a white Christmas

I do hope that your Christmas was wonderful. Christmas day was nice and relaxing here at the Clothesline. We had a nice big (gf) pancake breakfast, read the story of Jesus' birth in Luke 2, spent the entire morning in our pajamas, opened gifts, and did some last-minute, family-gathering baking. It snowed,too. A beautiful white Christmas. We wore cozy robes and fuzzy slippers.Well, the girls wore their new princess snuggies and fuzzy slippers. I know, I caved. The snuggies were swooned over every time they were seen so I got them. After taking a closer look at them, the construction is so simple...I could have made them. Hmmm, maybe that'll go on my list of easy gifts to make.
The girls were thrilled and very thankful for every single gift. It was so great to see them appreciate their gifts. It didn't matter if it was a simple pair of gloves, a pack of gum, a bed tent (pictures to come) or an electronic game. The genuine excitement and the quickly following gratitude was enough to make my heart overflow.

After lunch and rest time the girls put on their fancy dresses so we could go to Grandma and Pop's house for the family gathering. Naturally we ate ourselves silly, then enjoyed dessert and coffee. Not too long after that everyone was showered with more gifts. The girls got Baby Alive dolls that drink and wet. Many, many diapers have been soaked and changed.
Now, it's time for me to switch gears. I've got to prepare for a birthday party for a certain someone who will be turning eight years old. I've got some sewing planned for the annual birthday outfit, plus some extras. Oh, speaking of sewing, I decided to sew some of my gift wrap this year. I dashed out to the fabric store for a fabulous sale and snagged some lovely fabric.

These lovely grosgrain ribbon tied bags were a snap to make. The girls even made the bags for Tim's gifts. I controlled the pedal, but they chose the material, helped thread the machine and took care of the rest. They were surprised at how easy and quick it was to sew a whole bag!

Not only did the bags turn out cute, but I can use them again next Christmas, and the next, and the...you get the idea. I made the family gift bags this year, too, so they could be used for other things like holding yarn, or groceries, or other gifts. You can see them here. Oh sure, I used some wrapping paper as well this year, but only because I already had it. I usually buy new paper every year the day after Christmas, but not this year. I did look at it, and some of it was very pretty, but I think I'll go with more sewn bags. Besides, it gives me yet one more excuse reason to go to the fabric store.

Okay, I need to go. Birthday plans and ideas are taking over my brain and if I don't start measuring and cutting fabric soon, I might just explode. xoANG