Around Here:

Well, we've just been doing some Christmasing:


I've been busy knitting, of course. We leave for visiting on Wednesday, and I am extra excited for the kids to have their gifts from me this year. A lot of work went into some handmade goodies.

When we return, well...I will be beginning my new Job, it looks like. That's right. It's not that bad, actually -I have been offered a job as the new aftercare teacher at our local Waldorf School. So I can have my kids with me, and it will be a good setting for both of them. Taking care of a whole group of someone else's children all afternoon, though? That will be a challenge. I've decided it would be better than being stranded at home all winter with other people's children. At least we will get out of here every day. That doesn't happen in the cold months when I do daycare from here. I will be tired, and have less time for some things. We will have a "schedule" instead of just a "rhythm" to our days, and that will be something to get used to again. It will be what I make of it. I have to have income, and I guess this is the best kind of situation.

Oh my gosh!

I have gotten most of my packages already for the Stocking Stuffer Swap, and I am so pleased! This is such a talented and generous group. Only, now I feel like my little offerings will seem a bit meager in comparison. They took me forever, so that's something, I guess. Thank you so much everyone. I will post photos after Christmas.

Also:



We got our tree! She loves it so much, and it was fun to go get it -Daddy bought it for us, so we keep thanking him. He is so nice.

Preparations:

I have been feverishly working to get all things done that I feel are a necessary part of Christmas this year. The packages for the stocking stuffer swap will go in the mail tomorrow:


-decorations and Advent calendars are appearing:

I'll never finish, but it's all very pretty, and putting me in a good mood. I love how into it Ray is this year, which is why we've decided to have our first real Christmas tree. We will go pick it out this weekend -so exciting. In the meantime, there is a winter faire at the Waldorf school, a baby shower, and a regional craft bazaar all of which need to be attended as well -whew! Well, I'm off to make finger-sandwiches.

Holidaying:

We had a nice Thanksgiving visiting relatives in New Jersey. Ray had tons of fun with her cousins.

Zev did this during dinner, and for that I was thankful:

I couldn't really even begin to catalog all the knitting projects that have been going on lately. A lot of it has been for the shop, which has been an interruption to my holiday knitting plans, but things are selling, and I'm getting quite a few custom order requests. All good things.

Baby mittens are now available in many colors (as a custom order), though this pair is sold.

These were not knitted for sale, but just for a little boy who is chewing on everything he can get his hands on:

At first I thought they were kind of an icky idea, but he loves them. I guess babies do love to chew on sweaters and blankets, so it makes sense. They are easy to grasp, and he just gets so excited whenever he sees them. Other than that, I will have to do a "what I'm making" post after Christmas. Seriously -it's sooooo much stuff.

Around here:

Not too much to report. Things are good. "Brother " is three months old (and one week) -that's what he gets called most of the time -Brother. I wonder how long that will stick. He is smiling and cooing, and all that wonderful stuff that he's supposed to be doing at this age. All good.


Ray is also doing all that she is supposed to be doing at two years and seven months old.

-am I doing all that I'm supposed to be doing at thirty-four years old? Good question. Some days I feel like I'm supposed to be maintaining some sort of marketable skills for when my kids are old enough for me to be going back to work. I feel scared -like each day that I do only "mommy" things is getting me further from ever being able to earn a living again. -But this is all I can manage right now.

I knit obsessively. It's really the only thing I have going besides childcare, and it really helps me. It sure doesn't make me any money, though. I have so many projects going right now, and such a queue going in my head that I feel like I may never catch up by Christmas. I like it, though.

I have begun taking walks alone on the mornings that Josh leaves for work at 11:00. This also helps. I like heading out when everything is still a bit frozen, and there are sometimes snowflakes. On the way home the road is wet, and the eaves are all dripping. I bring a mug of coffee with me, or stop for a fill-up in town. I can stop in to visit all my favorite shopkeepers who always exclaim how strange it is to see me without my babies. Everyone says: "Good for you!" when I come in alone. I cherish these walks, and I think I will try to keep going until the weather insists that I quit. Walking has been a very healthy thing for me in recent years. Mostly I like to follow my town up the mountain and hang around the oldest and most interesting houses -many of which are in various states of decay. I love old houses, and some that we have here are built in impossibly steep locations.

Well, enough. My thoughts tend to drift these days.

In the Shop:

SOOOO much knitting going on around here. I was asked to join a craft swap for the holidays this year, so I am busy making tiny things for that. I also have been knitting some little stuff for Ray's Waldorf kitchen that we are going to give her for Christmas. Add to that the fact that Zev needs new sweaters and pants and hats (obviously -like he doesn't have head to toe handknits already). Plus, I have a sweater I want to do for myself. I miss having yarn money for just whatever.

In the Shop: