Christmas Day is coming to a close. Our weather station is reading minus 12 (that’s 10°F)! It’s snowing and you can guarantee that we’ll be shoveling the drive tomorrow morning. It’s a good thing I bought a balaclava for Mr Fixit for Christmas.
I’ve been looking forward to opening these beauties all month!
So my day has basically been baking, more baking, Lego building, walking in the snow to burn off some of the baking, and watching the latest James Bond. (I was well-bundled up for the walk but the exposed skin on my face hurt whenever there was the tiniest hint of wind.)
Focaccia, cinnamon buns, mince pies
Dinner was just soup, so that part was easy.
No plans for tomorrow except keeping warm, really!
I’m dreaming of a white Christmas…oh wait, no need to dream…I’m in it!
It snowed most of the day. I worked til 3.15 and had to clear a lot of snow off my car so I could drive home. The store was predictably quiet but we still had a couple of people who came in at the last minute.
When I arrived home, I was happy to see that the potatoes and Brussels sprouts were prepped and the apple crumble was almost ready to go in the oven. The recipe for our main dish was new to me – Seitan stuffed with walnuts, mushrooms and cranberries from fatfreevegan’s blog.
After we’d stuffed our faces with roast seitan, potatoes, sprouts and cauliflower followed by apple crumble and ice cream, we did our gift exchange.
I think I can say that there seemed to be a couple of themes running – snacks and Lego! Oh, and tea.
Mr Fixit and I received a kettle, Christmas mugs and tea gift cards from oldest son. We had various calorific edibles from all the boys. I was surprised to receive two Lego kits but I love them – one is an RV and the other is The Mandalorian with baby Yoda. All three boys have new Lego sets and it is so weird to see – like we’ve gone back in time 20 years.
I had one of those memories pop up on Facebook the other day where they show you a photo you posted on the same date X years ago. It was the five of us sitting in front of the Christmas tree so I got everyone to sit in the same positions tonight and we took some photos of us all looking 10 years older. That was fun.
Mr Fixit doesn’t look much different (one of the benefits of being bald), I have short hair now (and more pounds), middle son has a lot more facial hair now, oldest had long curly hair but he now has short hair and is slimmer, and the youngest was 13 and looking cute with long blond hair, where he now has short hair and a goatee.
They are all men now and it warmed my heart to spend this evening together and see them give gifts to each other and help with dinner and dishes.
And so we come to the last little bag of yarn for Day 24. A lovely set of purple beads along with the yarn today. And tomorrow, one more bag to open that’s not yarn. I’m looking forward to that!
I hope that you had a wonderful day today, whether you celebrate anything at this time of the year or not.
It’s Christmas Eve Eve! Once again, you find me parked on the couch, struggling to keep my eyes open! I think we have everything we need for Christmas to happen. I’m working again tomorrow until closing at 3pm. The rest of the family has offered to prep veg and stuff, but I’ve told them to wait until I’m home.
This funny little Advent calendar I made for myself has given me so much joy. That and the blogging have meant I have really enjoyed each day leading up to Christmas as I’ve focused on the good stuff.
Tomorrow may be the last post for Blogmas, unless I feel inspired to write something on the 25th. We shall see…
It’s going to be a short one today. It’s only about 9pm and I am ready to crash.
Day 22 and today’s yarn is Blush, along with two great beads.
I finished the beanie. It took about 80 grams of the O’Go so that means I have a good chunk of it left to make something else.
I had no plan for this, apart from wanting to have embroidery on it. So the stripes went in, then the cross stitch diamonds in the lilac, then the little yellow stars, and finally the random snowflakes near the top.
Work was good today. Not too busy. All three managers were in so we got stuff (bags and knitting notions) received, priced and on display. I had the chance to weed out some older fabric again, a job I need to continue with tomorrow.
I wore my polar bear vest and my Christmas gnome mask. Tomorrow I may have to wear the fuzzy vest and red-nosed reindeer mask.
I’m off to get the kitchen cleaned up before I fall asleep. Talk to you tomorrow.
This is the longest night of the year. A night to light candles or switch on your strings of fairy lights, enjoy a fire or turn up the thermostat to keep the chill at bay, drink warm comforting beverages and be thankful for food and shelter to see us through the cold winter months ahead.
I made fruit cake today. Three, in fact. One with wholewheat flour, two gluten-free. One GF cake was requested by a person who used to work with me. She bought a couple of cakes from me last year and asked me for another this year. The other GF one was sent home with my friend who came for tea today.
The wheat one has been partially devoured already. Oh man, it’s good!
My 21st ball of yarn is a lovely festive red.
I have two sewing projects to show you, one completed yesterday evening and the other this afternoon.
I made a tool roll! The wrenches are for display purposes only as they were sitting around in my sewing room (ds1 was going to sew himself a tool roll for his new wrench set but hasn’t got around to it yet).
All the materials were from stash. The plaid was cut from the back of a shirt that belonged to one of the boys when he was a teen. The denim was a free piece from work. The little bit of red vinyl is a swatch that comes in with the rolls of vinyl at work. The D rings and webbing were on hand. I made this up as I went along and the size was decided by the rectangle I was able to cut from the back of the shirt.
