Cross Stitch Christmas

This post is about a week late, but the sentiment is up-to-date.

This Christmas, I gave my family members some counted cross stitch projects I had been working on.  The first one I did was from a kit I bought last time I was home, at the Mystic Seaport Museum Store, a little taste of home for my dad and my step-mother.

The next 3 were for my sister, aunt and cousin, all with a saying that my grandmother had cross-stitched and kept in her kitchen.  My mother inherited the original and helped me out with a few very detailed photos so that I could figure out the pattern.  

Since my mom had the original cross-stitch, I had to think of something else to do for her.  After a lot of mulling, I remembered what my grandmother used to say to my mom every morning to wake her up for school (and my mother used to say to me sometimes too).  Here is the result.

Another gift I gave to my parents was a drawing for each of them, that I had done in my drawing class.  Here is the finished and framed drawing for my mom, which was perfect for her because she weaves and uses the same spools of yarn as I drew in class.  She has it up in her weaving room.

Christmas in Connecticut

For a week around Christmas, I was in Connecticut with my family.  I got to spend some time with my two younger brothers: Peter, who is a senior in college, and Leland, who just got home from a tour of duty in Iraq.  What a great Christmas gift!

I enjoy being a tourist, even in my hometowns, so my mom and I went on a short field trip back to the town where I grew up: Old Saybrook, CT.  We had lunch at Dock and Dine, a classic location right on the mouth of the Connecticut River, and we stopped by the Acton Public Library, where I used to do volunteer work in the summers, in the children's section.  Earlier in the 2000's, the library was totally redone and it is now probably 4 times the size it was when I was a kid, and it has a gorgeous new mural, probably 25 or more feet long, along the entrance hallway, depicting the history of the town and important buildings/things in the town.  Mom and I spent a good half hour reading all the hand-painted tiles and looking for names of old friends (the mural also listed the names of people and families who had given money for the library rebuild, cutely shown as the titles of books on many shelves).

There was also one tile we found interesting, telling about the re-design of the Main Street medians, which my mom had a hand in, in the late 90's.

I also got my dad to be a tourist with me.  We went to the Mystic Aquarium the last day I was in Mystic.  We enjoyed the Sea Lion show and went on a wild goose-chase to find the penguins.  I liked the penguin's bracelets to tell them apart.  Good craft project!
On our way up to the Providence airport, mom and I stopped off in Newport to tour one of the mansions, The Breakers.  Over the years, we've probably visited every mansion that is open to the public, but this is the first time I can remember going at Christmastime.  I loved seeing The Breakers all decked out for the holidays, but I most enjoyed the fragrant flower arrangements.  More than one room was just filled with the perfume of lilies.  I'll have to get some for my house, now that my Narcissus and Amaryllis have wilted away.
Now I'm back in Chicago and I have a few days off.  I've already started the great new year's closet redesign.  Pictures will be up soon!

Christmas in Chicago

Nate and I celebrate our Christmas a little early each year, in Chicago, before flying home to our separate families.  This year, we made the celebration a little longer than usual by starting Saturday afternoon at the Christkindl market in Daley Plaza.  We kept ourselves from eating any of the delicious-smelling German treats (not because we were being good but because we had dinner reservations at the Park Grille later), but did purchase some more ornaments for the Christmas tree at home.

Since I don't have any friends with children, I only admired but did not buy these adorable felt slippers that one vendor had for sale.
After our quite filling dinner (with a creme brulee flight for dessert) and a visit with the lions at the Art Institute, we went to a CSO concert.  That night, the program was 3 "pieces" by Tchaikovsky.  The first was The Storm, which was based on the play of the same name, which inspired the opera Katya Kabanova that we saw just a few weeks ago at the Lyric Opera.  The second was movements from the Snow Maiden ballet, with Alex Balestrieri narrating the story in between movements.  The third piece was movements from Swan Lake, and we were treated to a slide-show of sorts - paper puppets over a projector which acted out the story.  I really can't think of a better way to describe it now, but please know that the puppeteering, done by Red Moon Theater, was beautiful and inspiring.  Nate and I both loved it and wished we could see it again.
Today (Sunday) was Nate's and my little Christmas celebration at home - opening gifts and drinking hot chocolate in front of the fire.  I got him some good gifts, including some felt finger puppets I bought from Abbey Christine on etsy.  It's an unlikely trio of Steve Zissou, Ralphie from A Christmas Story, and Bob Ross, the beloved painter.

