A Great Day!

Christmas day was a blast!  Lots of food, family and friends-noisy with lots of good smells.  And all the gifts I made were loved, yay!

Millie was happy to get her Montana State colored fleece blanket.

Syd got a stuffed spleen from Uncle Dave in Texas.

Dog photobombing.

One reason for the good smells.

The other reason for the good smells, Christmas smells.

Some of us took the dogs for a walk and got in on a fantastic Christmas sunset.

Happy birthday, Jesus

I think she liked her pillow bed!

Today I called in tired, I'm glad I have a job like that.  I'll work a little longer tomorrow.  Right now I feel like I got beat up, didn't sleep much Christmas Eve-had a food reaction that kept me up way too late, then lots of work yesterday.  Fun work, but I was dozing in my chair watching the kids play a game.  I feel blessed that I have so many great people to share the day with.

Merry Christmas to All!

Here is a small sample of why I haven't been posting lately. That and I've just been slacking.

These are pillow beds, kind of a long quadruple pillowcase, just right for sleepovers or movie watching. The three youngest grands are getting these.

PJs for the older grands and the adults.

Made a bunch of these and filled them with tiny candy canes and kisses to give to friends.

Made a few of these, some are a gift for my new friend Sherry.

My health is great, trying to stay warm. It's not as bad as it was a couple of weeks ago. On my birthday it was colder in Montana than it was at the South Pole!  But Montanans are tough, we still went out to dinner and to a local production of "White Christmas."

I'll post more pics after gift opening. Gracie and I made something special for her mom-actually I made it, she got distracted by all the fabric in my sewing room so pretty soon it turned into a sewing lesson for three kids. I ended up teaching them how to sew on fleece and they made little scarves for their stuffed animals. Grace even put "To Rosetta from Mom" on the gift tag. Too precious!

Next Kid's Mittens

After Sydney's mittens, Stan's mom's words rang in my ears, "You can't make stepchildren!"  So I started on mittens for the rest of the kids.  These are Sam's and they match a hat I made for him. 

Love that face!

Just good old Red Heart yarn, but when you're dealing with kids you want something inexpensive that will hold up.

And here is our last Christmas celebration for the season.  We met at Stan's sister's house for food and a white elephant gift exchange.  What a hoot!  Even the teenagers got into it!  Then after everybody's kids left, the brothers and sisters lingered to play a round of "Greedy, Greedy!" which is a lot like Farkle.  A nice way to usher out the old year!  The actual ushering at midnight went on without us, we were home and in bed by 10:00.

I Might Make It!!

I have finished my Christmas sewing.  All the blankets are done and ready for a really big gift bag.

I love the effect, especially if a contrasting color is used.

Isaac is a Broncos fan, like most Montanans, although he has another reason-he lived in Denver for the first five years of his life, before he was adopted by Jim and Millie.

I have a fleece panel of the Coca Cola Santa that I've been trying to decide how to finish.  I think I've found my answer, but I'm giving it a break-this is really hard on my old arthritic fingers!

I have one other project, a stealth one, that I will blog about after Sunday.  As my mother-in-law said, "Little pitchers have big ears."

Little Drummer Boy

Syd got to shine yesterday at the Sunday School Christmas program.  Not only did he have a whole 2 lines as the "Third Carpenter," he got to play the bongos for Little Drummer Boy.

 Gotta love the mix of old and new in the carpenter costume!  By the way, the boy on the far left is one day younger than Syd.  Syd is small for his age, and Johnny is big for his-makes quite a contrast!

 Saying his lines-had them down pat.  He and his dad worked hard on them.

 The keyboard player noticed how Sydney hovered over the boy playing his drum, so she set him up with the bongos.  He did really well!

Nothing cuter than little kids at a Christmas program.  I heard someone say they were glad their kids were grown and they didn't have to go to any programs.  I would miss them, even if I didn't have anybody specific to watch.

Oh, and I almost have the pajamas cut out.  Years ago, I bought some of those things you put on the bed legs to make it higher and put them on my cutting table.  Sure helped today with my touchy back.  Sometimes I wonder how long my back has been like this-I have been babying it for a long time!  Just have to cut out the bottoms for Syd and Sam's PJ's but my back yelled at me so I'm taking a break.  I really need to go back to town to buy the rest of the Christmas gifts, but I looked through the ads and wrote a battle plan so I won't have to wander and come home sore and exhausted.

BIG Shot!

After getting stinky with the spine Dr.'s assistant, I went in yesterday to get my nerve root injections.  Now I am NOT a fan of cortisone, but I was kind of between a rock and a hard place.  I had to get rid of the pain quickly so I could finish my physical therapy.

