Christmas ponderings

December 8, 2011 – 4:13 pm

Christmas. Santa. Ornaments. Presents. My head spins every year and then I get caught up in the chaos and spit out the other side wondering how it all went by so fast.

There are several great articles I have read on Christmas. One I read last year about redeeming Santa Claus. This year, I read an article about how Christmas has been hijacked. If you have the time, please read both, they say it better than I ever could.

We are making changes to how we focus on Christmas.

No traditional Santa – he won’t be giving gifts in our house. He’s too much about consumerism and ‘me, me, me!’ And really, if a toddler has to pick between Santa and baby Jesus, let’s be honest, he’ll pick Santa. We’ll talk about Saint Nicholas, the real person who once lived and sought to show Jesus’ love to those around him. If Jude wants to sit on Santa’s lap, no biggie. But he will know that ‘Santa’ is just a man dressing up as a fictional character.

We have already been doing our little advent activity. We are reading one verse a day in the story leading to Jesus’ birth. Each verse is on simple Christmas card stock so once we finished reading, we chain it together with velcro. Simple and reusable. But it keeps us focused daily. I hope this tradition sticks.

We are simplifying gift giving. I love this little pneumonic for gifts during the holidays: Something you want, something you need, something to wear, something to read, and additionally (something to give).  We are also going to do small gifts in stockings – gum, candy, markers, etc. We haven’t bought much for Jude the past two Christmas seasons because, well, he doesn’t really get it. But he certainly understands presents now. And we are going to focus in and keep it small. The season will first be about Jesus and second, spending time with family. Gifts will just be a little extra benefit.

And my on-going struggle. Buying items that do not support slave labor (top 13 items most likely made by slave labor). For awhile, I will keep this at the front of my mind and will resist buying that cute whatever that’s on sale. And then I cave. I want to look cute. I want to be trendy. And then I buy that thing that’s on sale without questioning whether I am wearing (or eating) someone else’s mistreatment. Is looking cute ever worth abusing someone’s basic human rights? What is my faith if I am not caring for others in every way possible? That’s worth refocusing how to spend our money. Oh forgive me because I fail in this over and over again.

In case you are wondering about a few good websites for items that are made without slave labor (in addition to the ones listed in this post), these are some of my favorites:

And lastly, focusing on simplifying. The holidays are busy, that’s no new news to any of us. So this season, regardless of how busy we get, I am trying to make things simple. Nothing needs to be overly complex this season. That includes cooking, gifting, schedules . . . simplifying it all!

What have you been pondering as this holiday season approaches?

By Elizabeth | Posted in Faith, Life, Social Justice | Comments (5)

Christmas decor

December 6, 2011 – 8:00 am

Leave it to pinterest to inspire me to get some Christmas decorations going. I found this free holiday subway art, printed it at Costco (so cheap!) and stuck it in a 1/2 price frame from hobby lobby. Slowly but surely, our modern Christmas stash is growing.

christmas subway art

Something else we typically lack on our door is a wreath. Our door is already pretty so I haven’t felt like it really had to be dressed up! But I have really been loving all the yarn wreaths I’ve been seeing. After some inspiration from pinterest, I decided to make one of my own. I didn’t use a wreath form though, you want to know what’s under all that yarn? A $1 pool noodle from this summer. Wreath forms are $8 or so! Why spend that when you already have something in the house that works?

yarn wreath

And I know, in my previous post, I said we weren’t red and green Christmas folks. . . well my door is already red so I just had to go with it! I still feel like this wreath has a pretty modern feel to it! And this felt dahlia. So. Much. Work. But it has been on my ‘to make’ list for quite some time now, so I was happy to utilize it on this wreath. It’s reminiscent of another flower that is way too popular during this time of year that I happen to dislike quite strongly but much prettier. (Read: don’t ever give me a poinsettia.)

felt dahlia flower

Then I made a quick fringe felt flower and a couple little rosettes to round out the wreath.

felt pom pom flower and rosettes

I’m really happy with how it turned out! It is a little light weight so it doesn’t hang quite how I envisions (I love asymmetry!) but we will work on that in years to come. Right now, it will just hang how it is on our door!

By Elizabeth | Posted in Crafts, Yarn | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (5)

another ‘sewcial’ weekend: winter 2011

December 5, 2011 – 4:02 pm

Love these little weekend getaways. Nothing recharges me the way hanging out, relaxing and sewing seems to. This is the third time we have been able to get away and craft this year (read about the first and second times). We revisited the Wimberly Quilt Ranch once more and Amanda from My Sewcial Hour wrote up a great post about all the fun that we had there. Her pictures sum up the weekend just perfectly, go check them out!

I didn’t take many pictures worth sharing while I was there, I was just too busy working on my little projects. My first project that I finished was a quick little ornament for Jude. Bacon!! He was a free tutorial that I found on pinterest.

Bacon!

While I was making him, I just kept saying ‘bacon face’ over and over again. He’s too cute and a great addition to the other two ornaments that I’ve made each year since Jude has been born (see 2009, 2010).

Bacon! Bacon!

