Happy New Year from William and Paul

And, you know, from me. Ring it in with joy, my dears, and the boys (vintage cross-stitch portraits, Christmas gifts from my spot-on husband) will see you in 2011!

Who, Me? A Day to Myself?

Yes, I'm already back to work--preparing for a wee post-Christmas shop update.
We had a bit of glorious sun this morning, after our two-day blizzard, and I soaked it all up with my camera and spent the day editing pictures and tidying my house and drinking chai and listening to This American Life, whilst my girl was off sledding with a friend.
Can I say this day was almost my best Christmas present? (I say almost because of the two thrifted vintage cross-stitch portraits of pipe-smoking fishermen my husband gave me--wait till you see them. I didn't know the world held so much awesome.)
Lovely.

In Which I Allow Myself to Get a Little Sentimental about Christmas

Christmas keeps amazing me. Permission to revel in the joy that can be had in the most meager of circumstances? Think about it--as a collective, we've agreed to create such warmth and fellowship that ice and snow make us feel good. Darkness becomes an occasion for candlelight.
All platitudes aside, Christmas fills me with gratitude--for the Boss crooning "Santa Claus is Coming to Town," for those weird little creatures singing their hearts out in The Grinch, for the clean white that's covering everything outside right now, so that the world looks, well, new.
And I'm grateful for these monkeys, of course, and for the Daddy that will come home soon and join us in the cozy, darkening house, the Christmas tree shedding its bits of light on all that I love.

Merry Christmas, my friends. I can't wait to see what grand ideas we cook up together in the New Year.

Last LPH--Out the Door!

It's a gray day and, so, impossible to get good pictures in natural light, but these babies had to go straight into the mail this morning to arrive in time for Taylor and Maquire to open them on the day, so...
And with that, I have completed and shipped the last of my custom orders for 2010! Now? Three kinds of Christmas cookies to bake (classic sugar cookies, chocolate peanut butter pillows, and some chai spice thing Annabelle is insisting we try--I'll let you know), gifts to wrap and some still to make, a house to clean, a Christmas Eve tapas menu and a Christmas day feast menu to plan and shop, The Grinch to watch. About all of this I am psyched.
Grading exams and portfolios and submitting final grades by the 23rd makes me a little less psyched, but I can handle it.
After all, there's no pouting allowed. Santa's coming.

Happy Little List

1. Satsumas. My husband brought me an entire grocery bag full of these delicious little gems last night, and there is something less than a bag full of them left right now. Ahem.
2. Completed Cousins. Yup, this year's version of the crazy-Christmas-deadline-super-cousins-portrait is out of my hands and off to Indiana. Whew.
3. We have a winner! Ye ol' Random Number Generator tells me it's Erika--email me your address, Miss Lady, and I'll send you a little bundle of wool-felt gift tags.

(And I would absolutely be happy to create a tutorial for these, as a couple of you suggested, but I'm guessing that will happen post-holidays. Still good for birthdays, though, right?)

Santa-Type Behavior

You know, giving things away? (I've no intension of taking up pipe smoking or moving anywhere that's even one degree colder than Maine.)
Remember these little guys (reusable, wool-felt gift tags) you all advised me about weeks ago? I have some left over from the craft fair, and if you'd like to have some, leave a comment on this post. We'll do it quick-like, so you can have 'em for your Christmas presents--I'll close the comments on Friday at midnight and send the winner a pack of six tags in assorted colors.

I can't promise not to get any fatter. So there's the giving stuff away and the cookie eating. But no smoking. I promise.

Bea, Merry and Bright

My first foray into stocking-making territory, this little wool-felt number is for the wee daughter of an old friend from high school.
The baby herself (yup, "Bea") has an insanely cute, elfish quality that inspired the red-cheeked applique.
This was really fun and, aside from some trying and retrying till I figured out the flap construction at the top there, very easy. And the best part for me, of course, was knowing the whole time I was making it what an easy pun I was going to get from the name!

17 of 26--No Faces

That's where we're at, cousin-wise.

Santa's Little Helper

Managed to drag myself away from my advent-calendar duties long enough to make these custom ornaments; they're embroidered using as a pattern a drawing my customer's husband made for his parents when he was a little boy, and they'll adorn the outside of Mom and Dad's Christmas packages this year. What a lovely idea, huh? I'm psyched to be a part of so many little surprises this season. I'd love to hear about any special handmade plans you have in the works.

Advent Madness

Yup--here's your trusty Christmas correspondent, reporting from the land of a thousand advent calendars.
I'm not sure how we got to this point--we made some of them, and some were gifts. I'm pretty sure Mark and I bought only one--the Pooh magnet set, which is from before we were even married. They seem to multiply in the night.
One thing's for sure--we're not going to forget how many days there are until Christmas.

Each day, by the time we finish velcro-ing, magnet-ing, opening boxes, and positioning toys, not to mention eating the obligatory candies, it's pretty much time to go to bed, so I'm expecting the season to fly by. ;-)
Meanwhile, I'm off to try and sneak in a little non-advent-calendar work. Whew.

Orna-mints

Amidst mad portrait making, preparing for Picnic Holiday, and grading papers, I'm not quite sure how it's happening, but lots of these sewn-to-order house ornaments are making their way into the world--and they smell delicious! The pink is partially stuffed with cinnamon bark, and the blue one with peppermint leaf. Sweet, in more ways than one!