Early Morning Pondering

Yikes!!!  It’s December 23rd.  Shouldn’t I be sitting by the fire eating Christmas cookies???

There are problems with that!

~The cookies are gone.  Darn kids!

~I haven’t done Christmas cards.  No cards three years in a row?

~My house is a mess.

~Santa keeps forgetting stocking stuffers and I have to cover his stuffed rear!

~We have no firewood.

~The snowstorm of the century is about to hit Minnesota.

~We’re leaving this afternoon.

As I sit here this morning (Yeah, it’s early for me to use my brain!) I’m thinking about getting the rest of our stuff packed and getting on the road.  We have lots of miles to travel and weather to deal with.

But what do you suppose Mary felt like on this day over 2,000 years ago?  She was young, and scared, and very pregnant.  And her mode of transportation was a donkey.  Her obedience to God changed history.

If you have a few minutes, slow down and really read the story of that first Christmas as told in Luke 2.  And then go celebrate!!!

The Birth of Jesus

¹In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. ²(This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) ³And everyone went to his own town to register.

⁴So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. ⁵He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. ⁶While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, ⁷and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

The Shepherds and the Angels

⁸And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. ⁹An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. ¹¹Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ^[a] the Lord. ¹²This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

¹³Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
¹⁴“Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”

¹⁵When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

¹⁶So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. ¹⁷When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, ¹⁸and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. ¹⁹But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

(Taken from Biblegateway.com)

If you’re still here, you can see the reenactment of that first Christmas.  The cast includes all my favorites!!!

First I present to you Mary and Joseph and their darling baby Jesus.

And a shepherd.

And of course there were angels!

Ladies and gentlemen, please give another round of applause to the entire cast.  (Two sets of parents and ten kids.  Pretty amazing, huh?)

So, from the Crazies and their crazy cousins

Merry Christmas!!!

And no, I didn’t get permission to use these photos.  Since I didn’t get permission, I’m asking for forgiveness from the A’s!  So not sorry!

Yum!

Can you smell it?

Can you just taste it?

We had mashed potatoes with lots of fat grams too!

Ahhh!!! A New Quilt

Finally!  A photo shoot for a quilt that’s been done since November!

There’s nothing better than sleeping under a quilt.  This quilt is on the bed in the guest/mother-in-law/snoring hubby room.  I can’t seem to capture the warmth of the colors.  I pieced this a few years ago, but only recently did I get going on that quilt machine!  I’m very pleased.  It’s not perfect, but I’m happy.

Here’s a shot of the panto that I used for the center of the quilt.  I outlined the flowers and leaves in the border.

The quilt I made for The Genius is almost finished. I just need to finish stitching the binding.

There hasn’t been any quilting going on, and I haven’t knit much either.  Why?  The Genius is going to a different college for a year and we had to make a trip to find an apartment.  We leave December 23rd to move her.  I promise I’ll update you as we go.  For now, I’ll tell you that we’re getting as far as Nashville for Christmas Eve and Christmas day.  We’ve got lots of fun things planned.  It will be a new adventure with lots of memories!!!

I should show you one thing that showed up today.

For Christmas last year My Hero got a gift certificate to Lobsters Anywhere from his employees.  We finally used the gift certificate!!!  In the back row are crab cakes and lobster tails.  In the front row is lobster bisque, bacon wrapped scallops, and HUGE shrimp.  Tomorrow night we’re eating shrimp and scallops.  I hope we can get the grill out of the snowbank to use it!!!

Rumor has it that this year’s gift certificate is beef!!!

I’m off to wrap a few gifts.  Tonight is Frankie’s Christmas concert.  And tomorrow???  The kids don’t know it but it’s general cleanup day!

I’m going to stay sane this Christmas if it makes me nuts trying!!!

Drumroll, Please!!!

I know y’all have been holding your breath, waiting to find out what The Genius named her puppy.  First, let me tell you that she didn’t take any of your suggestions.  You know those college kids.  They won’t take any advice from anyone!

So, what did she name the pesty little furball?

Let me introduce you to Gus!  It really is appropriate.  The Genius watched Cinderella several times a day when she was small.  Remember the mouse named Gus?  And one of his mousie friends called him Gus-Gus.  We’re hearing that a lot at our house these days.

Speaking of The Genius, her quilt is quilted, but not without a bit of ingenuity.  Let me show you.

What?  Don’t you sew with your sewing machine on the floor???  Let me tell you a story.  On Monday night I went downstairs to load the quilt.  I purchased 108″ Moda backing, which was absolutely gorgeous.  When I got ready to load the backing, I realized I’d forgotten to square it up.  That would mean going all the way with bare feet in the snow upstairs.  And to top it off, my cutting table was piled high with all sorts of junk.  So…….I decided to just tear the fabric.  I pinned one end and then realized that the other end was crooked too, so I tore it.

I do remember reading somewhere that you aren’t supposed to tear 108″ backing, but I couldn’t remember why.  Well….I probably lost 6 inches of backing in the process.

Over the next few days, I quilted the whole quilt.  On Wednesday, I got to the last little bit, and realized my backing was about 1 inch too short.  So, fortunately I had a fat quarter of that fabric.  I made a strip, and rather than unpin the whole quilt from the quilt machine, I took my regular sewing machine downstairs, and put it on the floor.  I just sat on the floor and sewed that strip on.  Smart????  Well, I had to make up for the stupidity of tearing that backing somehow.  Anyway, the quilt is quilted, and I’m over half done with the binding.  And The Genius loves it.

I also have some new garland for my tree!

The One Row Scarf is finished.  I used 3 skeins of Berocco Jasper.  It’s wonderfully soft!  I finished it at a band and choir concert.  I was so cold, I wrapped it around my neck and knit really fast!!!

Right now I’m working on Cluaranach.  The last time I worked on it was February!!!  It really is a gorgeous shawl and I need to finish it!!!

I’ll be back soon with more adventures from Crazyville.  You know…Christmas shopping, cards, baking, parties, concerts.  It’s the most wonderful time of the year…