Santa's elf has been busy! Ho ho ho!

I've been baking lots of cookies lately. Some for DH and I, some to give away, plus we went to a "cookie-baking and football" party all day on Sunday. It was lots of fun - the guys pretty much sat and watched football all day and ate while the ladies baked hundreds and hundreds of cookies and then divided them up to go home. Hmm......seems like roles haven't changed all that much have they?! Here's a picture of some I made on my own - the cookies are purchased ones (Nutter Butters) and then you just do the decorating. I think they are so cute - I have seen these same cookies made into snowmen as well but I haven't tried those yet. The Santas are easy to do but time-consuming (click for closeups).

I also finished working on my mantle finally - I had splurged on some new decorations I fell in love with at a candle shop. I couldn't capture the candlelight with my photos but when they are all glowing it's really Christmas-y. The lanterns hold a mix of tealites and pillar candles - since my other half is "Mr. Fire Safety" I bought the battery-operated tealites and pillar candles they have out and they work out really well. I love the battery-operated tealites, you can use them in votives around the house and not have to worry about pets, kids, etc.

It's been rainy and chilly here lately but I'm not complaining as I see so much bad weather around the country.

P.S. 3 more days of work to go this year!! Then 15 glorious days away from the office. :)

7 more days, but who's counting??

Well, I am! I have 7 more days of work in 2007 - yippee!! I can hardly wait. I cannot believe that Christmas is a mere 19 days away. I still have most of my shopping to do, mailing of packages etc. No doubt I will be racing around until the last minute like I usually am. I have no stitchy pictures to share today - I'm trying to finish up some Santa Claus ornmants for the PS Wreath SAL but not sure if I will get my wreath up before Christmas or not. Oh well - there's always next year right??

I did enjoy my Merry Cox class which though only like 3 weeks ago seems like months! I have not touched the project since I got home that night. I did get to meet up with an internet friend though and we had fun during the class - Laurie, maybe you've got yours done already?! I do like it and plan to get back to it after the holidays. Last Saturday I got our tree out and decorated - what a job it was. It took me 4 hours just to unpack the tree, assemble and fluff it out, and put on the lights. Then unwrap and decorate with all the ornaments. Each year I tell myself maybe I won't put it up next year but once it's up I really do enjoy it and it doesn't seem like Christmas without a tree. Here it is - not the greatest picture but it looks very pretty.


We have to remove part of our sectional sofa to fit it in so that's just another chore to store that in the garage during the Christmas season. A friend was telling me they saw a show on television about a high-end home that had a beautiful curving stairway in the foyer. They had it built around a narrow circular space with a hidden door panel. In this hidden tall space, they stored their large Christmas tree on a rolling platform - roll it out at Christmas-time, and back in when you're done. Now that's the way to do it!

I'm working on finishing up the binding on a quilt for my Mom for Christmas. Hope to have a picture in a few days as I have to get it in the mail soon to her. I've been trying to catch up on my blog reading - I've been encouraged seeing several of you posting about all your UFO's. I have so many it sometimes gives me anxiety. Lately I've had that depressing "here-it-is-the-end-of-the-year-and-I-didn't-get-as-much-done-as-I-had-planned-to" feeling so I am cheered up a bit by realizing I'm not the only one. The good thing about a new year coming is it gets me re-enthused to tackle the pile of projects and plan (like I do every year) to accomplish more in the coming year. I did make a dent in my UFO list this year but there's plenty more to do.

A special note to my sister who found my blog while cruising the internet - Hi Nancy!! Glad you are stopping by to see what I'm up to. :) Don't forget to get working on your stitching project!