These are a few more...

...of my favourite things.

Well, our first Christmas as a family unit has come and gone and it was just about everything one could have hoped for. There was warmness...

Yes, that would be a knock-off Snuggie. We're that lame. But he loves it and I have to admit, it's warm and toasty (I still refuse to wear the sleeves though, just on principle)

and fuzziness...



and of course, undeniable cuteness...



and plenty of that Christmas magic hanging in the air, the kind that was there when I was a kid and seems to have returned in spades. It was wonderful.

Everything pictured above are truly my most favourite things in the world, but we acquired some treasures this year that just really tickled me to no end, so I thought I would share a few of them with you.

We of course loaded up on toys for little A since she didn't have any age appropriate ones. In the weeks leading up to Christmas it was becoming increasingly difficult to make the handful of interesting toys that she did have any more interesting and I, of course, since she had no concept of what was coming, was becoming ever more anxious for the 25th to arrive so we could rip everything open and get to playing. I had started so early that honestly, on Christmas morning, I forgot what a few of the boxes contained (that could have just been an early morning mental lapse...there wasn't THAT much stuff).

I had gotten her some wooden toys, stacking and sorting, that sort of thing and she also got duplicates of those in plastic. I know wooden toys are all the rage right now, and they are beautiful and something which I can see withstanding the sands of time, but surprisingly, I find myself keeping those out of reach or really only for carefully supervised play since I've discovered that one of little A's favourite activities is to take the bucket of plastic sorting shapes and dump them on her head while lying down. Same goes for the ring stacking toy. I bought her the Melissa and Doug version and her grandparents sent her the Fisher Price version and I have yet to bring out the M & D one since Christmas morning. During the first test drive, the stacking rings naturally ended up discarded on the floor and the most fascinating element of the toy was the wooden peg, which instilled horrific visions of poked out eyes and dislodged uvula's. Maybe she's just a bit too young for them yet, I don't know.



But that's a bit off topic. Santa brought the Fisher Price farm, which I thought might take some time for little A to warm up to or perhaps she'd have to be a bit older to really want to play with it, but she loves it :) She makes her way over to it and opens and closes the little doors, plays with the animals and the best part...her favourite is the sheep. I love playing with her and watching her discover it for herself.

My other favourite gift of hers came from her father. He bought her
Snacktime, the Barenaked Ladies kids album. I love this on two levels; one, the album itself is really good and two, I had put this on my own Amazon wish list that I gave him as a rough guide for present ideas and he picked up on the subtle hint. He's awesome. I played it on Boxing Day morning and just giggled and beamed to myself as I listened. I got unreasonably excited about the first song in the Snacktime trilogy (middle of the album) where a bunch of Canadian celebrities tell what their favourite snacks are. Gord Downie, David Suzuki, Geddy Lee...very cool. I found myself humming the songs all day.

Perhaps my most favourite gift of hers was this book, You Are My Miracle. Don't even think, just go buy it if you have children. Don't read it in the bookstore though, it's a crying book. Meaning, it'll have you sobbing by the third page. As a matter of fact, I get choked up just thinking about it. It's so beautiful in illustration and in sentiment and perfectly conveys those tender and fleeting moments parents experience with a child. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll ever be able to read it to her, since I completely lose it before I even crack the cover. I think it'll just be the kind of book that I open up every once in a while and cry and will keep to give to her when she grows up...and cry. Don't let all the crying throw you off...it's a must have in my opinion.

I was hoping to show off some holiday crafts here as well, but this post has already taken me days to compose and really all I want to do today (now New Years Day) is sit and do very little. I was promised last night's leftover lobster in today's scrambled eggs with mimosa's and I'm not sure how much more patient I can be. I might need to kick the constable's butt out of bed here before too long.

I hope everyone had a lovely and safe holiday. Cheers y'all. Until later...

Counting Down...

So let's just take care of business right off the hop. There have been requests, so here she is, in all her knitty glory. She's right at the perfect age where all of the wonderful knitty stuff that she received for her shower and some of the items I made many moons ago in hopes that one day someone tiny would model them for me now fit. In the next few A related posts, I hope to showcase these lovely items. First up is this little pink bolero knit by one of my blog-free (and therefore shall remain nameless) Knit Nite compatriots. Adorable.

Little A is eight months now and just so damn smart it blows me away. Thus far, we have mastered feeding oneself finger foods, sippy cup, rolling over, being adorable and infectious giggling. We're moving onto standing. Got places to go people. I think she just got over a bit of a growth spurt too, cuz she was grumpy grumpy grumpy (in addition to not sleeping) and my efforts were all for nought. At some point, the most valuable pearl of wisdom about parenting that I ever heard (which came from my sister-in-law) crossed my mind; just when you think that you can't take it (it being whatever may be going on at that moment) any longer, it'll change. And so it did. That happy, ever laid back and contented baby has returned. All's right with the world again.



Now this. All I can say is Ididit Ididit Ididit Ididit. Little excited. It's my advent calendar. I actually frickin' did it. I started and finished the sewing yesterday, in between naps and feedings and playing-withs and diaper changes and instructing the father-person to keep an eye on the offspring. I even have handmade ornaments, though only about a half dozen or so, so far. I still need to attach some numbers to the pockets, but I have all of the supplies and hope to get that piece of the project done tomorrow.

