Christmas

Here's the Christmas tree at my parents' house. Look at all the presents packed under there!


Ah, my photogenic husband


The family. Right to left: Brad's hand, my Dad, my Grandma, Lisa, and my sister Amy


This was Taffy's gift to me (Died in the Wool by Mary Kruger). She wrapped it herself, I was told


Our stockings filled to the brim with goodies


An Ipod for me!!! Yay!
Story time...I have been coveting one of these for a year or so now, and Brad surprised me with it. He bought me books, which I opened Christmas Eve morning (while thinking, WTF did I do to get three books for Christmas?? Even thought they're books I wanted, see above; plus Needled to Death and a guidebook for my PalmPilot) At my parent's house later that day, the last package I got was a hatbox with this baby in it plus some smokin' speakers from my folks. I was really bowled over because 1. He got me the 30 GB Ipod instead of the 4 GB one I had on my wishlist and 2. He got it directly from Apple, and they do free engraving. Mine says: Lori, my lovely wife, It's real love
(referencing our wedding song) All together now, aawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww


A wafflemaker from my parents. Yes, I've already made waffles with it, and they were awesome!



A stained glass dish my sister Amy made for me. Isn't it the most precious thing?! It has a photo of Taffy with a wire halo on top, the panels on either side are wings, and the back panels say "Our" "Angel" "Taffy". She also gave me a container of cat grass to put in it.

Other gifts: from my parents...a calendar with photos of me (and the family) when I was little, a greeting card organizer, and ornaments; my sister Angela sent me a cool handpainted ornament and some yummy Key Lime Pie scented body wash, I got some gift cards (which I used to buy a car adapter for the Ipod), and my Grandma made us some of her oh-so-good fudge. I know I'm forgetting other stuff..I need to take a photo of everything before I start putting it away, or make a list for cryin' out loud. My memory sucks. I know this. And yet....I forget.
Edit: I remembered the others! My friend Sue gave me the Knitting Pattern-a-Day calendar and a charm bracelet (I believe they're called "Italian" charm bracelets?? The ones with the changeable links) with two charms: my birthstone, and a charm that says I love knitting (actually it has I with a heart and needles and string). Also, a client of mine gave me a wall plaque with the chinese symbol for Tranquility for my office, and a card to get a free bouquet of flowers each month for a year.

In knitting news:

Here is the hat I am making for Brad. I had to frog the original because I didn't like the way the decreases looked, so I found this pattern and am making it minus the stripes.


I am also working on this dog sweater from Puppy Knits, minus the pompoms.


Here it is on the needles. You can barely see the variegated yarn and the start of the center cables.



This is one.brave.cat!

I hope everyone out there in blogland had as wonderful a holiday as I did! I'd love to hear about yours!