Merry Festivus Eve!!

    It's finally here. And I finally achieved one of my holiday goals this year, I never set foot in a mall. It was difficult, as my favorite store, the Awesome Store, has a local store here in town, but it's not open all the time. Their store in the mall, however is open all the time. I just kept going back to the local one until I happened to catch it open.


   For most of my gifts, I made use of catalogs, the internet and local small businesses. I am a firm believer in patronizing local businesses. I would much rather not ever have to venture into Poughkeepsie for any reason. Really the only thing I see a need for here in town is a local shoe store. We don't have one at this time. I'm not sure there ever was one. I do remember there was a shoe repair shop, but not one that sold shoes. I mean good quality shoes, not the ones you could buy at the now defunct Jamesway.


    Anyway, Christmas/Festivus is almost upon us. I wrapped all the gifts, and put up our little tree. I did have a scare though. My granddaughter's gift hadn't arrived by this past weekend, and set out for the Post Office on Monday. With great relief, I saw I had two package tickets in our box. One was a coffee mug that I won on facebook from The Cheeky Witch, all the way from England. It managed to get here unbroken! The other package was indeed the missing gift.


    As I pulled up in front of the house, I noticed a package at the front door, as left by the UPS man. Hmmm. I wondered what Hubs had ordered this time! When I got inside with all my packages and the rest of the mail, I saw that the package was addressed to me! I opened it, and inside was another of the same gift. Now I have two.


    I decided to keep the one, and perhaps send it back at a later time. The other I wrapped and will deliver it to my delightful granddaughter on Saturday at our family gathering.


    Tomorrow, on Christmas Day, we have been invited to my new future daughter-in-law's parent's house. We are really looking forward to it! We've been before, and have enjoyed ourselves each time. This year will really be special as our kids just got engaged.


    I may be taking the day off tomorrow, since we'll be busy with holiday things. And I am sooo looking forward to the Doctor Who Christmas special! I can't believe Matt Smith is done already, and I'm looking forward to meeting the new Doctor!


    No matter what holiday you celebrate, stay safe, and remember to tell the people in your life that you love them. Time is fleeting and life is short. I think this time of year, even more than Thanksgiving, is the time for being thankful. Enjoy!!

A Morning of Galavanting

    This morning, friend Bonny and I went gallivanting. My mother-in-law introduced me to that term, and it fits pretty well. She used to go out gallivanting all the time.


    So this morning, Bonny and I went out, to go to Hobby Lobby because she needed more yarn. Then we went to Michaels, where I found a longer (36") size 11 needle. Points for me! I also bought a new size N crochet hook. I can't find any of my old ones.


    After that, we ran some other errands that she had to do. It's nice to get out once in a while. I got home just before noon, when the new Knit and Crochet Now program was on. Perfect timing!


    So I've been knitting today, working on Ozzy's new bed. I changed over to the longer, bigger needles. I hope to get some photos tomorrow. I've also been working on more secret projects. Let's call them Christmas or Festivus presents. I wish I could show them to you, but they are surprises.


    And just so you know, I broke out Sara's sweater yesterday, and did a few rounds on that too. I stopped because I think the body might be long enough, but I didn't feel like measuring it.


    I also enjoyed the beautiful day we had today! It was so sunny and warm, despite the chance of thunder storms. We didn't get any. YAY! I hope it was nice where you are!

Checking Everything Twice

    That's what we have been doing, every time we leave for a get-together. We've found that wrapping the gifts in stages works pretty well.The day before we went and saw the grandkids, we wrapped their gifts.


    Tonight, we wrap the gifts we need for tomorrow's get-together. Then this year, I'm throwing out all out wrapping paper, it's all pretty old and worn. I will buy new on Wednesday, when it's all on sale.


    Tonight, we have our tree lit, with the new decorations on it. We are now the proud owners of our grandkids handprints on ornaments, as well as pine cones decorated by our granddaughter, Chloe. They make the tree even more special this year.


    Both Hubs and I hope you all have a very happy holiday, no matter what persuasion you are, whether it be Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Festivus, or whatever else there is to celebrate!

Festivus is almost here!!

    I'm getting excited now, as Festivus is nearly here. I love a good, flexible holiday. Our Stitch n Bitch celebrated on Friday, but only three of us were well enough to make it. Tomorrow morning, I'll be exchanging gifts with my best 10 year old friend, and her mom too, I think.


    As for Hubs, I can only keep reassuring him that there are only two more events that we are attending, then he can crawl back into his cave. He is not a social animal at all. He would prefer if he never had to leave his cave. But this is the time of year when we must interact with people, especially family. In our case, it's my family. His mom was the last of his immediate family, and she's been gone for two years.


    Someone PLEASE remind me next year, that at our family dinner, Hubs is not to sit near my brother....

Festivus / Christmas Shopping

    I have, as of today, gotten three gifts taken care of. THREE. That's it. There are at least three more that I have in mind, if not four. Thank the Goddess that we are restricting family gifts to the youngest children, and matriarch, this year. That takes off a lot of pressure.


    I have my gift for the Cherub, one for Hubs, and one for my friend Bonny.  That's it. I am contemplating which of my self knitted items to gift to friend Jan. She is definitely knit worthy. I was going to contribute a gift card towards yarn for friend Kim's sweater, but she's already purchased the yarn. So I need to re-think that gift.


    I have a specific thing in mind for grandson Mason, will see about that tomorrow. Hopefully they have one in a good color for a two year old boy. For his big sister? No ideas at all. Ditto for my nephew.


    Crap, this time of year sneaks up on ya, doesn't it? I better get a move on, on those Gamer Gloves.....

The Sock Monkey Saga

    For many weeks, the Cherub and I have been discussing sock monkeys. I have a small one hanging on my rear view mirror, and she covets him. Thus, I decided to get her a sock monkey for Festivus.


    I first spotted one in the Build a Bear Workshop. It wasn't expensive, and you didn't need to buy any clothes for him, so I thought he would be perfect. The next week, I went back to get him. He was no longer available. RATS! They had brought out the Christmas ones, like the Grinch, and Clarice the reindeer.  I even looked on their website. No Sock Monkeys.


    Not really being a avid shopping person, I asked around if anyone knew where I could buy one. No one had any ideas. At work last week, I even asked a customer and his wife if they would look in all the vendor booths for me, and see if anyone was selling any Sock Monkeys. It was very nice of them to do this, and they even came back through to tell me that they didn't see any.

    I finally ended up Googling "Sock Monkey", and settled on what seems to be the original - Sock Monkey Company.com. There, at long last, I was able to get a Sock Monkey. The only problem I had was deciding which color to get. They had the original gray, of course, as well as pink, blue, purple, and a host of multi color designs.


   I decided on the purple one. I ordered him on Cyber Monday, and he came on Friday. That was quick, and I was pleased. Here is what he looks like, sitting in my chair:

I also took a close up of him:

    He's pretty cool, and even came with a bookmark, and a banana pen. He's like 21 inches tall! So, that's one present down, too many to even think about to go!