Getting Ready

Pattern: A Good Plain Sock by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee

Yarn: ONline Supersocke 100

Needle Size:  1.5

It's early on Saturday morning. Cold and frosty outside. A good day for slipping on the warm socks that I finished a few days ago. Now I started them months ago. Not sure why it took so long to get to the end. But I am glad to be wearing them today.

Jessica is home for the weekend and we are about to start a marathon day of Christmas preparation—decorating, baking, wrapping. I won't have her again to help until a few days before Christmas. So I plan to take advantage today of having extra hands.

I am always on the lookout for EASY holiday ideas. Saw this felt tree somewhere online. Perfect for the little people in the family. No sewing. No pattern. Just cutting. I folded a yard of green felt in half and drew a freehand outline of a Christmas tree and cut it out.

We used a soup can, a hand lotion bottle and a soft drink cap to trace circles onto more felt. I cut a few "vintage shaped" ornaments free hand by folding squares of felt in half before cutting. That makes sure the two sides match.

Mommy posted this photo yesterday. She had taped the tree to a wall and added some felt packages under the tree. Looks like my "vintage" ornaments may have been lost already! That tells me that the little granddaughters have been decorating and un-decorating and decorating this tree again.

Yesterday I stopped by to visit some dear friends who are home bound now. Pulled a few applesauce muffins and a small loaf of my banana bread from the freezer. The only small tray I had here still needed one more thing to fill it up. Tea bags! It was just a small gift, but one that was much appreciated. Remember, you don't have to take a whole batch of muffins, or the large loaf of a quick bread as a gift.

Like everyone else, I don't have enough time to do all I would like to do. So, I baked banana bread a couple of times last week, making each recipe into three or four 5-inch loaves. The applesauce muffin recipe makes two dozen. Divide those things into smaller packages and you've quickly got several Christmas trays to give. You know it's really more about taking the time to visit a few minutes than it is about a gift.

Now. Time to get cracking, or it won't all get done!