Holidays – Page 17 – Thimbleanna

Lazy Days

19 Comments / December 28, 2007 February 18, 2011 / Holidays

In the blink of an eye, it’s all over. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! We had a great time and are just now attempting to return to normal. For many years, when TheManoftheHouse and I were first married, my side of the family all lived in different parts of the country. We loved Christmas when we’d all get together, sleep under the same roof for a week, and enjoy each others company. Now that we all live in the same city, we miss being cooped up together, so we re-create it here at home. On Christmas Eve we went over the river and through the woods to MeMum and BigDaddy’s (it’s probably less than 5 miles LOL) and we just came home today. MyDadLovesMeBestSister and her family are still at MeMum’s. I could spend all week there, but TheManoftheHouse misses his own bed, so we come home after just a few nights.

I took a few pictures just to prove that I did finally get some Christmas decorations up. I still have a little hand sewing to get done, but now there’s no pressure and plenty of time. I love these lazy days between Christmas and New Year’s. Time to lay around in jammies, reflect on the holidays, and start to plan for a little organization in January. I hope all of you are relaxing and enjoying these more laid-back days too!
XOXO,
Anna

Merry Christmas!

20 Comments / December 24, 2007 February 18, 2011 / Holidays

We’re in an all-out sprint to the finish line here in Thimbleannaland and there’s just not much time for blogging. I’m sure you are all in the same boat! The sewing is finished (save a few bindings) and the wrapping is done. A few more cookies to bake in the morning and one last gift to grab at the store and I’ll be done. Not necessarily ready though. I’m just stunned over where this last month has gone and I’m a little sad that I only managed to get the basics done — decorating and gift making. Not much fun holiday stuff. I had some ornaments and Christmas items that I wanted to make. Maybe I’ll work on them in January so I’ll have them for next year. I think I say that every year.Â I wanted to get downtown and take a picture of the lights to show you, but we didn’t manage to get that done. So, here’s one of my favorite Christmas pictures that hangs in my dining room all year long.

I wish you all a wonderful holiday surrounded by family and friends. I’ll be back soon with a few of the goodies I made but couldn’t show you ahead of time. I’m anxious to have some time to catch up on all of you. And I do believe there just might be a little anniversary in a few days! ;-)

Have a VERY Merry Christmas!!!

XOXO,
Anna

Christmas Stuff

21 Comments / December 21, 2007 February 18, 2011 / Holidays, Travel

Since I can’t think of a good way to relate the items that I’m going to show you, I’ll just list them:

In our Christmas house, we have a running argument about the lights. The boys all love the little Christmas lights and I want the big, old-fashioned kind that I grew up with. You’d think, since I’m the one who has to spend hours putting the lights on the tree, that I’d get to choose. But, I can’t stand all the whining, so I give in. This year, I found an old string of 15 of the big lights, so I decided to put up a little tree in the kitchen just for me. I picked up a few of those Martha Stewart kitchen utensils on sale at K-Mart, some little candy canes, and called it a tree.
See those goodies under the tree? I returned home from my trip tonight to find a little surprise package from Sharon! She’s such a sweetie — it was totally unexpected. There’s a tin of tea, a yummy Mary Englebreit soap, a cute Christmas notepad, some Christmas kleenex, and an adorable little wool stocking with a gingerbread man on it (who’s very hard to see with the lighting!) Thank you SO much Sharon — I love it all! And, well, I really hate to tell you this, but Sharon’s having a little HUGE give-away. Run over there and leave a comment. And in your comment, tell her to pick me LOL!
Before I went on my trip, I managed to make and give a gift to a co-worker. I made her the Amy Butler lounge pants out of the chocolate fabric that I love and I added a little of the fabric to a ready-made t-shirt. Amy must be tall, because the pants are too long for my average-height friend. They’ll be adjusted after Christmas.

