Christmas cookies

My good friend Rachel and I got together and made the motherload of christmas cookies.  We made sugar, molasses, and snowball cookies.  Molasses cookies are definitely one of my favorites. The recipe said to chill the dough overnight does that seem a little excessive?  Anyway, we had fun and it made everything seem a little more Christmas-y.

Coolness!

One of my friends Shara painted one of my photos and it looks sooo good!  WOW! She painted it a while ago and I can't believe I hadn't seen it before.  I guess I just stink at looking at people's blogs and such.  But talk about a compliment! You can see more of Shara's art here.

Pointlessness

Here is another video.  It's pretty boring so here is my apology beforehand. I just thought it would be fun to take you all with me when I went to pick up one of my prints.  But now I'm not sure if it was a good idea because my voice sounds so weird and annoying when I hear on the video.  So I apologize for my annoying voice.   McKay and Laura met me at Ritz Camera and then we caught the T to her place to have dinner. We had a good time.

Holiday Pops

A couple of days ago my friend Rachel called me up and said she had free tickets to the Boston Pops Holiday concert and asked if I wanted to go.  Of course I went! My favorite Christmas song of all time is Sleigh Ride and I was so excited to hear it. They like to play that song a lot over here on the radio and I enjoy it every time.

 They played in symphony hall and it was really beautiful. The music was so good that it just gave you long-term goosebumps. They brought in the guy who reads the Harry Potter books on tape and had him read The Night Before Christmas with cool music in the background, sing-a-longs, and a special tribute to the soldiers.  It was amazing.

I took two video clips of them playing two songs I love, Hallelujah and Sleigh Ride.  I would have videotaped the whole concert if I could.

Need Some Cheering Up?

These are a few things that make me laugh. Maybe they will make you laugh too.

Thanksgiving

Here are my only two pictures of Thanksgiving.  You don't really have time to take pictures when you are cooking like a mad woman.  We made turkey, gravy, yams, frog eye salad, pumpkin pie, and stuffing.

 We brought all of the food downstairs and had dinner at the Tylers apt.

And speaking of thanksgiving I thought this was nice

Quiet Book

My friend Delys and I are using our time to make a quiet books.  I figure even though I don't have kids right now might just be the perfect time to make one of these bad boys.  I am learning lots of sewing techniques that is for sure.  Most of these designs are not original and I am just re-doing them with a little more oomph.  The main websites I referred to are here and here.

These are my lovely flowers with velcro on the backs.  They were originally supposed to be unbuttoning flowers but after a few slip ups plans changed.  I also didn't to think to attach the velcro to the back of the flower before I made them.  Only until I was all done I thought "How am I going to get this on here?"

Here is my hungry little caterpillar with little snap-on body segments.  His cocoon can be used for storage.

Here is my peekaboo halloween house.  My mother said this may traumatize my future children.  There is only one way to find out i guess.

I LOVE the barn.  This is one of my favorites!!! My mom bought me a buckle for the doors and inside I made little finger puppets!  Finger puppets are just about the easiest thing in the world to make so never buy them.  And my mama hen's wing flaps up and down fyi.

I love this page too.  The mailbox door opens and shuts and there is something that needs mailing.  The flag rotates so the mailman knows when to pick it up.

On the back of the mail I put a picture of McKay and I so it will slide into the felt mailbox.  Felt on felt doesn't slide very well. I have heard people laminate their pictures but I just used packing tape on the front and back and it works. 

The last page I have is the camping page.  This was my very first zipper i have ever sewn and technically it doesn't look that great but it still is an achievement.  I want this scene to have more in it and McKay suggested a camping chair.  Brilliant!  Now how I will make a camping chair out of felt I will never know.  Perhaps Joann's has an iron-on chair thingy. 

Well, that is all I have done so far so stay tuned and I just might have some more.  I have plenty of ideas that need to do like a garden, robot, Bill Grogan's goat, birdhouse, mittens, and a street. If you have seen any cute stuff let me know.

New England Wreath Making

The Cambridge ward has had the same RS Christmas party for the past 50 years. They have a musical program and then wreath making.  It is the party of the year over here apparently.  They ordered three huge piles of Christmas Tree branches and we all grabbed some wire and started getting sticky.  This wreath smells amazing! I made one for me and one for Sue.   It's fun and easy and a great thing to do if you have lots of scraps from a fresh tree.

At the end of the night I stuffed the wreaths in a garbage bag and protected them from all of the people on the train.  Luckily I had a seat :) 

The Pink Panther and Other Jewels

I went back home a month ago to watch Adam in his school play.  Plane tickets to get down there are $40 and the flight is only ONE HOUR!  I'm so used to the 4 hour drive and 6 hour plane trip to get home so this is a pretty big change.  When I was home I went through a couple boxes and I found this treasure.  My old jewlery box!  Plastic dress up necklaces, old broaches, and bracelets from my great grandmother brought back the memories.  I'm sure I would have thrown all of this stuff away if I found it as a teenager but my mother protected it from me.  I have decided that if I have girls I am going to do the same thing for them.

My ballerina is missing a tutu.  Does anyone know how to make a one? a teensie one?

I also had the chance to hang out with some of my friends from back home.  It's funny b/c now we are all old and married.

And last but not least, The Pink Panther.  Adam was Inspector Clouseau and he was the greatest.  Bumbling around the stage and talking nonsense was very natural for him and it was very funny.

Right: Adam and the Russian spy have dinner.  Left: Adam "standing tall on the Poopdeck of Justice"