Off time

I have taken some days off between Christmas and New Year's:
to enjoy time with my family
to finish up some projects I don't want to contend with into January
to get some much needed rest between family time and project time
to savor the last bit of the most wonderful time of the year


So far so good!
the first day after Christmas I spent dining and shopping with my children
the second day after Christmas I spent dining and shopping with my husband
the third day after Christmas I spent in my pajamas sorting pictures
today, day four, I did some cooking for the weekend, work on some of the aforementioned projects, and played with my grandbaby.

I made some plans with some friends for events as far out as Valentine's Day.
As I approach bedtime this night I am quite satisfied with the way my time off has been spent.

I have thank you notes still to write. There are still some projects left to finish. But I have some time left. And that's always nice...

Gingerbread kits

 

Today I delivered homemade Gingerbread kits to friends who have small children. I assembled them from as many different kinds of traditional candies as I could gather. My hope is that sometime during the next few days the kits will serve to occupy little ones anxiously await Christmas morning and will provide the makings of a fun memory.

Last year we made snowman kits for friends and family, though few had enough snow to use them. They, like the gingerbread kits are intended to be the stuff memories are made using. At least if we get the kind of weather that is being predicted, the recipients of our gifts will have everything ready for snowman making.

g'baby smocked

 

Last weekend we attended my grand nephew Pierce's baby dedication. It was a sweet, sweet family time. In the wake of the tragedy in Conneticut the idea of promising formally and as a group to encourage this  precious little life to know and love Jesus seemed all the more important.
My grandbaby was in attendance to watch her baby cousin prayed over by ministers of the Gospel and to hear our vows to love and encourage him to be a follower of Christ.
I dressed her in a little red dress that her Aunt Katie wore for Christmas the year she was in kindergarten.
Besides me being happy she was wearing something smocked, I was happy, too, that for this family event she had on something with family history. She has her own dress to wear for Christmas with the family but for this special event I am pleased she wore this special dress. 

Hall decking, continued

Another weekend and more hall decking was done at our house. The dining room is all bedecked for the holidays. There is a wreath on the front door. We made  more progress on the tree. Some old but much beloved wreaths were reworked.
A small tree was lighted in the breakfast room and stands waiting for decorations to be hung from it.
Some wrapping has been done.
Soon it will be on to the baking. There are cards to ready for mailing and packages, too.


Below is the result of some of the hall decking we've done so far, I am happy enough with the results to want to sing "Falalalala, lalalala....

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Back to Middle Earth

Early this morning some of my favorite folk and I went back to middle earth after a long absence.
The almost three hours we spent back there wasn't nearly long enough.
From 12:01 a.m. until almost 3 a.m. we travelled back to the shire, to rivendell, to moria, among other places in "The Hobbit" at a special showing.
It's not surprising that we were all excited after our nine year wait for its premier.
We loved it, because:

• It was enough like the Trilogy to feel familiar and enough unlike them to keep us interested.
• A lot of our favorite characters were portrayed once again by their Trilogy actors. It was fabulous seeing  Elijah Wood as Frodo, Ian McKellen as Gandalf, Cate Blanchett as Lady Galadriel, Hugo Weaving as Elrond, once again.
• Characters particular to the Hobbit were well played. I especially loved the brown wizard and his rabbit sled (though what looked to be bird poo on his beard bothered me!)
• The dwarves with their personas and personalities were charming.
• The links between bridging time and story line, especially those involving the young Bilbo and Gollum moved us along the journey nicely.
•  The familiar and altogether new were woven together by Howard Shore's soundtrack and by dialogue cleverly creating a seamless thread of the tale(s).
• The cinematography was amazing, as before.

Even my husband who is not such a big fan admitted it did not seem like an almost three hour long movie. I am hoping that means he will go back with me to visit again soon!

Some Hall Decking

 

We did some hall decking this weekend. The hub was a big help. We got the tree up and got it partially decorated. I thought the granbaby would be more excited about the tree trimming than she turned out to be. She was much more interested in playing in the tubs the decorations came out of.
She wanted me to push her around the kitchen and "go real fast."
No wonder since her mother once pulled her to our house in the snow in her own custom made carriage sled aka a Rubbermaid tub lined with blankets. She's attached a belt to the handle to pull the tub. She was too young then to holler "mush" though it would have been more than funny if she could have.
She's grown up enough to order a couple of grandparents around doing her bidding instead of putting up decorations. When she left our house to attend her first ever sleep over, we were too tired from "mushing" to get a lot done.
Her granddaddy reckoned that she was too young for sleepovers and that she would not make the night. Text messages back and forth revealed that he was wrong. She not only made the night but made it to 1 a.m., as did several of her friends before falling asleep.
I am not sure the child has ever been up past midnight until now.
She's doing lots of big girl things these days. Dare I hope that by next year she will more more interested in hanging ornaments than riding around in a storage bin?

on the ready

 

My last blog entry and discussion of the Lord of the Rings and how I came to be such a fan of the movies and all things Tolkien has got me thinking that maybe it's time I enjoyed them once again. I have vacation days coming up soon and the book and movies are, after all, close by...

