Christmas

There is just no way I can write this blog without making your jealous. Seriously. But I was so touched that I can't not share it either. (Don't you hate double negatives?) So here goes. A couple of days before Christmas, my postman left a slip in my mailbox saying I missed a delivery. Really? I was home all day and my dogs light up if someone gets near our house. So I'm thinking he was a bit over taxed, and didn't even try. But I digress. 

Anyway, Tim happily ran to the post office for me and stood in a line that wrapped the building (again, another brag on my guy :) and brought home the package. It was from Israel. I did a quick mental check list to see if I was expecting a package from Israel. Nope.

When I opened it up, I got a lovely, lovely note from Daria from Art of Felting, and the following heart stopping GIFTS...

Spring Maiden
 

It is now time to focus on our family's wondrous holiday events, so we will be tucking Wee Folk Art in until January 2, 2012. No matter how you celebrate the season, we hope you are surrounded by those you love.

A few days ago I was poking around in Etsy, when I came upon this awesome shop, ATERGcrochet, owned by Greta Tulner, from Netherlands. It is one of the most colorful shops in Etsy World, and I immediately fell in love with her crocheted creations. I was especially drawn to her beautiful Crocheted Christmas balls.

Aren't they incredible? Well, she sells the pattern for them, and although I am a crocheting noob, I decided to stretch a bit, and I purchased a pattern. The design is lovely, but I also fell in love with the yarn she used. It is 100% cotton, and has a lovely sheen and gorgeous colors. 

The yarn is Schachenmayr SMC "Catania" and is made in Hungary, but I found an US store that carries the yarn. I purchased my yarn from Yarn Paradise. I just received them this evening... super fast delivery BTW... I just ordered them 2 days ago! I was thrilled when I opened the box and saw them. The colors are so vibrant and the yarn feels soft, smooth and lovely. I bought 12 different colors so I should be able to make some very colorful balls. I can't wait to get to work with this yarn.

Given the fact that Christmas is just around the corner, and I really don't know much about crocheting, I don't know if I'll get any done for this Christmas. But it's never too early to start on next Christmas, right? :)

BTW... We now have a button up to visit us on Pinterest. Hope you stop by :)

Last month I shared a recipe for Kahlua and Butterscotch Liqueur. It has aged for a whopping 30 days and is ready for drinking, I mean gift giving :) Must admit we tried both. Can't very likely give something away without a little quality testing. Findings... although the Kahlua recipes SAYS it's ready to drink in 30 days, I learned from years of my dad making Kahlua... the longer it ages, the better it is. Although I would certainly drink a tumbler of the Kahlua on the rocks... even better if mixed with heavy cream... it will even be more yummy if it sits for a few months. So, I will try to show some restraint, and let our bottles age a bit more. On the other hand, the butterscotch liqueur is beyond yummy. And although I'm willing to bet it too will improve with age, I'm not sure it will stand a chance!

Of course, we couldn't send these off into the world without proper labeling. We found some wonderful Arched Labels #22809 from Avery. They have software to download at their site so you can customize your labels. The next challenge was to come up with a name. Since our last name is "Wise", we wanted to come up with a cute play on words. Tim thought back to the playground names he was called as a youth. Most were not "family friendly", so we chose "Wise Acre". Not a term you hear often today, but for you youngin's, a wiseacre is "one who pretends to knowledge or cleverness"... it's like calling someone a smart acleck.

So, we are now officially done with our holiday gifts. All of our kith and kin will be receiving our homemade liqueurs this year. Tim and I are hopeful that these libations not only warm the body, but the heart, too :) Although there are only 4 gifts under our tree this year, the ones for the grandbabies, it is indeed a glorious holiday season! We are now ready to turn our focus to simply enjoying time with the family and making a million new memories :)

Pixie is a sorter. Actually, she was born a sorter. Seems like from the minute she could collect a stash of toys around herself, she was dividing things into piles. Sometimes the categorizations were self evident, other times, we just had to assume their was method to her madness :) To this day, given a chance, she sorts. Just ask Bug. He can leave his Legos for just a bit, and when he returns, Pixie will have sorted the pieces by color! (Not always a welcomed turn of events, I might add!)

So, I have no doubt that Pixie will love her new toys. Like Little Lady, I made Pixie a rainbow drawstring bag. Inside the bag she will find:

Acorns a plenty, to be sorted, used in the kitchen, and I'm sure in various ways with her wee folks. (There are 18... 3 of each color.)

And when she is in the mood to sort her acorns, she'll have matching bowls to hold them. Although I know they will also be used to hold her doll's soup and her bear's porridge.

Then, there are 12 pots, which hold the acorns quite nicely, concealing their color. By placing 6 pairs of acorns in the pots, and mixing them up, she can play a wonderful memory matching game, by herself, or with a friend.

All of the wood was unfinished, and I sanded them, stained the acorn caps, the outside of the bowls and the pots using a non-toxic, soy based stain. I then painted the bowl interiors and the acorns using a non-toxic, soy based paint. Finally, I finished them with a beeswax finish. (BTW... all of these supplies will be available when our shop opens in 2012 :)

Then, her gift includes this lovely wooden rainbow arch with two teeny tiny gnomes. I purchased these from Armadillo Dreams on Etsy.

Finally, I bought her the lovely book, Around the Year, by Elsa Beskow. Such a sweet little book, filled with a poem for each month. Her illustrations are gentle and peaceful. A pure delight as are all of Elsa's books.

So there you have it. This year's Christmas gifts for our 4 grandbabies. What a joy to prepare gifts for children. Hopefully, these are gifts that will long be cherished :)

BTW... I WILL have the tute for the drawstring bag posted soon!