A House Elf

Though he is a muggle raised by muggles, Bennett has been a very helpful house elf today.  Once we put on his cozy elf outfit, he was ready to tackle a little of holiday to-dos.  I'll let him show you how he got jolly...

Though it may look like I'm sleeping on the job, my mom loves when I'm snoozing through check-out at the grocery store.  We picked up lots of dairy products and 10 pounds of flour for my dad's baking projects.  We got the good stuff~ King Arthur APF.

I helped seal and stamp dozens of envelops so that the Ham fam could spread some holiday cheer snail-mail style.  I picked up an admirer at the post office who nearly followed us to the car~ quite alarming for my mother, but I just smiled.

Playtime!

I held glitter sticks and helped my mom with some top secret craft projects.  My hat is the coolest.

So much wrapping paper~ I thought I'd end up in a box under the tree (and I'm sure I have some grandmothers who would love to have me as a Christmas gift). 

I'm allowed to hold this present because it is a gift box with no wrapping paper.  My gift holding privileges were revoked the moment I started to gnaw on the corners (sorry Aunt Foo~ hopefully it won't be soggy when I give it to you).

I played with a felt snowflake.  It'll have to do until real snow comes, and I can play in it.

We enjoyed some pictures from a classic festive book.  I'm not literate nor do I speak English so I'm still a little fuzzy about this story's plot...

Since I haven't mastered any spoken language, I may as well learn how to wish you merry Christmas en français!

Alright, a year ago if you had told me I'd be transcribing blog posts for my 16 week old tot, I think I would have gagged a little.  Maybe when he stops being so cute, I'll get back to not doing so many cutesie entries.  It's bad enough that I derive so much pleasure from dressing him up, but one day he may grow up and learn that I propped and photographed him doing silly things.  He may not appreciate it as much as others... Until I grow in the self-control department, forgive my goofy Christmas baby entries.

Feeling Festive

Bennett dressed up today after helping me shop for presents and wrap them.  You might say he's getting into the Christmoose spirit....

No shame in making up silly holiday-inspired vocab.  Hope you are having a lovely time preparing for Christmas, too!

Knick Knacks

Knick Knack Paddy-Whack~ We had a baby shower that was sort of a one last hoorah with friends before the baby arrives (and while I'm still able to sort of maneuver through a large group of folks).  Since we have most of the essentials covered thanks to our first baby shower with Hamilton friends in North Carolina, we thought it'd be nice to beef up baby's library.  After all, no Hamiltot of ours can live in our home and not be a lover of books.  Our friends chose some lovely stories they cherished from childhood and inscribed the covers for our little one.  I'm so excited that our friends and family will have had a part in expanding our boy's imagination. 

Aunt Foo selected The Velveteen Rabbit with original illustrations and even whipped up a velveteen friend for baby.  How sweet!

Knick Knacks and Thingamabobs~ Remember Kyle's Christmas stocking?  Well, it's been sitting for months in my sewing bag waiting for its finishing touches~ the bobbles.  I had been meaning to shop for odds and ends to sew onto it for ages but only got around to it when Kyle and I went to Babies'R'Us located conveniently next to a Michael's.  Behold my handy work...

Cutie collars and beaded reins for each tiny little reindeer

Not the fanciest, but Santa now has a bundle of candy canes thrown over his shoulder with a lovely ribbon.  This was the task I dreaded most and probably could have done better if I had been more strategic.  So long as Kyle approves, I suppose it'll do.

Trinkets for Pere Noel's staff

A classy button for his skate

Hard to see but there are beads in the center of the swirls

The final product~ next time you see this jolly old fella, he ought to be transformed into a sock sack.  I'm leaving him in the capable hands of Miss Foo (see velveteen rabbit above for her seamstress skills).

