As Thanksgiving looms a few days away, I'm already starting to feel two very large balls of panic in my stomach. The first is school related- I have a lot of reading, researching, and writing to do before the semester is up, and I'm not entirely sure how I'm going to fit it all in. The second has to do with the holiday season. Christmas always looks a lot closer after Thanksgiving, and my lack of homemade gifts is making me nervous. This time last year I was knitting like crazy, working on a list that included hats, mittens, and one very big Dale of Norway sweater (that hasn't been finished yet... oops).
This year, I only have two handmade items so far figured out. For my Mom, instead of giving her a hand knit, I'm going to spend a couple days after finals to make her a mother-daughter scrapbook with pictures going all the way back to when I was teeny. My Mom's big into crafts and knows the time and effort that will go into something like that, so I know she'll appreciate it. My last final is on December 17th, so after that I'll have a couple of days to go crazy working on that.
My Dad was hard to figure out- he isn't even close to catching up on the books that I've given him in the past for Christmas, and knitting is out of the question since I'm still doing his knit from last year. It wasn't until I was doing an odd shift in the kid's department at B&N that I got an idea.
My Dad is a collector of children books from all over the world. He doesn't necessarily collect first editions or even well-known titles; he collects ones that have meaning to him and our family. For instance, my first copy of
Madeline is in the collection- beaten, torn, and worn apart from the number of times he read it to me. Right along side is the french copy that he bought while in France, and which he would read after the english version for story time. The entire
Babar series is also up there- english and french. My copy of
Anne of Green Gables that I got at
Prince Edward Island is up there, complete with pictures in the pages of me at
Green Gables when we visited, dressed in period costume and proud as could be at 12 years old. He would often bring books home from his business trips to Japan with the Japanese characters in there, and my brother and I had to tell him the story as he turned the pages based on the pictures.
Long story short, kid books have a very close place in his heart as well as mine, so I'm going to surprise him with an addition to his library this year.
I chose the book
Toot and Puddle. This particular book is about two very different best friends- Toot loves to Travel, and Puddle loves to enjoy home. Toot goes on adventures all over the world, and sends postcards to Puddle of the places that he's been.
It's exactly the kind of book my Dad will love, and I'm going to personalize the book by making my own postcards based on the places Toot went and putting them in between the pages. The postcards will have drawings, pictures, and any memorabilia I can find on them, with notes to my Dad about each place and a memory from it or how special it was to me.
I think he'll like it, as it's personal and has to do with our family vacations, which are very important to him and us.
Now I just have to get started on those... after papers... and reading... ;)
It's nice to be back home again. Duluth home. Surrounded by my books, my own coffee machine (and an abundant amount of hot chocoate), my craft stuff, and my Christmas tree... I've got a warm mug of hot chocolate in hand with Gilmore Girls on in the background as I finish up a pair of warm, crazy looking socks for a friend before bed, and I feel at home.
When we went on family vacations, we always picked up an ornament or two of where we were and (if possible) what we did there. We have a lot of skiing Santas from our trips out west, sea kayaks from Hudson Bay and the Pacific, and sailboats- as well as a good collection of hockey ornaments, Nutcracker ballet, and one of my personal favorites-
A climber rappelling down a line! I got this from my parents last year, and I have to admit I'm pretty impressed that they managed to find one like this.
(I'm overlooking the fact that he's not tied in at both strongpoints, is using a double fisherman as his main knot, and is using a bell to rappel instead of a regular belay device, but you take what you can get, right?)
It didn't seem like a problem until she brought out another one box... then another one... then yet another one... and they kept coming from places around the house that I've been hiding books for years... without my brother and I there, she had time to go around and find all of them, and I have to admit even I was a little surprised at how many I owned, especially considering how many I already have in Duluth. 
The best part was that one of my uncles made a plate of green jello on top of a bed of carrot shavings, topped with... actually, I don't even know what it was topped with. Something white in the shape of a flower. I had a tiny sliver of the green jello (minus the white) just out of tradition, and the addition of the carrot shavings was pretty bad.
My uncle Brent and I did our annual tequila shot- which he started when I was 18, and which taught me that I don't like tequila. Which is why I only do one tequila shot per year. 
I chose the book Toot and Puddle. This particular book is about two very different best friends- Toot loves to Travel, and Puddle loves to enjoy home. Toot goes on adventures all over the world, and sends postcards to Puddle of the places that he's been. 
I also quickly knit up a hat during a long car ride for a buddy who bought the yarn for me. Short story behind it- he's one of those guys that always wears a hat, and only recently did he stretch his one trusty beanie out enough that it doesn't fit anymore (plus gross climber boy = unwashed hat). We have our local climbing competition coming up, and he's very superstitious about needing a hat. Which is where I came in. 
I just need to close the top and it'll be ready to wear. It's been a nice brainless knit, perfect when my head is stuffed with so much other stuff.
For instance, I packed all my yarn in an old suitcase around the apartment, and now if it doesn't fit in the suitcase I must have too much of it (I know, I know... but honestly, the stash was getting ridiculous and I have to go on a heavy yarn diet anyway).
I also started on a long-overdue project- one that I wanted to wait on until I had all the proper tools, but realized that it was silly to wait and I wanted to get it done soon anyway. So I started on it, enjoying the feeling or creating again.
I also endeavored on a brand-new adventure- MAKING BREAD! A lot of coworkers have been raving about something called Artisan Bread- super simple bread recipe that takes four ingredients and makes up in practically no time at all! Since I'm the type that burns toast, it was a pretty crazy endeavor for me to embark on, but it was really challenging and really fun.
to rising dough in just a couple of hours, with me only mixing things and leaving the bread mixture on the counter for effort.
Then this morning I stuck a test loaf in the oven, and it came out beautifully!!! So beautifully, in fact..
That I had to prepare another one right away!
The sunrise!
well, let's say they're not to my taste.
This year I had big plans. My costume idea was one I've wanted to do for a long time, and the parts slowly came together- but I was foiled again this year. Carmen Sandiego will have to wait until next year, since I have this thing about wanting to have my costumes be good and accurate. When a decent hat for my Carmen Sandiego costume didn't materialize, I had to switch to something else- something that fell right into my lap when I walked into Ragstock and saw the dress hanging on the shelf, with minimal tweaking and heming to get exactly the effect I wanted.
Alice in Wonderland is up there on my list of awesome Disney movies, and it never occured to me to be her until I saw a dress that fit the part perfectly. I did have to buy a skirt to convert into an apron, but that was piddlesticks compared to trying to make a Carmen Sandiego hat.
Tyler bit the bullet and went as the Mad Hatter to complete the look, and we got a lot of compliments on the costumes. 