"Hurry, Hurry!"

Several bloggers I visit regular do a thing called "Friday Feast" in which they select from a menu setup like a regular dinner type thing and post a comment pertaining to each segment of a meal. One of the questions this Friday was which language would you like to learn and why? If I were answering that one, I'd have to say Swedish because it is in my ethnic background, I have several things in the house that are written in Swedish but, I can't read, and also - if I ever hit the lottery, Sweden is where I'd absolutely love to visit so knowing a bit of the language would be a good thing.

But what does that have to do with my title today? Well, another thing about language came to mind and that was some remembering of the two years of French I had in high school. I don't remember how to spell the word correctly so will put it here in my phonetic spelling - veet - which in French as I recall means "Hurry." Our French teacher (Miss Radomsky) often used that word but in double - "Veet, veet!" and that is what I need to begin doing every day now - till the big Holiday gets here!

Last night, I got a small start on my sewing projects. I cut out ten bibs I will be making for the two younger grandchildren and got six (I think six) completed before my vision and energy level ran out on me at about 3 or 4 this morning. These bibs are made from either cute dish towels or fingertip towels and you simply fold one end of the towel down about 1/3 of the length, then fold it again but down the middle and cut down about 1 1/2 to 2 inches then at your foldline and cut a semi-circle for the neck opening. Then, using a knit fabric - preferably the rib trim variety - in a matching or coordinating color to make a crew or turtleneck closure and, after sewing this up, you then attach the "color" part to the towel and presto-magic, you have a really neat little big that pulls over the head, fits fairly snuggly around the neck and protects a multitude of the child's clothing then while they are eating! The dish towels work best for toddlers and the fingertip towels - if you can find any at a decent price - work better for babies. I've made many of these over the past few years and sold quite a few of them at craft fairs too because they are cute, but also are very, very useful. Just a thought there for anyone with little ones and who has a bit of a knack for sewing cause they are also very easy to make.

The "Hurry, Hurry" thing applies to me in lots of ways right now. I have a stack of fabric sitting in my room, with several patterns pulled out too, all ready and waiting for me to get busy and cut out some shirts, jumpers, coveralls and long pants things for Maya and Kurtis. The makings of some Christmas gifts there you know.

Then, there's the ham in my refrigerator that I have to cook off today and make up a big casserole of Ham and Bean Potpie for the church supper tomorrow that will be held prior to the St. Lucia Day celebration our parish has every year. I may blog more about St. Lucia - for those who don't know about her and this special day observed in Sweden and by many here of Swedish ancestry.

I have to finish addressing my Christmas cards too. Now there's one thing about Christmas stuff I really dread doing. My penmanship is terrible and after one or two cards, I start getting writer's cramp in my hand and my penmanship gets even worse then. Wish I had a Christmas Card Fairy who would show up here and take care of that task for me.

I don't have much left to do in the way of shopping - thankfully! Don't have much money to do any shopping with in the first place, so - well, that task will kind of take care of itself due to the lack of funding I suppose!

And then, there's the Christmas baking to consider. In years past, I have been known to take several nights in a row, stay up all night mixing up upteen batches of cookies and getting them all baked for the holiday. It used to be nothing for me to have baked anywhere from 15-20 different types of cookies - some in double, even triple batches too - and have every freaking tupperware container in the house filled with cookies! This year, I doubt I will go that crazy with the cookie list, but I am hoping to get at least 8-10 different varieties baked off. And, while I am baking, I will have to make several loaves of Limpa Rye bread for the family and also, enough extra to give to some of the elderly members of our church who can no longer bake breads but who I know love this particular type of bread - just a little thing I can do for them and it helps put me in a better spirit mode for the season that way too.

Yep - so much to do, never enough time! There'd be more time available if I would ever get myself organized but at this stage of my life, I doubt seriously that is going to happen!

