I’m frantically working on this:
It’s supposed to somewhat resemble this in the next week in time for me to hand it over to Gramma for Christmas. Don’t ask me what I was thinking…
I’m frantically working on this:
It’s supposed to somewhat resemble this in the next week in time for me to hand it over to Gramma for Christmas. Don’t ask me what I was thinking…
There’s something about Christmas that makes you feel like you ought to spend as much time as possible with your friends. It’s a season, after all, that’s encourages us to give of ourselves. What’s more precious (particularly in this age of constant distractions) than our time?
Ultimately, what this really means is that I have booked myself a lot of evenings out between last weekend and when we head home for the holidays.
Sunday evening was Sarah‘s annual cartoon party. I baked some cookies from Gramma’s recipe book to take over, and we spent several hours watching childhood Christmas classics.
Tonight, Susan asked if she could arrange a date for the three of us. Rudi and I agreed, excited to have a totally secret evening ahead of us. Last night, she texted to tell us where and when to meet her for dinner. After a tasty meal at Teaism, we ended up at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre, where we enjoyed the Chicago-based Neo-Futurists’ performance of Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind. The show is speed-theater, as the ensemble attempts to perform 30 playlets in 60 minutes. Each night new material is added and the audience adds its own flavor to the mix. Not all 28 skits (we ran out of time before the final two performances could go on) were great, but the majority made us laugh. Sometimes so did the actors between skits, as they raced around the stage adding and removing props and trying to avoid colliding with each other. “Let’s Pretend Mommy and Daddy,” “One for the Ladies,” and “The Chanukah Song” were particularly well done, but I’m sure Susan and Rudi would each give you different highlights. (If you’re in D.C. at all between now and the first weekend in January, I’d encourage you to seek out tickets.)
Tomorrow night is knitting group, possibly with Sarah and Sarah (but not Sarah). I will be home by 8, though, because there’s a new Muppets special on.
Thursday night Amani and I are getting together. We haven’t gotten any firmer than a meeting hour, but I’m sure we’ll pull things together. I’m also pretty sure that chocolate will be involved.
Friday night and Saturday during the day, while Rudi is out with his friends, I will likely be shopping, card writing, gift wrapping, and package mailing. No, none of those are done. Some of them haven’t been begun yet. Yes, I will get to them all… just maybe not before Christmas.
Saturday evening, Charles and Jordi are hosting a holiday open house. The D.C. folks heading south are departing early, so it’s a smaller group of us heading over to celebrate with the newlyweds. (That’s not to say the party will be small, just the number of people I know…)
Sunday is more doing. I’d love to bake some more cookies, but that’s another thing that may just have to wait until after the holidays.
Monday, Elspeth arrives back in town from Azerbaijan and Georgia for a whirlwind 36 hours before she heads to Africa for Christmas. She, Sarah, and I have a date to eat Ethiopian food and knit (or, at the very least, show off knitting).
Tuesday, after work, Rudi and I head north.
Connecticut still lacks scheduling. I need to see if BW is crossing paths with us on Wednesday morning so we can hook up for brunch… And I need to fit in visits with the other northern friends and family… (Kare, what’s your schedule looking like?)
How lucky we are to have so many wonderful friends with whom to share our lives. When I think about how rich we are in friendship, I get teary and all It’s-a-Wonderful-Lifey. We really are blessed.
Since Macy’s took over the old Hecht’s flagship store in downtown D.C. a few years ago, they’ve been decorating the store windows at Christmas. This year they even went so far as to roll out the red carpet, invite a celebrity singer to visit, and make a little production of the unveiling.
The windows are fun, but the music, particularly during the day, can only be described as blaring. I ought not to be able to hear it clearly on the other side of the street over the bustle of midday traffic.
So cue up your own favorite Christmas tune and check out the windows of the District’s Macy’s store:
Oops! Running out of Thursday… Three beautiful things from the past week or two:
1. Metro decorated for Christmas. Metro Center is outfitted in green and gold garland. And the Dupont Circle ticket shack is sporting garland in red.
2. On a cool, rainy night, the smell outside the house of the dryer venting.
3. Nearly invisible snow flurries drift down as Rudi and I leave to cut down our tree on Saturday. By the time we’ve tied the tree on the roof and are heading back toward the District, the snow flakes are obvious even to casual observers. After a stop at a store or two, we return to find snow coating the grass and the car.
Way back in October, I received a goodie-filled box I haven’t yet acknowledged here on the blog, possibly because I was so guilt-ridden about the tardiness of my own outward-bound package.
The Trick-or-Treat Feet Swap was designed for knitters to make a pair of socks for another knitter and to send them off with some Halloween goodies.
Let me tell you, KT spoiled me. Not only did she knit socks long enough to fit my gigantic feet, but she went ahead and made them knee-high for me. That’s right. The Good & Plenty socks are tall enough for me to wear under my dress boots. Plus, don’t you just love the color?
And the treats? Wow… (more…)
Sarah published this meme around Thanksgiving and I’ve been meaning to finish it and get it up for you. In the meantime, I’ve seen it a couple other places with two additional questions, so I added them in: