Christmas Wrap Up

Christmas this year was much like other years with the focus on family, fun and food. In an effort to simplify, we have scaled back on gifts but still have plenty under our tree. 

My parents and son join us for breakfast and our Christmas morning is off to a good start with capuccino, biscotti and gifts. 

After breakfast and before starting dinner, we hike to the Sifton Bog Boardwalk. Last year it was cold and snowy, but this year it's mild and clear, a perfect day. 

Our dinner is relatively easy with everybody contributing. I cook the turkey, broccoli and brussel sprouts. My parents make a huge pot of mashed potatoes, my sister-in-law makes crockpot stuffing and my mum-in-law makes gravy, trifle and lemon pie. With so much help, we are able to relax with drinks and more gifts while dinner cooks.

Our family Christmas dinners include lots of laughs, lots of fun and lots of food. We all save space for my Mum-In-Law's Santa-adorned trifle. It has become a favourite family tradition.

We all had a bit of fun with a magnifying glass from my Christmas cracker this year. Who can resist making googly eyes? Funny how we all picked our right eye to enhance. I wonder what that says about us?

So to wrap up our Christmas this year, I have to say it was truly wonderful. Of course we missed our daughter and her family but I am happy to hear they are enjoying themselves in Brazil. I feel lucky to have such a fun and loving family both at home and abroad.

With such a simple Christmas, I managed to fit in lots of crochet time over the holidays. I am working on both a cowl and a big fluffy blanket. 

I decided to finally use some luxuriously soft and expensive hand painted yarn I bought a couple years ago. I am making a cowl using this pattern but my yarn is finer so the cowl is too short to loop around the neck.

I love the colour and can't wait to see how it turns out. I might make another in the grey/green colour only longer for looping next time.

I plan to keep going until all the yarn is used up. As you can see there is quite a bit left so I think this cowl will be warm and cozy once it's done. I'll be sure to share a photo but it might be awhile yet because I also started working on a big fluffy blanket this week.

On Boxing Day I couldn't resist buying Lion Brand Homespun Thick and Quick yarn on sale at Michael's for $7.99 a ball, a significant savings from the original price of $12.99. I bought 6 balls each in Dove and Pearl to make a fuzzy ripple blanket for my son. I don't enjoy working with chunky yarn as it tends to snag and stitch details are lost in the fluff.

My son loves fluffy blankets so that's why I'm doing it. I decided to follow the same ripple pattern I used to make my Cosmic Rays Ripple. It looks completely different but still very nice and of course totally cuddly with such chunky yarn.

I'm hoping to finish this blanket by Saturday but I also want to write a year end review and I'm running out of time. Wish me luck.

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