The Holidays in Retrospect

I know it's two weeks into January and many of you are well on your way to making (or perhaps breaking) your resolutions, but I feel like I've just now finished up with the holidays and can start making my plans for the new year. It was a busy holiday season with all the immediate family together, as well as a visit from out of town friends. Yesterday we saw the last of our full house empty.


Sadly, I failed to take photos of most of what I've been up to lately, but I hope I have enough to keep you mildly entertained with my humble little life. Let's see.


There was a lot of knitting and crocheting happening on Tuesday Knit Nights.

I made my family some new Santa hats that are a requirement in our family when we are decorating, wrapping presents, or baking, and of course they are worn on Christmas morning!

I had fun crocheting and felting some nesting bowls for gifts for a few friends.

I wasn't the only one knitting family gifts. A fellow knitter, Will, made his family some awesome Christmas Stockings that are sure to become treasured heirlooms!

Our family had a very nice day shopping at an historic village.

I wish we had gone in the evening. It would have been nice to see these floating Christmas trees with their lights on. (By day, they serve as docks for the ducks & gulls.)

But those weren't the most unusual trees we saw....

I had another try at baking pies in mason jars. I worked out an easy method for lining the jars without overworking the dough. I cut strips and lined the sides and then a small ball of dough was flattened into the bottoms.

I tried a few different fillings, apple, berry, and pumpkin.

The pumpkin pies came out the most attractive for gift giving. The others tasted great but looked terrible, so I ate them all myself!

Don't believe me? See for yourself... pretty bad wouldn't you say?

My family had a wonderful Christmas.

Although the gift giving was a bit on the wild side.

New Year's Eve was wonderful as well, spent celebrating with our close friends. Now things are just settling down and I'm anxious to get all the decorations packed away and get rolling on the new year.

I've got so many projects planned and so many things I want to accomplish this year. Knitting & crochet projects, house projects, plans for Etsy, personal goals. The list is long.

So, I raise my mug of orange spiced tea in a toast to 2012 and blogging about it. Thank you to my few but faithful followers! Your comments are something I really look forward to. I have hopes to grow this blog and gain more followers in the months to come. Once I feel that enough people are reading about my mercurial antics, I'll celebrate with a give-away.

I know from my stats that I have a few readers who have not left comments and have not signed up to follow me. I'd like you to feel at home when you are visiting my blog, just like I would like you to feel if you visited my home. So, please stop by often and say hello.

Warm Wishes for the new year, Lilea