There's No Place Like Home for the Holidays...

It has been fun to decorate for Christmas. I love those first few days when cornucopias and pumpkins fight for space with the Annalee decorations and advent calendars. It took a few days or so but the Christmas decorations won out and everything was up by the time Craig returned home from a two week trip - even the staircase garlands (I love having two separate staircases except when it comes to the decorating part). Now that Alicia is home we have been trying to take photos for the family Christmas card - we chose the one by the fireplace...

Belated Blogging...

I've fallen behind in my blogging - here are a few highlights of the last two weeks. We spent an enjoyable afternoon listening to Emily sing with the Children's Chorus of Washington the music was wonderful and included some accompaniment and additional music by Classical Brass. The concert was held in the sanctuary of the National City Christian Church in downtown DC. The building was beautiful, the organ majestic and the acoustics superb. My favorites were "Gaudete" (taken from the 1582 Scandinavian manuscript, Piae Cantiones), "Praise Ye the Lord of Hosts" from Camille Saint-Saens, Christmas Oratorio, and "Noel Nouvelet" (a traditional French carol). They sang several Chanukah songs as well as a number of well known and some lesser known Christmas carols and songs. I'm still humming/singing the music (it helped that I attended most of the rehearsals to help pass children off)!

Oops, almost forgot another highlight of our Saturday - lunch as a family (well, part of our family, sorry Alicia) at our favorite downtown restaurant Zaytinya's. If you are ever in DC we will take you there. It is fabulous - Greek/Mediterranean/Lebanese mezze!



I took Cristin's Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies to a cookie exchange. It was a lot of fun and I came home with some great cookies and recipes to add to our Christmas cookie collection. Even better than the recipes it was a chance to meet many of the newer and younger women in our RS.

Woolly Weekend

A friend and I enjoyed a beautiful drive into the foothills of Sugarloaf mountain as well as a woolly weekend as we toured two of our favorites from the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival that were
part of the Countryside Artisans Holiday Studio Tour. All of these years I've thought I could only make purchases from them during the yearly Sheep and Wool Festival. Now I know how often their studios are open (bad news Craig)! Kiparoo Farm is a wonderful little shop on a working sheep and dairy farm. Wonderful yarns, patterns and more. Dancing Leaf Farm has some of the most beautiful colorways. The owner has a delightful way of packaging her yarn and kits (one of my favorites is a kit in a Chinese take-out box with needles stuck in to look like chopsticks). We also took a peek into an artist's studio filled with fine art (oils, water colors and photography) - I'd love to take Craig there. There were a variety of other studios (furniture, herbs, crafts, etc.) on the tour but we ran out of the time that we had given ourselves (why are Saturdays sooo busy?). I've included a picture of the yarn that I added to my "stash" and yes, if you look closely there are needles and an almost finished fingerless glove. No, I'm not completely ready for Christmas, and no I hadn't run out of more important things to do... but, the yarn was speaking to me and if you've ever had yarn speak to you - you know you must respond by knitting! I love seeing the sheep farms and included a picture of some sheep that I knitted and felted - they live with a small herd of other sheep by my knitting nook - I'm afraid they are as close to having a sheep farm as I will probably ever get!

Don't worry Mom, we'll put in a real railing...

Our Piece of Zion...

I just got these photos of our Mountain home in Zion Ponderosa. I am getting soooo excited! Craig and Alicia visited today and called with all of the news, a list of questions, and lots of pictures. The front of the house isn't viewable from the road (I love "hidden" homes). Alicia said it was so exciting to make a turn in the road and all of a sudden see it!