Oh my God, it's almost Christmas knitting marathon!!!

Alison had the whole knitting gang over to her new condo on Saturday the 8th for a knitting marathon. (I'm a bit late in getting the photos downloaded from the camera and then uploaded to the blog.) This is knitting Alison, not Allison the bridesmaid, or Alison the non-knitter who just had a birthday.

The idea was to set aside a whole day for us to knit on all of the Christmas gift projects that might not be quite done yet. There's nothing worse than knitting on a deadline.

Our honorary knitting manservant, Fred, attended to keep us adequately hydrated and fed. He was pretty jolly in his Santa hat and apron. He even took out the trash! He's such a great cook and spoils us something rotten... holiday pound cake, baked and stuffed cheese in puff pastry, chex mix, spinach stuffed phyllo dough triangles, homemade liver pate, wine, champagne, and I'm sure he whipped something else up that I am forgetting.

Meanwhile, as if there wasn't already enough food, everyone brought at least one food or drink item to share. And since we are compulsive knitting people, most actually brought more than one food item. So in addition to Fred's feast, we had Jacque's bakery desserts and decorated cookies, stuffed mushrooms, fried ravioli, cream puffs, eclairs, chocolate nut fudge, white chicken chili, red chili, macaroons, veggie platter, fruit platter, soda, apple brandied egg nog, chips and salsa, cheese from Butters, pistachios, peanuts, cashews, Swedish Fish and Christmas candy, and I know I am forgetting something. We ate, and ate, and ate until we started complaining because our stomachs hurt.

I brought each of the girls (and Anthony) a little magnet from Cafepress that proclaimed them all Yarnoholics. Here's Nancy showing off her new magnet. I'm sure Nancy is just pleased I have blogged her photo.

I didn't do any Christmas knitting myself. I am committed to finish Brandi's white cabled wedding afghan. Brandi was married last spring and knows she is getting this afghan, but she'd probably like to have it this winter to use to keep herself and her puppies warm in the evening when they snuggle.

We all brought Alison ornaments. This is her first tree in her own place, and we were afraid she wouldn't have enough ornaments, or even a tree for that matter. But one of Alison's neighbors gave her this cute little tree, so she ended up being all set with ornaments and Christmas cheer.

Santa Claus Came To Town

Michael's company, SHA, had their family holiday party at the Concord Country Club tonight. After a lovely buffet dinner, a special guest arrived. Santa stopped in to visit all of the girls and boys on both the naughty and nice lists, get an update on what the kids wanted for Christmas, and to give each of the kids a book on recycling. SHA is an environmental engineering firm, thus the recycling books. Santa even checked in with both Michael and I to see how we were coming on the wedding plans. I took over 200 photos of the kids as they spoke to Santa and the plan is to burn them to a CD tonight so that the photos can be distributed to the parents tomorrow at work.

Shaelyn, Lucas & Elleigh

Michael, Lucas, Elleigh and I drove south last night to see our friends Shaelyn and Karen. We brought Shaelyn her belated birthday present and her Christmas present. It was fun to watch Elleigh and Lucas run around Karen's house and stick their nose in all the corners. Shaelyn was like one big squeaky toy as far as Elleigh and Lucas were concerned. Here's a cute photo that Karen snapped that made the three all look angelic. Both Michael and I think Shaelyn makes Lucas look big because Shaelyn is a pip squeek herself. I have never seen a Christmas tree with the girth on it that Karen's tree has! Shaelyn made us a Christmas tree ornament which we have already proudly displayed on our tree.

6 pounds and 6 ounces

Michael took Lucas to the puppy pediatrician on Saturday for his follow up series of vaccinations. He is still doing great, but getting big quickly. Michael reports he took his shots with no problem and the medical staff weighed him in at 6 lbs and 6 ounces. We think he is going to be a little bigger than Elleigh at this rate. He's already grown too big for his Naughty black down vest. And his ears are starting to stand up, but right now they are not consistently staying up. Sometimes one of them is flopped over while the other is up straight, but it makes for great puppy photos. After playing much of the day with Daddy and Elleigh, Lucas passed out on the couch. So Daddy got the camera out this time and snapped photos of Lucas.

Secret Santa

We had our Human Resources annual Holiday party on Friday night. We got Italian take out and went to our co-worker Iris' house in Concord. We've gone to Iris' house for the past several years and she makes our party so homey and comfortable.

