Wishing you a Happy New Year!

I'm typing this fireside because, yes, I completely forgot about writing a blog post for this week.  So instead of post-Christmas knitting, you get my last firepit of the year.  

I had a lot of lasts today. (Well, yesterday as of when you're reading this)

The last of the Christmas turkey was eaten. 

Got my last paycheck for 2022.

Had my last day off this year.

My last load of laundry for 2022 has been done.

I changed my sheets for the last time this year.

I cleaned the fish tank out for the last time this year.

It was a very exciting day off! 😊

And finally, today is my final blog post for 2022, such that it is.

And as I mentioned, the last firepit of the year.

Hopefully I'll be back to talking about knitting next week.  Meanwhile, I wish you a very

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Sunday Supper - Corn Pudding

 

Today's Sunday Supper recipe for corn pudding is another holiday favorite from Southern Living.  This is the recipe my mother-in-law always used.  My own mom's was creamier and had a lot less sugar, and sadly, she never wrote it down.  It existed only in her head.

Almost ready for Santa

There has been a lot of Christmas progress around here over the last few days.  And thank goodness for it!  I was in quite a panic up until last night.  But you know how when you have WAY too much to do and you're all stressed out about it but then  you sit down and map out an actual plan, a plan with priorities, a plan with sensible priorities, and then you focus on that plan and start following the steps and it suddenly all comes together and you realize you are actually going to survive as long as you can remain focused...?  Yeah, that happened.  I just hope I haven't forgotten anything because one single missed task and my whole world is going to fall apart again.

Anyway, the tree is up and decorated and Leroy is hanging front and center where he can be seen from the 'good' chair.  I painted Leroy when I was a young kid - six or eight years old, I'd guess.  Dad named him Leroy and he always had to hang where Dad could see him from his seat on the couch.

The gifts are all wrapped.  Well, most of them are.  Okay, 90% of them are wrapped.  But the rest are things that will most likely go in gift bags so not a hugetime consuming issue.

I thought I still needed to go stocking stuffer shopping but I met with Santa yesterday and it turns out I already have more stuff than I need.

Nine batches of rum balls have been made.  I need to make four more batches but I ran out of ingredients and what with the traditional shot of rum between each batch, I wasn't in any condition to go to the grocery store.

This set of miniature stockings has been completed...

And the final knitted gift is on the needles.  I'm afraid to say it but I shouldn't have any trouble getting it finished in time.

There's still 8,000 batches of cookies to bake but thank goodness for awesome daughters who volunteer for that duty.  She even gets the first five or six thousand made without complaint.  Ususally.

So what's left to do?  

I still have to deliver the gifts.

And of course I need to finish wrapping the gifts.

We need to go ride around looking at other's lights.

I need to help Hayden make gifts for her parents.  I really want that to be a tradition.  Have a Christmas Craft Night (or day) with her each year so that (A) we can have craft time together, (B) she can hand-make something for her parents and later in life, her friends or whoever she wants to make for, and (C) it will give her parents an evening or afternoon to go do adulty things.  Growing up, I had that tradition with my God Mother and I have some wonderful crafty memories.  I want the same for Hayden.

I need to do the final Christmas dinner shopping and some last minute baking.

And of course, I need to finish that last knitted gift.

Oh, and I should probably at least vacuum before Santa arrives.

I have two days off from work between now and Christmas.  I should be able to get all that done, right?

Right??

I sure hope I haven't forgotten anything.

And since I can feel the panic starting to slowly seep back in, I'm going to go ahead and make the decision to take next week off from blogging.  I hope you all have a wonderful, safe, fun and happy holiday.

🎄MERRY CHRISTMAS🎄

Sunday Supper - Sugared Nuts

Okay, so maybe today's recipe for sugared nuts isn't a 'dinner' food, but it is southern and they are almost always found at any fancy gathering.  They also make great gifts.

So, I present you with.... Sugared Nuts from Deep South Dish.  Yum!

It's begining to look a little like Christmas

We finally got a Christmas tree.

This is a record breaking year for tree shopping.  It was the first time since Mike and I have been together  (over 30 years) that we went together to pick out the tree!  Can you believe that?  I know, it's crazy, right?!?  

When we first met, we were living in apartments and real trees weren't allowed.  And then my fake tree was a really nice one and lasted for many, many years.  And then we were young, first time parents and broke and we made do with the old, now worn out fake tree. And then it became a tradition, (not a well loved tradition, but a tradition all the same) that Mike would pick one up on his way home from work. And the last few years, he and Sarah went together while I worked or stayed home to take care of his mom.

Anyway, we went together this year.  You'd think we were both drunk in the photo but it's because my arm wasn't long enough and we got laughing at my inability to take a decent photo.

