elizabeth_mn

The day of our solstice party I finished this yarn wreath.



I used this one for inspiration, and read a few tutorials which I've now lost. I love the way it turned out. Maybe the ribbon could be wider but I liked this velvet one with gold dots. But making this was SO tedious. Just wrapping yarn around the wreath form for hours. And then again. Forever. And a third time. Until I just gave up and lived with the remaining gaps. Then I spent 5 blissful minutes hot gluing the decorations on.

For our party I made these Linzer Sandwich cookies from Martha Stewart's recipe. They turned out pretty and delicious. It's extra work but you get such wonderful flavor from freshly toasting nuts.



I also made this highly addictive caramel matzo again, and everybody loved it. Thankfully I made a double batch and stashed it in the freezer. This is one thing I have to keep a close eye on, though, because I will seriously eat myself sick with it.

One last craft I made is this paper bow. I've been wanting to try some paper bows after seeing gorgeous ones online, so today I cut up a plant catalog and tried. Not exactly thrilling, but it was fun and it dresses up the gift a little.



Now I just need to finish wrapping gifts - crafty time is over! For a while anyway.

I was chatting about this the other day but of course it's not a proper post without pictures!

Here are the latest couple ornaments made around here:



Can I even tell you how much I love this? I used the idea/directions here. I didn't have glitter Mod Podge so I just stirred some gold glitter glue in.

I think she is right when she says you really need to use the cling wrap. I don't tend to keep plastic wrap in the house, so I skipped it, and I got the webby bits all over my twine ball:



Yuck. So this happened:



But hey it worked and I love it. I kind of want to make a few more.

The Girl and I also worked together on this one.



Ours is of course messier and lumpier, but I still love it. Again, made just with stuff we already had in the house. The Girl loved threading all the beads onto the wire, even the tiny ones. I love to see her focus on crafty stuff like this.

Not sure what is next, but I do want to keep up holiday stuff. In January I have a ballgown to make but until then I am keeping historic sewing on hold.

It’s December, and I am switching into full-time Secular Christmas Mode. For the next 3 weeks, I am going to focus (almost) exclusively on making gifts, decorations, cookies, and all the rest. I will be sprinkling glitter on pretty much anything that doesn’t move.

We are not a religious household, and I wish I had a better name for our favorite holiday than Secular Christmas, but there you are. I don’t. And since “Christmas” is the word everyone else is using, I figure I’d better just go with it.

I identified as pagan for many years, and now I think I’m too lazy to continue doing that. My husband is into meditation and believes in angels and the sentience of rocks, so we don’t have an atheist household, really. I tried for a long time to morph my Christmas around my beliefs, but it always felt a little false.

Now we just have a totally godless holiday. It’s about lights and glitter and songs, family and friends and good food. It’s about gifts and cookies and time off work. It doesn’t need to have a specific spiritual component. I can put that elsewhere in my life.

I love gift-giving (and, of course, receiving, too) and I’m striving to create a balance between the joy of gifts and my non-materialist values. Gets me thinking about work, family, money, life, and the Inter-Connectedness Of All Things.

I bought a chair recently. (Please bear with me, I promise this is going somewhere.) Now I really didn’t have this chair in the budget, but I’d been ogling it at Ikea for months, and finally I just had a spare hundred burning a hole in my bank account and went for it. And it’s nice, and I think I needed it, and I don’t regret it.

But.

It has served as a reminder to me that it’s better to use your money on experiences than objects. Christmas coming up makes me think about this anyway. There are about a bajillion things I would be buying right now, for myself and everyone I love, if I had a little bit more stable work. But the things, they weigh you down after a while, and the shine gets dull, and the rush of something new fades. But experiences last longer.

I know, this isn’t new. We all know this, right? But of course,I forget. And of course, I love having things. And I think I’ve gotten pretty good at choosing things that provide enjoyment that lasts. But I feel like I want to re-prioritize and put experiences a little higher.

To sum up, I think I should put more money/time/effort into travel. Travel for fun, for costume events, to see things, to do things, with family and without. And doing things in my home city, too.

Also, I just can’t wait for Secular Christmas!!