Awoke to the sound of snowplows at 4:45 this morning.  It looks like not a lot of snow, but enough to be slippery.

Contemplating how much gas is in my car….Must get into the habit of keeping it at least half full for the winter.  I don’t want to be using extra gas sliding in to work and then running out on the way!

Working today and tomorrow, then have Friday off and the weekend. Then work Monday next week, then have Tuesday, Wednesday off then finish the week at work.

Looking forward to Christmas Day at my parents.

K…gotta get going to get out on time this morning. I’ll need to warm up and brush off the car, maybe get gas….Lots to do!

Not a mouse…It’s a mole….I’ve never seen a mole in the house before! Now, he has made it behind our big tall book cases, he’ll be safe there for a while.

There’s a mouse in the house.  I guess it is officially winter!  We heard some tussling sort of sounds a bit of squeaking and one of the cats is now on vigil in the laundry room.  The poor mouse doesn’t stand a chance here….We have efficient mousers.

So, we had a weeklong bit of fun at work last week.  We did Secret Santas.  I drew the name of someone that I actually have befriended a bit at work, so I had a good time giving her little Secret Santa gifts.  (And I actually knew what to give her!) It really was a lot of fun, the whole department was involved and it culminated to a Christmas party and cookie exchange on Friday where we got one last present from our Santa and tried to guess who he/she was.

Most of the gifts that I gave to my Secret Santa recipient were gifts I made….Here are a few.

Knitting ball ornament like the ones below, only blue. (I had wrapped it already so took a picture of others I had made.)

Glass ornaments that I filled with ribbon yarn.

I also gave her a note card set that I had made.  I made the note cards a long time ago.  I used pictures from a shell identification book to paste on the front of blank note cards.  It made beautiful card sets! I also gave her a knitted mini stocking with some Badger creams in it.

For my final gift, I gave her the 2009 Snowflake Bentley ornament  (No…I am not casting pewter these, days, I bought this.) and some good black licorice as she is a fan of both.

Oh…and I almost forgot! So, I used paper lunch bags to wrap her gift each day.  I only seem to have a picture of one, which is simpler than several I did.  I used wrapping paper on the front of several with coordinated trim on the folded flap.  I punched two holes through the folded flap and ran a ribbon through to tie it closed. They were very simple, but very festive looking. I was quite pleased.

K…Now I must evaluate if Nature Boy is too sick to go to school today.  He started coming down with a cold on Sunday and was feeling pretty crummy last night.  I’m leaning toward keeping him home, no need to spread all those germs before vacation!

Oh! And I almost forgot!  I got the best present from my Secret Santa!  Everyone at work knows I like Hello Kitty and I take some good natured teasing about it.  Well, my coworker fed my habit with this….

Pretty cute!

Yesterday, I was the lead teacher for the preschool class at UU.  Have I ever said how much I love this job? I just love the kidlets. It is a lot of fun and a good way for me to use my Early Childhood skills.  I was especially pleased with yesterday’s lesson and how it went.

Because yesterday was Solstice Eve, I decided to do a lesson about the longest night of the year centered around the book Grandmother Winter (A lovely, beautiful book, btw).  In the story, Grandmother Winter collects feathers which she sews into a quilt.  In the winter, on the longest night, she shakes the quilt out making the snows that fall across the land.

For the preschool class, I prepared two activities.  The first followed the story. I took in a quilt, which we sat on for the story and I also took in some paper snowflakes.  After the story, we used the quilt like a parachute and shook the snowflakes off the quilt.  The kids LOVED the activity.   We went around and around with each child collecting and carefully placing the snowflakes on the quilt to be shaken off. 

The second activity was also very popular, though got a bit long for the younger 3 year olds.  I cut pipe cleaners into 6″ lengths and then wrapped 3 together to be the arms of a snowflake.  I had pony beads in blue, white and clear for the children to string on the arms of the snowflake to make a beaded snowflake. In the picture above, you can see the one dh made as a model so the children could get the idea of how the snowflake might look in the end. I consider yesterday’s class a big success! 

Last week, I did class too on the topic “We are alike and we are different.” That class was fine, but really the kids had a lot to talk about last week about doctors and flu shots and germs.  Most of the kids had very recently had flu shots, and we use hand sanitizer at the beginning of class, so germs and the flu were on their minds.  It trickled over into this weeks class too….Evidently, those flu shots made quite the impression! I was able to commiserate as I finally got a seasonal flu shot at work.  (They were out of them so some of us had to wait for the second batch to come in.)  I am always happy to set the lesson aside for a bit and talk about things that are important to the kids…I like them to know they have a voice and their thoughts and concerns are important too.