Knick Knack Knock Knees~  Or what I think are knees... This baby is super busy, and he's keeping me at the doctor a lot these days.  We visited 3 doctors this week.  We went to the dentist because pregnant women are at a higher risk of having dental problems (I have experienced a good bit of bleeding each time I brush).  We learned that I should make sure to get enough fluoride, and if I get infections in my gums it can lead to pre-mature labor and a low birth weight for baby.  Next we visited a pediatrician just up the street.  We met a very kind doctor who gave us great information about the services they offer.  He sounds smart because he has a sweet South African accent (being South African and all).  The only down side was that the front office staff were a bunch of sour pickles~ they need to get a little joy working around all the children.  On a brief side note, I've worked in both daycare and the front office for a healthcare center.  Both those jobs can be pretty taxing so maybe I can be strategic about praying for these ladies and learning about where they are coming from (I might also mention that I was inspired by this blog post by Pat Harley).  Finally, today baby and I ventured to the OB.  All is looking good & like a good little man, he has been head down for 4 weeks already.  He and I are on the same page so far about his exit strategy.  I need to practice my birthing skills though before the big day...

32 weeks and still squeezing into my jeans (but just barely).

My mom sometimes talks about "LRBs" or "little round bellies".  I think we have surpassed the little part, but I'm not sure a "BRB" or a "big round belly" would work....

Speaking of knocking knees, I am in love with Fred Astaire and delight in most of his movies.  There's a cute number (which features neither him nor Ginger Rogers) in the Gay Divorcee I'd like to share with you.  Seems like the casting office wouldn't hire any female dancers who weren't blond.  Brunettes need not apply...

Every Time A Bell Rings...

Zuzu's teacher may not have dressed her to go out into the cold when she sported a pinned flower on her dress, but she did instill the principle that every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings.  I'm always grateful that this is true for Clarence, but I wondered this week as I was completing my cross-stitch project of a stocking if there may be another equally good reward for angels.  After all, it takes comparatively a small amount of effort and little time to ring a bell; I started my project in January and it took the better part of three months to see it through.  I would submit that the angels deserve a week long trip to Tahiti every time I complete a cross-stitched Christmas stocking.  May I share my results with you?

A row of green was added under Santa's skates followed by some fancy reindeer each with its own style of saddle

Beneath the reindeer's hooves are a collection of colorful squares.

The complete stocking

A close up of all those funky squares

Hee Haw & Merry Christmas Kyle!

She's Crafty

My sisters are both quite skilled in practical crafts.  My big sister has cross-stitched a number of beautiful samplers; they are very good.  My little sister sews like a genius and makes really sweet items like costumes to purses to stuffed animals.  Once upon a time I was an avid cross-stitcher and amateur knitter.  I even tried my hand at transforming an old pair of jeans into a funky backpack.  It was not a success, and thankfully there is no evidence proving it ever existed.  I considered that perhaps my adult craft was writing, but it's not like I can frame a blog entry and put it on my wall.  Well, my little sister has upped the stakes by throwing knitting into her cute bag of tricks.  On top of that, you could say my big sister professionally writes since she is a minister and master of sermon composition.  I had to do something, but what?

KHud's angel sampler is impressive.  They are cute.

Miss Foo administers moon justice with friends in her Sailor Moon costume.

Remember this small attempt at knitting I accomplished last summer?  You are looking at my finished product... *sigh*

Well, it turns out that color coding my calendar with Crayolas isn't exactly special.  Furniture organization was much easier with my college furniture~so becoming more feng shui seemed a little senseless with all the heavy stuff in our home.  I have yet to find a way to make doing the dishes or laundry creative though I've considered stacking/folding in an unusual way (think Lincoln Logs).  Turns out rhythmic running will never qualify for Olympic status; as a matter of fact~most runners run rhythmically.  I won't even try to become a chef extraordinaire~have you met my husband?  Just give me a box of mac'n'cheese and Rotel, and you have fancy noodles.

