Thursday, December 11, 2008

Christmas Prep, Etc.

I was talking with an older coworker of mine about all the projects I'm working on for Christmas. She laughed at me with a "You'll learn" kind of glint in her eye. I feel really busy with a bunch of fairly unnecessary projects that I voluntarily took on. We'll see if I learn next year. I bet I won't.
Anyway, it's been a while since I've updated. Here are a few pictures from Thanksgiving weekend that Meghan sent me since, of course, my camera batteries died.
Here is Joel blowing out almost thirty candles:

That weekend, while Joel's mom was still in town, we hit downtown and went to the I Am a Child of God exhibit in the Museum of Church History. Even though Dane was too small for a lot of the activities, he really enjoyed himself, and we enjoyed watching him.
He is too short to hold to the rod, and he kept slipping off the straight and narrow path. Should I be worried?

Then we saw the beautiful lights on Temple Square.


Since then, we have been doing a lot of Christmas prep. I say "we", but I mean "I." It makes me really happy to decorate for Christmas. Joel has been kind enough to haul out our tree and help when I've needed it.
Here are the matching stockings I made:

I did a quick little sewing machine embroidery on them: tree, ornament, and star. The ornament one is kind of ugly, but overall, I am happy with how they turned out.

This is the fourth year now that I have strung cranberries and popcorn to decorate the tree. As I was doing it this time, I told Joel this may be the last year because it takes so long, but I really like how it looks on the tree...so we'll see what I decide for next year. Here is a poor representation of its splendor:

Does it look like the decorations are disproportionally distributed on top? I have one hyphenated word for you: 14-month-old. Those ones on the bottom are shatterproof. He likes to take them off and yell "Bwoh!"
Finally, I got an early Christmas present from Joel, courtesy of IKEA as-is department. A new bookcase! It is so pretty. Our old bookcase was an ugly yard sale find, and it was overflowing with books. So I got my Christmas wish! Here is Dane, climbing on it:

Here is handy man Joel, admiring his work:

And here it is, all filled:

I should've taken a "before" picture, but it was pretty scary.

7 comments:

Miriam said...

Love the stockings! they turned out so cute. That was on my list last year.....and this year....and I'm thinking we're going to have to wait one more year for cute homemade stockings.

LJ said...

I am mildly jealous. Please stay tuned for our matching stockings, cranberry-and-popcorn-strung tree, etc.

Melissa said...

I LOVE IKEA! I only wish there was one close than Dallas because there shipping is ridiculous. Yuck. But I love it. CUTEST stockings- wow- you are amazing. I love the pecan pie birthday cake too. And so cute about falling off the straight and narrow- that troublesome Dane- watch out little buddy. Oh he is too cute to be bad. Smart move with the unbreakable ornaments. I remember Josh breaking a few in an attempt at bouncing them when he first saw some.

courtney said...

Hey, I am Joel's cousin Courtney. I wanted to thank you for bringing our present to Amanda's reception! (that is, if Steve didn't decide to keep it.:)

I Love the natural look of cranberries and popcorn! I also have to tell you that I loved watching your video, "Trimester", it was super cute and super funny!

Brian, Laura, Felix & Ezra said...

I love the shelves! They look so substantial. Wait, you guys are real people now, aren't you? So you deserve substantial furniture. :)
And I loove the Christmas stockings! Did you use a pattern? If so, can you email me which pattern you used? I've been hoping to make some for a few years now!
After going through the program with you and seeing how gifted you are professionally and academically, I am amazed at all of the domestic talents you have too! Way to be a super mom!

Brian, Laura, Felix & Ezra said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Megan said...

I love your shelves, too. I wish there was an IKEA nearby, or that the cost of shipping things to Lubbock wasn't double the price of the item. Also, I have been trying to figure out what is in Joel's mouth. I have given up.