So, in the meantime - as the title reads, for me it will be "Hurry, hurry" over the next 2 weeks! Hope your life isn't too stressed out and jam-packed with all kinds of things to be done to make it a pleasant holiday. Still have to remember the reason for the season while doing all this too, you know!

Till later and off to "hurry, hurry!"

When Shall The Fun Commence?

Some busy days ahead in this household, I can see 'em coming 'round the bend now!

The living room got a good going over tonight, with some much needed cleaning here and there, which is always nice. But in addition to that, tonight furniture got moved, re-arranged, toys picked up and hidden to remain out of sight (out of mind of a certain 3-year-old too) for the next few weeks and you know by now what this means, don't you?

The tree is coming! The tree is coming!

Yep, time to set up the lovely little old Christmas tree!

Mandy and Kate got what boxes they could handle out of the attic late this afternoon and when Bill got home, it was his job then to drag down the rest of the paraphenalia, including of course, the tree, so that the inside of the olde homestead will take on a pretty, seasonal look.

Since Mandy has to work Sunday from 11 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., but has Monday off, it looks like Monday, November 27th, will be the designated decoration day here.

Hip, hip, hooray! Pretty soon too, it will be Christmas Day!

And, after Christmas Day, that is when the fun will really commence as the family will have to determine then when the tree and all the trimmings and stuff will be taken down. Since it is such fun to put it up, make it look all lovely with the favorite ornaments and such. Put down the tree skirt and watch as packages will begin to appear under the tree - all such things give happy feelings, a nice glow to everyone and the spirit of Christmas begins to descend. But, after the big day has come and gone, why then is it such a depressing chore to defrock the tree?

This will be a point that will come up several times before the tree comes down and is all "folded" up (well, sort of) to be placed back in the attic with the boxes of ornaments and stashed away for another year. "Why do I have to be the one to take it down, put it away?" is the question that will be bantied about here, over and over again. You can bet money on that one!

Now enter Mom's theory of how this issue should be handled.

Why not do as I did after the holiday season of 1996 and just leave the tree up all year?

Are you crazy, is what most everyone reading this will be saying to that suggestion but trust me, it worked fine and dandy for me.

I didn't plan it that way though. It's just that over the Christmas holiday season of 1996-97, I was working two jobs, totally usually anywhere from 60 to 80, even 90 hours a week. I was lucky I had found enough time free for Mandy and I to put the tree up and get it trimmed. And, after the holiday season ended, my workload seemed to increase and finding time to take the tree down, put all that stuff back up in the attic, just never seemed to materialize.

Before I knew it, the end of January had become the end of March. Then, April and Easter rolled around and the tree still was in place. Carrie, my older daughter, offered Mandy $20 to defrock the tree and Mandy turned her down. And, I decided then if the kid wasn't going to do it for $20, then I sure as hell wasn't going to do it for free!

Month after month in 1997 came and went and still the tree remained, safely ensconced in the corner area of the living room. My grandson, Alex, then only 3 years old knew this wasn't exactly "normal" and whispered on one visit here in early August that year to his mother, "Why does Grammy Jeni have a Christmas tree?" Carrie's response to him was a simple, "Don't ask!"

By this time, pure stubbornness on my part had definitely set in and I figured since it had been up this long, still looked fine (how could an artifical tree change anyway?), might as well leave it up now for the duration.

And that's exactly what I did! When the holiday season rolled around again, I was all set, all ready for it and was probably the first person on my street to be able to say "I have my tree up and all trimmed!" And, only those who didn't know it had been up all year would marvel at my ability to be so organized and have something like that done so early in the Christmas Season.

Plus, I decided then too that since the spirit of Christmas is what is really important and the tree is supposed to be a reminder to us of that, then leaving it up year-round kept that spirit alive deep inside me too and that was a good thing.

So that's my theory about Christmas trees and trimming and untrimming them. Leave 'em up all year to enjoy and remember the reason for the season in the doing!

As I've said on many other occasions too - that's my story and I'm sticking to it!