Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas Eve!

One more day! Yippeee!!

I'm excited...if you couldn't tell. We have a half day today and Friday off (Christmas gifts from our fearless leaders, the wonderfulwonderfulwonderful leaders that they are)! I have one gift left to buy (online), 3 gifts left to make (super simple) and a teensy tiny bit of wrapping left. And then, I will sit and do NOTHING! Nothing but relax and enjoy the evening with family. And tomorrow, I will dig into presents and breakfast with my folks and my brother, then presents and dinner with the whole family, then presents and munchies with my other family (my friends - Fran, Juli, John and Maddie).

It will be present and food mayhem!!

And on the 26th - I will again resort to doing NOTHING! I love it!

Here are some pictures of how I decorated for Christmas this year:

The dining room

The tree, all lit up

The tree, all unlit up

The little tree in the upstairs hallway (someday, I will have a tree in every room - well, maybe not the bathroom)

The kitchen

And my newly completed...uh, I don't know what to call it. It's not a table runner, it's more of a table pad. The center is a panel that my mother gave me and then I added numerous borders to it in coordinating fabric. My curtains, that I made...um...last year...maybe the year before? Not sure.

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

Snow

Snow
Snow

Snow

And more snow!

Now it's beginning to feel like Christmas!

A few things

A have a brief moment to share....

Gone is Blue Beard the Pirate Tree Topper, replaced with this:

My little cutie playing on the stairs:
And an almost finished birthday present for a friend: (created this using Triangulations, soooo easy to use)

That's it for me...man, I hope every Friday is this quiet from now on!

Peacock Tree

Two years ago, as I was perusing Bloggedy Blog Blog, I stumbled upon one of Saucy's theme trees and inspiration struck!

"A peacock tree - what a fantastic idea! I'm going to make one! I have mardi gras lights and...nothing else." - of course, Saucy's post was Dec. 19th and there was no way in hell I was going to pull together the decorations for this tree. So I got it into my head to start scouting out peacock themed decorations (I even had my mother looking). I hit the craft stores after Christmas that year and found 4 peacocks! Perfect, I was on my way. I found some glittery fern looking things...not exactly peacock, but they might work. Then I found some light blue and purple ball things that looked like grapes but not really...ah hell, they're only 25 cents, get them anyway.

So little by little, I found this and that and packed them away for the future peacock tree. Last year, I opened up the box that I had them in and..."ugh...what the hell is that god awful stench...oh, wait...it's...no, it couldn't be...IT IS! IT'S THE PEACOCK TREE STUFF! I can't put that stuff on a tree...it smells like the cat had diarrhea in this bag!"

It was the combination of plastic bags and plastic ornaments (the cat really didn't have diarrhea in the bad, don't worry...but it really did smell that way). I was tempted to just throw everything away, how was I ever going to get rid of that smell?

But I couldn't bring myself to chuck the lot, so I packed it in a new box, threw a dozen cinnamon sticks into it and prayed. On Sunday, I opened up the box and did a little dance - the cinnamon sticks worked! Everything smells like it just came out of the oven!

So without further ado (because I've spouted on long enough), here is my peacock tree inspired by that creative genius Saucy!

(my camera doesn't take the best night shots -forgive)

(oh, if you click on the pictures, you'll make them bigger and see everything close up!)


My mother found me this fabric when she went to Maryland this summer
I'm not so enamoured with the mask - it's the fuzzy blue thing...it looks like Blue Beard the Pirate went to Mardi Gras...I may have to adjust that.
Thank you so much, Saucy for your wonderous idea about a peacock tree. I've turned my little tree on every night since Sunday and it sparkles and the cat hasn't tried to eat or scale it (bonus)!! I love it!

Christmas Goodies

Just had to share a few things from this year's Christmas haul....

L.L. Bean Wood Carrier (no more putting on a crappy jacket to run out back and get an armload of wood! YIPPEE!!!)

