Someone sent me to this video on YouTube. Since I’m a child of the eighties, I really loved it — and felt that it embodied how hectic Christmas has become for me.

(Unfortunately, this has since been removed from YouTube.)

Although I really love this time of year, I am pressed for time. I buy presents — but I also make some. I cook a lot — and unfortunately eat a lot (I admit I’m a “foodie”). I decorate — and at some point have to cut off my purchases (sometimes I think Christmas decorations are one of the best parts of the season).

I also struggle to finish what I’ve started. I have been working on the sleeping child for a while now. I had to stop her to work on some other projects — and now, as my husband would say, I have lost my “mojo”. I have been struggling to finish quilting it. I want it done before the children are home from break — did I mention that I also have to clean & cook for overnight guests?  Making myself do it is difficult — in some part of my brain, I’ve finished it — although it still hangs unfinished on my wall.

I’ve also been working on teacher’s gifts. Since we are at a new school this year, I thought I could get away with coffee cuffs again. The truth of it is that although I have worked hard at making it different, I have a cool spot in my heart for the teachers and most of the other mothers. It is rather like a relationship with a elderly aunt that lives nearby — for whom nothing truly pleases (when are you going to clean the kitchen like you promised and do you expect a woman to die from lack of company and why are my gutters so full of leaves?) Anyway, this time I have been working on surface design — no piecing, no applique. I’ll take pictures to share later.

Also, last night was the Fiber Art Fusion holiday meeting. We had a 5 x 7 exchange — Rebecca got my small portrayal of Solomon. I have been watching jealously the round robin — which is finally coming to a close. I am hoping that they start one next year. They started it just before I joined. It is hard to belief that I haven’t yet been here a year.