December has officially blown by.  So fast that I hardly posted anything at all about our Christmas decorations and crafts.  It happens.  For the record, the house was decorated…

and we did make crafts.

Sometimes I have the tendency to take on more than I can possibly manage at the time and with my primary job being to take care of Noah every day other things, like blogging, just have to take a back seat sometimes.  Besides blogging, one of my favorite hobbies is crocheting.  Big shocker right? That’s why I created Color Created Family.  Color Created Family has been such a blessing and enjoyment… especially this past month when my scarves for elves became a popular item.

(There are still nine scarves looking for an elf.  in effort to clear inventory the price has been reduced to $4 per scarf.)

But as much as I love crocheting for my Etsy shop this year I wanted to spend a little time crocheting for others in my family.  I don’t know why but I get giddy thinking about making presents for others.  Handmade gifts have their own personalized touch and while they may not cost as much as a store bought gift they still say “I love you.”

On ML’s sided of the family Noah has five cousins.. all three and under.  So a couple of months back I started working on their presents.

Zebra hats for everyone!  Every hat is crocheted in a different accent color.  Instagram followers you may remember Noah’s from this fall at Churchill Downs.

I hope to make Esther one as well. The mane for her hat will be bright yellow.

Once I got all the hats finished I started on a present for my mom.

I found the pattern for this shawl in a magazine and knew then that that was the perfect gift for her.  My only concern was would I have time to crochet 32 granny squares plus the trim work in time for Christmas.  With less than a month to make it I finished it with around four hours to spare before opening gifts!  That may be a close call for some but all that matters is that I finished it and that she loved it.  Now that Christmas is over I hope to do a little crocheting for myself. Hopefully. We will see.

What good are presents without a little celebration?  This year we were fortunate to visit both families in one four day trip to Memphis and North Mississippi and still make it back home in time for the Christmas eve service at church.

First up was my parents house in all it’s elf glory.

I’m not sure what your Christmas traditions were growing up but my sister and I always received matching Christmas pajamas on Christmas eve so that we would be matching Christmas morning.  This year my mom decided after 29 years we might have enough Christmas pajamas by now.  She was right.  So she decided to buy my sister and I matching Christmas outfits instead.

My sister and I were a little nervous thinking that she might have bought us Christmas sweaters but were more than excited when we unwrapped our gift to find a piko top and Christmas legging instead.  Score!  I could get used to this new Christmas tradition.

Sunday afternoon we headed up to ML’s parents house for their family get together.  Four siblings with spouses and six grandchildren makes for an interesting and fun time.  Monday ML’s sister wanted to take her baby to see Santa at Bass Pro Shop.  ML and I have chosen not to make a really big deal out of Santa to Noah.  She knows who Santa is and waves at him… from a distance but I just didn’t see the need to take her to the mall and attempt the obligatory “Santa Picture” when most likely it would result in crying.  Until Monday.  We figured why not join his sister in line… and wait an hour to see Santa.  Noah liked waving at him from a distance and said she wanted to see him but I knew the truth.  She would freak out when it became our turn in line.  I was right.  But you know what?  After waiting that long I sort of felt like I needed a picture to show for it… so here’s proof that we saw Santa.

She is as scared as she looks in that picture but immediately afterwards was so excited that she got a candy cane and tattoo from Santa.  Every time we passed him in the store she would wave vigorously at him.  So I guess the incident didn’t scare her too badly.  But I certainly don’t think she will be up for the Character Breakfast at Hong Kong Disney!

We spent Christmas day at home relaxing and opening presents from each other.  It’s a whole lot easier to focus on celebrating the birth of Christ when you are not hurriedly rushing from Christmas dinner to the next and end up spending half the day on the road.  This year we opted for the “Four Present” idea for each other.

• something to wear
• something you need
• something you want
• something you read

I thought it would be hard to figure out what Noah really wanted for Christmas.  I mean we are talking about a two year old who doesn’t grasp the concept of giving and receiving yet but after one trip to Toys ‘R Us I knew what she wanted… a doll and stroller.

I was right.  She spent the better part of Christmas day and yesterday pushing that stroller around the house and outside at one point.  She loves it and knew what it was before even finishing unwrapping the stroller.  It makes me so happy to know that she loves her “something you want” gift.  Hopefully every year will be this easy but somehow I doubt that… we still have her tweenage and teenage years to  go!

So tell me about your Christmas celebrations?  Favorite present?  Favorite Christmas memory?  Did you attend a Christmas Eve service?  We went to one at our church on Christmas eve and one at ML’s parents’ church the day before.  I loved the focus of both of them and was moved to tears several times just thinking about the love Christ has for me.  So much love that he would leave a perfect and holy heaven to come to earth and lead the perfect life to die for me.  What child is this? Christ the King!

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