So…..Speaking of the longest night….We have had a lovely Solstice celebration here.  I am sooo happy that the days are now getting longer and longer.  Every little bit of daylight (and especially sunlight) is a treasure this time of year!

I can hear the lovely little beeping sounds of my finches.  I cannot tell you how absolutely delightful the little critters are.  I simply adore them.

Silly that all four of them crammed themselves into one nest! Now, they have more or less paired off and have chosen their own nests.  Maybe someday (like in the spring) they will lay eggs and hatch some babies.

The other day when I was cleaning the cage, two of the finches flew out.  We caught them pretty quickly, in about 5 mins.  I was delighted to actually catch and hold a finch in my hand.  They are way smaller to hold than they look, they truly can fit in the palm of my hand with my fingers curled over the top…And they weigh so little!

I love my finches!

Tagged by spinnermom…..The twenty question meme:

1. If you have pets, do you see them as merely animals, or are they members of your family?  

Members of the family, totally! We don’t treat our pets like they are our children, but they are well cared for, loved, missed when they are gone….Just like people family.

2. If you can have a dream to come true, what would it be?

Well, other than something altruistic like jobs and homes for everybody….I’d love to be independently wealthy, live off my annuity interest with dh in a cabin on the side of a mountain by a babbling brook.

3. What is the one thing most hated by you?

When people aren’t treated justly, fairly or ethically.

4. What would you do with a billion dollars?

See #2.  I could be altruistic and selfish! Woot!

5. What helps to pull you out of a bad mood?

Knitting, my finches, sunshine, friends, family.

6. Which is more blessed, loving someone or being loved by someone?

I don’t think it’s a fair question, both are wonderful.

7. What is your bedtime routine?

I brush my teeth and go upstairs to bed. Dh tucks me in (seriously, he does!) and I turn on my heated mattress pad.  I must have the fan going on medium for the white noise and we have some special soothing music to play.  Plus the window is open a crack every night all year.

8. If you are currently in a relationship, how did you meet your partner?

Wow….complicated answer or quick answer?  K…quick version: I met him at college. 

9. If you could watch a creative person in the act of the creative process, who would it be?

I would love to watch a glass blower.

10. What kinds of books do you buy?

Self-improvement books.  I am always looking for ways to better myself.

11. How would you see yourself in ten years time?

Working and hopefully still at the nursing home where I am now.  In my own home (i.e. one that we own) with dh, in Vermont.

12. What’s your fear?

Losing dh or Nature Boy.

13. What kind of person do you think the person who tagged you is?

Oh! I think she is a wonderful lady who juggles a busy life in an admirable way.  She is smart, funny and resourceful.  And best of all, she is the person who inspired me to learn to knit…How can you beat that?

 14. Would you rather be single and rich or married, but poor?

Having been married and poor, I can say that being rich and having material things is not essential to my happiness or my relationship to my husband.  I would be happy as a clam to be married and poor.

5. What’s the first thing you do when you wake up?

You mean after I pee?  Well…the alarm goes off, I turn it off, get up, go downstairs to pee and shower.  I flick on a few lights on the way…..It’s a very uninteresting routine.

16. Would you give all in a relationship?

Nope, I gotta be me. J  Seriously, I think relationships are strengthened by what each person brings to it, not by what of themselves they think they need to give up to be together.

17.  If you could pick a new name for yourself, what would it be?  First name is fine, but if you’re feeling imaginative, you can do the whole thing.

Ummm….I like my first name very much.  And my first name and my married name handily fit quite well together.  I’m not budging.  I’m keeping it.

18. What’s your favorite magazine?

I am not much of a magazine reader.  I enjoy some of the knitting magazines and Mother Earth News is good.

19. When it comes to patterns, what sort of patterns do you prefer?

Besides knitting patterns?   Basically, as long as a pattern is symmetrical, I am good with it.  I do not like asymmetry. At. All. (Dh finds this quirk somewhat amusing!)

20. List people to tag.

Gosh…Is anyone even still reading my blog after all my absences? I don’t know if anyone will see that they’ve been tagged!

We have snow!