My other sewing FO is this fuzzy vest. I used the same pattern as the other vest I completed recently but because it was chenille I didn’t bother with facings. I just used two pattern pieces (front and back) and sewed them together at the shoulders and sides, then hemmed all the raw edges. Easy peasy!
And finally, the beanie. Last night I stayed up far too late crocheting and watching The Witcher. Hmm, if knitting and Netflix is Knitflix what’s crochet and Netflix? Cronet? Croflix? Netrochet?
The hat isn’t finished yet. It has a lot of ends dangling inside from the embroidery. And I’m waiting for it to tell me whether it needs more embellishment. Something in the band above the yellow stripe, perhaps.
Three more work shifts to go before Christmas Day. I finish at 3pm on Christmas Eve, which is a pain because we have our big dinner and gift exchange on that day rather than on the 25th.
A finished object! The O’Go with the Flow scarf is done. It’s very long but I wanted to use the whole 200 grams.
I love the soft colours in this.
We had a little more snow today, the light, gentle, meandering kind, no wind. Our weather station is reading minus 5 at about 5.30pm and we’re expecting it to drop to about -10°C tonight.
I went out today and bought a few more groceries (now that my meal plan is decided upon for the next week) and gifts.
Last of the daylight.
Advent yarn #20.
The sacks for my three sons are now by the tree but I have one more idea for adding to one of them.
Dinner is cooking and once that’s all over it’ll be back to the sewing room. And tomorrow is baking day!
We’re on the home straight now. Less than a week to go.
I worked today and ended up leaving a bit late because we had a couple of keen shoppers who didn’t seem to want to leave.
I was glad that I’d made chili in the morning. Mr Fixit cooked rice. After dinner he made his usual joke: “What’s for dessert?” We don’t have dessert very often, and I was the one who as a child was used to having dessert after dinner 6 days a week whereas Mr Fixit rarely had it. I’m the one with the sweet tooth. And yet he’s the one who’s regularly asking (only partly tongue-in-cheek) about it.
I hinted to ds3 that maybe it was time for our first batch of gingerbread cookies, a firm tradition in this house at Christmas.
So look what we enjoyed tonight! I love it when people get the hint. And I didn’t have to lift a finger.
My other evening pleasure has been knitflixing! Knitting and Netflix. Season 2 of The Witcher.
I have two days off now and a long To Do list which includes making a meal plan for the next 8 days. If you celebrate at this time of year I hope you’re having fun getting things ready and not stressing about it. See you again tomorrow.
We cleared about 8 inches of the stuff off the driveway before I went to work for 9am.
And it continued….all day.
The store was predictably quiet today thanks to the weather. I got tonnes more tidying done in the fashion fabrics, but by 4pm my back was starting to twinge and seize up.
I was glad to leave at 5 and get home. I had forgotten the meal plan was chili so when I walked in the door I was surprised to see no pizza-making activity. Turns out that pizza was Sunday’s plan. As it was too late to soak and cook beans we made pizza after all.
I say ‘we’ but the men did most of it. I just wanted to lie on the floor and stretch my lower back.
Once I had eaten, and then liberated the Advent yarn, I had minimal energy so opted for passive entertainment! I caught up on some of the podcasts and vlogs that I subscribe to, and managed a few rows on the scarf.
(This is Hannah of The Cozy Cottage Crochet.)
It’s only just after 9 but I didn’t get my usual quantity of sleep last night and I’m ready to crash. Judging by the wind whistling around the house tonight and the continuing precipitation I feel like I may wake up to snowdrifts in the morning.
I’m going to have to write this quickly and get to bed because I finished work at 8.15 tonight and have to be up at 6.30am for a 9am start tomorrow. And I couldn’t put down my library book so I stayed up late!
I think this is the 6th book by Val McDermid I have read in recent months and I’m really enjoying them. Great writer!
My camera really caught the colours in the sky this morning. According to our weather station it was minus 10 outside.
Even though the thermostat in the hall was set to 17, the spot by the sofa was only reading 13. You can see why I like fleece PJs!
Now that my daily yarn is out of the bag I can go to bed. Back tomorrow!
I woke early this morning, around 6.30, and it was still dark. I went to the kitchen, made a cup of tea, fetched a large glass of lemon water, my laptop, phone and library book, and crawled back under the duvet.
I spent a very pleasant couple of hours checking my emails, Ravelry and the other usual things, and when I decided to open the curtains I realised it was snowing.
Horizontal blowing snow.
Poor Mr Fixit had to go out of town today so I’m sure he just loved the driving conditions! At least it brightened up in the afternoon and I only had to clear about an inch off the driveway before he came home and compressed it with his tires.
This is the pattern I bought yesterday. It’s a good basic vest that I can use to make lots of versions in various fabrics.
This is View D. Medium length, size large. I left off the optional tie. The fabric is a quilting cotton with a wintry theme to wear around Christmas. I’m thinking of making a fluffy chenille one next.
Bright orange yarn and two beads today.
Dinner is in the oven and things are quiet. One son is home but in his room, the other two sons went out together for Christmas shopping and Mr Fixit has a class at the gym. Mrs Lazy, aka me, I’m sitting on the couch and appreciating my day!
NICOLA KNITS 