Back to Middle Earth

 I became a fan of J.R.R. Tokien rather unintentionally.
I was recovering from a nasty bout with the flu when the last of The Lord of the Ring trilogy was released.
My daughter and several of her friends were watching the first two LOTR movies in anticipation of/preparation for the third.
I watched parts of "The Fellowship" and "Two Towers" between cat naps but did not see enough of them to put together how the creatures and subcreatures and wizards and little men with hairy feet were connected. The kids tried to explain to me. I was more confused.
Finally I decided to watch the movies all the way through. I didn't feel well enough to do much else. Folks at work did not relish my return until I was clear of fever for at least a day.
Half way through the "Fellowship" I was intrigued. By the end of "Two Towers" I was hooked. I did not mind the length of "Return of the King" and in fact, relished every minute of it. On several long afternoon between Christmas and New Years that season, I read the Trilogy. I read the appendices. Then I read "The Hobbit" Then I began looking for other Tolkien works to read.
The husband bought me the boxed set of the trilogy the day it was was released. The kids and I hunkered down and watch it, twice, if my recollection serves me.

We've watched the movies many times since (including appendices!) We can quote much of the dialogue. And we've waited on and discussed the release of "The Hobbit" of a come full circle completion of sorts.
The possibility looked iffy during the time Peter Jackson and Company were negotiating the rights to film the prequel with the Tolkien heirs. I held my breath waiting to see whether the LOTR actors would be playing the roles they'd made famous. Now, all that's left to decide is whether this movie will live up to the hype the way other three films did.
I may have become a fan late, but a die hard fan I became. I expect the same will be true this time.

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It's almost here

I've been counting down the days for months.
I thought about making a paper chain.
I am so excited I can hardly stand it!
Today is December 7 and though Christmas is just around the corner it's not Christmas I am counting down to... Rather it is the premier of "the Hobbit" I am excited about.
One week from today is premier day! It's been a long time coming and I am happy it's almost here.
I have become a serious Tolkien fan. It wasn't always so.
I tried to read the Hobbit in high school. I quickly decided it wasn't my cup of tea.
I didn't finally finish what I started back then until the Christmas season of 2004.
By then I was a fan of the Lord of the Ring trilogy...or at least the movie version of them.
That I will be watching the prequel at this time a week from now makes me very happy.


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Finals Bracelet

The puppy I blogged about earlier this year is back at my house, albeit temporarily. The apartment where she resides has become the site of much study and angst as law school finals approach. The puppy, whose name is Parker, has settled in just fine. The permanent residents of our home are having some difficulty readjusting to her but they will survive.
Parker's pet, my baby daughter, will also survive finals. Though I am sure at this moment she is not so sure, I know the stuff of which she's made. She comes from strong stock. She is a smart girl. She'll be fine.
A dear friend of ours, sent a packagea few weeks ago. Contained therein, was a cherub charm.The charm, was a gift of my baby daughter to our friend, more than a few moons ago, when said friend was preparing to take her own law school finals.
Full circle, the little cherub charm has come I attached the charm to a pearl bracelet, since a pearl is the baby daughter's birthstone. I added a charm to communicate my confidence and good wishes. I hope that during those long minutes when she is trying to recall the rules of civil procedure or elements of some of the torts, she will look down at the bracelet and know that two people  who love her can sympathize and empathize. And she can also be reminded that her pooch is in good hands.



 

thanksgiving table

I am going to admit that this year, I particularly hated to take down autumn/Thanksgiving decorations. Autumn is my favorite season. Thanksgiving may well be my favorite holiday.
Many of the decorations I use were given to me by people I love very much. Some of them, I miss very much, too, which make reminders of them even more meaningful.

Other of the decorations I have used for many years. Those survived the childhoods of my children and several moves across several states. More recent acquisitions are the product of time I spent with my grandbaby making decorations.
 

 

This year we made a cascade of falling leaving to hang from the light fixture in the diing room, over the table. I told her the story, earlier in the season, of how the first fall after she was born, she was colicky and I pulled a rocking chair into the breakfast room where she and I could watch the leaves fall. Her second autumn, she stood with me at the great wide windows of the same room and watched as the leaves "danced."The next year, we went outside and "danced" with them.

We decided it would be fun to make leaves dance inside, right over the dining table. And so we did.

• Right over pieces of my mother-in-law's FriendlyVillage pieces that have been added to for my daughter's use.

• Above my Grandmother's Currier and Ives Trivet.
• Leaves "danced" above the dining table on this, my grandbaby's kindergarten year, over the paper mache Pilgrim and Indian couples I bought the year her Aunt Katie started kindergarten.

I truly hated to take it all down.
Even now, I am thinking about what to do for the Christmas season that we would enjoy as much.
Any ideas?

Ready, set... official start of the holidays

The grandbaby is spending the night tonight and at the moment we are watching "Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer." We helped my Mom deck her halls all afternoon. When we got to my house, the grandbaby said she was too tired for anything but a movie before bedtime "Rudolph" was her choice and I am glad. I am ready to kick off the holidays.
We actually started last night with our Amy's annual Christmas concert in which she played in a handbell choir.
Today is the first day of Advent. We will be counting the days from today onward added ornaments to an advent tree that my children used for many years.