Crazy for Christmas!

We went a little Christmas crazy this weekend. Put up the tree, decorated the house, and brought the boys to visit Santa at the grocery store. (I know, I know – but heck, there was nobody in line, he was a perfect Santa, and it was a lovely, leisurely visit.) And my darling Beloved brought the ultimate Christmas movie home from the library, specifically for me – the 1980s classic A Christmas Story. Truly one of my favourite movies of all time.

First, the boys helped me put up the tree:

And then we decorated it.

One of my favourite parts of Christmas is looking at the ornaments we’ve collected over the years. I realized that this year, I’m probably not going to have time to do some of the crafty things I’ve done in prior years, but to fulfil my obligations to the Winter Holiday of Your Choice Blog Extravaganza, I respectfully submit these crafts from Christmases past:

The wreath pot-pourri ornament (felt, pinking shears, netting, glue and pot-pourri) circa 1992.

The folk-art ornaments (felt, cinnamon sticks, wire and embrodery thread) circa 2000:

(You can see a hint of 1990/1991′s beginner-level candy-cane reindeer beside the snowman and JOY pix, too.)

The next year, I used cinnamon sticks in these mitten ornaments, and personalized them for everyone with fabric paint.

I went through a woodworking and painting phase around 1998. My favourite has always been this Santa Star.

I got a sewing machine for my birthday in 1996, and went on a “why buy it if I can sew it?” kick. Luckily, I had enough sense not to wear the truly awful dress that turned out to look like a mumu, but I’ve always been fond of these stockings I made for Beloved and myself, my parents and my brother back in the days we still went ‘home’ to London for Christmas. (The ones with the stars on them were added to the collection in 2004 for Tristan and Simon.)

I keep thinking of stuff I would love to make for this year, but until I find a way to function on less than five hours of sleep a night, I just don’t see when that’s going to happen. I think the most we’ll get done is Nancy’s adorable cotton-ball snowmen.

Wouldn’t be right if I didn’t take a moment right now to say Happy Birthday to my one and only Beloved, who very patiently shared his birthday weekend with our Christmas excesses.

Happy Birthday, sweetie. You make every day a celebration. I love you!

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