All is bright!

Christmas was fabulous! It was a nice leisurely day, which is what family holidays should be. We got up and DH, me, Bird and Maddy and our special Christmas breakfast in the dining room then we opened out stockings. We decided to wait to open gifts until later when Ems and KC were here. We went to DH's sister's house and had a wonderful brunch and did gifts with the extended family there. It was a fun time. I'm particularly glad to see everyone has scaled back the gift giving. We get to a certain age and we just don't need any more stuff! I'm at the point where I need to get rid of stuff! Em's and KC met us there then we all came home and opened all our gifts. I had requested gift cards from DH. I would like to get some black jeans from True Jeans and I'm just not quite sure which ones to get until I call for a consultation. If you have trouble getting jeans to fit, you need to visit True Jeans at the link above. They are in the Boston area and when I was there last summer, I served as a fit tester. Never in my life have I ever been able to try on jeans and have them fit perfectly! This is definitely the place to get great jeans. There were other gifts, too numerous to mention--Except the one from Ems and KC. They covered a hat box with satin and ribbons and filled it with all kinds of goodies and a little handmade "Snow Day Survival" recipe book. They also made Limoncello! After gifts, Maddy and Aslan left when Maddy's parents came to pick her up. Then the rest of us met up with KC's mom and brother and went to the movies. We saw National Treasure which was a good lighthearted movie for a family outing. I still want to see Sweeney Todd and Charlie Wilson's War before I go back to school.

The kitties are very relaxed today. They were really riled up with Aslan was here. I came in Monday to find Mikey here:

The cats never get on the sideboard. I think he felt safer there--like he knew the dog couldn't reach him. He also got on DH's desk amidst all the junk and stayed there all afternoon. They have been hovering all day, very relieved to have peace and quiet and the house back to normal.

I am spending today doing nothing! It's raining and not the type of weather I want to go out in. Tomorrow I will take Bird out shopping for a suit and dress shoes. I think I may go looking for a new coffee table for the family room as well. Our current one is a total reck!

Tonight I have knitting group at Borders and it will be good to be with the girls! Speaking of knitting, I finally finished my tree jacket!





Details:
Pattern: Tree Jacket by Zephyr Style, Size XS
Yarn: Tahki Savoy; 52% silk, 48% merino; 109 yards per skein; 8 skeins, color 104 Olive Green
Needles: Addi Turbo size 8; 16 inch, 24 inch
Modification: Pattern knit exactly as pattern instructs except the lace pattern was modified to K3, K2tog, YO, K1, YO, SSK.
This kept the pattern from twisting.

This yarn may be one of my new favorites. It is incredibly soft. I wet blocked it which made the stitches all meld together and helped create a really even fabric. I'm really pleased with this one and I know that I'll get a lot of wear out of it!

Right now I have to finish Hannah for Ems which I'm making out of pink cashmere. I'm not sure how it will turn out. The yarn label indicates that the yarn is a bulky weight. To me it looks like worsted--particularly when compared to the Malabrigo bulky that I will use for my Hannah hat. Hopefully Ems will like it!

That's it for now! I will spend the afternoon watching a Homicide marathon. I record that show everyday and I have 3 episodes to watch!

Bushism of the day:
"I'm the commander — see, I don't need to explain — I do not need to explain why I say things. That's the interesting thing about being president." —George W. Bush, as quoted in Bob Woodward's "Bush at War"

Kitty Cam: Mikey found DH's desk a great place to be incognito!