A few of my favorite things

Checking in between holidays here is a task. But it's one that's allowed me time to comtemplate what a beautiful Christmas we had. In anticipation of a post Christmas post I thought of all the gifts I both gave and received that I wanted to share with you. It felt insufficient somehow, though, to let that speak for what it was like here. I couldn't sum up the beauty of our time together with photos of things. Of course, also it's really impossible to photograph the feelings or thoughts I had throughout these past several days. Visuals win. But. It only scrapes the surface of our fun.



So if I had to choose some favorites that I was personally spoiled with it's the items above. Someone knows me well. Also my mom treated me to being an absolute brat by splurging on this. I don't even know what I'm gonna bake first, I just wanna stare at it against my turquoise kitchen wall for awhile. She also got Juliana her very first, very own sewing machine, and I topped the gift with a pile of fanciful fabrics.



Some of the funnier moments definitely were in our family conquering of the gingerbread house. We were too late in getting to Costco in time to get the kit at the advice of both my neighbor and Heather. They were gone when we got there. Somehow we decided we could build a Rice Krispie house. It started out great, I even bricked and mortered a gorgeous chimney out of twizzler bits. The kids made a darling sidewalk lined with lollipop street lamps. We decided we should let it harden more before we put on the roof. We came back to find it bending all wurvy-curvy. We laughed and cried and we ate lots of Rice Krispies for many days.



Not one to be defeated, Juliana found a homemade recipe for real gingerbread and dug in. Boy, that was a two day process. We even had a plastic army guy battle in the snow(flour). We ended up with family self-portrait cookies, and a big gorgeous house constructed with homemade Royal icing that dried hard as a rock! And I completely forgot to take a picture before the kid wrecking ball hit it. mmmm. Stale and sweet, and they didn't seem to mind a bit.

We made a game room for the kids in an unused room off the garage, I'll share a look at that soon. Keeping it a secret has been quite an adventure. But suffice it to say, Nicolas, who has the habit of being hard to please, informed me that we "don't ever have to buy him another present ever again". It was a good one, I guess.



I have really resisted walking into the studio at all this week. I've had a nice break and a chance at some of those bigger picture thoughts with my work. I can't see through the fog of everyday tasks sometimes, and lose sight of what I'm trying to accomplish. What got me inspired to come in here today was needing to get up these framed drawings from my first college drawing class. That put me back together again after settling into a homebody the past week. I've got a lot to look forward to in 2007. This little homage to things past on my studio wall is helping me look forward.



So just a few more days to enjoy the extra glow of sparkle and cheer in our house before we box it up. Then we'll be back to our everyday energy of busy-ness here. We'll be fortified though with some extra sugar, extra giggles, extra cuddles and of course some new toys and amusements here and there.

Enjoy the last bit of this year. And a very Happy New Year to you, thanks for giving me such a welcome and friendly place to share. You are all so cool!

xoxo, Anna Maria