sprite writes
broodings from the burrow

January 7, 2008


christmas
posted by soe 11:45 pm

Today was Russian Christmas. Rudi’s mother is Russian and, as such, this is one of the holidays we celebrate. We did it up right with some (vegan) borscht and some hearty bread (okay, so it was Jewish rye; think of this as a multicultural celebration), as well as a few last presents.

Sadly, I think this may be the last week for the Christmas tree. While this is good news because it will enable us to get it out in time for the city-wide composting collection, it’s sad because I like to keep the cheerful lights and sparkly baubles up as long as possible.

I’ve been busy finishing up some loose ends from 2007. I finished the last carry-over book (a quirky memoir/travelogue/history book by Sarah Vowell) at the end of last week and have already finished my first full novel of the new year. That’s good because I want to start a rapid-fire run-through of Jane Austen’s novels (at least the ones I’m not as familiar with) to accompany the Masterpiece Theatre productions that begin this weekend. And it’s also time for me to commence Twelfth Night, which is another read-along on Ravelry. Karen and I are trying to filling in some gaps in our English degrees by reading classic literature this year. We’re aiming for 10 and are including Persuasion as one of our works. (We haven’t yet finalized our list, but if you have a particular favorite work of classic literature, please feel free to leave us an endorsement in the comments.)

I’m also working on completing some 2007 knits. Two of them are (ahem) Christmas presents that didn’t get finished on time. I’m pleased to say that I finished one of them last night and it’s currently blocking/drying on the rack as I type. I look forward to sharing the details (and photos!) later in the week. The other knitting that I’m currently working on is the second sleeve for my Everyday Cardigan. I don’t think it unrealistic to finish by the end of the month, but I originally planned to have it done for my trip to Denver back at the beginning of November, so I suppose that doesn’t mean much. 2008 is clearly going to be the Year of the Sweater, as Mum and Dad gave me the yarn for the Tilted Duster for Christmas and Rudi bought enough yarn for me to make him a sweater, too. (Oddly enough, he chose the same yarn, albeit in a different color, as Mum bought me, and the pattern he’s currently leaning toward is in the same issue of Interweave Knits as my sweater will be from.) Don’t worry; I have plenty of sock yarn to keep me busy, as well as several babies arriving this year.

The final Christmassy task is to get the last items out to the mail people. I have cards still to write for anyone in my address book with last names beginning with A or B or whom I thought I’d like to write a time-consuming letter to and packages to be sent to several friends on the West Coast. I’m really hoping to take a trip to the Post Office on Saturday and to begin the rest of 2008 with a clean slate. I guess I’d better get writing and wrapping, hadn’t I?

Tomorrow evening Rudi and I are heading out to see Bucket List. I’m hoping it’s fun.

Category: life -- uncategorized. There is/are 3 Comments.