There’s a certain point in the year when it gets very tricky to live in Oregon. Our fall is lovely. Winter is crisp and invigorating. And then, well, the grey moves in and it lingers forever. I fear the grey has officially arrived. The rain is on and off today. Every now and then the sun breaks through for a few glorious moments but for the most part it is….well….gloomy.

To survive, I’ve found you have to alter your mindset. You have to embrace the grey. Sure, sunshine and mild weather would be nice. But there’s something to be said for cups of steaming tea, burrowing down into an old comfy sweater, snuggling with your kids in a warm bed, or stitching quietly to the sound of rain. I have to start preparing myself mentally because this grey, well, it sticks around until June. That’s a lot of tea people.

The good news is that my last Christmas present is almost stitched. Thank goodness! I’ve found myself noticing all the clutter and dust floating around the house and I feel a burst of house cleaning/organization sneaking up on me. I’ve also started eyeing the walls and musing about paint samples. And the yearly urge to bake bread is also niggling at the back of my mind. Nesting, cooking, cleaning. Yup, the grey is definitely here. Bring it on!

I almost hate to add a new post. I love watching that video over and over. It’s almost as good as the real thing. Funny thing about blogging is that once you fall out of the habit, it’s hard to pick it up again. So I guess I’m going to have to get back up on the horse and dust off the keyboard.

Lets see. Believe it or not, I am still finishing up my Christmas presents. Poor old Kat is still waiting for her gift. I am more than ready to pack away all my Christmas fabric and move on to something else. Anything that doesn’t involve red and green! But in retrospect, I really did enjoy making my presents. Mostly because as I made them, I was thinking about the receiver. At the mall, my thoughts tend to run along the line of, “Kat, Kat, have to find something for Kat. What could I get? This? This? That! Ok, next person. Liza, Liza what can I get Liza……” It isn’t a particularly warm/fuzzy thought process. More of a panicked grabby thought process. But this year, I found myself stitching or sewing or cutting away and thinking about my friends and family in a much more stress-free state of mind and is was oh so very nice. Although I meant to take a picture of each creation, I forgot. Sigh. So I don’t have a photo of all the goodies I made. The vast majority were seasonal banners or pillows.

Here’s a picture of the one banner I remembered to snap a photo of before wrapping it up. I got the idea from a similar one in a Pottery Barn catalogue. It was one of those, “that’s so cute – I could totally make that moments”. I like the idea that you can hang it to say Thanks Giving or Giving Thanks. The others I did were in a similar vein for Christmas, Valentine’s Day, and 4th of July. It was kind of cool to channel all those other days in the middle of winter!

The pillows I made were especially fun. I took the idea from a post over at this excellent website and ran with it. I ended up with four very different pillows. This one was for sweet little Amelia, my 18 month old niece. I adore these fabrics and would use them all over my room if Kevin would let me. He has, unfortunately, outlawed pink in our/his bedroom. Sigh. The other three were true Christmas pillow and they came out perfectly. I just wish I had a picture. Ah well!

Once I finish the last lingering gift, I have a new pattern for myself (!?!!) I’m going to tackle. I have a feeling I should get some good juicy blog posts out of that endeavor. Ha!

Here’s video of Christmas day with the girls in their new superhero costumes.
For the un-initiated Leina is Wonder Woman and Kulia is Robin (Batman’s sidekick) aka “Baby Robin”

Aren’t they cute?

Here’s the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EjxBCI2lbU

And so 2007 ends.

We had a fantabulous Christmas this year, thankyouverymuch. I managed to finish all the gifts on time and they came out just as sweet as I hoped. The girls didn’t get lost in an avalance of presents. Instead, we had a very modest stack under our tree for which I was thankful. The big hit were the superhero costumes. I must post the pictures for you of Wonder Woman Leina and Baby Robin Kulia. They are to die for.

As I speak (type?), Kevin is pulling down lights and shelving boxes. Good bye Christmas decorations! Goodbye tree! Goodbye moving reindeer, snowmen, snowflakes, trees, signs, and house lights! (Phew.) I don’t know if I’m going to make a resolution this year. I never keep them, really. I’ll be glad if next year is as good to me as this year was. I really can’t ask for much more.

So tonight, it’s rootbeer floats and a new calendar to hang on the wall. Horray!

Kevin took the girls up to the mountain today to play in the snow. They looked so cute in their snow bibs and coats. It’s horrible cold and rainy down here. I made Kevin take chains. I hope they make it!

I have been working feverishly here in the quiet of an empty house. It struck me last night as I looked over my to-do list that I had forgotten Leina’s teacher. Ack! I immediately thought of a Starbuck’s gift card. But as I thrashed around my little desk, I came across an old neglected pattern for a candle coaster. And since I have all this wool felt and ample time, I thought I’d add it to my Christmas craft list. (Can you say fool of a Took?)

It’s done. Now I’m seriously behind. It’s also beyond cute and I covet it for myself. I’m thinking next year, this may be the present dujour. What do you think?

Of course, I have no cute tea light holder so it looks like I’m braving the rain to hit the Dollar Tree/Target. I have 101 tea light holders somewhere. Why is it when I need one, they have all magically disappeared?!?!

OK, back to the sewing machine. I have one last holiday banner to crank out. Wish me luck.

I was tempted to use this photo for our Christmas cards. The caption could read…

Merry Christmas from a tempermental 4 year old and a rascally 2 year old!

Thank goodness for chocolate santas. It put a smile on Leina’s face and focused Kulia’s energy just enough for me to get a money shot. Watch your mailbox for the final product!