How many days are left????

You know lately it seems like as soon as Halloween is over Christmas is here. It's as if the moment the last sales clerk cleans up the last kernel of candy corn on Halloween magically elves must prance through the malls instantly hatching huge decorated Christmas trees twinkling with lights blaring Christmas music from every corner. Almost instantly. Right away...

This is not the case here this year...

It's December 23rd and that picture of my Christmas tree? Yep, just taken today. Well the tree only got here yesterday so it's not like it's been sitting around for weeks or anything. Normally, I'm more on the ball. While I'm not out there with the elves at 12:01 November 1st I usually have my jingle on somewhere around December 1st at least, trying to be a good sport and have holiday spirit and be fairly on schedule with my holiday tasks. But it's been a weird year around here this year. In the spirit of keeping this a knitting blog and not a whining blog I'll try to spare you the gory details and begin by summing it up this way- work drama for me, work drama for the husband, trying to get my mom moved before she has back surgery in January. See? It's been so traumatic it reduces me to the vocabulary of a preschooler, it really does. Trust me you don't want to know.

But we have a tree, and a wreath, thanks to my aunt and uncle who always send something interesting and good every year. And trust me things are finally turning around for us now, they are turning around fast and really, really well.


After spending the last hmm, 3-4 weekends in their entirety working with my mom and all her stuff we've finally gotten her moved into the new place and she loves it. It was tough though, after being where she was for 14 years there was a lot of stuff to go through, and get rid of, and she wanted almost all new furniture. And it was a lot of shopping and ridding and sweating-she's having back surgery remember? Can't lift anything? Yeah, we're glad she's in the new place and getting settled now.

And it seems like the work dramas are over. Husband is still on severance for awhile and is starting some training on Tuesday where he will also have job placement. Yep, we found out a few months ago that his job had been outsourced to Camden which is not only 2 hours away but also the murder capital of New Jersey. Ick. No thanks. But he's excited about what he's starting now and we think it will be a great fit. Meanwhile, my job had been causing me agita since about the end of the summer. A couple of straws broke this camels back lately though, so it's time to move onto bigger and better. I finished the crappy old job yesterday and I landed a cool new job to start in January, but first- I've rewarded myself with a lovely 2 weeks off! Woo hoo! I cannot tell you the last time I had this much time off. I'm really psyched. I have lots of stuff planned including lots of knitting of course!

But in the meantime first I have the holiday to enjoy. So while I may be a little late, I'm not going to let that stop me. If I don't get the tree done today my mom will be here tomorrow and we'll get it done then, we still have time right? Today I intend to finish the wrapping first, remember these guys?

Well the scarf and hat and socks yes, the towels I snuck in on the side. They were specific request, lovely cotton Lily Sugar & Cream cloths, one large, two small. Not shown in the picture are the bear that's been shipped off to my niece and the socks I knit for my dad-with everything going on I didn't even have time to photograph those. But they got done and are mailed.

I've even already started with doing some baking today. I have a batch of mint brownies in the oven. The recipe is from Everyday Food and has a layer of Peppermint Patties in the middle. I can smell them from here and they smell really good! And already off the cookie sheets and on the baking rack-

these are Ginger Cookies from Paula Deen. My crappy photography does not do their taste and also their smell while baking in the oven (also divine) justice. So see, I'm getting there. Better late than never. By the time Santa makes it to my house he will have thought I started preparing months ago!

**P.S. With all this craziness I haven't even switched to the new Blogger yet! I promise it's coming! If you are experiencing any issues with the comments because of the old Blogger I apologize, I promise I'm going to be switching soon! Thanks for your patience!