Tempted … but not in time …

As usual, I am tempted to wear something to the annual Comp’ny party that makes people sorta cock their heads to the side and wonder if I’m really wearing that.  I don’t often DO that, but I always want to.

(Have I mentioned that my cat likes beer? It’s really a problem when you have to remember she’s going to stick her whole head in it if you don’t stop her.)

Anyway, so if I’d been in time, I might have found something. Sadly, I wasn’t in time, since our holiday party was last week. All I had was beaded Santa earrings. Apparently, my love of the handmade is spreading, since more than one person asked me if I’d made them - certainly not!  since beading takes way more patience than I’ll ever have.

So, these are things I wish I’d found earlier on Etsy:

Left, the Jolly Roger Santa shrinky dink bracelet from Dismissie.

Right, the silly and detailed, red and silver articulated Santa Pendant from Joan Miller Porcelain. Great details!

Left, the Define Good pendant from Shabby Texas Chick asks the quintessential question. On the reverse she says “Be Naughty! Save Santa the trip.:” Classic.

Right, the Naughty or Nice necklace prompts you to wonder. And others, too. From Kristi Silva.

Now for some cute stuff (because I’m completely a sucker for cute stuff):

Left, the Santa Penguin earrings are from Willow Shines, and are as cute as can be.

The Bunny Santa pendant is beyond adorable, with that one little ear and those cute little paws. From stevo luv munchkin.

Now, I’m going to go buy one of these (for next year), so which do you think I’ll pick?

Holiday Decor 2007

I always decorate for the holidays. It’s my favorite time of year (I’m kind of still working out why, but I don’t seem to be alone in this), and I will never be a person who says it’s too much trouble, too much work, not worth it, etc. Doesn’t matter if people aren’t coming over, I still decorate for me.

Seriously, why wouldn’t I want to spend my December living with with pretty twinkly lights, keepsake ornaments, good food and festive surroundings? Why wouldn’t I want to set aside a special day to drink cocoa, listen to festive jazzy tunes, and make my house more beautiful with greenery and ribbon?  Why wouldn’t I want to make something special I’ll remember fondly in year’s to come?  I hope I’m never so busy I can’t take the time to enjoy things I love.

We’ve (that would be Jeff and I) collected stockings over the years. Eeyore is me, Tigger is Jeff. The fish is for Caper kitty, the bone for Audrey puppy, and the last is one made by my Grandma. I’m still making Callie’s. The lovely oven mitts are my anti-burning collection, since I love holiday cooking but as usual, I burn the crap out of myself when cooking.  Can’t seem to remember that pans out of the oven are hot, for some reason.

I hung snowflakes from the dining room chandelier ’cause I want some real snowflakes falling from the sky. Here - not likely! So much wishful thinking. It’s actually about 80 degrees and raining outside. [Amended statement - Monday it was clear and 40, yesterday rainy and 80, today 40 and rainy.  Sheesh.]

My favorite part of the festivity-ness is the tree (the real tree, smelling lovely) because of the many ornaments I’ve collected over the years. One of the things I’ve always looked forward to getting the new tree ornaments my family has given me over the years. I have an enormous number of ornaments now from all over. I can tell you when and where and from whom I got almost all of them. The one on the right, for example, is from my Aunt Mary and Uncle Reg, and there’s another one to match it around here somewhere.  My grandparents tend to get me ornaments when they’re traveling, like the bear-in-a-kilt from Scotland.

Sometimes the ornaments are handmade. These two are handmade by me when I was little. The left one is the oldest ornament I have, a gingerbread man I made when I was about four, baked from playdough or something. Yes, those are holes in it, it’s so old. It’s falling apart. The Snoopy one on the right I also made - of the shrinky dink variety. Gosh I used to love shrinky dinks.

So that’s some of the festive look around here.  Now, if Callie would stop trying to play frisbee with the ornaments (she’s taken to leaping off the back of the couch at them) we’d be golden.  She already took down the ribbon once, and I didn’t even decorate the bottom of the tree trying to avoid this!  Oh, well - merry merry!

Crafting for Charity: Project Linus

One of my favorite aspects of fall is getting to watch the Peanuts Great Pumpkin movie and listen to Vincent Guaraldi’s Peanuts Christmas album. You see, I love Snoopy and the peanuts gang - Woodstock is actually my favorite.

I also love Linus and his security blanket, which is the inspiration behind today’s Crafting for Charity project. Did you have a security blanket growing up? I did. I still have it. It is red-and-white checked and was made by our next door neighbor Joanna in Oklahoma.

Project Linus is a volunteer charity organization dedicated to gifting children with security blankets. How it works: make a blanket, donate it to Project Linus. Simple.

Let me share with you their mission:

“First, it is our mission to provide love, a sense of security, warmth and comfort to children who are seriously ill, traumatized, or otherwise in need through the gifts of new, handmade blankets and afghans, lovingly created by volunteer ‘blanketeers.’

“Second, it is our mission to provide a rewarding and fun service opportunity for interested individuals and groups in local communities, for the benefit of children.”

As of the end of September, over 2 million blankets have been donated through 406 local Project Linus chapters.

You can donate too - look for a chapter near you, make a donation or check out how to help by becoming a blanketeer or starting a chapter.