No Time to Knit

No time to knit. The Thanksgiving Weekend has had me too busy.  This week, I am off of work Wednesday through Saturday and I am making the most of it.  Working like MAD to get things done so that I may relax and enjoy the holiday season.  My son drug out the Christmas Tree Box and erected the tree we've used for the past 19 Christmases.  After putting up the tree (just the tree!), my son lost interest.  He and his Pop went to go play tennis and I stayed home.  I strung up the lights and hung the ornaments while they were gone.  On the very top of the tree, my favorite ornament!  My mom made this (crochet) and it includes a photo of my chubby baby boy, who is now nearly 15 years old and a string bean now in comparison.

I love hanging ornaments. They all have memories for me. When did I get this ornament, what does it mean to me, where did I get it, or who gave this to me?  This lovely wooden ornament is a gem.  It's just a few inches across but the detail is amazing.  A coworker was showing me things he made with his scroll saw; he talked about how his hobby was his sanity... his respite from his crazy, stressful job.  I told him I thought a scroll saw would be a very fun hobby and that I could relate to the meaningfulness and importance of a good hobby.  He showed me some patterns he was considering and I admired this one in particular. Several weeks (maybe months) later, the coworker gave the ornament to my family for our tree. 

So simple! My tree is decorated with a number of these pine cone ornaments. One of our favorite places in Colorado is a little town with a little lake called San Isabel. 

We've gone there countless times in the past 19 years we've lived in Colorado. One year, I collected a bunch of pine cones.  At home, I sprayed them very lightly with metallic gold paint, affixed some brass wire at the top, and attached narrow red ribbon. 

I like these ornaments a lot.

A Thanksgiving Weekend Tradition!  I decorated the tree while my Christmas cookies baked (each tray has to be in the oven for about 17 minutes so it's a long process). These German cookies are a family tradition on my husband's side of the family.  My mother-in-law taught me how to make them several years ago. Believe it or not, this is just ONE batch of cookie dough (the recipe calls for five cups of flour, so it makes a lot of cookies!)  The dough has a million ingredients (some of which are quite unusual), they are very labor intensive, but they are worth the effort.  I love having a connection to the past like this.  These cookies are made at Thanksgiving time because they actually get better as they sit a few weeks. 

A little extra baking!  I made these muffins, too. They are super healthy and super good (despite the big mistake I made).  I will post about them soon on my other blog.  Click HERE for the link.

Oh yeah, it was Thanksgiving so I made a Turkey Dinner, too! 
Imagine that!  Our Turkey Dinner was a snap thankfully since no one here cares for many of the traditional side dishes. Pumpkin pies, however, are MANDATORY.  They are just a memory now...

Finally... on Thanksgiving night, I iced the cookies.  I think these cookies are quite photogenic, don't you?

Yay, today I addressed my Christmas cards, too!  The boys were up in Colorado Springs for a tennis tournament.  I got a lot done while they were gone.

Now... time to put up my feet and KNIT!