How it'll work is that there will be an ornament and a treat in each pocket, (and as wee one gets older, a little card with a Christmas related activity on it, ie. baking cookies, going sledding, make hot chocolate, read a Christmas book etc.) and the ornament will go on the little tree there (the one with the green lights on it...the other is a salt and pepper shaker. There is a top and bottom half. It's wonderfully cheesy) and the treat will, of course, get eaten. For now, the treats are purely for the constable's enjoyment. He is a big kid himself, after all.

The greatest thing about this project? I had all of the supplies in my stash. I've had the Christmas fabric for years and have been waiting for the perfect project to break them out on. The canvas backing I bought with another project in mind, but never got around to it. And the empty wrapping paper roll...well, that's pretty self explanatory. Actually, it's only temporary. I've misplaced the wooden dowel that I know is around here somewhere.

Anyhow, I'm pretty pleased with myself. It's very Christmas-crafty, but I'm okay with that. I think I may be entering that phase of my life. My most immediate phase needs to be sleep though, so I'm off. Until later...

What's In a Tradition...

I was scolded twice this week for my lapse in blogging, so I thought I'd better get my rear in gear and freshen things up a bit, lest I lose all of my readers entirely. I've been watching my Sitemeter report dwindle bit by bit over the last few weeks. To be honest, I just haven't been in the mood. A bit of a pre-winter funk perhaps, I don't know. Everyone tells you that you won't have time for this or that when a baby comes into your life. That's not entirely true. There is still time for crafts or reading or whatever your form of recreation is, if you make it. Just maybe not as much as you would like. But what they neglect to tell you is that when you do get a chunk of free time for crafting or reading or whathaveyou, you may not give a tiny rats ass about doing any of that.

I'm still managing to knit, when I feel like it, and am still producing a respectable amount of finished product. I can't show all of it here, as some are gifts and the last time I posted some of those, it totally backfired on me :) But I can't seem to recall the last time I actually read anything of substance. I've tried. Maybe I just haven't found the right book yet. Here's hoping Christmas yields something worthwhile. I really need to make more of a habit of it though. I really am getting stupider by the day.

So anyway, it's Christmas time again. The mind boggles. I was round about 30 wks. pregnant this time last year, all anticipation and fluid retention. Now the Bean is here and babbling and rolling and cutting a tooth and wonder of wonders, I'm not as much of a humbug as I used to be. I loaded up on some new decorations yesterday at Canadian Tire and am already planning my next trip back to get more. By the way, is it just me or does it really grind anyone else's gears when you come across really adorable holiday ornaments that are produced to look homemade and are priced so cheaply that there is no conceivable way that you could amass the materials or the time to make them yourself? This was my 'to hell with it' moment and I've been loading up on this crap like there is no tomorrow. I should post a picture of some of them though...seriously cute.

Where was I? See? Totally stupid. Right...Christmas. Really, it's all about the kids, no? And now that I have one, I've been doing some serious thinking about what I want this holiday to be for her, how I want it to play out in her memory over the years. I was with some friends the other night and they got to talking about the big Catholic Christmases of their youth. Lots of food and family. Sounded nice. I didn't grow up with any sort of religious tradition, so Christmas was more an orgy of consumption and excess, which over the years became what you'd expect...devoid of meaning or any sort of staying power. And there were some just plain old rotten Christmases that left a rather bitter taste in my mouth about the whole damn thing.

Sometimes at the beginning of the season (which, frankly, starts earlier and earlier every year. Christmas music in October...*gag*) I still get the cringe twinge and a shudder up my back. But I've found the earlier I get everything ready and in place, the happier I am about it all. So far, I'm right on track this year. If all goes according to plan this week, everything will be complete. We just need the tree, a little decorating on my part left to do (lights outside are the constable's department), some packages put into the mail and it's Feliz Navidad before you know it. My goal is always to be over 50% done by Dec. 1. I'm quite proud of myself for having achieved that this year.

I'm still trying to come up with what sort of traditions we will implement over the years, but I'm sure they will evolve over time. I've decided on a couple of things though. First up, I'd like to make an advent calendar. I decided I wanted to make on one, oh, the 26th of November? Yeah. Shut up...there's still time. There are a bunch of lovely ones over here in a Flickr pool. I got some great ideas from these.



My other idea where Little A was concerned were three must have items; new Christmas jammies, a pair of hand knit socks and if possible, a new hand knit sweater, until she reaches the age where that sort of thing is no longer cool. And if you can believe it, I've made good on all three. Above are the Flakey Baby Socks that I've had my eye on for a couple of years. I omitted a repeat, but other than that, followed it pretty much to the letter. Since these are done in a worsted weight, they work up in no time. Adorable.



The sweater is almost done, another Classic Cable from Top Down for Toddlers. This has taken me for what feels like forever, simply because other things grab my attention. I need to learn not to hold myself to my old speed standards. Anyhow, there is a glaring error in the cable but at least I did it on both sides (cable is repeated on the front and the back) so we'll call it a design modification and just move on. I think this is *just* going to fit her and maybe not for very long. It's a 1 year size and looks like it might be a wee bit snug already. But we'll see after it's washed and blocked.

That's all the crafting I've done for her so far this year. And I'm pretty satisfied with that. Since the rest of the shopping and the crafting I had planned on is pretty much in the bag, whatever else I can manage will be a nice little bonus. We shall see. For now I'm off to hit up the craft sale down at the fire hall. Look at me go.

Until later...