December 25, is Christmas! I’m ambitious, starting the cooking. It’s a fun day and I’m glad to be with all the family. It’s all going to be okay. I choose red fun fur with colored bobbles. It’s bright and cheery and Christmas! Day 270, December 26 and I’m pleased with how everything went. Waiting for Callye to come get Evan. Trying to get things straightened up again. It was a great time and I’m glad it’s over. I picked green with a silver thread wound through it. Now to get ready for New Years!

A very merry Christmas

And a happy New Year

Let's hope it's a good one

Without any fear…