A set of four Pfaltzgraff winterberry desert bowls
The movie "Waitress" (comes with 10 recipe cards for different pies)
A toaster oven (I know, silly to get excited over this, but it means that I don't have to heat up the big oven when I want to reheat something small...like pizza...and lets face it, reheating pizza in the microwave just makes it soggy and gross!)

My mother also knit me a fabulous purple sparkly scarf and made me a quilt...well, she started me a quilt. She still needs to sandwich and stitch it. I just don't have pictures of either of these, yet.

Merry Christmas!

Welcome, Christmas, bring your cheer. Cheer to all Whos far and near. Christmas Day is in our grasp so long as we have hands to clasp. Christmas Day will always be just as long as we have we. Welcome Christmas while we stand, heart to heart and hand in hand.

Counting Down...

Get a Christmas Countdown for your page!

Bring on the Relaxation!

The last gift is made, the last present has been bought. The house is fairly well clean and what remains is minor - a bit of laundry, a few dishes, bring in a little fire wood. I am a day ahead of schedule! Aside from those minor little things, I just have to make up the annual "Spier Family Gift Basket", since Juli just stopped over with mine (lots of goodies on a platter and an Elvis mug with hot cocoa in it...have I ever told you about the annual Elvis gifts? Oh, that's right, I have. Well my Elvis gift to Juli this year is an Elvis magnet that plays "Suspicious Minds"), which will be delivered tomorrow night, then we will head out to the movies for "P.S. I Love You" (Mmmm...Gerard Butler and Jeffery Dean Morgan - that is my kind of way to kick off the holidays).

Tomorrow, I pack up the four wheel drive sleigh and head for the Lake. Four days of enjoying the season, of sipping hot cocoa and munching Christmas cookies, of watching t.v. specials from my childhood and relaxing...I can't wait!

And just to show off...John's quilt: And the Quilt Shop Room Box for Mum:



I made pretty much everything in this roombox, save for the hutch and the chair. I'm quite proud of it - can't wait for Mum to see it!

Gingerbread, We Don't Need No Stinkin' Gingerbread

We've got Rice Krispies Treats! And green food coloring to create a Rice Krispies Treat House (with green rice krispies hedges)
Jess and her tools of construction (LOTS of royal icing, mini M&M's, crushed Oreos and Hershey's Kisses)

We each made a house. This is my final product:
the back:
This was my present to the Senate Majority Office, since they're always such a big help to my office! They loved it, but their Chief won't let them eat it until Friday when all the Senators are in for meeting and have a chance to see it (I told them it will be hard as a rock by Friday...eat it now!)
I also made TONS of cookies for my office-mates

So much more to do...

Checking Things Off That List Left and Right

Yesterday, I felt like I accomplished so much! I did the ragging of Maddie’s quilt while watching TV. I sandwiched, stitched and turned John’s quilt (no pictures yet, sorry!).

I wrapped some gifts I even took some left over bits from the tree skirt and made a throw pillow slip cover for one of the pillows on the couch!

Oh, I finished the swag for the office mantle, too! Every year, we spend waaaay too much money to have my boss' office decorated for the holiday season (I didn't realize just how much until this morning - lets just say I could pay rent for a month!). A florist comes in, hangs wreaths, does a mantle swag, brings in about 8 poinsettias and a vase of fresh flowers. Last year they went rather skimpy on the decorating. I mean it looked nice, it smelled very Christmasy, but for what they were paid...there wasn't much. So this year, in the spirit of cutting unnecessary expenses from our budget, a few of us decided to pitch in and decorate the office ourselves. I made the swag from greenery cut from my sister's house, pine cones from my neighbor's, cinnamon sticks and red ball ornaments that I had on hand and ribbon that I spent all of $2 on (and it's waaaay better than the one from last year, if I do say so myself). Marcia will be getting poinsettias and Lisa said she'd make us a wreath. If I get ambitious this weekend, I may make up some small wreaths or something to hang on the windows.

