Christmas 2008

It was a lovely Christmas! Liz managed to make it here from Alaska, after having her first flight cancelled due to weather. Weather HERE, not in Alaska! Seems SeaTac was low on de-icer, so the airlines was hesitant to fly in planes that might not be able to fly out again. Christmas morning, Tom headed off to the airport to bring our girl home for her way-too-short-visit. She still had to leave the 27th. Ohh well. Any Lizzie-time is better than NO Lizzie time. Jim and Sheena came over for breakfast and stayed for Christmas dinner...with present-opening time in between.




Jim and Sheena got a new quilt for Christmas. The pattern is from "Quilt In A Day" (deceptive name, like it REALLY would only take a day? HA!) It's called Tennessee Waltz. I really liked the fabric in the border. The rest of the quilt evolved from that. Jim confessed earlier that Sheena...sweet petite Sheena, is a quilt pig and takes all the covers at night! That's why they got another one for Christmas. It is 90 inches wide and 120 inches long. The BIGGEST quilt I've done yet (although...I think I can go bigger, what with the HQ Sixteen having leaders 106 inches wide. Hmm!) It wasn't until they pulled the quilt out of the bag and laid it out on them, that it struck me how pretty it turned out. I think it just looks good on them!



It would have been a perfect Christmas if Jeff, Frieda and Aurora had been able to make it here (it was Frieda's side of the family's turn...oooh well! NEXT year we get 'em! Aurora will be 14 months old then. What fun that will be!) Both Frieda and Sheena are gluten-intolerant. Frieda worked very hard, complying containers of rice flour, baking mix, and other goodies for Sheena. The package was so heavy, I had to drag it across the floor to get it to her. Jeff gave Jim a bit of nostalgia, with Transformer toys--the best of all was a vintage one (don't ask me WHICH one!) It turns into a gun and kept Jim amused while he tried to remember how to transform it.


Liz was thrilled with her new video camera. She's going to South Africa in March so I'm expecting to see some movies of lions and elephants--and the Dutch Verbaan cousins!


Santa gave me the traditional box of 50 fat quarters of fabric (at least I hope this is a tradition!) Think of this as the "before" photo. I hope to turn them into a quilt before Christmas 2009!

Poor tired Lizzie! Taz was glad to have her here too.

Playing in the Snow

Today, while I was slaving away in the kitchen--doing some pre-Christmas dinner preparation, Tom decided to play in the snow! It started out innocently enough, with shoveling, yet again, the walkway and driveway---but see where it lead! (Tom is the one in the cowboy hat, btw)


Here are some more snow photos:

Cat in a Hat for Christmas

Taz posed for these photos, modeling a Christmas hat. You can tell by the look in her eyes, that if she were REALLY the fierce savage lion she imagines herself to me, I would be her mid-morning snack for subjecting her to this indignity.

Home for Christmas

Funny how the snow started out looking pretty and now has, at least to my mind, turned evil. Yes, EVIL! Because of all this dadblasted annoying white stuff, daughter Liz is stranded in Anchorage, instead of in our guest room! She was supposed to fly home for Christmas yesterday....but now it looks as though she'll be lucky to get here at all. She's got a seat on a flight landing at SeaTac on Christmas morning, but will still have to leave on the 27th. Ahhh well...any Liz time is better than NO Liz time.

Hittys in the Snow

When I was a little girl, I read the book, "Hitty" by Rachael Fields. It's the story of a small wooden doll and all her adventures. That Hitty was quite the world traveler. Now, eons later, having fallen in amongst a group of Hitty-fans, I have my own Hittys. One in particular, Hitty Elizabeth, has gone on trips with me. Here we are today, snowbound, so I decided to take Elizabeth and her friend, Emma, outside to play in the snow. As usual with Hittys, there was trouble...


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Watch out for that bump, Elizabeth!


Don't worry, I'll get you out!

More Snow

Last night we had the Pacific Northwest version of a blizzard. The snow wasn't drifting down from the sky gracefully and gently...noooo, it was coming down in sheets, buffeted by strong gusts of wind! BRRRR. Church was cancelled today (no wonder there) which is kind of sad, not only because the Sunday before Christmas, there always is a special program in Sacrament meeting, but also because now I only have ONE Sunday left with my current batch of 4 year olds. Oooh well. I was glad I gave them all their Christmas gifts at the Christmas party on Friday night.

3000 people were stranded at SeaTac airport last night. Some of them are still there, waiting for flights home for Christmas. Hotels near the airport are all filled up, so those poor folks had to sleep in those uncomfortable airport chairs. I've done that. It's not a good time.

This morning Tom and I ventured out to explore the frozen wasteland of our neighborhood. We saw a couple cars going by but most of the inhabitants were staying inside. That is where we're going to stay now. The weather forecast is for more snow. Liz flies in tomorrow from Anchorage. Hope she can get here!

Christmas Quilt

At least not being able to get out of the driveway because of the ice...I've been getting things done around the house! Here's a Christmas quilt I just finished up yesterday. It's from a pattern at Bonnie Hunter's website www.quiltville.com. I think it's called Bricks and Stepping Stones. Joan, if you are reading this, yes..this is the same pattern as the quilt I made for Neal. This one is just bigger! It's a great pattern for using up scraps; in this case, lots of Christmas fabric! It's on the bed, ready to welcome Liz home for the holidays next week. :-)