Normally the tree hangs out in the bed of Mike's truck overnight but this year we brought it in immediately and set it up.

And Sarah instantly started putting the lights on it.  

Thank God for daughters who will willingly put the lights on!

On a different note, tomorrow is my last craft show/event/fair of the season.  I'm terribly unprepared after not being able to knit and replace the things sold at the last fair but.... if you're in the area, come by and see me and all the other vendors.  There should be some fantastic Christmas gift options to choose from.

And, there will even be a craft supply yardsale type table where the vendors can destash their no longer needed/wanted crafty items, kits, tools and scraps.  There will be something for everyone so stop by if you are in the area.  It should be a good time!

Sometimes I'm an idiot!

Yes, sometimes I'm an idiot.  A complete and total idiot. Today's Sunday Supper post got retroactively posted to November 6th instead of being posted on December 4th.  I could lie and say I don't know how it happened but...

In any event, today's Sunday Supper is a recipe for beef tenderloin and can be found here.  I apologize for making you follow an extra link but Blogger won't allow me to repost the exact same post.  I do think this dish sounds delicious enough, and easy enough, to bother with that extra link though.

Christmas beef tenderloin, courtesy of southernliving.com

Enjoy!

Flying

 The needles have been flying!

The thumb splint was due to be removed on the day after Thanksgiving but I took it off a day early.  Sarah still did most of the cooking but I helped a little and did most of the dish washing.  The warm water felt really good on my thumb and I think it was a big help in getting some mobility back in it. 

Our Thanksgiving was pretty peaceful.  We only had three in attendance because everyone else had the flu.  

After dinner clean-up, I sat down and knit.  And knit and knit and knit. I'm making a Garter Squish blanket, a free Stephen West design.  Of course I'm not following the pattern exactly.  I added a few extra stitches for little bit of extra width and I'm changing colors much more frequently than suggested.  

It's only been a week of knitting and the blanket is already too big to fit into my sweater plus a hat or two sized knitting bag.  Being knit with two strands of worsted on large needles makes for a wonderfully thick and squishy fabric. (Thus the design's name.)  I'm not crazy about the way my color stripes look when it's bunched up in my lap or knitting bag but it's better when spread out over a bed.  I think - I hope - it's one of those magical projects, like a scrappy mitered square blanket, where the colors clash and look awful until you finish and suddenly, presto-magic, they all blend together perfectly.  That's what I'm hoping.  But even if it turns out ugly, it will be warm and snuggly.

I'm knitting the blanket with two strands of Brava held together.  One strand is Custard throughout and the second is a mish-mash of mini skeins from multiple sets.  It's a very relaxing knit and the fabric knits up super fast - obviously!  The pattern has a knit as you go i-cord border which is pretty cool.  I've never seen it before and while it's not visually noticable, it is super easy to do and does make the edge neater and somewhat sturdier.  

Squish has been a wonderful project to be working on this past week.  It's mindless and exactly what I've needed.  Remember how I said everyone had the flu for Thanksgiving?  Hayden was one of the 'everyone' and it hit her hard.  Really, really hard.  She ended up being rushed to the hospital in an ambulance and gave us a all a pretty good scare.  This year's flu is no joke.  

She's home now, after multiple days in the hospital hooked up to all kinds of tubes and wires.  She's feeling better but still isn't her normal bouncy self.  Now, if we can just get her parents well.... I'm not sure who I felt more sorry for - Hayden hooked up to all the life saving gadgets or her parents, having to sit and worry about her while they dealt with their own flu symptoms.  Zack seems like he's making a little progress getting better.  His fever has finally broken at least.  But Hayden's mom, honestly, I'm not so sure she shouldn't be hanging out in her own hospital bed.  

Meanwhile, I have a giant snack basket with enough snacks to sustain me for several days and I'm hiding out in my room, doing everything I can to avoid their flu germs.  Thank goodness I have a closet full of yarn and my thumb is healed and I can knit once again. 

Oh, and just to make sure my thumb would allow me to use regular sized needles, I cast on a .... well, the first of a set of four somethings for a Christmas gift.   Also being knit with Brava.  I've never liked acrylic yarns but Brava is pretty nice.  I've knit almost exclusively with it since the start of summer and have had zero issues with it.  It's soft, seems to wash and wear well and comes in lots of pretty colors.

Oh, and I started to decorate for Christmas.  I didn't get very far before Hayden got sick.  And apparently I forgot to water the brand new pointsettias.  Hopefully they will bounce back.

I hope you all also had a peaceful Thanksgiving, although for different reasons.  (I've been too busy knitting and praying for Hayden to read many blog posts.)  I also  hope you can stay far, far away from the flu germs but if you do get sick, take care and take it seriously.  It's a nasty, nasty bug this year!