Christmas, Kntting, and the New Year

Christmas has come and gone and tomorrow will be a new year.

Christmas was wonderful at our house, but also with some sadness. My sister, Glyness was with us and that was wonderful and our son, Christopher was home; that too being wonderful. We did lots of shopping, wrapping gifts, baking, and running around the week before Christmas. On Christmas Eve we loaded all our gifts along with some foods into the car and drove into the city to have Christmas at our daughter's home. What grandmama could wake up on Christmas morning and not see what Santa had left for their granddaughter. We go on the afternoon of Christmas Eve, staying until after breakfast on Christmas morning.

We had such a good time during our fondue dinner on Christmas Eve. Our family being together laughing, kidding around, and enjoying wonderful food and wine. After a long evening at the table, we went across the hall and into the living room for the Christmas tree and exchanging of gifts. Dari was so precious to watch. She was so excited over each and every gift and said a thank you to each of us as she opened our gifts to her. So precious! She slept between papa and I that night and we heard Santa's reindeer on the roof before she was able to settle down enough to sleep. This was the first time I'd heard Santa on the rooftop in a long, long time.

After Santa, the stockings, and a country ham breakfast on Christmas morning we headed back to the country for a rest and to prepare for dinner. Standing rib roast, buttered new potatoes, green bean bundles and fresh salad greens.

Papa got sick on Christmas morning, then my sister and Dari. Next day was my daughter, by Friday the virus had gotten around to me and by Saturday it had gotten to my son-in-law. My sister and I also have sinus infections and are on Z-paks to clear them up. While at the Dr. I ask that my sister's blood work be done and it came back with her red count very, very low. Because I live eight hours from her and her Oncologist, I felt I needed to get her home in case she needed a blood transfusion. We left early on Sat. morning to come back to SC. I will stay with her until she sees her Oncologist and I know she is going to be alright to be left alone again. I don't like the idea of her being alone but with the distance between us it makes it difficult to be here, or her with me, all the time. During all this, our oldest sister has been in the hospital in Atlanta with a blood clot in the artery to her heart. She is 87 and they can't do surgery because of other health problems. We are expecting every phone call to bring us bad news.

I am working on a few easy projects that I can lay down on a minutes notice without causing a problem if I can't get back to it right away. One is Sharon Dreifuss's Melly bag pattern. I'm knitting the body of the bag in a shade of pink that I adore, using cream for the trims, pockets, and handles. Have you seen the Knitters the Winter issue of Knitter's yet? I love the Chalk Stripe Scarf featured on page 43. I must knit that in 2008 and I want to do a pair of socks in 2008. I am planning to do socks and a few other projects and stitches that I've never done because they aren't my thing. I'm going to knit these items so I can say I have knitted them and to venture off the roads that I usually travel. New routes often takes us to new and interesting views.

All my exchanges are completed except for the Christmas Around the World Exchange. I am still waiting for a package from my upstream partner. I have to do some thinking about participating in exchanges in 2008. I love preparing and sending my partners their packages and learning about new people. I may want to continue or I may decide to take a break. Either way, this past year has been fun and I've met some wonderful people and received some wonderful surprises. There been a couple of disappointments but that is to be expected. Not understood, but expected.

Tomorrow is the beginning of a New Year. While I won't be staying up to see the new year in, I will cook collard greens, hog jowl (bacon) and black eyed peas for my sister and I tomorrow. We need all the good luck we can get. Happy New Year To You and Good Luck!