Christmas in Photos

Ours was perfect.  Santa was very good to us this year.  There was little boy who is grasping the idea of Christmas, the cheesiest mashed potatoes ever, naps (for Max and Cameron), and being surrounded by a loving family.  Hope yours was great.

Some thoughts on Christmas

I had this dream, more like an idea, of what I wanted this Christmas to look like.  It was going to be perfect.  When Max and I would get get up in the morning I would bring him out to the tree and his eyes would light up in delight to see all the gifts that had suddenly appeared.  Then he would wake Rob up with his squeals of glee while playing with his new toys.  My mom and brother would come over and we would all have fresh out of the oven cinnamon rolls together while we exchanged gifts.  And we would take the greatest Christmas family portrait ever.

It went no such way.  There were no squeals of glee, or family breakfast.  Max was kind of a pill the whole day, and the cinnamon rolls were more of an afternoon snack instead of breakfast.  And my brother, who I love dearly, was so very very late.  And that family portrait?  Yikes.

In spite of all the imperfections, it was a really nice day.  Mom and I cooked together, and managed to drink every last drop of wine in the house-before dinner.  Max had his ‘Christmas Morning’ after dinner, so he was well rested and not hungry, and all eyes were on him, which is how Christmas will be from now on.  And while our Christmas family portrait didn’t come out as well as I had hoped, it was taken with one of my most favorite presents, my new lens (a Nikon 35mm f/1.8, thanks mom!)!

These are a few of my other favorite things I got:1. A milk glass canister from my brother.  I looooove milk glass.  And I know exactly where I’m going to put this in the Future House!

2. Chicken necklace from Rob.  I saw this when we were at a boutique on SE 28th, off of Burnside.  I told him how much I liked it, and he was a good husband and remembered.

3. This was a pitcher of my Grandma Brown’s.  It came with a handwritten note from her: Clare, this is the little pitcher that belonged to my Grandmother Bradley, Howe.  I would like to have Erin keep it since it would be Great, Great Grandmother to her. Love you, Mom Brown

That one might be my favorite.

I also made a couple of things for gifts, and you can read about and see them here.

Crafty Times: Christmas Things

Every year I tell myself that I’m going to make my Christmas gifts and every year I fail at doing so.  But not this year!  This year was different.  I had the motivation!  I had ideas! I had the supplies!  Well, some of it.

My first project was a stocking for Max.  He could’ve just used an old one of ours, but I wanted him to have his very own.  And I wanted to make it.  I found this pattern on Pinterest.  BTW, isn’t Pinterest just the greatest?  You can follow me here.  Ok, getting off track.  So I found the pattern, got the specs on how much fabric I needed and went to Jo-Ann’s with my coupons.  I chose three different fabrics, some ric rac and some buttons for accents.  It was a super easy pattern to follow.  It took me an afternoon to make (it probably shouldn’t have taken me that long, but when you’ve got a baby at your feet putting everything in his mouth you can’t get much done).  I’m so pleased with the way it came out!

For my second project I made a set of pillowcases for my brother.  I, again, found this pattern on Pinterest and the name is true, the easy pillowcase.  It was maybe the easiest sewing project I’ve ever done.  Well, all the sewing projects I’ve done are super easy because I can barely sew a straight line (but that’s going to change this year, people!).  I took notes on what I needed and grabbed my coupons and went back to Jo-Ann’s.  I got a killer deal on fabric because they were running crazy sales.  I bought extra of the main fabric, the brown houndstooth, because I want to include it in a quilt I’m making for Max for his 1st birthday.  Both of these pillowcases took one afternoon, but if they were done without the ‘help’ of a baby around it probably would’ve taken only an hour or so.  Again, I was so pleased with the results and I think Cameron was too:

My third project never actually got done before Christmas.  In fact it’s still not done, but I am in the middle of it.  It’s a gift for my brother for his 21st birthday which is tomorrow (!!!).  Also found on Pinterest, and also super easy it is a picture transfer to wood.  The reason it wasn’t done for Christmas was because I waited until 3 days before to go find gel medium, which everyone seemed to be out of.  Well I got some the other day and started last night.  My only complaint is that you need about 12+ hours for this one.  Once it’s done I’ll do full review and you can see how it came out!