Not so fast with that Christmas trash!

Remember all that cellophane packaging on your gifts? Well, when you sew a few layers onto a piece of terry cloth...

... add ribbon loops and a flannel backing, and then zigzag the edges...

...you have a texture toy that makes a pleasant crinkle crinkle sound. A visual, aural, and tactile delight!

Apparently, it's also delicious. Look at those little fingers entwined in the loops!

Christmas Home Tour: Downright Edition!

Welcome, welcome! Here for the tour? Well, it takes about fifteen seconds to walk through my apartment, so it'll be a short one. Let me just open that door for you...

Right inside the door, we have the Christmas tree, complete with the floor ornaments that the cats have successfully knocked off the tree.

Putting up the tree is one of my favorite Christmas activities, because so many of the ornaments are old friends that I have grown up with. Here's an ornament given to me by my life-long best bud, Laura. I think she gave this to me when I was in the third or fourth grade.

This one is dated 1987 on the back. I was one year old when my grandparents gave it to me, making this my oldest ornament!

Yes, that is Ursula in my tree, compliments of a sibling. Don't you wish your tree was as evil as mine. :-)

Adam gave me this one when we were dating. We have a strange relationship.

I painted this Santa at a pottery studio a couple years back, when my youngest brother came to visit. Isn't he the most epic Santa ever?

Adam got this one from our alma mater last year. We wryly call it "Our $100,000 ornament." Shudder.

Adam cut this off the stump of our first Christmas tree and then woodburned it. He definitely has a creative and sentimental side! :-)

I finally bought some nuts this year. Now Christmas is official at the Downright Domesticity. And, no, we  haven't gotten around to actually doing Advent this year, but I am happy to at least get the candles up this year.

Adam and I both have our own little Christmas trees. Adam bought mine for me when we were engaged; and when he discovered post-marriage that NO, I was not going to make the big tree silver and blue, we bought one for him. Here is Adam's:

The Nativity set. The stable is hiding somewhere, so this year, they're going open-air.

In the living room, Mendelssohn puts on his Christmas finery. Even though he was Jewish. Did you know he wrote the tune for Hark the Herald Angels Sing?

The nutcracker ornaments from Adam's childhood have a mafia feel about them. Don't watch too much TV, or you'll be sleeping with da fishes, knowhaddi mean?

In the kitchen, my signature brown sugar shortbread is on its way to fattening a few unsuspecting souls.

My sister Annalynne made me an Advent calendar, a la the one from our childhood. Last night, I accidentally knocked it over on the way to bed. I said, "Whatever!" and stuck them back on any which way. The result was a Marc Chagall Christmas scene: 

My tree got relegated to the bathroom this year.

It's music-themed, with all sorts of mice playing little instruments.

Not even the bathroom mirror is safe from the Christmas spirit!

I ran out of decorations by the time I got to the bedroom, so that concludes the Christmas tour! Have a warm and fuzzy Christmas, and don't trip over the little reindeer on the way out!

Housesitting!

I'm fairly certain that time warps when I'm blogging. I write a post, leave the computer, and WHOOSH! It's two weeks since my last post!

That being said, time has also warped me into housesitting for a couple from my church. DH and I have been having a blast eating other people's food and watching other people's television! ... And watching their poodle. Well, something had to be less than perfect.

I fixed our Christmas dinner here: a sumptuous feast of mashed potatoes, veggies, rolls, and roast duck. I had never made duck before, so I was pleased to say that it turned out all right! But holey moley!!! It is such RICH meat! I ate a little drumstick, and was good for the rest of the week. Now we have a ton of duck sitting in the fridge that I need to use up somehow. Any ideas?

All this talk of food is making my stomach turn a little. I've been having bouts of queasiness for the past few weeks.... no reason in particular. *wink wink*

Christmas Shopping Rant

Today, Adam and I are going to go Christmas shopping.

*whimper*

I am very bad at gift-giving. You've heard about the Five Love Languages? "Gifts" is the hands-down, absolute lowest love language for me. It barely comes on the radar. I couldn't care much less about having a stack of presents under the tree for myself (which will be a good thing this year, because we're broke, lol), and while I appreciate the thoughtfulness and generosity of the giver, I have a hard time attaching great significance to presents. So Christmas shopping is a torturous affair for me.

This is especially true because I have a couple particularly difficult people to shop for. Actually, my mom is sort of easy to shop for, because she has all sorts of likes: lotions, candles, snowmen, quilting, bird-watching. But there are only so many bottles of lotion and candles that a woman can take, you know?? The other one is a sibling-in-law, who, as far as I can tell, already has everything. Hmmm. There needs to be a venue that sells things only for people that already have everything. Oh wait, that's called SkyMall.

Well, it's time to stop complaining and start getting serious about this gift thing. Wish me luck!

Why this Christmas will be very, very different

Whew! A lot happened this last week! Since last Tuesday, I have

• Cleaned the entire house
• Been the hostess with the mostess at Thanksgiving-- and I didn't even burn the turkey!
• Gone on a two-day, fifteen-mile hiking trip. Yep, I am now painfully aware of EVERY muscle in my legs.
• Celebrated six months with my favorite husband!
• Decorated the house for Christmas
  

Speaking of Christmas, this will be our first Christmas away from home. My mind still hasn't grasped the fact that Christmas is not going to occur at my family's home. No familiar Christmas caroling. No familiar Advent rituals. No familiar Christmas fudge. That may be the worst part. I can't even find my stocking, which was supposed to be here with us. I don't even get to wake up on Christmas morning to find my now-lost stocking magically filled by Santa! I'm going to really miss all that coal! This is all very important to me, but this year will be different.

Basically, what is going to happen this year, is that I may actually be forced to discard the meaning I have attached to Christmas- warm, fuzzy traditions and time with the family- and really find the meaning in the Manger. Who'da thunk?

I'm excited about that.

Not to mention, I FINALLY get to have Christmas with Adam! Now, where is that mistletoe...

Christmas is Coming, and the Goose is Getting Fat...

I promised myself I wouldn't even start thinking about Christmas until after Thanksgiving- it's kind of nice to enjoy one holiday at a time!- but then I started panicking... er, thinking about the huge list of family and friends to give gifts to, and I realized that I need to jump on that as soon as possible.

This Christmas, I am determined to handmake as many gifts as possible-- not only because it should be a bit easier on the wallet, and not only are handmade things a little more from the heart, but also because it helps with getting away from the sheer materialism that is so apt to rear its ugly head at Christmas.

So... do you have any good ideas for homemade gifts?

I will let you know what I come up with!