Nate the Great got me a real trio of cooking instruments: Mastering the Art of French Cooking - volumes 1 and 2, a subscription to Cooks Illustrated, and a new set of All Clad pots and pans, all of which were either put into use straightaway, or will be within the next few hours.  (Christmas breakfast was eggs benedict, so I'm really not kidding when I say we used the new stuff!)

Now for an afternoon of filling out Christmas cards and starting to pack for my upcoming trip home!

Christmas preparations - for real this time

So I've been way too busy getting ready for Christmas.    You could say the prep. started over a month ago, when my mom was out for a visit and we planted some paper-white and amaryllis bulbs.  My Amaryllis is gorgeous, as you can see.  3 blooms already on this stalk, with one more ready to pop, and another stalk growing, so hopefully we'll have blooms into January.
We bought our tree 2 weeks ago, and it's still alive, lit, and mostly red.  I'm putting up a picture here of the tree, with all of the secret santa gifts under it from the party.  Unfortunately, those gifts hide the neat tree skirt I bought on sale at Crate and Barrel after last Christmas.
Our 4th Annual carol singing party, which was last Saturday, was another huge success.  We had close to 30 guests to enjoy the food, sing carols, and swap secret santa gifts.  And we managed to make the punch not taste like jello shots this year - a true victory. 
I spent a good part of the week baking - a follow-up to the baking I had done the previous week for my piano recital.  I love decorating cookies and I really think I should take a cake decorating class soon, when I can find one that works with my schedule.
And once the party was over, I got to work wrapping Christmas gifts for my family, which I have shipped off to their destinations this morning, so for the next week until I fly home to CT my only other project is Christmas cards.  Oh Christmas cards.

But that being said, I hope to get moving on some new, real projects soon (as well as my annual New Year's redesign of a closet).  Check back for more holiday fun!

This is the first year I've had a full-sized Christmas tree of my own.  Thankfully, my mother and step-mother were nice enough to send me some old family ornaments so that not only would my tree have a decent number of ornaments, but there would be some with sentimental value as well.  I was delighted/horrified to get one ornament that I made in kindergarten, and I know it was that year because, as you can see, the year is posted on the side of my class picture.  Cardboard, tin foil and pipe-cleaners; what an excellent way to use up an hour of school with 5 year olds! 

Two years ago, one of my first students gave me an ornament which he made for me.  This one, unlike my own kindergarten ornament, is hanging on my tree.  I haven't decided, though I have a pretty good feeling that I know, why I would be willing to hang the ornament my student made of me and not mine.  When someone else makes something for you, it is more special.  But beyond that, I know that the ornament I made when I was 5 years old was not something I came up with one my own.  My music note ornament is truly from the heart, and for that reason, I am happy to hang it on my tree next to my grandmother's heirloom ornaments and brand new ones I've picked up myself from the shops in my neighborhood.

Holiday gifts/why I love my computer

My holiday checklist is enormous.  This weekend, I baked bread and cookies (and decorated the cookies).  I squeezed in a few piano lessons with students who have been MIA and need some extra practice before our recital next weekend.  I wrote my annual update letter that I send with all of my Christmas cards, and, most importantly, I worked on my Christmas gift I'm making for my grandfather.

I do believe that homemade gifts are the best.  Last year, I made aprons for all of my female family members (sexism? you bet!) This year, I'm basically just doing one homemade gift, for my grandfather.  It's hard to shop for a man who is mostly blind.  But, being the musical genius that I am, and having the awesome computer that I do, I figured out that I can record myself playing piano pieces, then singing them.  So, I'm doing a broadway revue, of sorts, read: excellent songs from old musicals, including some duets with me singing both the male and female parts (very non-sexist, don't you think?)  Too bad I can't put sound clips in my blog (I don't think)!

Time to go spend quality time with Nate, playing scrabble in front of the fire.  Another holiday checklist item.  Quality time, check!