Merry Christmas, Movie House!

And here we are, exactly one week to Christmas and I'm in "holiday tradition" mode. As a kid, I always fantasized about having an Osmond-family Christmas: popping popcorn over an open fire, singing carols in 7-part harmony around the piano...all the things that my family didn't do. Our longest-running Christmas tradition was watching the yule log burn on TV (all you city kids growing up in the 70's know what I'm talking about).

So, in an attempt to start developing my own set of Christmas traditions (and in the absence of six other carolers to make up the 7-part harmony), I've decided that every evening during the week before Christmas Eve, my family and I will watch a different Christmas movie. Tonight was It's a Wonderful Life.


Corny as it is, I do love this movie. I've easily seen it more than a dozen times, and I still cry when all the townspeople come crowding into the Bailey house to pour money into that old wicker laundry basket because "George is in trouble." It makes me wish our tiny town had a main street like that of Bedford Falls just so I could go running down it yelling Merry Christmas to everyone and everything in sight. DH, on the other hand, fell asleep on the couch before George Bailey made it out of elementary school and actually up and went to bed right when Mary was hiding naked in the hydrangia bush. I suppose I'll just have to persevere; a treasured family tradition isn't born in a night, right?

On deck for tomorrow: A Christmas Story. And if DH falls asleep on this one, I may just have to shoot his eye out.

***HOLIDAY KNITTING UPDATE***

- FIL's second glitten is all knitted up and just needs to be thrummed. Woo-hoo!
- DH's balaclava is almost halfway knitted, but I made a stupid mistake that will involve my dropping 40-odd stitches down a dozen or so rows to correct it. I briefly considered just leaving it ("the yarn is black, DH will never notice"), but ultimately my desire to do a good job overcame my desire to not drop back all those stitches and rows. I got started as the end credits of Wonderful Life rolled: three stitches down, thirty-nine to go. Grrrrr....
- Cousin J's scarf is all finished, right down to trimming the fringe ends. Now all I have to do is fold it up nicely and wrap. YIPPEE!!
- Baby M's scarf is not yet on the needles, but it will be as soon as DH's balaclava is finished. I'm now debating between using the green Nature Spun wool and the grey alpaca. I like the color of the Nature Spun better for a child, but I just love how soft the alpaca is. Will have to rummage through the stash some more to see if anything else jumps out at me.
- Mom's stole isn't even on my radar at this point. She'll get a felted candy bowl like everyone else next week. In case you couldn't tell, she hasn't called, and neither have I. I'm seriously starting to wonder if she has a brain tumor. What else could explain all this?
- Soaring Eagles hats are all finished and mailed. The final tally was 24 hats, 4 earwarmers, 5 stuffed bunnies, a dozen Disney pencil cases and a dozen Disney school supplies sets, plus a few other odds and ends. Everything is set to be distributed in the school this week; I can't wait to hear how it goes!

Despite all the crap going on between mom and me, it still is a pretty wonderful life.

"Teacher says every time a bell rings an angel gets his wings."