It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

So don't hurt yourself.















This is a photo of what the house looked like as I first began pulling up buckets and boxes of holiday decorations from the garage last week. Please note that the Christmas lights, assorted boxed items and another whole TUB of stuff are not represented in the photo. They are, however, now most definitely represented all over my living room as I slowly work on trimming the house. Note, too, that in order to have room for the holiday niceties like a Christmas tree and at least some free furniture to sit on, I've had to move much of my fiber paraphernalia upstairs, where it forms an obstacle course to rival anything the U.S. Army ever dreamed up. Want to get from one room to the next? Just skirt the spinning wheel, sidle between the floor loom and the dressers full of fiber and squeeze past the Beka RH through the door. Reverse the process to come back downstairs, and don't forget to dodge the three-foot-high stack of empty ornament boxes at the head of the stairs or you could find yourself having a happy holiday in the emergency room.















Here's what my dining room table looked like as I started to decorate. I must admit, much of the clutter has since been cleared (read: relocated upstairs -- be careful not to plow into the packages as you squeeze past the looms), but for awhile we were close to eating all our meals hovering over the kitchen sink.















Now that you've seen the Christmas Clutter, here's the Christmas Cheer: a boxload of hats, earwarmers and bunnies for the Soaring Eagles Project. As of today, they've amassed over 560 hats, nearly double the original goal of 300. This means that every child in the school (408 total) will get a hat or earwarmer and there will still be leftovers for those children's siblings and/or other needy kids in the community. I am just amazed at the generosity of everyone involved in this project, and I'm so very happy to have taken part.
















And last but certainly not least, here's Christmas Cheer photo #2: stuff from my Secret Pal! Today I was surprised with not one but two awesome packages shipped straight from the sellers. First was a book off my wish list: the third Barbara Walker Treasury. I can hardly wait to start planning projects with these designs! Second is a braid of the most beautiful merino/silk blend roving...I wanted to dive right in and start spinning as soon as I saw it! Pal, if you're reading this, you are truly amazing. Thank you!!!!