Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Sorry for the late post. We had a wonderful Christmas in Seattle with family. The highlight of course was getting to see this little elf again. My sister and brother-in-law and of course Misha the dog.The rest of our trip went by pretty quickly and ended in a nasty case of food poisoning/stomach flu. The whole house got it which was not fun. We managed to make it home on the plane though it was the most nauseating 7 hours of my life! Greg and I rested and recovered at home the last few days of the year enjoying the break from work. We rang in the new year by going to bed early and then spending some time reviewing our 2008 goals and setting some new 2009 goals (our annual tradition since starting this practice during pre-marital counseling). Nice and low key, the way we like it.

Overall it was an excellent vacation. Thanks for counting down the month with me! Happy New Year!

December 24

1 Day till Christmas and what would I like to see

A happy family under the tree

We woke up to another 5 inches of snow in the morning. Not a problem except we needed to get to Greg's parent's house which is up a big hill. After digging out the car and struggling to get chains on the tires with my dad we finally made our way over to their house. Greg's family celebrates Christmas on Christmas Eve so we spent the entire day over there enjoying good meals, great decorations, gifts, and fun time spent together. Greg's Aunt Lisa and Uncle John as well as little dog Molly were up from Colorado for the holiday and it was great to see them. Especially John who we had not seen since our wedding almost 8 years ago and as well as Molly who I had never met.

Greg's mom is an amazing decorator and Christmas is no exception. There were twinkling lights everywhere!
The photos don't really do it justice and I certainly didn't shoot everything.

You can see, everyone had fun opening gifts too. It was a fun day. Marry Christmas Eve!

December 23

2 Days till Christmas and what would I like to see

A gift wrapping frenzy

We made it safely to Seattle despite all the difficult weather around the US. We were so thankful to have a place on the plane since there were 165 standby passengers trying to get on our flight out of Denver. We arrived in Seattle and got home safely. This was the picture from the bedroom window in the morning. They don't handle snow very well here, but that is a whole separate post. We had been shipping gifts directly to Seattle all along so we spent our first morning here sorting and wrapping gifts. Snow outside the window, Christmas music playing on the laptop and me in my Christmas jammies, all made for a nice morning. Then we got a ride over to the Cruikshank house. The ladies went out for a little shopping excursion (I found a couple pairs of shoes), the boys stayed home to shovel the driveway and putter around doing whatever men do to kill time. Then in the evening we all went out to dinner. It was a nice day all around.

A couple other things I wrapped up:

Homemade tissue holders.Love these because they have contrasting pretty fabric inside too that you see when you change out the tissues!

I also ordered a needle felted sculpture for Greg's Aunt of her little pooch Molly. Unfortunately Portland where the artist lives was really snowed in and without power for days so the sculpture had to be shipped express mail and won't be here in time so I wrapped up some photos. (Update: The sculpture arrived on Christmas Eve morning! It is so cute in person and we were able to wrap it up!)

December 22

3 Days till Christmas and what would I like to see

A post of miscellany

It is a travel day so I leave you with some random items. First is another benefit of a fabric stash and a sewing machine. I whipped up this cloth bag for a bottle of wine gift Greg took to work. I used some leftover red fabric from the kitchen blind. Sewed up the sides, sewed the bottom corners to give it a slightly flat bottom, then turned the the top and stitched the edge. A silky ribbon and it was done. It turned out really nice.

Here is a little update of our card display this year. It filled out really nicely. I think I will do it again next year for sure.

And a photo of our little snow storm over the weekend. This was taken during the thaw. Thanks to the thaw we were able to move the car and find a perfect and free parking spot for our trip! Yippie! Now if we can just make it to Seattle and get there with all our suitcases!

December 21

4 Days till Christmas and what would I like to see
A homemade dragon softie

Meet Stuart the tiny dragon. I finished him this morning and wanted to introduce you to him before he flies off to Seattle to meet his new caretaker, Ewan.

He is just a baby dragon, not yet able to use his tiny wings, nor spit fire. He likes to nap in my new green bowl. He thinks it is good camouflage. I found the pattern here.

December 20

5 Days till Christmas and what would I like to see
A Cruikshank traditional activity

Each year when we spend Christmas at home, Greg and I have a tradition of doing a big puzzle on Christmas Day (It is usually a gift). We didn't want to miss out on our tradition this year but doing a puzzle on vacation isn't always possible so I found a cool New York City puzzle at Barnes and Noble recently, picked it up and put it under the tree. We opened it Saturday night and got started. There is no pressure to finish it before we leave, in fact I think it will be nice to work on it when we get back.

We don't actually approach puzzles the same way. I like to start with making the boarder, Greg does not. I like to start working on it and then do nothing else for days where as Greg likes to work a little here and a little there. None the less, we have a good time putting it together each year and then we often share the puzzle with a friend (since I don't like to do the same puzzle twice). Perfect with this one because all the pieces came in a little suitcase! (Sorry, Blogger is rotating my photo for some reason!)

December 19

6 Days till Christmas and what would I like to see

The Secret Santa Finale

Friday was the finale lunch for our Secret Santa game at work. We play a week long version of Secret Santa. Each employee who wants to play fills out a survey where they list their likes and dislikes and give their santa ideas of what they might enjoy receiving. Then we hang stockings up for all the players. Each day Monday through Thursday the Santas slip a small gift into the stocking of their assigned person. Then each day at 4pm we all gather and open our stockings and find out what is inside. It is a lot of fun. On Friday we had a lunch at a nearby Mexican restaurant where we go around the table and try and guess who we thought our Santa was. When each Secret Santa is revealed they give their person a final larger gift to open. It is always fun to hear who people guessed their Santa was and why. My Santa did an exceptional job. The first day I got a "locker organizer" which was perfect becuase it was a mirror. I didn't tell my Santa on the survey I wanted a mirror for my desk, hmmm. The next day I got a diet soda and an apple. I put on my survey that I didn't want food but only a couple people know why (my diet), hmmm. Then the third day I got 2 gold glittery ornaments that PERFECTLY match my Christmas theme at home, hmmmmmmmmm. Forth day I got a little cute notebook. All so perfect, all so me. My Santa seemed to have an aweful lot of inside information, so I guessed that it was perhaps my good friend Suzan, and I WAS RIGHT! She gave me this gorgeous bowl that perfectly matches my living room. Everyone had a really nice time. It was a great last day of work for the year!

December 18

7 Days till Christmas and what would I like to see
Another post on crafts? Oh Geez!

Sorry, I can't help it. I have been whipping up little quick and easy gifts for the past few nights and finished some tonight to hand out to my co-workers. I know I have already expressed my love for covered buttons but I can't tell you have easy and cute they turn out for very little cost or effort. I created these for the ladies in the lab:The big buttons are 1.5 inches and have hair elastics attached for ponytails. The smaller buttons are 7/8 inch and glued onto hair clips. There are also a few 1/2 inch buttons on bobby pins. These are my favorites. I just attached everything to a tag and tied it with ribbon for a super easy presentation. I slipped them into wax paper bags with a few other goodies I didn't make and will hand them out tomorrow at lunch. Man I love fabrics right now too! I think it is because they are like scrapbook papers in that they come in so many luscious patterns. In fact most of these fabric designers are making lines of paper the same as their fabrics.In addition to covered button projects, jewelry making comes in really handy for whipping up gifts too. I made these earrings for a friend at work in under 5 minutes. Little flower drops, too cute!And this little guy will hopefully be finished tonight for my nephew. He still needs wings, arms, ears, and eyes.More on him later!