Back to square one... Happily, opportunity came knocking.  Over the holidays we used a borrowed stocking for Kyle that needed to be returned to its homeland (North Carolina).  My mom and big sister invited me to come along to the local cross-stitch shop.  They picked out some new projects, and I felt inspired to pick out a little something something for the hubs.  Now I couldn't execute this stocking single-handedly.  Big sis, KHud, whip stitched my edges and helped me get started.  She even penciled Kyle's name onto the pattern for me.  Miss Foo, the younger sis, will likely construct the actual stocking part of the stocking.  It's basically like I'm doing nothing.

Au revoir tete de bonhomme de neige.

Now if you are into cross stitch, I'll share the magical details.  It's on a linen fabric that looks a bit rustic (as you can probably tell from the image).  I'm using a DMC floss, but I'm using 4 of the 6 threads at a time so it stands out (rather than 2).  There~now that I've revealed the secrets of my trade, I will bore you no more.

A blurry finished product from the cover of the pattern.  There is no Robert in our Ham fam.

My progress~it's a headless Santa.  Less than cheery....

The goal is to have my part done well before the holiday so that it can be a stress-free project.  Also, it's a bit addicting; perhaps I'll tackle a sampler or something else before 2011 comes to a close.  Once again, I can feel like I fit in with my oh-so Sense and Sensibility siblings.  Happy day!

We Got Jolly

Christmas has come and gone, but I'm just now sitting down to load the pictures onto the computer and reflect on Kyle and my second Christmas together.  Perhaps our only real Christmas tradition is making and decorating sugar cookies.  I received some very festive cookie cutters for my birthday so we were fully equipped to bake away.

Keeping with tradition, Kyle gives this activity two thumbs up.

Trees, stockings, candy canes....

...and a turkey!  I got this for Halloween and forgot to make the most of it at Thanksgiving.  It's never too late to enjoy a turkey.

Trying to maximize cookie cutter to dough ratio

Behold our decoration center!  This frosting tasted like marshmallows~yum!

A few members of our completed cookie community

Now we owed our families a good bit of face time since we were abroad last year.  In the midst of celebrating at both my family & Kyle's family homes, we were able to get a little time to ourselves for a Christmas Eve feast followed by movie time with It's a Wonderful Life.

Kyle takes the temperature of our roasting friend.

Our little duck may not look like much food to you, but let me assure you this is too much for two.

That happy man is ready to dig in.  We also prepared some roasted garlic mashed potatoes and a broccoli salad.

We had tons of gifts under our tree again this year.  I always marvel at how much we're able to get each other and those we love on our budget.  Kyle is very savvy about savings, and we made sure not to go over the top with our shopping.  In spite of it all, it's like we miraculously receive more than we give.  It's nuts.

This tree is so much happier with a full skirt of wrapped presents!

My family gave this to me for my birthday.  Our nativity definitely completed our holiday decorations.

Christmas was terrific, too, but I fear my retelling of trading presents will be as tedious as a home video of childhood Christmas mornings.  We had a really stellar week hanging out with family and enjoyed being back in the mix for my family's annual New Years outing.  We get all dressed up and eat at Schillings, a little place on the Marietta Square.  Then we come home and pajamafy (that is~get into our pjs) and watch the Twilight Zone marathon until it's time to watch Dick Clark countdown to the new year.  On a side note, doesn't it just kill you to see him in such bad shape?  When will they decide he'd probably feel a lot more comfortable at home in bed?  Poor fellow... 

There's the fam looking fancy!

Well, all good things must come to an end.  We returned to our apartment yesterday from our travels to visit family to find that our tree had given up on us ever coming home.  It took the dive...

Poor tree~ we didn't mean to leave you alone in your most important season.

The saddest face Kyle could muster over the death of our Christmas tree.

With a great sigh of relief, we found that none of our precious ornaments were harmed in the crash.  It makes me think that the tree didn't take a violent tumble, but rather, gently laid itself down for a long winter's nap.  Now that Christmas is behind us (and our tree is safely nestled into its box), bring on 2011!  It's going to be a big year!

