Last Christmas...

WHY such an early Christmas post? Read on...


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Last December, before going to Austria, I brought Little Boy to the mall where he waited in line for Santa and climbed right up on his lap and asked for Lady and Diesel 10 (both trains from Thomas). I brought a stocking with me and come Christmas Day, Santa did indeed find this good Little Boy (Austria has an angel that delivers gifts, not Santa!). He did not have much in his stocking... an apple, some chocolates, I think a roll, maybe an orange... and Lady and Diesel 10! Believe it or not, they are his only 2 Thomas trains (this year he has asked for Emily and Rosie). Anyway, I think it was at this very moment that he believed, really believed in Santa. LOOK!!! Getting his stocking was his very favorite part of Christmas last year! It was a true "wow" moment.







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The BIG pile of gifts - a bit overwhelming, as he would have much rather have had just 1 gift and had the chance to look/play with it instead of rushing on to the next present. And then, after all that gift opening he was expected to sit down for a big Christmas dinner, soooo hard for an excited little one. NOT that I am complaining... we were in Austria with DH's family and that is their tradition... it was just alot... all at once. Gosh - the kids over there don't even see the Christmas tree until they come into the room to open presents, so you can imagine it was all very, very exciting for my son and about 1/2 way through dinner he was done, done, done. Sensory overload.


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Which brings us to this year... I don't want my son to get ALL his gifts on Christmas Day... he doesn't know where to start, what to play with, everything gets opened at once and strewn about and who knows which pieces go with what. I've talked with DH and we have decided to give him 1 little present per day in conjunction with opening a window on his Advent Calendar. Just as an example - we got him a car transporter truck that holds his much played with matchbox cars. He will get a few new cars on various days - it will lead up to the truck on Christmas day. Many of his Advent presents will actually be little books about Christmas I have bought for him (I will split up the "set" - this will give the 2 of us time to read the stories leading up to Christmas. I am really looking forward to that!


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Come Christmas Day he will still get a few presents from the 2 of us, plus his stocking - he is getting Emily and Rosie from Santa along with a new stuffed animal friend and a FEW other goodies (the food items and probably a new kids toothpaste and socks). I am hoping that this will really give him the chance to enjoy each new little toy, one day at a time.



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And... I have high hopes of enjoying a peaceful Christmas dinner this year! Want to see what I looked like last year at dinner???? LOL! OK, it wasn't all that bad - and dinner was a delicious meat fondu (another tradition in DH's family), it was just late and my son was overly excited, a bit over-tired... and just so happens to be the only child under the age of 20-something in DH's family... and - well, if you are a Momma - I don't need to say more. I do love to be in Austria for Christmas and this year I am a bit torn if I want to go or stay here? I even have plane tickets to go... but... I have gone for the past 3 years so maybe this is the year not to go? The year I was pregnant my Doctor advised me not to go because I live at SEA level and the Austrian Alps altitude could have been dangerous for the baby. I stayed at sea level! We went for years before Little Boy was born too. It will actually feel a bit strange not to go...


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Oh, and did I mention how beautiful the mountains are??? And how much I enjoy skiing on a nice day? And that even Little Boy is learning to ski?
And that I think it is important for my son to see his Austrian family every year? His Omi is over 80 and she has already been over here 2X to see him, but I think the trip is really long for her now (shoot, it is long for me too and I am no where her age!). DH's sister goes out of her way to be accomodating and making me feel at home and I really do have a good time.













Oh, but did I mention trying to keep his little fingers out of the bowls of fine chocolate everywhere and candles and the glass ornaments on the Christmas tree? No?!?... well...



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Here is a photo of the 2 of us in front of the Christmas tree with the candles light. The real candles. Like as in light a match type candle. Trees in Austria are usually fresh cut and set up on Christmas Eve. Also - you might be able to see that the branches are farther apart than what we see in North America. The other day, while waiting in line to cross the USA/Canadian border I saw several trucks full of Christmas trees headed toward the US. I would NOT light a candle on a USA tree - by Christmas time they are dry, dry, dry. Actually, one Christmas a local family woke up when their Christmas tree caught on fire from lights - because they had one of those ornament smoke detectors on the tree!!! I guess extra smoke alarms can't hurt this time of year... so check your batteries, buy that funky ornament, buy more smoke alarms if needed - gosh -I sleep with a fire extinguisher next to my bed... can't help it! It helps me sleep better.
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Personally, I like a fake tree, gasp! Actually, my Nana and Grampa used to have a GREAT one that was silver and had a light behind it with a colored wheel that rotated... the tree would be red... green... blue... purple... oh, how I loved that tree when I was little... truly retro now! Anyone remember those???


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Oh, so back to the beginning of my post... why so early? Well, it is only November 19th so if you want to try out the daily Advent gift idea in your own household - there is still enough time for you to get organized for it!

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And me, well, I just want to be together as a family for Christmas, no matter the country, but this year I would be especially happy to be in Canada. I can even order a fondu pot from Home Hardware for our dinner... I think I am just a bit tired of traveling right now.

Cooking Again!

Look who felt good enough to help Momma make a triple layer cake yesterday? He is getting to be a real pro at cracking eggs, measuring and using that hand-held mixer that I let him use. He stands on an upside down cooler in the kitchen - it is very stable and gives him a little more room than a stool. Actually, this was during his one little burst of energy yesterday and soon after he was back on the bed, but he definately is on the mend. He woke up 2X last night in alot of pain (can we all spell Tylenol?). The good news... today he woke up all chipper and excited that he could smile once again. Breaking news! Little Boy can smile, phew! Crises is over and maybe, just maybe tonight I will actually get a chance to take that shower! Yup, lips and mouth are definately on the mend.