This year, my Secret Santa was Sue N. from the front office, and she did an incredible job surprising me. I received Sox Stix in size 2 for knitting socks, and a skein of Lang Lawoll sock yarn. And how wonderful is a skein of sock yarn that comes with matching reinforcing thread for the heels and toes stuffed up inside!? I also got a primitive snowman ornament and some Christmas scented candles. I must have been really, really good this year!

I did cast on a sock Friday night, and did about 3 inches of the sock. The pattern of the Jawoll is really nice, but the size 2 is a bit too big for this specific sock yarn. But the size 2 will be perfect for my J. Knits, Mountain colors, or Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn. The Sox Stix are so smooth that I felt like I was able to cruise through my sock stitches.

The part of the Secret Santa that was the biggest surprise was that Sue spent the better part of the last week or so telling me that my Secret Santa was (sorry to stereotype) but one of the guys and that I shouldn't expect much effort or creativity. She had me completely thrown off on who my real Secret Santa was.

If Santa Was Looking...

If Santa was looking in on our little family this week, he would have seen a whole lot of nice going on. Lucas and Elleigh enjoy snuggling with each other.









They also share one bone occasionally, taking turns chewing on it and other times both chewing at the same time. And they keep each other warm while sleeping on the couch. So, okay, it's just a lot harder to catch the naughty stuff on the camera because they run so fast from one end of the house to other. It's much easier to snap their photos once they have passed out. Lucas is getting big so fast! And he's so pretty with all of his brindle. And Elleigh has far exceeded our expectations as a good big sister. There's going to be plenty under the tree for this good little boy and girl.

my new car

I loved my Honda Civic, but it wasn't the best car in the snow. It slid around in the slush and my tires spun trying to go up hills, and worse yet, trying to stop at the bottom of hills. So on Monday night, after the first big snow storm of the season, I went and bought myself a new silver CR-V from Grappone Honda. I had been thinking about getting a CR-V since last summer, and watching my Civic's blue book value, and checking out the Honda commercials for any specials on the CR-V. So it wasn't really a compulsive purchase. Ideally, I was going to wait until after the wedding. But finally decided that I don't want to suffer through another long winter without 4WD. And now I don't have to worry about inspecting my car this month, as the new car comes with an inspection. I have thoroughly enjoyed driving around on Tuesday and Wednesday with my 4 WD in the snow remnants with no fear at all about sliding around. I will never get stuck in the driveway again! The only thing I am not impressed with is the gas mileage. I filled my Civic up once, maybe twice, a month. So I am a bit in shock in how fast the gas gauge goes down with the CR-V. Though, it still has one of the best gas mileages of all the small SUV's. Can't wait to give you a ride!

First Snow

It was our first snow of the season today, which is always a little magical for the first minute or two before the cold sets in. But more importantly, today was Lucas' first introduction to snow. He got up just after 6 am while it was still dark out. I dressed him in his jacket and he went out for his first potty in the snow. We're pretty sure he is not impressed. He didn't have much clearance this morning between the top of the snow and his belly, and the snow was deeper than his back by this evening. Lucas rushes through his business and then heads back to the door to get inside as quickly as possible. He did follow me through the snow when I made a path for him, but he was more trying to jump on the back of my legs trying to get me to pick him up than he was strolling through the snow. The snow ended up all over Lucas' head and body just from his movements in the snow and the wind. Elleigh was a bit more excited with the first snow as she ran around and acted sassy for a while. I think Lucas would like a pair of big yellow boots like Daddy has.

Alison's Birthday

I can't believe it is December 1st, but it was so cold tonight walking down the streets of Manchester to get to the Piccola Italia Ristorante that it felt like bitter cold January. And the weather forecast is indicating there is a potential for significant snow starting Sunday night into Monday.

Michael and I met up with Jacinda, Matt, Nancy, Dale, Alison and Glenn for a little dinner celebration for Alison's recent birthday. I'm not a big fan of restaurant Italian food. I don't think I have the discriminating pallet needed to fully appreciate it. I liked the sourdough bread and the olive oil for dipping. Michael enjoyed his tortellini. My eggplant parmigiana was okay. Glenn brought in a beautiful, red velvet cake from Jacques for dessert. Alison seemed to enjoy her gifts and to be having a good time. You'll have to ask her directly what was in the pretty black and white bag.