After that successful project, I felt ready to tackle a project I have had on my mind for several Christmas seasons. A tree skirt. Although after some discussion with the girls, this may really be called tree ‘pants’ because they’re square. . . Who knew? I used a wonky star tutorial that I sized down a bit to fit the scale of our small tree. We’re just not big Christmas tree people.

Wonky Star Mini Tree Skirt (or Pants?)

I used Kona Cotton grass and Michael Miller’s Candy Dot in Spa. Not only are we not big Christmas tree people, we’re not red and green Christmas people. Blue and green Christmas motifs make me much happier than red and green.

Wonky Star Mini Tree Skirt (or Pants?)

And with a little encouragement from the girls, I added some star quilting to the regular loops that I typically do. Pretty fun!

star stippling

I also had a bit of time to get some crochet done. This is a gift for my step-sis-in-law after she saw this hat that I made for myself. She really likes pink. It’s a free tutorial that I found on pinterest (sensing a trend here?). This is that same yarn that I’ve been using. Stitch Nation by Debbie Stoller ‘washable ewe’ in kitten, icing and zinnia.

slouchy hat

I also finished up a birthday scarf for a friend that loves yellow (it’s ‘full o’ sheep’ in honeycomb). It’s the Catherine’s wheel stitch and man, this stitch eats up yarn quickly! It’s quite nice to look at though.

catherine's wheel scarf

And here it is all rolled up, ready to be gifted.

catherine's wheel scarf

Such a wonderful weekend with such lovely, creative ladies (you can see I’m modeling the yellow scarf below and holding the tree skirt)! It was so much fun to see what everyone was capable of making. I must say I am inspired to try some new things now, including knitting! Can’t wait to do it again!

By Elizabeth | Posted in Crafts, Sewing, Yarn | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (5)

awkward

November 30, 2011 – 8:43 am

Hi.

I’m the awkward one.

I may not seem that way at first but I’ve gotten good at hiding it. High school and working many service jobs over the years definitely force you to deal with your awkward. Every so often, I find myself confronted with the reality that making new friendships, especially at my stage in life, is awkward. You have to put aside your fear of being rejected or not liked and put your self out there. A couple weekends ago I was reminded exactly how hard it is to do this and I ended up isolating myself because I was too afraid. And then I was sad that I was alone. Flashback to middle school lunches. Yikes.

I already struggle with making new friendships because I am such an introvert. New big groups make my palms get sweaty and I clam up. I watch everyone and evaluate instead of engaging and then I feel like an outsider. Yet that need for community doesn’t go away which makes alone feel even worse.  And for whatever reason, groups of women are the most difficult for me.

What is it about becoming a mom that makes us isolate ourselves so easily and give in to the awkward? Maybe it’s not even becoming a mom, it’s just getting older and more set in our ways? I remember friendships being formed effortlessly in high school and college. Do any of you deal with this? How do you build honest community with other women? Is the first step admitting you want it?

Hi, my name is Elizabeth.

I’m awkward but I still want honest community with other women.

By Elizabeth | Posted in Faith, Life, Random | Comments (17)

kinda Toddler Tuesday

November 29, 2011 – 2:43 pm

Just a few things today.

Jude can’t get enough of his cars and trains. So we taped a race track onto our coffee table. Hours of fun. Seriously.

Tape race track

And because I didn’t take pictures of our other activities, here’s Jude being silly with his spoon.

Spoon face

And a ridiculous picture take with our iphone camera. Can you believe that’s a phone pictures?

Cute boy

And I found an app that puts mustaches on people. So here’s that previous picture of Jude with a Hogan ‘stache!

Cute boy with 'stache

By Elizabeth | Posted in Toddler | Comments (1)

a little more crochet

November 28, 2011 – 8:00 am

I made this cowl pattern up as a little giveaway for a mom’s group that I meet up with every other week. It’s made from big chunky yarn so it crocheted up super quick with minimal effort. It ended up around this lovely lady’s neck, perfectly complimenting her beautiful red hair. I may have to make one for myself. :)

Crochet cowl scarf

And then I decided that I wanted a hat that would keep my ears warm that was a little more stylish than a beanie so I found this free crochet hat pattern on pinterest! I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. It’s a bit boho but I think that’s kinda why I love it. I’ve been wearing it almost everyday.

Crochet Slouchy Hat

Here’s a side view so you can see the slouch.

Crochet Slouchy Hat

And I have so many more good things in the works to share with you guys. Oh the holiday season overflows with ideas . . . What crafty items have you been working on lately?

By Elizabeth | Posted in Crafts, Yarn | Tagged , , , , | Comments (5)

family pictures for 2011

November 22, 2011 – 8:52 am

You might remember that last year we won a photo session with Vignette Photography! We loved our photos so much that we decided to do it again this year. This will make the third year that Vignette has provided us with photos for our Christmas cards. So fun!

Some cute photos of Jude and Jason – captures their dynamic pretty well!

  

And we would almost have the rest of the world fooled in the fall color that made an appearance in our shoot. Thank you obliging bald cypress for actually turning yellow!

 

Jude’s favorite part of the shoot? Jumping in the puddle of course!

Love them all!

By Elizabeth | Posted in Random | Comments (1)