Stan had a series of these shots several years ago, but things have really changed.  He had his done sitting on the side of the table and it was almost guesswork where the doc put it.  Mine was done in a special room, lying on my stomach, and they were totally guided by a live X-ray.  They put in contrast dye to make sure they were in the right place.  They told me I would immediately feel quite a bit better, but after about 1 1/2 hours I would be back to square one and the real relief would come in 2-3 days.  I had about a 50% reduction in pain right away, but imagine my surprise when that 50% stayed away.  The only pain I had that was annoying was the injection site.  (Have you seen those needles?  They're about 6 inches long!)  Some Tylenol took care of most of that.

What the assistant didn't tell me when I made the appointment was this is a real medical procedure, not just a shot, so there were some things I should have done.  I wasn't supposed to eat, which I didn't because I was being cautious, I shouldn't have driven myself, I shouldn't go to work, and I was supposed to go right home and go to bed for 2 hours.  The only thing I got right was the no breakfast.  When the guy said I was being naughty, I chewed him out and told him that if he had informed me of these things, I could have done them!  I raced to a coffee shop, wolfed down some breakfast with the Benadryl by my side just in case of a reaction, then went home for 3 hours to rest.  But I had to get the bulletin done, so I drove back to town and worked for a couple of hours.  But then Stan remembered he had a 4:00 Santa job so he couldn't pick Sydney up from school, so I ran to Belgrade, picked him up, went back and finished the bulletin.  I then decided it was really time to go home, but as I passed the last interchange to enter Bozeman I realized I had forgotten to stop by Steve's work and pick up Syd's overnight bag.  All the way to Belgrade, turn around and go back and get the bag.  By this time I needed to get out of the car for a while so we went to a coffee shop and watched YouTube Christmas flash mob videos on my Kindle Fire.

Okay, now for home-but Stan gets home and wants to go out to eat-today is his birthday and he had a craving for Prime rib.  We just went uptown to the Oasis, a local, popular steakhouse and ate.  Finally I stood up and announced that I wanted to go home-I hoped they were done eating, but I was just done!  Went home, curled up with my blanket and went right to sleep.

I still woke up super early this morning, but I was coughing-I think I caught a cold.  I slept more soundly than I have in a long time.  Still some pain, but not like before, and I know that in a few days more of it will go away.  I feel enough better that that huge stack of newspapers on the kitchen table that Stan has left there is bugging me-didn't care a hoot about it before.  And I even had enough strength to cook a birthday pancake breakfast for him.  Resting now, but I'm heading back to town to get Stan's birthday present.  I had bagged that idea yesterday after all I had been through.  I also have to shop for gifts for the widows of the church-something we deacons do every year.  Nothing complicated, but necessary.  I feel well enough, finally, that I think I can wander around Walmart doing some shopping.

I estimate I put more that 100 miles on my car yesterday, just running back and forth.  I keep nagging Stan that we should move closer to Bozeman so we don't have to drive so far to get anywhere.  I figure that I went in the hole wage-wise yesterday-only worked a couple of hours but burned it off!

I cut out Gracie's nightgown this morning, too, so I really am on the mend I think.  Hooray-I am a very bad sickie and don't like to be held down!

Strolling

Thursday night was Manhattan's Christmas Stroll.  Of course Santa was there.  He started at the school library handing out treats to the kids, while the kids did crafts.

Sydney and Grandpa, I mean Santa!

He inhaled that candy cane!

 

They had kits for little polar bears.  Very cute!

 

Then he rode the sleigh to the bank downtown to have pictures taken with the kids.  The bank does this service for free and they are really good pictures.

 I had a really great picture of Santa among the kids on the wagon, but I didn't want to show kids' faces on the Internet with no permission, so I showed Syd instead.

Great pic of the Big Guy!

 Like a dummy, I didn't take pictures of the other grandkids when they showed up at the bank.  I'll have to steal some of Millie's.  I hung out at the bank while the kids strolled-not really up to running all over town yet.  I refer to "the bank" because in our small town there is only one bank.  They are very community minded and it really is a place where "everybody knows your name."

