Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Curt & I spent Christmas in the Outer Banks of North Carolina with his family. We all stayed in a rental for the week in honor of his grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary. 

We were right on the beach, which was strange since it was very freezing cold all week.

The beach is littered with these houses and hotels the colors of sherbet, a stark contrast to the wet sand and bleak winter skies. 

Sadly, a lot of these older hotels are literally being washed away into the ocean, held back only by these sandbags. 

But would you look at those colors?! 

Curt's uncle brought along a tree, which we decorated with handmade ornaments and bows, carefully cut snowflakes, and a popcorn and cranberry garland. It was very sweet and really turned the beach house into a special Christmas getaway. 

This little guy woke everyone up nice and early Christmas morning; it was fun to share Christmas with little kids again - they make the day a little more magical. 

These two had the honor of passing out presents to everyone. Among the gifts were a new camera, a Nook ebook reader, a new hat & scarf set, and plenty of toys for the little ones. 

I gifted Curt's family with this quilt I've been working on. Sorry I don't have better pictures, I'm working on obtaining some more. I finished the binding while we were there and never got a chance (aka I forgot) to take pictures of it in it's entirety. 

Curt's mom also got an iPad, so I now I will be making a sleeve for that.

We had a great time with Curt's family, we don't get to see them a lot, so it was nice to have time to catch up. We even got to meet the newest cousin for the first time, even though he was born way back in May. 

Because of impending snow storms, we all packed up and left the house on Christmas day. We headed up to Pennsylvania, which turned out to be a nightmare of a drive due to bad directions. After about 12 hours of driving we made it to our destination and called it a night (although it was really morning!) We spent a couple days with Curt's grandma and great aunt before heading back to Nashville. 

Overall we drove something like 37 hours and I have never been so sick of a car in my life! I was overjoyed to be home again, back to work, and back to my normal schedule. 

Since we were with Curt's family, we missed out on the fun in Michigan with my families, including this little cutie in the pants I made for him - yet another pair of Quick Change Trousers from Anna Maria Horner's Handmade Beginnings. 

The pants are made from a burgundy corduroy shirt and a plaid shirt, both thrifted. When I saw the plaid shirt I knew it would be perfect for Christmas pants. The vest was already picked out, so it was a match made in heaven. The booty panel on the pants is the same plaid, and corduroy on the plaid reverse. I had plenty of fabric left over so I made the matching plaid bow-tie. I'm so glad to see it all fit and matched, making the sweetest outfit for his first Christmas! 

Hopefully I'll be getting more pictures of our holiday from other family members and I'll be sure to share those too! 

I hope you had a wonderful holiday and enjoy your New Year's Eve bashes! I have to work but hope to join a friends' party just before the ball drops. At the very least, I'll be able to give my honey a midnight kiss and make a wish for a wonderful 2011! 

Christmas is Coming

Are you ready for Christmas?

To be honest, it snuck up on me this year. Thanksgiving came and went and life took over, and all of the sudden Christmas is days away!

We decorated a little - the tree, stockings (not yet hung in this photo), and a few Christmas knick knacks around the house. We aren't home much to enjoy the decorations, but these are just enough to get us in the spirit. Curt fought hard for a real tree, but after seeing how expensive they were (not so in Anderson, Indiana!) we decided to go without. We were both bummed about it, and I couldn't let Curt go without a tree so I searched high & low on Craigslist and found a fake tree for cheap. Now we have a perfect little tree for years to come!

Wouldn't it be cool if this was our house decorated like this?! 

It's not, but it's in our neighborhood, and to be honest, it's kind of an eyesore. During the day all those blow-up decorations are just dead carcasses in the yard, which is a little freaky. 

The car was zooming too fast to get a good shot in the dark, but you get the idea! The lights really are pretty. 

Nashville got hit with a snow storm last week. It wasn't so much a snow storm as it was a few flurries, but the whole city shut down for a couple days.

This hill next to our house proved to be a big problem for those who live at the top after it all turned to ice. Curt and I spent a substantial amount of time at this window, watching cars try to make it up the hill. 

That Sunday I went into work and shut the store down because of the impending weather. I live about 3 miles from my work, but it took me two hours to get home because of all the idiot drivers on the icy roads. My Michigan training and all-wheel drive served me well, but I watched a few cars come within inches of mine because the drivers didn't know how to handle the situation. I took the above picture while stuck on the road waiting for cars to be pushed out of the intersection. Our neighborhood is that intersection. I sat there, 100 yards away from our neighborhood, for a good 30 minutes. It was such a relief to finally make it home safe before anyone crashed into our car!

In last minute Christmas preparations, packages have been sent. 

Presents for my mom and Christmas pants for baby Nicholas plus a little extra surprise. I didn't take any pictures, so I'll have to wait until his mommy sends me some to share them. 

Here we are on Thanksgiving - he's wearing another pair of pants I made. They looked adorable, and since I knew what he would be wearing, I though a little coordination was in order :) 

Hope your Christmas plans are all falling into place. Are there any last minute things you still need to do? Good luck!

Christmas in February?

So today was February 25, two months from Christmas. I published some Christmas pictures today for my family, and thoughtI'd put some cute ones on here. I hate putting pictures on my blog, they always go wacky and the formatting gets all screwed up. Anyone have any tips?

First, my grandma with the scarf I knit for her. It was a very simple garter stitch scarf and I used the 99 cent Yarn Bee Mosiac Twist yarn from Hobby Lobby. It was so easy to knit, and don't tell my grandma, but also super cheap (I used about 2 skeins = $2), but Grandma loves it so much, and to my surprise, it matches her winter coat perfectly. I choose to do the garter stitch because I knew that would be nice and tight and keep the cold air out. It worked, because she tells me every time we talk how much she loves her scarf, how warm it is, and how many compliments she gets on it wherever she goes. I think a homemade gift, regardless of the price or time, is all about the love that goes into it. Most people don't always get that, but grandmas are always happiest to get a gift that had thought and love,

and that's what I love about grandmas.

And here's a nice one of my parents, sister, Curt, and me. I think it's silly and really captures all our silly attitudes. Especially the look on my dad's face... he's probably the goofiest of us all, which is fitting, because he used to be a clown. His name is Goober. Silly, I know, but that's my family.

Now it's officially time for me to go to bed, I have to substitute tomorrow and I don't know if we are going to get that 2-hour delay I was planning on earlier.