Jeremy's Knit-a-bit

Merry Christmas

Well I was the first up so I got a few photos post Santa and before anyone else got up.

It is hard to get the whole tree in the picture so the star is cut off.

And the stockings are never big enough for everything that is supposed to go in.
Christmas eve was rather quiet. I met my mom at the nursing home to spend dinner with my dad. He slept the whole time even though we all tried to wake him up. He must be saving up for today because he is coming to my brother's house. After getting him ready for bed we set out for dinner. Alas, all the restaurants in town were closed. So I went to Mom's for an omlette and leftovers. It was fine but I never got to church. I missed being with my kids (who were with their dad since he moved back to the area) and our Christmas Eve traditions. I did get a picture of them last night in front of tree. The camera was in some obscure mode so the lights are funky.

This morning we will have our traditional Christmas breakfast of overnight french toast and then open presents. We will go to my brothers for presents (exchanges through a dice game) and dinner. Let the fun and family begin. Merry Christmas!

Long Overdue Coffee Swap Post

It has been over a month since I received my swap package and I want to publicly thank my partner Melissa. I am so sorry I have taken so long (my bad). I don't allow myself to use anything I get from a swap until I post so now I can dig in!! Isn't the felted coffee cup cozy cute. I saw the pattern on the knit picks site and almost knit it for her.
On the knitting front. I have knit a few rows on my afghan and I am hoping that after Christmas I get back to knitting. My back has been the big problem. After sitting I usually have back pain so I spend a lot of time standing or lying down. Since swim season is over (lot of long bleacher sitting) I have noticed my back is much better. I will stand for water polo games in the spring.

My Big (as in tall) Accomplishment

I used to get my Christmas tree the first or second week in December however at that time while I was still living in my first house (pre-blogging) it became difficult to find a good tall tree (8-9 feet) preferring fraser firs. So eventually I succumbed to the rush and starting getting my trees the weekend after Thanksgiving. Keeping with this I went out the Sunday after TG and got my tree. My realtor recommended a stand just around the corner of my new house and since they delivered locally I thought I would try them this year. Usually I get my tree at Menards and you have to tie it to your car yourself (they don't want to be responsible if it falls off) but since I wanted to get a tall tree to place in front of my front windows I opted for the delivery and a more expensive tree. I wanted my tree to be tall but I forgot how much smaller they look when they are outdoors so I opted for a 12 footer. I negotiated having them deliver and put it in the stand for me (they were probably happy to sell the tree) and they gave it a fresh cut at my house. The tree even came with a couple samples of pure maple syrup. Once I got it in the house and arranged some of the furniture I just looked at it and would chuckle in a "I can't believe I got such a big tree" kind of way. The guys suggested using a broom to put the lights up so last Saturday I got out the ladder, a broom and started a fire in the fireplace and was ready for the long haul. The star would be first, I was worried I wouldn't be able to get it up. Using the broom and three attempts it was up. I connected a string of lights and them decided to check it out plugged in. The lights lit up but no star, what a disappointment, I had tested each separately and they worked so down everything came. The lights I had were not compatible with the star. Off to Wal-Mart I went to get some new lights. Fortunately they worked. The star went back up THE FIRST TIME! Throughout the afternoon I would string lights. At about 3:30 I realized I wouldn't have enough so I ran out again, this time to Walgreens and bought some more. I finished before dinner and declared it to be a Silo pizza night. The girls were quite happy with this.

I still have to finish hanging ornaments but I like to take it slow, a few a day, more this weekend.

The star is important to me. Our family has always had a star on top of their tree and I have tried to keep the tradition. There have been times when the star has broken and it has been difficult to find a replacement. Then in the rental house the last two years there hasn't been room because of the low (normal) ceiling.

The star is actually above the ceiling fan!

When I went to water the tree yesterday morning look who I found underneath.

This last picture is a few weeks old but I thought it would be fun to compare the boys TP job for the state meet to the girls the previous week. Note the boys are a lot messier. When they came the whole team came and did it in 6 minutes. Thank goodness for high roofs, I guess they were up on the roof of some of the other girls houses.