checking in

Hi! Remember me? Yeah, I'm the one who has been posting badly (if at all) lately. No pictures, crappy sentence structure, nothing interesting. Right! that one...

sorry about that - Christmas snuck up on me this year - I know, the date never changes, so it shouldn't be a surprise, but for some reason, December seemed to be about 20 days shorter than normal this year. But I made it.

Christmas was lovely. It really is one of my favourite days of the year. Family and friends, all that good stuff. It started on the 24th - a great potluck at work - more food than we could ever think to eat, but we all did a pretty good job of it. I brought my butcher's amazing smoked salmon, and it was scarfed up before you could blink. Seriously, it's the best smoked salmon you have ever had. Ask Lucky - she's had it. It's not sliced or slimy, it's a full side of salmon, smoked, and tender and yummy. Really good. I have orders from people I work with to bring some of it in for them. Go here to check it out - this is my butcher in Aurora - Peter's the best!
Around 1pm, I headed over to my husband's office - he has all the kids of his employees in for the day - they saw their Santa videos, got gifts, had a huge buffet of food, played games, and did crafts. Always a fun day. Then home for a bit before we headed off to friends for Christmas Eve - we always spend it with them - he was the emcee at our wedding and the two guys have been friends since elementary school. Great people. Christmas morning was the three of us - Santa was very good, Wii is lots of fun, and everything else was perfect. Then off to my brother's - again, a great time spent with family - he and his wife have three great kids, and my Mom was there. we spent a wonderful few hours. We have the agreement of no gifts between us, but the bonus is that my bro works in the home textile industry (as my Dad did before him), so I walked out with a HUGE box of muchly needed towels! We were talking about this and that, and he was saying he was bringing in the House and Home, Gluckstein and Steven and Chris lines. So I asked him why it was that I was still paying retail. He (figuratively) smacked me upside the head, and gave me a box of towels - I'm talking 8 sets - from bathsheet to face cloth, cotton bamboo! Heaven, I tell ya, heaven! Fro there, of tho my Brother in laws - host of this year's family Christmas. Again - great to be with family, my SIL did a super job on the turkey dinner, and we got home around 10pm, tired, happy and ready to sleep.
Everyone loved the gifts, especially the handmades, which is always gratifying. Socks were given, and in two cases, immediately put on. The jewellery pendants were exclaimed over, and the beaded bookmarks? Well, let's just say they were the gift of the night! So cool to be appreciated for your labours. And it seems like hubby's family is for the most case starting to appreciate that. It's only taken 20 years...
Hubby did spend most of the 24-26 sick with a cold, which he managed to transfer to me now - great, thanks for that.
It's now New Year's Eve, and instead of heading to the cottage like we planned, we've put that off until tomorrow morning - snow squalls, a dubious plough job on the driveway up there, and a freezing cold cottage did not make us want to drive in the dark. We'll go up in the morning, along with BIL and SIL and their two kids, and spend 4 days in northern heaven.

And knitting? Well, let's just say that Kauni and I have become reacquainted. And I have to say, I'm pissed that I didn't get her finished before the holiday. She's beautiful. I promise pictures, but I want to debut her at the Guild meeting on the 6th first. You'll have to wait. I have started another cardigan, however. I am SO not monogamous...