holidays | PDXKnitterati

a hawaiian honu green turtle rests on lava rock

I’m a little slow getting ready for the holidays, but I work best under pressure. We arrived home from Kona (Hawaii) on Thursday night, and Friday I put new lights on the porch.

blue and white icicle lights decorating front porch gutters

It wasn’t raining, so the timing was perfect.

wire christmas tree on top of the piano with assorted ornaments

I put up my tree, on top of the piano. That surfing Santa is finally getting his legs glued back onto the surfboard this year; one of our cats knocked him off the piano years ago. I also put up the Christmas stockings on the mantel.

five handknit christmas stockings hanging from the fireplace mantel

Old picture, same stockings!

christmas wreath with knitted bow made from wire lights

I’ve added my knitted lights bow to my Christmas wreath. I’m skipping the knitted ribbon with dpns, because last year the dpns got…moldy? Mildewed? Gross, whatever. The bow is fine by itself.

bottles of Irish Cream made with Tullamore DEW whiskey, and two korknisse with knit sweaters and hats

I made a double batch of Irish Cream from the recipe in this post, and I’ll make one more batch today.

ginger molasses cookies decorated with icing

I helped a friend decorate cookies. Aren’t these cute?

a little cork person wearing a knitted sweater and hat made from orange and purple Malabrigo worsted yarn

And I knit this little korknisse for Carole at coffee this morning.

Shopping is done. There are a few presents to wrap, a little more housecleaning to do (tomorrow, because it needs to be tidy the day after). And we’re hosting Christmas dinner here on Wednesday.

Lots of pictures in this post, so I’ll do a Hawaii post separately. We had a great time!

Are you ready for the holidays? I actually cleaned the wax off our menorahs, so I’m ready for Christmas AND Hanukkah!

Sorry, but that always sings in my head when I’m cooking for Hanukkah dinner. We had it on Saturday, and it was a lovely gathering. Mmmm, brisket and latkes.

We celebrate Hanukkah and Christmas at our house, so there’s a little of everything going on. I haven’t had a big Christmas tree in several years. DH and the kids don’t care if we have one, so we don’t! I like my little music tree on top of the piano; I put up my favorite ornaments and I’m done. I guess I’m a minimalist at heart.

The stockings are up in their usual knitterly glory.

I like streamlining my decorating so I have more time for fun with friends and family, and for knitting. But not gift knitting; I abhor deadlines. That doesn’t mean there are no knitted gifts, just no gifts on deadline! The first knitted gift has gone out in the mail…(a Pippi hat, if you must know).

Yesterday I had a discussion group for new parents about keeping and making holiday traditions. I started with a story about CollegeGrad. He was 3 or 4 when we started talking about the Christmas story. One day he came to me, talking about how much he loved Little Baby Jesus. Yesss! He understood the Christmas story! Well, maybe yes, and maybe no. He was actually talking about little baby cheeses, which were one of his favorite things to eat. Indeed. I brought some of this cheese to class as a prop and a snack. Becky (fellow Day Old Pastry) decided she would use the wax wrappers to make a real Baby Cheeses creche.