I survived!

It was a long day, but I survived the shopping/traffic frenzy. I was able to get everything that I needed, now I just have to finish all the stuff here at home and get the house clean and make Christmas Eve dinner and do the laundry and pay the bills and get the groceries...oh, I've got to stop!

I went to my yarn shop yesterday (which was packed wall-to-wall with customers) and one of the ladies asked me if I was ready for Christmas-knittingwise. I had to laugh! I have one scarf 2/3 done, one scarf 1/4 done, one scarf not even on the needles, my mom's socks are still not on the needles, and I need to make a beaded bag pin for my mother-in-law. Still have those 3 1/2 knitted stockings to finish, too. Ugh!! I'm hoping to upload a few pictures later today.

I'm pretty tired of plain knitting, I'm ready to work on something with a little more technique. When we get through Christmas, I'm going to make myself a cabled scarf and I've got a slew of baby sweaters to make, mostly for boys, so I always picture cables for them. I like to design them myself with my Sweater Wizard, either that or I use Dale of Norway patterns. I'm excited, though, I should be getting my Stitch & Motif Wizard any day now and I'll be able to chart out my own cables.

Back to Christmas shopping...I want to figure something else out. Either I need to be better prepared or we need to make some serious changes. I feel like all I did was spend money for the sake of spending money. I hope there is meaning in the gifts that I chose, but I don't know. We've turned into a society that just goes and buys what it wants any time, so I'm finding it quite hard to find things that are meaningful and that bring that "Oh, how cool" or "how wonderful" response. I know that I get that most from those things that are handmade, but I didn't plan well enough this year and so I'm wasting my time shopping. You know, it's not really about the reaction I receive, but it is about the blessing that it gives. Last year, hubby grandma had mentioned how nice it would be to have a beaded bag she could wear as a brooch. My mind started working and I ordered the kit from Patternworks. Anyway, at Christmas we always let the youngest open their gifts first with everyone watching and we work our way up to Grandma (who celebrated her 90th birthday this summer and has a better social life than I do). Anyway, the little box with the pin had been on the top of her pile and she had peeked!!! Just like a little kid! She had it pinned to her sweater and it made her tear up. That's what makes it more blessed to give than to receive! This year, I don't know, I doubt that anything will excite anyone to much.

Time to get to work on the laundry, those Christmas stockings, and whatever else may come up.