What you do in your house is worth as much as if you did it up in heaven for our Lord God. We should accustom ourselves to think of our position and work as sacred and well-pleasing to God, not on account of the position and work, but on account of the word and faith from which the obedience and the work flow. ~ Martin Luther

Thursday, December 19, 2013

Preparations


~PRETTY~

 

I unraveled this neckwarmer no less than seven times.  First the circle was twisted.  Then, after finishing it, it looked too big and ran out of the yarn remnant I had, then it was twisted, x2, x3, x4.  Etc. Etc.  Finally, I decided to make a rectangle and stitch it up.  I was ~HAPPY~ to be rid of it.  (And that is an understatement.)




Is this or is this not the COOLEST coat-rack IN THE WORLD?


 
"The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below."

~FUNNY~



Hopestead is Santa's Workshop Central, or so it seems these days.  Andrew is busy stitching up ornaments, Corynn is drawing up a storm, Adele is wondering when I will help HER make gifts.  (I am wondering too.)   Matt has made just about the coolest gifts in the world this year...but none are for me.  :-(  All of this, always- ALWAYS with Pandora crooning Christmas tunes in the background.  And quick quizzes from Corynn "Who is this, Mama?"

"Frank Sinatra"

"Yep."

I get it *almost* every time.  She's getting pretty good at distinguishing Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra and Michael Buble herself.

I am way backed up on showing you the gifts I have been making.  Maybe next year I should have a 'present-along' or something.  One of these days I will show you the rest...

I made 50 copies of our Christmas letter at the library.  (I hate not having a working printer.)  The librarian was shocked that I could possibly need that many.  Turns out, I need about 18 more.  Going today to get them printed.  Just wait 'til she hears. 

~Real~
This month I didn't follow the "Go uptown once a month" goal but I guess that is to be expected since Christmas is in 6 more days.  This is an extraordinary month.  Today I am going for grocery supplies for the different parties we are attending/hosting next week and for Christmas.  This will be separate from our monthly grocery trip because (while I keep telling myself NOT to go overboard!) I will still need a few special ingredients that will likely swallow up my normal food budget.  So I am going uptown today which is shocking because...

 yesterday Matt's parents took the children for the WHOLE DAY while I went out getting the last minute presents/stocking stuffers I needed and running a few errands.  Besides handmade gifts and a few online purchases, this was the only Christmas shopping trip I have done.  I couldn't really get any groceries at the same time because Matt met me uptown after work and we had a bit of a date to top off the evening.  After dinner, we went to Lowe's to get a new faucet for the sink and paint.

Matt hates plumbing.  He's been putting off the leaking sink for so long because he hates plumbing so much.  I hate painting.  I've been putting off covering up that horrible dining room wallpaper for so long because I hate painting so much.  But, I figure, if hosting Christmas Eve here wasn't impetus enough for me (and him!) to finally do it, nothing would be.  So I am going to be packing up the dining room and putting a fresh coat of merry & bright on it this weekend.  And I might just have a bright, shiny new faucet by Christmas too!

Two trips uptown in two days.  'Tis the season, I suppose.

 

round button chicken

8 comments:

Unknown said...

"The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below."

LOVE that! :)

We mail or give out 150 Christmas photos & letters a year! :P That might just give your librarian a heart attack! Amos has SUCH a large extended family!!! :)

Love Matt's coat rack!! :)

Leah T. said...

I love all the pictures, as usual. :) I love, love, love the coat rack. I've been wanting to make some of those hooks myself! Maybe when we're in a home of our own again.

We've also been listening to Pandora a lot. It's on now while we do school work.

My Christmas crafting is coming along! I have a few gifts to sew up and some knitted gnomes that need to be seamed up, stuffed, and sewn together. (I'm hoping to get some pictures and actually make a blog post.) I can't believe Christmas is less than a week away!!!

Bonnie said...

You should make a coffee table book with all of your pictures. Really. That top one looks like a post card!
Santa's workshop here too, but I *FINISHED* the children's gifts (I'm a bit shocked), the children are finished with their gifts (except Muffin and Beans- making playdoh/giving hot chocolate), Between today and Saturday I will finish B.'s present and my brothers soon-to-be-fiance's (he's proposing Christmas) gift. EVERYTHING will be done by Sunday night. Monday this neglected house gets cleaned. I will be in bed before midnight Christmas Eve- yippee!
Can't wait to see it all, dates are dates, even if they involve the hardware store. Boy need to go on one...

Anonymous said...

Of all the pictures, perhaps odd only to be commenting on this one, in particular, but have to ask, as they look just scrumptious:
What type of cookies are those in your fourth picture?
Would you share the recipe?

BajaManna said...

Once again you have given us a visual treat. That first photo could be the theme photo for the coffee table book that Bonnie suggested. A friend to whom I had sent one of your calendars left a phone message for me gushing over how beautiful the photos are. She said "they are truly outstanding!" and I agree. Keep 'em coming! And extra prayers for you this weekend!

Full of Grace said...

Really is the coolest coat rack ever!!! :) Love It! :)

Rebecca said...

Amy- WOW! And I thought WE sent out a lot! Good for you for keeping the USPS alive! ;-) And thank you for your card and picture- beautiful, as usual!

Leah T.~ knitted gnomes? Oh my goodness. HOW ADORABLE! Yes, you MUST post. Please, pretty please.

Bonnie~ way to go! IMPRESSIVE. I still have too many things to make to think about. SO I won't. ;-) What a good idea having your littles make playdoh as their gifts. I think I might steal it- Adele' has been asking what SHE could make for everyone and I have been stumped. Thanks!

Anonymous- they aren't cookies, though from the picture I can see how they would look like them. They were actually streusel-topped banana nut muffins.

Anna~ how thrilling to hear! Thank you for sharing that.

Elizabeth- thanks! I thought so too. (Wish it were mine!)





Mrs Abbott said...

Hey, what Pandora station were you listening to? We love Sinatra and Micheal Buble!