Winter Treasures

Boy oh boy~an American Christmas will keep you busy.  I remember feeling the hustle and bustle of the holidays a lot through college what with final exams and papers, shopping for Christmas presents, and using that short break between semesters to see family and friends you haven't seen in ages.  Martin Luther King day is my official rest-from-the-rush-of-Christmas holiday.  Well, this year I don't really have an excuse to feel the hustle and bustle.  No school, no work, just homemaking.  What keeps us super busy?  Holiday parties galore.  Not just holidays, but birthday parties as well.   So far there have been 6 December parties, and there are two more this weekend.  How did Kyle and I fall into this after having been off the grid for a year?  In spite of it being a bit overwhelming to look at a full calendar, I have a few treasure that have come from these festivities.


1.  Kyle had a fancy Christmas party at work.  Imagine a wedding reception and then throw in jolly attitudes and a good bit of cultural diversity (as one of Kyle's coworkers said, at ADVA they are more international than the United Nations).  It wasn't like the office Christmas parties I had seen in movies (the Santa Clause, The Holiday, etc) nor like the ones on television (Arrested Development, The Office, etc) much to my chagrin.  However, it was a great environment to meet and get to know Kyle's new daily companions.  We also walked away with this goody...

You can't tell, but we were posing in a sleigh that Kyle must have found a bit uncomfortable.

2.  My birthday was on Monday, but as a family we celebrated on Sunday (it's what we call Leah's birthday observed).  I don't think I had asked for much this year; I'm really just in the mood to read a lot so there were plenty of books on the list (yes, my mom still requests our birthday/Christmas lists and this usually occurs sometime in mid-June when Christmas is the last thing on your mind).  There was one gift that was inordinately large and preposterously heavy.  This mystery gift of the behemoth persuasion turned out to be a most wonderful thing.  Behold the newest fixture in my kitchen:

Christmas cookies will be your first task...

3.  The last thing is a bit incomplete.  Tonight we are to attend an ugly sweater party.  After searching high and low, near and far, I cannot find one suitable for Kyle or me in a reasonable price range (Belk~let's be real about the value of a Christmas sweater...).  Short of a miracle, we will simply have to dress festively for the event sans tacky trimmings.  Alas, that can't dampen the joy of Christmas.  Here's to hoping our third Christmas treasure comes to fruition.

Have you had any special Christmas surprises?  I should include my favorite treasure is seeing lots of friends and spending time with people we've missed so much this year.  If only there were more parties for that!

A Christmas Tree Analogy

A few weeks ago, I set out with a shopping list and a highly caffeinated body (as many do) to Ikea.  Last Christmas, Ikea provided nearly all the ornaments and holiday trimmings for our dorm.  I thought Kyle and I were starting pretty much from scratch with our hall-decking and selected some wonderful ornaments at seriously good prices on this trip.  What I was surprised to find is that they weren't necessary.  Kyle had some really cool Georgia Tech ornaments, and I had a stash of ornaments from Christmases past (a fair number were handcrafted and featured tiny pictures of a tiny crooked toothed me).  We inherited a few strands of lights and wooden cranberry beads.  With an old fashioned star on top, our little tree was complete before we opened our Ikea ornaments (with the exception of 4 plaid orbs~I have the matching wrapping paper!  We are celebrating our first Plaidvent Season!!!)

After filling our tree, I was struck with how our home has filled with furniture, and everything has a place.  We bought a few things (bookcases~this girl dreamed of owning bookcases to fill with glorious books.  also~tables and chairs for a workspace).  Just like our Christmas tree, we have more than enough.  It's amazing to me that just a couple of months ago, I didn't know where I'd be living, how we'd furnish an apartment, and (to a lesser degree) what ornaments we'd have to decorate a tree.  It was a complete mystery, but I give God many thanks for knowing all of that ahead of time and providing us with more than we need.  It feels like a first Christmas with my husband all over again, and I love it.

If you'd like to come over and enjoy our holiday splendor, we'd love for visitors to be with us.  Merry Christmas!