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I do actually know what caused his re-action... turns out that he is allergic to silicone. That would explain the chapstick/lipgloss reaction he had last year - silicone based. This time around it was a new pacifier that he had in his mouth for 2 nights - about 10 minutes each. So, all of 20 minutes. He falls asleep with it in his mouth and then once he is sleeping he spits it out. Now, I've tried 2 other times to take that "thing" away from him - once he started sucking his 2 front fingers - so I gave it back, and the other time he cried and cried for THREE weeks (right, and everyone else told me it would be 3 days, sure)! That time around I thought for sure that after 3 weeks we were through the worse - except, horrors, he found one that I had missed when I did the pacifier sweep. He was hugging it and kissing it and telling me how much he had missed it and surely it was his lucky day to find one again! Sigh, what is a Momma to do? Anyway, I usually buy the latex pacifiers and this time around the store didn't have one so I grabbed a silicone one. Well, now I know - he is very allergic to silicone. The pharmacist told me to be careful with medicines because often the tablets are coated with silicone and then this morning my sister told me that lots of lotions have silicone in them. OK, Momma is on the alert now. And, yes he is all done with pacifiers once and for all now - he handed it right over to the nurse when she told him that it was making his mouth hurt so badly.

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Oh, about that cake... we divided the batter between 3 pans - this is sooooo very much easier than trying to cut cakes in 1/2 in order to do different fillings. This one has a jam filling on the bottom and a lemon/cream cheese frosting in the 2nd layer and as frosting. Try it sometime... 1/2 cup of jam or marmalade for each jam layer will do it. Sometimes I add a little can of pineapple bits or chopped mandarine oranges to the frosting. Sometimes I use pudding in a layer. Experiment and have fun. Best to make 1 day before serving so the fillings really have time to soak into the cake - UNLESS you put fruit into your frosting - in that case you should use jam for the layers and then frost the top right before serving because the fruit will cause the frosting to seperate. Soooo yummy. I just love making cake. This time around - we used a boxed mix to make it extra quick and easy for my "helper"!

Is this stashbusting?

First off, thanks for all the well-wishes for my son; I am happy to say that at about 3 am he seemed to turn the corner for the better, phew! It all did seem to get much worse before an improvement so needless to say, I was very worried. He is still in alot of pain though. Right now he is laying on the bed playing with a little battery operated helicopter - a good sign!!!

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So, here are 2 photos of my fabric purchases from Marden's (2 different stores!). The Marden's I go to are in Maine, I don't know if there are Marden's anywhere else, but most the fabric is $2.99 a yard and the fat fabric (108" wide) is $7.99 per yard.

First photo - on the right are 3 different fat fabrics for backings. Blue for Shakespear, pink for Tulips and yellow for Bargello. In th front there is the great border fabric I found for Bargello and an inner orange border. Behind that you see a red horse print with a brown - these 2 fabrics were purchased specifically to make a pillowcase for one of Little Boy's cousins - he saw this fabric and right away declared we had to get it and I decided a pillowcase would be a quick and easy project. Next fabric in the back row is large flowers with fairies - this will be used for my Tulip border. In front of that is Betty Boop and a lime green. These will be used in my red ocean waves (I know - a big contrast, but I am thinking it will be fun and if I really don't like it - well she will make a good backing for Purple Strings). Of course, my son needed to add to his own fabric collection so 1/2 a yard of a barnyard animal print and a rainbow fabric, plus a cream fabric with hearts (he loves hearts!). The last 3 fabrics way over to the right - well - those are fabrics I bought hoping they would match another finished top that needs borders, but no such luck. However, they will be turned into lined tote bags and any left over fabrics will be cut into strips for the string bin.

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The next photo - I had to go to another store because I was really determined to get fabric for my purple strings and for my Grandmother's choice. I also got 2 different pastel background fabrics, plus 5 yards of white muslin (I think it was maybe $1.40 per yard) for a background for a dresden plate quilt I really want to get started on. The maroon is the borders for Grandmother's choice. The purples are for the Purple strings, (the pink with frogs is for the Purple strings inner border - told you it was a FUN fabric), and 2 fat quarters... just because.

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Most of my fabric is not alot of yardage. That works fine for me because I particulary love scrappy quilts. I just love it when people give me their scraps because I use them! I specifically look for patterns that use the fabric I have on hand and then when I get everything pieced together that I can without buying more fabric - THEN I put the fabric I need to finish the quilt on my shopping list. I almost always need borders, sashings, and backgrounds and backings. The trick is not to get distracted by all the other beautiful fabric in the store... at least for right now because I have lots of scraps needing to be used before I start buying fabrics to replenish my stash, but don't you agree, a few fat quarters adds a nice little boost?

The GREAT thing about these purchases is that I can now put almost all of them to immediate use to finish quilts... and, as you can see, I already started putting my Purple Strings together using the purple.

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So, YES, I do call these purchases STASHBUSTING. I had a list in hand when I went into the store and almost every single fabric was purchased to FINISH a quilt or use as a background in order to continue using my scraps. So you see, sometimes you do have to buy fabrics to stashbust. Makes sense to me!