Tis the Season

Some messy snow days and a harried 2:30 am trip to the airport to see the kids off to Alaska yesterday, and the Bah Humbugs are starting to creep back in. As always happens at this time of the year, I realize that the number of projects that need to be done far outweighs the number of hours left before Christmas. And so, needing some instant cheering and needing it quick, I decided to take another look at this year's Christmas card.

The humbugs have melted away as I look at this card and recognize just how great the things that I have to be grateful for really are. Scottie Doo drew this one night in what I hope could be called a collaborative effort. First he drew the people, and, after I looked over his shoulder and remarked that we needed to look Christmassy, he took my suggestion to draw himself wearing a reindeer sweater. He didn't even cringe when I remarked that the space behind Solstice would be perfect for a snowman, and after the snowman was drawn, was completely patient when I insisted then that something needed to be added next to me "for balance".

Him: What do you think should go there?
Me: I don't know, something completely random.
Him: Like what?
Me: Well, like C3PO.

And it was done. And so this picture reminds me how wonderful life is; I have two adorable and smiley children, a man who will draw himself into a reindeer sweater because he knows it's the right thing to do, and an instant boob job for me, at least on paper. (Be careful what you wish for... "draw my boobs a little bigger so my hips don't look so big" can end up making you look even bigger.)

In case I don't get back to the blog before Christmas, I wish you an amazing and magical day, and hope you can find a way to keep the magic going throughout the year!

Napability

I can't believe it has been two full weeks since I blogged last, but I promise you, dear reader(s), that this time has not been spent in an idle manner. I've been busy box unpacking, Christmas decorating, recipe and grocery list coordinating, and yes, a little bit of panicking; all for this weekend's Christmas party for Scottie Doo's co-workers. I'm happy to report that the big event happened on Friday, and as of yet we've had no reports of food poisoning from the attendees. A merry time seemed to be had by all, and our living room has been proclaimed "highly napable". I take that as a compliment.

I was too busy the night of the party to take any pictures, so hopefully you can get a small taste of how our little home here in Perfect Town is coming together for the Christmas season. I feel fortunate that things seem to be working themselves out, and the combining of two lives is going quite well most days.

The front of the house, showing off the collection of vintage tablecloths-used-as-curtains.

Nothing says Christmas quite like a skull and crossbones lit from the inside. And with some delicious yarns inside for good measure, it's the perfect combination of his and her tastes. You put your chocolate in my peanut butter! NO, you got your peanut butter on my chocolate!

The view from the living room into the dining room. The table is the one that Scott has been busy making for the past month, and it turned out beautifully. We found the wood in a pile outside at the ReStore in Seattle, and the legs were taken from an end table we found on Craigslist.

The Seahawks tree, which I've already confirmed will be our theme for next year also...

The wreath on the door of the art room. I got the idea last year from Tif's blog, and lucky for us she's been good enough to re-post the instructions again this year, so I don't have to hunt for the post. Yeay for Tif!

Even a wall of broken instruments needs a guardian Santa Elf to look over them...

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Because if your dollhouse is on fire and you have to call in Engine No. 7, it helps if there is a Christmas tree in the back...

Standing next to the tree is a helpful squirrel with a nice little bauble for decorating...

And in this corner... the Charlie Brown Christmas Tree and a helpful monkey with another ornament, hoping for some sparkle. The Santa in the frame is a Christmas card from my mom a few years ago, and she painted it herself!

Ignore the treadmill, which was too big to move. Is that the COOLEST gigantic John Belushi portrait painted the night before a Christmas party that you've EVER SEEN?! Scottie Doo is magic. Those of you who have followed my blog for awhile may remember that I started this as a 'craft' blog, because I actually used to have time to make things. So in the spirit of reminding myself that I am actually a knitter most years at this time (I'm a knitter... I KNIT), I included this lovely little garland at the dining room window. Nope, I didn't knit any of the stuff on the garland(although last year I did knit some sweater ornaments from this pattern), the ornaments you see here were all bought from one of my favorite stores, World Market.

Doesn't everyone decorate their bathroom? And yes, I want to remark that I got a great compliment on my choice of shower curtain for the main bathroom, which you can see here reflected in the bathroom mirror. And don't forget to notice the pine scented hand soap. Scottie has voted that we keep the colored lights up year-round.

My Christmas fish ornament, naturally.

And finally... even the great cinematic serial killers of our time like to get jolly around the holidays.

Gobble Gobble!

The Saturday Thanksgiving went off mostly without a hitch, provided you consider a minimum of 4 "emergency" trips to the grocery store for missing ingredients normal (I do). Having Thanksgiving on Saturday means that every store is open regular hours, so there is no need to drive miles and miles on the off chance that Bob's Mini Mart might carry Cool Whip (as happened during the Christmas of 2006). Everyone knows you can't have pie without Cool Whip.

And so it's back to the grind of normal life, spent unpacking boxes (yes STILL), decorating for the December 12th Christmas party, and trying not to think about this being the first Christmas I'll be spending without my beloved kiddos, who will be flying off to The Alaska to visit their Dad. Ugh. Double ugh. Triple, quadruple, pentuple ugh.

And that's all I have to say about that. The goal is to get the studio unpacked and put together by then, so Scottie Doo and Tashie can paint and sew her blues away. Oh me oh my.