You can see in the side by side, last year's Christmas decor and this year's mantle swag. Click on the picture to enlarge it some (and look at the mantle on the left, you'll probably have to squint - skimpy I tell ya!). Wait...that doesn't work - click here.

My office is celebrating Hanukkah at Deb's tonight (I love multicultural holiday celebrations - Hanukkah with Deb, Christmas with my family, Yule on my own!).

Enjoy your Thursday!

Christmas "To Do" List

I had about a dozen lists going and have finally condensed them. This is what it boils down to:

1. Clip Maddie's rag quilt
2. Sandwich, pin and stitch John's quilt
3. Paint, paper and decorate the two "Quilt Shop" roomboxes (they should be arriving on Thursday or Friday!)
4. Make 2 headbandanas
5. Make Rice Krispies houses with Jessica (it's like a gingerbread house, but made out of Rice Krispies Treats - soooooo much better than gingerbread. I'm not a big fan of gingerbread. Oh, and we're doing this on Saturday night, since she's staying over while her parents head to a Christmas party)
6. Make cookies: chocolate chip, sugar, Hershey's Kiss thumbprints, Reese's Cup and Best Ever Candy Bar Squares
7. Make decorative paper bags to put cookies in for office
8. Buy Rick's gift
9. Buy Dad's last gift (getting tonight)
10. Wait for Amazon to send the rest of my order
11. Wrap

This is it...this is what's left. This is so totally do-able by December 22! I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to those 4 precious days of doing nothing but enjoying the holiday!

(oh, we did get out of work early yesterday! I was able to play in the snow with Sadie, shovel, stitch up the last rice bag and Maddie's quilt. I love snow days!)

Post Turkey Day

I was just thinking that I haven’t visited my favorite blogs in quite some time and thought that maybe today, during the down time, I would catch up…until I checked my Bloglines and found 310 blog posts unread! THREE HUNDRED AND TEN!

I didn’t realize that it had been almost a month since I really checked up on all of you, despite posting on my own blog. It just seems like so much has been happening at work and trying to get the homemade gifts done, that I’ve been neglecting everyone else’s blogs. I’m very sorry for that, but I have this sinking feeling that when my new job officially starts, I’ll be here less and less…

Note to self: make time for blog reading and writing

That being said and apologized for…things are good! Thanksgiving was nice, albeit hung-over, having spent the previous night with my brother and my cousin over-indulging at Schooner Landing in Damariscotta. The day after turkey day was spent lazily, eating leftovers and watching TV in the jammies, despite the plan to trek out to early morning Black Friday sales…yeah, as of 8:00 the night before, we knew that wasn’t happening!

I have partaken in Cyber Monday, though…but only on Amazon…and only because I HATE (yes, I know hate is a strong word, but it really applies here) holiday shopping. With shoppers and drivers, manners seem to be optional come the holiday season and respect has flown RIGHT out the window! I try to be pleasant and courteous, but I become the biggest grouch if I have to go shopping AT ALL from Thanksgiving to New Years, because people block isles with their carts or cut you off in parking lots or ride your ass on the road because they don’t feel you are going fast enough despite the fact that you’re driving 10 miles over the speed limit! Okay, just thinking about it is making me cranky…I’ll stop. Thankfully, I have only 4 more things to buy and shopping is done. I still have 3 quilts to finish, 2 headbandana’s to make and a bunch of baking to do, but that doesn’t require leaving the warmth of my fortress of solitude!

Being the purveyor of holiday cheer that I normally am this time of year (except when forced to go Christmas shopping), my tree went up on Saturday and the house decorating commenced.

The kitten (being new to this whole Christmas thing) looooves the tree – it’s great for hiding under and playing with…but mostly for hiding under, especially for those moments when the urge to jump out and attack a passerby strikes!

His evil 13 lb counterpart feels the same way, but she jumps out only to attack him (she knows better than to attack me!)

Well, I'm off to an office celebration at Deb's house! Have a lovely evening!