What I'm Up To

Let's see-the weekend was full.  Friday night Stan, Syd and I went to the Belgrade Festival of Lights just to watch the floating luminaries.  Syd even got to send one off!  I made a video, but my Sony camera saves it in a format that Facebook and Blogger don't recognize so I have to wait til Millie sends me the conversion program before I can post it.  Hope it works, it was breathtaking!  Saturday Millie picked me up and we took the two 7-year-olds to the Nutcracker.  Very, very good-great dancers and they had the Bozeman Symphony play.  It was a bit sad-the founder of the Montana Ballet Company passed away just a week ago.  She had sold the company a couple of years ago, but her mark was still on everything.  We sat on the aisle so I could get up and walk if I needed to-and I did!  Then to the Community Co-op for lunch.  Then home.  I had kind of an accident-I spaced it out as I went down the stairs and took the last step with my left foot instead of my right.  I wasn't injured and I didn't fall, but that hurt like holy h**l!  I laid my head on the bannister and sobbed.  It's fine now, and I think it even bends a bit more.  I had asked Stan to build me a short practice step, and after that he went right out to the garage and built it!

Sunday was church and our Advent supper.  I love that we get into the season so much now.  We even have three lit-up Christmas trees on the platform.  And we always light the Advent Candle.  I stayed home last night while Stan went to the Bible class.  Any excuse to be alone-something I don't get much of right now.  A lot of fun-I watched TV with my eyes closed!

This morning I made macaroons.  They are delicious-ever as good as what you get in Mazatlan.  Dulce de Coco is a regional specialty there.  The only thing-the recipe calls for parchment and all I had was wax paper.  I will NEVER make that mistake again!  The cookies were glued to the paper!  By the time I discovered it I had two pans baked, so on the last pan, I liberally applied no stick spray and took the cookies off the paper.  That worked much better!  I dampened the back of the wax paper, waited a while, and then peeled it off the stuck cookies. I have to remember to make a big note on the recipe.

Well, off to stretch out a bit and head to physical therapy.  I hope I can be at 100 degrees today, since Wednesday I was at 95.

Moving Right Along

Today I serged and prewashed the flannel.  I also made my "safe" waffles.  I make a huge batch of chocolate chocolate chip ones and put them in the freezer.  They satisfy my sweet tooth since I can't have wheat.  Takes a while, my waffle maker only makes two at a time.  That was the end of my activities for today.  Had a bite of lunch and have been messing on the computer and watching TV.

Yesterday at PT I actually went FORWARD on the exercise bike!  Jason came in just as I pushed myself to do the backward one, which I did for a while.  He raised the seat a hair more to make it a tiny bit more comfortable.  I wondered out loud if it would work going forward and before he could say anything I did it!  He was shocked and gave me a high five.  He was so thrilled he only kept me there for 30 minutes.  I am now at a 95 degree bend-I gained 5 degrees since Monday.

Every day is better, every day I walk straighter, have less pain, and have more endurance.  And it is less than two weeks til I can drive!  I am getting through this!  Tuesday at my deacons' meeting I prayed for toughness and I really think God has given that to me!

Tomorrow is work, then Saturday Millie and I are taking Sydney and Gracie to the dress rehearsal for the Nutcracker.  It's free for the little kids and only ten dollars for the adults.  This is the Montana Ballet-a very good ballet company.  It's probably one of the best companies in the state.  I am glad they do this rehearsal thing because I'd hate to pay full price just to have the kids get bored, which is what Sam did last year.  Consequently he's not going with us this year!  Sydney is a ham and loves to sing and dance so he'll be just fine.  Well, time to go warm up a leftover for supper.

Now I Can Show You

Okay, now that Christmas has come and passed, I can show you the knitting that has been taking my time.  First, I decided to make wool socks for all my immediate family:

Center:  Gracie; starting at far left and going clockwise:  Sam, Laura, my sis Judy, Sydney, Millie, Isaac, Steve, Christopher, and Jim.  A good year's work.  Stan's?  Still on the needles-I am working furiously and have just turned the heel on the last sock.  They're blue and gray like Jim's.  Both Jim and Dad are conservative dressers.  I plan on tying a ribbon around Stan's and leaving them on his pillow.  Should put a note, "Last but not least!"

Then I got a bee in my bonnet to make hats for all the kids, including the great nieces and nephews.  What I made for the boys:

I made a pattern that used a double strand of yarn for warmth.  The three littlest boys got the camo; Ethan, 7, got the blue and gray; Chris got the red and black Atlanta Falcons color; and Isaac got the blue and orange Denver Broncos color.

For the girls:

Inspired by the movie, Golden Compass, I knitted these hats with a triple strand of yarn.  They should be super warm and look really cute!

The kids were on a dead run, so this was the best I could do to get them to hold still for a picture.

And for Gracie's doll, the one I made clothes for?  She loved it.

