Five for Friday: Didn't Do

This Five for Friday list is 5 things that I didn't do this year for Christmas.  In an effort to put less stress on myself (and my family), capture that elusive Christmas Spirit, hang on to it with all my might...and smile more this season.

1.  I'm not sending Christmas cards. Sorry if you're disappointed.  I'm considering sending a Happy New Year's card with a photo of the whole family sometime in January.  I know many of our friends and relatives like to see how the kids have grown so I'd like to send something. Being so far away from a bunch of people we love, I really need to send something.  It can wait.

2.  I did A LOT of shopping online this year.  In fact, most of my shopping I did online.  It's wonderful when you can shop in your comfy-cozies; no crowds, rude people, nasty sales people and weather to contend with.

3.  We FINALLY bought a new fake Christmas tree.  The last one we bought while we were living in the house on Stanford Avenue in La Mesa...let's see...at least 12 years we had that tree! We bought a pre-lit tree.  I was poo-pooing it because I was concerned about the lights not working when we unpack it next year.  Who cares! It was so easy to get the tree up...no unwrapping the lights, laying them out to see if they still worked, running to Target to get more lights, stringing them on the tree...it's all done for you! I highly recommend a pre-lit tree, you will whine less and smile more.
 
4.  To say that I have a lot of Christmas ornaments is a gross understatement.  I have hundreds!! I have enough to decorate two 6' trees, easy. They're all cute...very few actual Christmas "balls" and traditional stuff like that...they're stuff you'd buy at craft fairs or hand make.  Really beautiful to look at...I love them all and each holds a wonderful memory or story.  BUT put all these ornaments on the tree and you can't even see the TREE!!  In fact, it's so many, you can't even see the ornaments when looking at the tree...just looks like a sea of stuff. Ok, so this year, we only put up about half of them.  Now you can see each ornament and the tree as well. I store them in two large boxes...so one box was unpacked and each one lovingly placed on the tree.  In the other box I placed a piece of typing paper (yes, I call it typing paper not computer or printer paper, so there) and wrote "2014" so I'd know which one to use next year.  Nice, huh?  I have to admit, I was a little sad about this but I decided it was more fun (less grumbling about too many ornaments and not enough room on the tree) and I'd probably appreciate seeing the ornaments in the 2014 box even more.

5.  And lastly, I didn't make myself crazy this year trying to knit a bunch of stuff for Christmas presents.  It's very stressful to knit with a deadline, which is closer than you think if you have to mail something across the country. Oh, people will be getting hand knit stuff because I knit up and set aside certain projects throughout the year.  It's called planning ahead and every once in a while I actually do just that.

Five for Friday

I love to watch Christmas movies.  I love them so much that I watch them all year round.  I usually stop in late summer so that when Christmastime comes around they're a bit fresher and I won't be able to say, "Oh, I just watched that."  Here are my top five favorites.

1.  The Santa Clause
     "Just because you can't see something, doesn't mean it doesn't exist."
     "Can we take a direct flight back to reality, or do we have to change planes in          Denver?"

2.  Elf
     "The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear."
     "Um, your father...he's on the naughty list."   NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

3.  A Christmas Story
     "I TRIPLE-dog-dare ya!"
     "Only I didn't say "Fudge."  I said THE word, the big one, the queen-mother            of dirty words, the "F-dash-dash-dash" word!

4.  Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
     "No doe of mine is gonna be seen with a Rrrrred-Nosed Rrrrrreindeer!"

5.  Love Actually
     "Let's go get the shit kicked out of us by love!"
     "Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals         gate at Heathrow Airport.  General opinion's starting to make our that we live         in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that.  It seems to me that love is       everywhere.  Often, it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's                 always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husband and wives,         boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends.  When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as         far as I know, none of the phone calls from the people on board were                     messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for         it, I've got a sneaky feeling you'll find that love actually is all around."

Boogie your blues away with Mr. Santa

It's hard sometimes to get into the Christmas Spirit. This year, I think, is very hard because it's such a short season. Only 20 days till Christmas Eve.  Sorry I said that now. 

Here's video to help put you in the mood.  Bob your head or shake your tail feather...but put a smile on your face and embrace your inner Santa!

Five for Friday

Five reasons I love having Veronica home from college:

1.  I have a friend to hang out with all day.

2.  She'd rather have a home cooked mean then go out and eat.  That's me too.

3.  This time she asked if I had any leftover yarn from the school-colored stuff I knit her and Alan last year.  I did (plenty, as I'm a yarn snob and will only knit with acrylic as a last resort). She said she wanted to knit a UF color hat for her friend.  I gave her the yarn and a needle and she's knitting away! She remembered how to cast on and everything!  In fact...she's almost done. Awesome.

4.  I love having her under my roof and not far away.  There's a calming feeling I have when all my kids are together under my roof.

5.  When she's home Gracie is so happy.  The best is when V's holding her and Gracie is sound asleep in her arms.  The both look pretty happy, in fact.

Chance of Showers

So when mom was visiting, she treated me to this beautiful yarn! We picked out a pattern called Chance of Showers and both decided to knit it up. I finished mine last week! Mom is starting her after her current vacation.  Great pattern, well written, full of short row shaping and easy construction (Not totally seamless, but almost...one short seam under the arms.).  Here's my project page on Ravelry if you want to add it to your queue.  

(Non-ravellers just ignore. My heart weeps for you, but ignore all the same.)

Colorful Neighborhood

 The neighborhood is filling up with leaves.  

And some of the trees look like they're on fire.

 Random leaves on the ground.  I'm particularly fond of the brilliant red sprinkled among his dry friends.

 And orange, too.

 Sometimes the "oops" photo turns out to be interesting too.

 My favorite tree in the neighborhood.

 Watercolor maple leaves.

 The wooded trail back home has stretches of bridges and raised walkways...all covered with oak leaves in every shade of brown imaginable.

 Many leaves still to fall and soon this water will crack with ice. And ducks will put on a funny show, slipping on the ice.

 Weird, huh?

 Beautiful view from our dock.  Enjoying every minute before I turn around twice and the trees are gray with bare branches.  

Andy on women over 40

This was posted on Facebook but I know a lot of people don't do FB, so I'm posting it here so you won't miss it. It made me laugh out loud. I think you will too.

CBS commentator, Andy Rooney on women over 40: "As I grow in age, I value women over 40 most of all. Here are just a few reasons why: A woman over 40 will never wake you in the middle of the night and ask, 'What are you thinking?' She doesn't care what you think. If a woman over 40 doesn't want to watch the game, she doesn't sit around whining about it. She does something she wants to do, and it's usually more interesting. Women over 40 are dignified. They seldom have a screaming match with you at the opera or in the middle of an expensive restaurant. Of course, if you deserve it, they won't hesitate to shoot you if they think they can get away with it. Older women are generous with praise, often undeserved. They know what it's like to be unappreciated. Women get psychic as they age. You never have to confess your sins to a woman over 40. Once you get past a wrinkle or two, a woman over 40 is far sexier than her younger counterpart. Older women are forthright and honest. They'll tell you right off if you are a jerk if you are acting like one. You don't ever have to wonder where you stand with her. Yes, we praise women over 40 for a multitude of reasons. Unfortunately, it's not reciprocal. For every stunning, smart, well-coiffed, hot woman over 40, there is a bald, paunchy relic in yellow pants making a fool of himself with some 22-year old waitress. Ladies, I apologize. For all those men who say, 'Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?', here's an update for you. Nowadays 80% of women are against marriage. Why? Because women realize it's not worth buying an entire pig just to get a little sausage!