chores, baking, and hand-making

December 21, 2015

All the usual December things have been happening around here…chores, baking, and hand-making…

I have finished 5 of the 6 hats I began in the middle of November for gift-giving. I didn’t give myself very much time, but I’m working through them all. The last one is for my husband who is up in the mountains right now, doing guide’s training for the season ahead. This makes it much easier to pull out my knitting at any time of day without needing to hide it from inquiring eyes. This was hat number four that I sent off to my sister-in-law last week ~ the butterfly pattern…ravelry notes found here.

And oh my, these children of mine have inherited their mama’s curiosity…karma, perhaps. I am running out of hiding places and have been known to store things at the neighbour’s or in my husband’s shop. And now, they also are squirreling away their own handmade gifts…doors must be knocked upon before entering, with telltale shuffling noises from within.

We have just had a tremendous dumping of snow these past few days and the world has been magically transformed into the holiday season. It is amazing how fresh snow can bring such festive cheer. We hope it lasts until New Year’s when we have our annual outdoor sledding party.

With Papa away earlier last week for the first stretch of mountain training, the kids were anxious to get our tree. Every year we go into the woods to find a tree, usually under the power lines. The wait for Papa seemed intolerable so Huckley and Sunshine created their own “trees”, complete with presents for their dolls…right in the middle of the living room area. They stayed there until we went to bring our own tree home.

Every year, our tree is not the symmetrical post-card perfect tree from my childhood. The trees we bring home tend to suffer from too few branches, and once we discovered an abandoned bird’s nest clinging to the trunk. Our trees are usually skinny, gangly, and reminiscent of Charlie Brown movies, so I’ve been told. But once the children hang their decorations upon its bony frame, the tree transforms. My kids bring out all the ornaments they have crafted over the years…for 95% of our decorations are hand-made…and delight in remembering their own handwork.