Camp Creek Press

Well, I managed to sneak in a couple of handmade projects for the holidays after all.

I've been wanting to make new stockings for the boys for quite awhile (*quite* awhile), and along about December 23 I decided I would go ahead and whip them up.

Inspired by this book (isbn #4-579-11012-9), Freehand Embroidery, as well as the traditional felt stocking of my youth, I embroidered their names onto grey flannel. Everyone chose a different red and white cotton for the inside of their stocking. (Oh, yes, I'm making them for the grown-ups as well, although those didn't get finished by Christmas.)

It is embarrassing how quickly these came together considering how long I procrastinated before making them. So easy!

We're still floating through our low-key holiday.

Feeling good about deciding to skip the big party this year.

Getting together with family and friends casually, in smaller groups.

None of that "they drove all the way from Chicago and I hardly got to talk to them" dismay.

Some great early- January plans to look forward to.

Lovely breakfast and people watching at the cafe. Hot chocolate for the boys.

Wearing flannel pajamas all day. Watching the birds.

Inspired by Meg, here's my "December Mix" that's been our slow holiday soundtrack. I wish I could send you all a mix cd, but maybe you'll find something new here to enjoy.

1. Christmas Time is Here • Shawn Colvin
2. The Winter Song • Eisley
3. River • Alison Krauss
4. Silent Night/Away in a Manger • Relient K
5. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen • Barenaked Ladies/Sarah McLachlan
6. Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) • Death Cab for Cutie
7. Maybe This Christmas • Ron Sexsmith

8. Xmas Cake • Rilo Kiley
9. Rudy • The Be Good Tanyas
10. A Great Big Sled • The Killers
11. Donna & Blitzen • Badly Drawn boy
12. We're Goin' to the Country! • Sufjan Stevens
13. Christmas Time is Here • Ivy
14. It Came Upon a Midnight Clear • Sixpence None the Richer
15. All That I Want • The Weepies
16. Go Tell It on the Mountain • Oh Susanna
17. Spotlight on Christmas • Rufus Wainwright
18. Come on! Let's Boogey to the Elf Dance! • Sufjan Stevens
19. Run Rudolph Run • Mary Karlzen
20. Twelve Days of Christmas • Bob & Doug McKenzie

At the last minute, I thought of decorating my holiday cards with my Moo stickers. That's Domi playing in the snow last winter.

Today we drove to the place where we get our frasier fir (best tree ever) every year and the lot was mostly empty. We quickly picked out a lovely, symmetrical little winner (no Charlie Brown spindly sad guy for us) and then found out procrastinators are rewarded with 30% off. A nice contribution toward the lovely lunch we treated ourselves to. :^)

We then dashed into two stores to grab (1) groceries and (2) Elf, and both times I was stopped on my way out of the store for a virtual pat-down. Either I look particularly shifty today or the stores are cracking down on shoplifting.

(Me: "Do I look particularly shifty today?" Dominic: "Well, I wouldn't mess with you.")

Tonight it is Elf and rice krispie treats. (How much do I love Miles Finch? "No farms. Everyone's pushing small town rural. A farm book would just be white noise.") Last night it was "It's a Wonderful Life" and traditional cut-out cookies. Sooooo good. (My favorite part is when Clarence says, "Don't you see, George? You really had a wonderful life.") We'll eat rice krispie treats in front of the fire and discuss whether we have enough white LEGOs left to make the Ghostbusters car. (That, by the way, is my ideal mom vehicle — I once saw a similar 70s-era hearse-type car and swooned with delight, while my practical husband smacked me on the back of my head.)

(Speaking of Miles Finch, if you haven't already seen it, we loved The Station Agent.)

And the Grinch, with his grinch-feet ice-cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling: "How could it be so? "It came without ribbons! It came without tags! It came without packages, boxes or bags!" And he puzzled and puzzed, till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't thought of before! "Maybe Christmas," he thought, "doesn't come from a store. "Maybe Christmas ... perhaps ... means a little bit more!" — The Grinch Who Stole Christmas

I was at the Magic Window for fifteen minutes before a man approached me and said, 'You look so @&%!# stupid.' I have to admit that he had a point. But still, I wanted to say that at least I get paid to look stupid, that he gives it away for free. But I can't say things like that because I'm supposed to be merry. — David Sedaris, Santaland Diaries

The main trouble is there are too many people who don't know where they're going and they want to get there too fast! — Sylvester, The Bishop's Wife

Oh, Christmas isn't just a day, it's a frame of mind. — Kris Kringle, Miracle on 34th Street

My little brother had not eaten voluntarily in over three years. — Ralphie, A Christmas Story

Clarence: Your brother, Harry Bailey, broke through the ice and was drowned at the age of nine.

George Bailey: That's a lie! Harry Bailey went to war — he got the Congressional Medal of Honor, he saved the lives of every man on that transport.

Clarence: Every man on that transport died! Harry wasn't there to save them, because you weren't there to save Harry.

— It's a Wonderful Life

Ralphie: NOW it was serious. A double-dog-dare. What else was there but a "triple dare ya"? And then, the coup de grace of all dares, the sinister triple-dog-dare.

Schwartz: I TRIPLE-dog-dare ya!

Adult Ralphie [narrating]: Schwartz created a slight breach of etiquette by skipping the triple dare and going right for the throat!

One Christmas was so much like another, in those years around the sea-town corner now, out of all sound except the distant speaking of the voices I sometimes hear a moment before sleep, that I can never remember whether it snowed for six days and six nights when I was twelve or whether it snowed for twelve days and twelve nights when I was six. All the Christmases roll down toward the two-tongued sea, like a cold and headlong moon bundling down the sky that was our street; and they stop at the rim of the ice-edged fish-freezing waves, and I plunge my hands in the snow and bring out whatever I can find. In goes my hand into that wool-white bell-tongued ball of holidays resting at the rim of the carol-singing sea, and out come Mrs. Prothero and the firemen. — A Child's Christmas in Wales

... for it is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas, when its mighty Founder was a child himself. — A Christmas Carol

At the tiny private school, we harbored mixed feelings about the holidays. Not so much the big ones, but the little ones — Valentines Day, St. Patrick's Day, etc. Pulaski Day, anyone? Anyone? Those holidays have a tendency to derail what is going on in the classroom, and when you are doing project work, you hate to mess with the rhythm and flow.

At the TPS, we touched on the holidays lightly and tried to keep things on track. At home, forget about it. You'd think that here in my isolation I could keep things on the straight and narrow, but you would be wrong.

We are in full ramping-up-to-the-holiday mode here. There is no downplaying Christmas. The boys are ecstatic because after this week, they get to be "off" for their winter break. (Off? Off from what, exactly? Do they know how good they have it? Oh, I am officially old.)

Projects have been mostly tossed aside. Or thrown with great force. (Although Jack did create an action figure for his "Mom Lady and Son Boy" comic book. I want to show it to you soooo much, but I am not allowed to reveal "the prototype".) There is ornament making. There is reading in front of the fire. There is some card and letter writing. And there is begging to make cookies. Sigh. I am ready to call it quits early and just throw on a red apron and bake my way to Christmas Eve.

No! I shall persevere. Besides, I need to keep them busy with their math so I can get some presents wrapped. At least for a few more days!