While in NJ, I dragged a co-worker in to NYC on Wednesday evening for a few hours ’cause after my previous attempt, I still wanted to see the big tree. I also convinced my friend to go with me to check out the Macy’s Santa. My VERY favorite Christmas movie is Miracle on 34th Street, so I HAD to see the Macy’s Santa. I must not be the only person who wants to peek at Santa ’cause they have a separate line and viewing window just for peeking people. Is this not the coolest looking Santa ever? I wanted to climb right up in his lap and tell him my wishes for Christmas! I think my friend thought I was nuts.

Depending on where you are, only 3 days left. Are you ready???

XOXO,
Anna

Gingerbread Houses, Part 1

19 Comments / December 17, 2007 December 29, 2011 / Gingerbread Houses, Holidays, Recipes

I’m quickly being sucked up by the red and green vortex that is Christmas. Things are spinning faster as the bottom of the drain approaches, and I’m realizing that everything’s not going to get done. I’ve put the good enough stamp on the decorating, the baking will be this weekend and I suspect there will be some late nights wrapping and sewing. I’m in New Jersey tonight for work — until Thursday. Santa gave me an early gift this morning — my flight from O’Hare to Newark was canceled, so I was stuck (oh boohoo!) in O’Hare, with no interruptions, sewing for several hours. I told MeMum yesterday I was hoping for a little delay, and I got my wish! Did you know there are times when you can be happy about airport delays???

Anyway, back to the subject. In our family we like to have a little gingerbread house competition at Christmastime. When I was 14, I found a gingerbread recipe and pattern in a Better Homes & Garden magazine and I’ve made gingerbread houses off and on since then. We don’t make them every year, but the kids seem to really enjoy it. Last year was the best yet — everyone took their time and put some thought into their houses.

It usually takes me a day to bake the gingerbread. Knowing that I would be out-of-town this week, I baked the houses yesterday so that they’ll be ready for our 2007 competition on friday night. Sweetie Pie was a huge help — we had a little assembly line going and she saved me several hours worth of work. Plus, it’s more fun to work together — we even enlisted the help of TheManoftheHouse to roll the balls of dough around and soften them while he watched tv.

People sometimes ask me why I don’t just buy the gingerbread house kits and save all the work. The cost would probably be about the same when you consider that the kits include the candy for the decorations. I think the size of the house is what keeps me making them from scratch. These houses are a bit bigger than the kits. They’re even bigger than the original pattern — I doubled the size. If you’re interested in trying to make your own, I’ve put the recipe for the gingerbread (along with some crude pictures of my templates so that you can make your own pattern), on a page in my recipe section. This really is a fun activity to do with kids. Heck, even the grown ups like it — I think BigDaddy was one of the biggest kids last year — his house came complete with a fire escape!

This is a picture of last year’s winning house, made by the champion team of TheManoftheHouse and TheSecondChild. They built a frat house. I’m not quite sure how they won — I personally preferred the house built by my nephew and MyCrazyBIL. I think maybe the anatomically correct frat people who were partying on the balcony may have clinched the deal for the winning team!

XOXO,
Anna

Comparison Shopping

26 Comments / December 14, 2007 February 18, 2011 / Holidays

Exhibit A: Martha Stewart Baker’s Twine from Michael’s. I can’t remember how much this costs — we’ll give them the benefit of the doubt — $4.99. So, that’s $4.99 for 72 yards, or roughly 6 cents a yard.

Exhibit B: Bernat Holidays “Twists” yarn from JoAnn’s. $7.99 for 603 yards, or a little over a penny a yard.

Here’s the side-by-side comparison — Martha’s twine is much thinner, but the yarn (and it’s a cotton yarn, so it doesn’t really seem like a yarn) is more colorful.

I’m going to have to go with the yarn. I know it’s not Martha, but I can live with that! I’m having great fun using it to tie packages. (The handles on these bags are a thicker cording — the yarn has been used to tie the handles together and attach the little bell to the package. The bells, btw are from Martha’s Macy’s line — $1.99 each on sale.)

And look Sharon, I made pretzels last night. That’s some fun stuff!

Finally, I have the day off tomorrow and I’m hoping to get the big tree done. We’ll see, I might opt for a nap instead, ’cause just thinking about how far behind I am makes me really tired!
XOXO,
Anna