And I’m off!

I’m heading home tomorrow to see old highschool friends and my family. I cannot wait to see my little sister. Errr, actually, from what I hear, she is no longer so little but rather very pregnant. Hee hee, for the first time every I will get to poke her fat little tummy. Ah, how I love the circle of life.

I’ve been a busy little bee trying desperately to finish up all of the Christmas presents to take with me. For whatever reason, this year was a DIY year. Last year we braved the crowds and found all sorts of neat pre-made stuff in stores but this year, for reasons I don’t quite understand, I’ve found myself making things instead. And, have reviewed many of my projects last night, they definitely look home made. No mistaking these items for store bought, no sirree, they are genuine 100% “Made by Chrissie Gifts”.

They actually remind me of Suzy ornaments. As we grew up, we were constantly making ornaments at Christmas time. Most of these were done in art class at school and then presented proudly to our parents Christmas morning. I must give my parents credit for two amazing things. First, they managed not to laugh. Second, they saved most of our unique creations.

Back when Suzy and I were still Terry girls, the tradition was to all get together, put on the Muppets Christmas album, and decorate the tree. Dad did the lights, mom unpacked and handed out ornaments and Suzy and I did the placement. Being the annoying sister that I was/am, I made it a point to get all of Suzy’s hand made ornaments and laugh, laugh, laugh. She had this one that I swear is a Christmas pig although Suz hotly contends it is a reindeer. Yeah, right, whatever Suz. Now that we are married and decorate our own trees in separate states, I find I miss Suzy’s mutated creations. Sure, my Frankenstein creations still grace my tree but there is no pig ornament or gold laminated macaroni thing to make my stuff look good by comparison.

Perhaps that is why, at Christmas time, I’m drawn toward creating craft monstrosities. Of course, somehow it’s incredibly cute when a six year old hands you a handcrafted present that looks like it was glued together in the dark. I’m not so sure that logic still holds when the present is lovingly mutilated by someone my age which is way, way past six.

However, I’m not one to care for the opinions of others and so I will wrap my strange creations and proudly spread them amongst my friends. I’m just glad I won’t be there to see their faces or hear the cries of “dear god, what is that!” come Christmas morning. But I suppose some things are better left to the imagination!