And it was icy and slippery on the roads this morning.  I was about 3/4 the way to work and I encountered a line of stopped cars.  Turns out the bridge over the highway had iced and there was an accident on the bridge.  It would have taken a fair bit of backtracking to get around, and I figured the accident would be sorted out quickly, so I waited.  Of course, my wait took 40 minutes and I was late for work. <sigh>  But I called to let them know and I just worked a bit later in the afternoon.

It is snowing a bit now too.  And we learned that our chickens are afraid of snow.  They won’t even come out of the coop!  Very. Very. Silly. <shakes head>

And speaking of chickens, dh snapped this picture of them the other day.

That was the day dh finished up the nesting box too.

To put in this spot on the coop.

Mind you, I don’t have a picture of it installed, but let me assure you, it is done. And I am sure the chickens are appreciative!

Last night, I got together with a friend who noted that I had not blogged recently.  As a matter of fact, she knew exactly the date that I had last blogged and urged me to blog more.  Luckily, I respond to pressure  and here I am.

I had promised pictures of us getting our tree in the rain….

We always get our tree the day after Thanksgiving.  It is a nice family tradition and we like to have our routines here chez Craftymomma.  So, despite a steady bit of light rain, we made our way to the Christmas tree farm.

I have to say, the tree farm has almost too many trees to choose from!

There are literally thousands of trees there. If I was to hazard a guess, I’d say they have 15 acres of land planted with trees.  It is fun and overwhelming. With so many to choose on, finding just the right tree is a process.

And we spend lots of time going back and forth among the trees.

I will say though, the rain was okay.  Some years we have done this and just been sooooo cold. <shiver>  It was milder, I think about 50 when we went tree hunting.  It gave us more time to browse!

And finally, we found the right tree.

Of course, the amusing thing is after traipsing around the tree farm for 45 minutes, going back and forth and up and down the paths, the tree we found was actually about 6 trees down from the car.  Not that I’m complaining!!!  I just appreciate the irony of it.

I am nearly done my holiday shopping.  Nature Boy is shopped for. I know what I want to get dh.  I have my relatives all set too at this point.  I must say, the ability to get most of my shopping done at Amazon is great!  I don’t like shopping in crowds with all that jostling and hustle-bustle.  Shopping at home on the couch in my jammies is right up my alley!!!

In other news….I appear to have done something to my back and it is very sore.  Or to quote Dr. Smith from Lost in Space, “My back is very delicate today.”  It started Thursday afternoon at work and I am really moving quite gingerly right now.    I even got a substitute for me for the UU  preschool class there is no way I can work with the kidlets today.

Our department at work does Secret Santa every year.  We actually drew names the week after Halloween…People are that excited about it!!!  I think we have about two weeks before we do the gift exchanges.  Basically, every day for a week, you give your person a small gift and then we have a party on Friday where people try to guess who gave the gift and there is one more present that day too.

I have lots of ideas of what to make and give for my person…I have been looking online too and thought I would share some links to some crafty Christmas ornament ideas I have found.  None appear to be super hard, but just may take some time and attention to details.

Here’s a place with paper, felt and knitted ornaments.

Some knitter glass ball ornaments. And some here too.

I love the paper trees one here. (Scroll to bottom)

And another knitting one.

Fun stuff! I am going to make the last one for sure, and maybe some of the paper ornaments from the first one…And I may make some of those paper trees from the third one for Christmasland.

I love being crafty!!!

No snow.

Just rain and lots of it.

However, we had never cut down a tree in the rain before, so it was a new experience!  Nature Boy is very excited about having the tree and wanted to decorate it with simple glass-ball type ornaments.  We went out to Joann’s last night as I had seen some there that I really liked and we picked up a few boxes of glass ornaments.  Then we rounded the corner to the next aisle and NB saw a box of 70 plastic-but-look-like-glass ornaments that was on sale for $11.99.  So, he chose the silver themed box and now we will be decorating the tree with those.  I am game, it will be different from how we usually do our tree and I think it will be fun!

We are already up this morning and have our decorations out.  NB is working on setting up Christmasland.  (All our porcelain houses we have gotten from Joann’s through the years.)  We have 5 houses now.  This year NB picked the giant cathedral to add to the collection.  There wasn’t one that really caught my eye this year…But that means I will get to pick next year.

K….I am going to help decorate the tree.  And don’t worry, I have cutting-down-the-tree pictures, I will get them off the camera to share tomorrow!