And I did finish all the pajamas, a week late, which was OK because the flu delayed our celebration.  The three young ones spent the night on New Year's Eve and HAD to wear their PJs.

The big boys wouldn't model, darn it!

A good Christmas, but I'm glad to move on to other things, like filling out my Etsy shop.  I put one of the hats in the shop, we'll see if someone else thinks it's as good an idea as I do!

A Christmas Moment

Just a quick story.  Thursday I got a call from the young man that usually drives Santa's fire engine at the Manhattan Stroll.  He wondered if it would be possible for Santa to stop by early on Christmas Eve because his mother-in-law was dying and he just wanted to keep the kids' spirits up during this hard time.  Turns out he lives next door to my daughter-in-law's sister.  Stan stopped by yesterday and saw the man's kids and he could tell it was a really tough time for the family. 

Got a call from my daughter-in-law a while ago.  The mother-in-law passed away this morning.  He told Millie's sister that having Santa come made Christmas for them.  What a privilege Stan has to touch lives like this!

Our Day

It was a quiet day here, with only five of us-Steve, Sydney, Stan, myself, and my sister from Helena.  I miss the big group-setting up the extra tables, tons of food everywhere, playing dominoes (Syd got a Wii so there were no dominoes today) and me making lattes for everybody.  Hardly worth firing up the espresso machine today.  It was a good day though.  I could set the table in my pretty linens and goblets, and the meal was easier.  Not sure why that was because I made pretty much the same things and the same quantities as always-lots of leftovers for us.  A big prime rib, Hubby deep fried a turkey, parmesan potatoes, salads, and topping it off with raspberry cheesecake.  Whew!  It was surely a lot of food.

We were all so excited about Sydney getting a visit from Santa.  You'll never guess who was the last one out of bed-yup, Syd.  He was worn out from all the anticipation, I guess!  He loved his gifts, especially the Wii that Santa brought him.

We have another get-together with Stan's family tomorrow, and with the oldest son and his family on Friday afternoon.  We'll have a long spread-out Christmas, but that isn't so bad.  We've done it this way for as long as I've been married, and I think it's better for the kids because they don't suffer so badly from sensory overload.  My kids never did wake up at 4:00 to see what Santa brought them because they had opened all their other presents the night before.

Hubby gave me a new office chair for my sewing room-my old one is so goofy it keeps trying to buck me off!  He thinks he should have given me a new camera he saw too, something with lots of bells and whistles but tinier to fit in my purse.  I said it was OK, I was happy with what I got, but he wants to stop by Office Depot tomorrow and pick it up.  What a guy!

I've been knitting frantically, but it's all stuff I can't reveal yet.  After Friday I'll post what I made and who it goes to.  I'm even still knitting on one gift for Hubby and I'm hoping to get it done by Friday.

Hubby is needing me right now so I'd better finish this.  He makes jelly every year and gives it to his siblings and he needs my help with decorating the jars, so I'd better boogie so I can go to bed on time tonight.

I hope everybody had a wonderful Christmas!

Busy Day for Santa Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the Manhattan Christmas Stroll.  Of course Stan will be the Santa for it.  He will be at the school library first then ride a fire engine (I know-cool!) downtown to the bank where he will pose for pictures with a couple hundred kids.  The pictures are compliments of the Manhattan State Bank, something they do every year.  They print the photos right away and put them in a nice framed keepsake card.

The cool thing about tomorrow?  My three youngest grandkids get to ride in the big fire engine with Santa!  The fireman is a good friend of ours and said it would be just fine.  The firefighters are super to us anyway, they always give Stan a check to help defray the cost of his Santa goodies and the gas he burns making all his trips.  His favorite thing is to show up (prearranged) at someone's house and watch the kids' faces.  He loves it, but in recent years he has done more gatherings, clubs, churches, and day cares.  He's pushing 70 now and it's just less tiring to see the kids all at once.  Of course he's the Santa for the Manhattan grade school program too.

He still does as many house calls as he can, but the number is dwindling.  More and more of the parents are opting for the larger group setting.  For sure he visits the grandkids and he loves it when a charity group asks him to deliver gifts.  He has been asked to be a Mall Santa for years but has always turned them down.  This year his good friend, the main Mall Santa, had another important Santa job and asked him to cover for him at the mall.  He finally said yes, but they had already found someone.  It's fine, he was still not sure about that scene anyway.

I have to work but I get off at 5:00 so I'll fly home, change my clothes and pop in at the bank.  I'll miss seeing the fire engine ride but I've been promised lots of pictures.  And I'm sure the kids will be so excited I'll hear all about it!

