Merry Christmas!!!!

Merry Christmas to everyone!!

It's weird and just a sign that life is passing us by. M is home for Christmas with James and of course little Bear. I guess it's technically our first Christmas with the whole family together. We didn't do a lot of shopping, I didn't do a lot of decorating. That's not what Christmas is all about. It's about being together and enjoying each other's company. We do have a "tree" with decorations - I'll share that with you tomorrow once all the presents get under it.

I'm in total slow down mode at the moment. I'm good with that. I can be a slug like the best of them at any given moment - even with a deadline which I don't have right now.

I whisked myself down to that studio and worked on this while I listened to an audiobook or maybe that was when I was sewing.

Yes - the 1,000 piece puzzle is together.

Completed puzzle

I hadn't assembled a puzzle in a long time and I have to say that it looked daunting when I had sat down to do it. But logic prevailed and I picked "like" colors, things, shapes and got it together in a fairly short time. Yeah!!!  Technically, it's no longer together as I put it back in the box. No missing pieces. Now it's on the list of things to move out of the house. Yes - they are naked skiers - naughty naked skiers.

Hey - it's Christmas - we're all allowed some downtime so I went to the closet where the puzzles are housed and I pulled out another one. This one is only 500 pieces but they are NOT cut in a grid. Very weird shapes. I bought it at Value Village. No guarantee all the pieces are there. This is what I did yesterday. The border is VERY hard to define. That will happen as I assemble it.

Progress on the next puzzle

 The puzzle has quilts on it - go figure. There are a LOT of puzzles with quilts as the theme. Ask me how I know. I think over half of the puzzles I have in the closet have quilts as the theme. This one will be up for grabs once I'm finished with it. Any takers?

A Diane Phalen quilt puzzle

I completed all the flying geese for the Misty Pines quilt. That was a wee bit of a slog as I wasn't too much in the mood to sew, but I wanted to get that part done. And it's done!!!!

Now I have to make blocks with the flying geese units. I got a couple made yesterday and decided to start laying out the first column. There are three or four blocks missing from the bottom, but it's a start. There's definitely a light at the end of this tunnel and I can see that it'll get finished before the end of the year and I can knock off another UFO.

The start of Misty Pines assembly

Yesterday was all about food at our house. I do NOT want to see the grocery bills from the last couple of days. At lunch, we all sat down and went through the menu over the next couple of days to see what needed to be bought. M is vegan so that means two different meals for Christmas day. The list went on and on, but finally, everyone was in agreement and they went off to shop and I went to sew.

We had the most amazing lentil soup for dinner. Thanks, James. I think my kitchen is in shock! Never have all the counter surfaces been used at the same time. Nor have all the appliances been used in the same meal prep and well - the BODGERS in the drawers were delighted to be used. Look it up - bodgers is a "mishmash" of things. Pauline's family calls all the kitchen gadgets - bodgers. They have a bodgers drawer in their kitchen!!!

The end result - we have a LOT of oatmeal raisin cookies. They are my favorite. I won't look at the sugar/fat content in these. I'll just eat them, enjoy them, and know that my detox starts in January.

Oatmeal cookies

 I noticed them all stacked on a tray in the kitchen before I went to bed. I did move them to the corner so a certain someone couldn't help themselves last night. However it looks like someone did help themselves, but I doubt that was Murphy as I know she would have eaten a whole lot more than two or three.

Seems to be missing a few cookies here

But that wasn't all. Shelly gave me a fruitcake the other day. A HOMEMADE fruitcake that was laced with brandy.  (Oh gosh - I think it was brandy!)  Anyway, it was time to crack open the fruitcake. Well - good thing I wasn't in too much of a hurry as it took a wee bit of time to unwrap it. Two layers of foil, two layers of saran and finally the cheesecloth.  AH - it was well worth the wait. So moist - that's because of the booze I'll bet!!!  Shelly -  I LOVE the fruitcake and thanks so much.

Unwrapping the fruitcake

And here's our beautiful fresh flower centerpiece thanks to M and James. 

Fresh flower centerpiece

Some of the presents are under the "tree". There are two that I should wrap to make it more authentic. I'd better go find some paper for that.

Christmas morning in our house has always been a very relaxed affair. M would get up and sit on the couch and look at the presents, but wouldn't touch a thing until everyone was assembled.

She better get up before we need to get to our rendezvous as I really, really can't wait any longer for her to see her present. GET UP NOW!!!!!

All in all, life is good. I wouldn't wish for it to be any different and I'm thoroughly grateful for everything we have. I also love the fact that our Christmas is calm - no hustle, no bustle, no running around, no eating three huge meals in one day. We take it nice and easy and I'm so grateful for that. I might even get a wee bit of sewing done. Of course, it helps with all the kitchen staff around. Even though my kitchen is a decent size, there is no room for one more!!

On that note, I'm out of here to give the girls a walk.

Have a very Merry Christmas

Ciao!!!!!