December 23

Another day of walking to work in the snow. Getting very tired of snow.

On the upside, two days left 'till Christmas. And I get Boxing Day off as well (by choice, as it is not a holiday actually recognized as such here in the U.S.). Yay for four day weekends! Also, next week is my birthday, and another four day weekend. Good stuff.

Still waiting on the Amazon order with all our presents. It is delayed, but hopefully will come on Christmas Eve. Crossing my fingers.

For dinner tonight, we stopped by Uwajimayas. They had a lovely holiday display involving gold origami cranes. Just beautiful.

I found the absolute coolest list of holiday freebies here.

Also, did you see this little project that Keri Smith made?

Of course I had to try it out.

I look totally ridiculous. But it is awesome and you should try it too.

December 22

Mondays are never typically fun.

Especially when it is a holiday processing week and you have to go to work even though there is 16 inches of snow at your house and the buses are not running again.

Sigh.

But without without you, people won't get paid right for Christmas. So you walk in the freezing cold and calf high snow to get work....while people on skis zoom by and you try desperately not to fall onto your behind on the icy road.

Or maybe that is just me...

At least the roads got well enough that after work, Greg picked me up to go to dinner at his folks' house.

They had just received a gift of a lovely Swedish gold candle spinning doodad that was Christmas oriented and tried it out while we were there.

I thought it was very pretty.

December 21 - Part One: Yarn Ball Ornaments.

In which Christmas crafts seriously manifest:First, let's talk about yarn ball ornaments.

I totally got the idea from the wreaths at work this year.

First, you get some yarn, and some styrofoam balls. To start, take the end of the skein of yarn and just wind it around the ball, overlapping like so:

Keep going, occasionally switching the axis point of where you are winding (use your thumb to hold things down until you can get enough layers on it so it doesn't unravel) or your ball will end up lumpy and uneven.Just keep going until you can't see the styrofoam anymore.

Do not worry about messing up. You can always unwind and start again.

When you have the ball totally covered and of the size that you want, cut the yarn from the skein, leaving enough to make a long tail. Make a loop at the top by taking the end of the yarn and weaving underneath a few of the woven strands, then do a half double bow and knot until secure. Trim as necessary.

So.. now what do you do with these cute and fuzzy little things?

Well.... You can hang them up as-is, or string them in a garland, or even stick them on a wreath, as I did.

Hope that made sense. Please feel free to email me with any questions.

More craftiness to follow shortly. :D

December 21 -Part Two

We woke up on Sunday and it was still snowing. And continued to snow all day.

Check out the killer icicle on our roof by the kitchen window.)

So I stayed inside and decorated and made things all day. Starting with my tiny fake tree covered in Starbucks ornaments.

And hung my three wreaths:

Then I hung garlands on the bookshelves and across the kitchen doorway and adorned the chandelier in the dining room. Also I listened to carols worked on my december daily and made peppermint hot cocoa from scratch.

Oh yes, I got my festive on.

Even though Greg was all "bah humbug."

You could tell he liked it though. :D

December 20

So with a brief reprieve from the snow, and another storm looming, Greg and I, along with two of our roomates, Tom and Tamara, decided to make one last spree attempt at holiday shopping.

We went to the bakery, the bookstore and the craft store (so I could gather supplies for decorating and operation: wreath).

Just as we had finished our shopping and had grabbed a lunch of delicious Thai food from Buddha Ruksa it began to snow again.

And I crafted into the night. It was too dark for photos. But I shall post the finished ones on the Dec 21st post.

And it snowed and snowed. And snowed some more.

Final count in inches: 13.

Yikes.