Afterward it's our tradition for just the two of us to have a late dinner at Sir Scott's Oasis, a landmark Mom-and-Pop steakhouse.  A good day!

Here he is with Sam, our youngest grandchild.  When Sam wrote his letter to Santa this year, he made his dad add a P.S.-"I know you're really my Poppa!"

Tree!

I asked Sydney when we should put up the Christmas tree and the answer was "now!"  So that's what we did today.  I also put up my Santa wall hanging, but I'll wait a day or so to put up the rest.  Still getting over my 10 hour shift on Black Friday.  The tree does look really nice since my redecoration opened up the front window space.

A Little Something to Get Us in the Mood

Just had this video posted by a relative on Facebook.  As far as I'm concerned Christmas can't start until I've heard this piece a few times.  I've requested that it be played at my funeral.  (In 30-40 years!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp_RHnQ-jgU

Wardrobe!

I got everything I had cut out done for the dolly.

A nice warm coat complete with hood. It's lined and I learned the hard way that I should have hemmed the sleeves before sewing the side seams. Got to be kind of a pain given the tiny openings

A dress to match-this is what I lined the coat with too. Both the dress and the nightie are open in the back and close with snaps-easy for a 6-year-old. Sorry for the bedhead-the poor thing has been in Gramma Liz's closet for about 40 years. Might have to hire a dolly hairdresser.

The nightie is made of the same flannel that I used to make pajamas for Gracie. I thought she would appreciate the thought, but I did have to put a seam in the front to make it work-almost didn't have enough fabric. It's OK-it's just for sleeping, after all!

Petticoat and undies-I tried to snap the panties too, but the clever little doll wouldn't let Blogland see her undies. She looks kind of bored with the process anyway.

This dress is one that Gramma Pat started before she died. It's really supposed to fit one of those 20" bed dolls, but I adapted it. She had crocheted around the neck and sleeves, so I added the ruffle at the bottom:

I made some button loops and sewed buttons on the back-about 1" in from the edge so it would fit snugly. She got a ribbon around the waist, too.

I'll try to find shoes and socks, but even if I can't, this will still be a really meaningful Christmas gift for a little girl from several people that love her.

Pajamas

Okay, now the packages have been opened and I can reveal the pajamas I was working on.

From left to right-bottoms for Isaac and Chris, a Barbie print for Gracie, "88" Dale Earnhart Jr. for Sydney, and a car print to match Sam's hair color.

I had these cute car buttons in my stash and they worked nicely for Sam's pajamas.

"Mommy, this is just what I was wanting!"

Sam's mom said he had remarked this morning that he hoped Gramma had made him a new set of pajamas, so he was out of his mind when he opened them.

We had our gift exchange with our kids today, complete with pizza and beer for lunch. It was a fun way to do it. Jim and Millie wanted to try staying home for Christmas day, so we did the gift thing a day later. They loved being home, so I think this will be a permanent arrangement. We had one son and his family for dinner yesterday, plus my brother and his two daughters. We still had a lot of fun, even though it was a bit quieter and everybody had gone home by 6:00. It was OK, I don't know if I would have been able to stay coherent much after that.

Tomorrow we'll do the get-together with Stan's family. There will be about 30 people-a lot but not all of them-and we'll eat, play games, and open a few presents. Most of the presents will be homemade-I crocheted Swiffer covers for each couple and Stan made applesauce and crabapple jelly to go with it.

I told our kids today that we should revamp how we do gifts. My suggestion was something homemade, a voucher for chores, or food gifts. We're all pretty much set for "stuff" and making gifts seems more loving and sacrificial to me. So far my favorite gift is one Millie made-a calendar with pictures of all their kids. It looks like those slick calendars you see in the mall kiosks, but much more personal and something that won't ever get tossed.

Hubs gave me the Rosetta Stone, Spanish edition. Now maybe when I go to Mexico I won't look like an idiot.

Angels Among Us

Here is a link to inspire you on Christmas. We never know where His angels are and how they will help us.

Final Candle

This last candle represents the birth of Christ. Let's always remember why He came to Earth.

" ⁸And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. ⁹An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. ¹¹Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. ¹²This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

¹³Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
¹⁴'Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.'"Luke 2:8-14

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16

MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE!

They've Really Grown!

The header picture I was using was from two years ago. Sam was 2, Grace 3, Isaac and Chris 12. Now Isaac has grown a mile, Chris is bigger than Santa and the wee ones have turned into school-aged kids. Boy, I feel old! Santa doesn't look like he's changed, has he?