Caftan!

Presenting my very own caftan, designed by J and sewn by yours truly. As a bellydancer I regularly need some sort of robe-ish thing to wear over top of my performance costume. I have a couple of covers which have worked okay, but I have wanted a good, reliable, pretty cover-up for a little while now. I bought this fabric 2? 3? years ago after J said he'd make me a bellydance-appropriate cover-up as a Christmas present. Well, other projects have come to the forefront (thesis, dissertation and baby come to mind, plus a bazillion small things too), and the fabric sat. And sat. Until I approached J and proposed that we work on my caftan. One guilty look and a "yes" later, I was looking at styles, we were drafting a pattern, and voila! Caftan!

I love the shiny blue prettiness. And the secret zil pocket inside. But my favorite thing about it is that J put so much thought and effort into making it just right. I love it.

Do me a favor, please: don't remind J that I haven't yet completed my gift to him, promised that same Christmas. Oops.

Return from Paradise

We're back and alive. Still struggling to get back on Eastern time after switching to Pacific (+3 hours), then Hawaii (+2 more), then back to Pacific (-2), then Eastern (-3, and we got home at 4am Tuesday). Our internal clocks are all effed up. We're getting there, though.

Hawaii was beautiful and warm and wonderful. Roo still has sand on his scalp, 6 days later. Doodle and I have swimsuit tan lines. What I don't have, yet, is photos. Our camera has been on the fritz with a busted flash for about three months now (hence all the crappy, blurry photos I've been posting. Sorry.) so we decided not to bring it. My mom, step-bro, sis and sis's friend all took plenty of photos and promised to share, so as soon as we get some of those I'll post photos of our sunny, warm, beautiful escape.

In the mean time I'll work on posting some stories and tidbits from the trip while we get back into the swing of our cold, Eastern time zone days.

Happy New Year, friends!

Mele Kalikimaka

...is Hawaii's way to say Merry Christmas to you!

Hope you have a great Christmas and a fulfilling, joyous New Year. See you next year!

Peace and Love,
MamaBee

Handmade holiday overload!

The crafting is (again? still? always?) going full-tilt 'round these parts. Yummy sugary things have been made...

...many child paintings have been completed (and then repurposed)...

...and the pile of sewing is slowly getting smaller.

After the traveling and the celebrating (and after these things are no longer surprises) I promise I'll show off some of the things I've been making. In the mean time, I'm off to crank up some festive music and sew and glue and bedazzle and package away!

That time of year again...

...time to bust out John Denver and the Muppets!

The decking of the halls

Every year until now we've held off on holiday decorating until after Doodle's Big Day. This year, being nearly four and full of opinions, we consulted her. Given the options of only birthday decorations until December 14th or decorate for Xmas now and add birthday decor on top, she chose the latter. I was slightly surprised, but I know how much she likes the sparkles and novelty of decorating for something special, so we went with it.

A small tree was purchased and thoroughly covered in fabric birds, cones gathered on hikes and then smeared with glitter glue, and a bazillion bells.

I love the blend of nature and glitz we have going on. Especially the little fabric bird sitting watch on top, possibly keeping an eye on its nest:

In further Bday-Xmas fusion style, Doodle has suggested that we put her birthday presents beneath the tree until it's time to open them. We'll see...

First

Our first dusting of snow in State College. The holly looks so festive, so perfect for the season. (Note the oaks, still with a bunch of lower leaves, in the background. I wonder when they'll finally drop.)

Today we made a paper chain to countdown the days until Doodle's birthday and Christmas. This year she has declared that we should start decorating for Christmas before her bday, so we're putting wires on our stuffed birds (to perch them in our tree, once we have it) and glitter-gluing our assortment of collected cones (also for the tree). I'm enjoying the holiday crafting with Doodle, plus sneakily sewing some surprises for her after she goes to bed.

Here's to embracing the magic and the fun of December!

Stuffed

Stuffed birds made to humor Doodle in her desire to decorate our Xmas tree "with birds! All over! And even a red one on the very top!" this year.

Morbid staging by me.

Xmas PJs

This year I started what I hope will be a tradition for a while: Christmas Eve pajamas for the kiddos. I'd heard of friends giving their kids each a new set of pajamas on Christmas Eve as something special to wake up and open presents in the next morning. I liked the idea, and decided to try my hand at sewing a pair for Doodle. (Little was too small for the pattern this time around, but will get some mama-made PJs next year.)

This was my first time using a pattern in YEARS but it went really well. The pattern is the kimono pajamas from Oliver+S. I think it's really cute. I used some purple fabric (her favorite) that I had left over from a batch of girly skirts this summer. She thinks they're great. I think it's a tradition worth continuing. Yay!


Another Christmas-related sewing project shown: gift bags. The gift bag at her feet was one of many that we made this year. We started sewing gift bags as an alternative Christmas present wrapping method a few years ago. It cuts way down on the paper waste, is reusable, and is pretty to boot. I usually but Christmas-y fabrics in January when they're on clearance, then we make the bags in December once we know the sizes we need. It works great and I love it. Our families have even taken to keeping the bags and reusing them in subsequent years. Hooray!

Magic

I lay here on the couch
baby sound asleep on my chest
Christmas jazz on the radio.

My lover out shopping,
braving the stores for us, his family,
despite his intense dislike of consumerism.
We need rice.
He goes for us.

Doodle asleep in bed
after a long
boring
cooped-up sort of day
being sick, and tired,
and sick-and-tired
of us,
of waiting,
of this whole big sister thing.

I need to be more patient.
To embrace the fun
and the play of these holidays
without getting bogged down
in grown-up blah.
Sure, there's still a pajama shirt to sew
(in purple, her current favorite color)
and gift bags to make
and food to cook
and a house to keep

but they're only this age once.

I remember the magic
and excitement of this season
from my childhood.

I want that for them.

So there's gingerbread dough in the fridge,
with plans for super-special cookie making
and much more listening to favorite Christmas music
(though on cd or streamed from the computer,
rather than the vinyl of my youth.
I'll still sing with the Muppets
and hope that one day Doodle will sing along with me).

Back to playing,
back to focusing on the little things that can turn a day magical.
We need more of that.
More magic.
For us all.

Epic holiday drive

We're back from our holiday journey to the frozen north. It was fun to see family, but I am so glad to be off the roads.

Day 1 of our adventure: part of I-84 was closed. We decided to backtrack when the FedEx trucks were turning around. Lost a couple hours, but made it around the blocked area. Tried to help a guy get back on the road (too stuck - trooper called a tow truck). At least we got some snow-driving karma points. Drove on nasty, icy crap roads but made it to Boise.

Day 2: driving through Eastern Oregon. Hit a shady slippery patch on a downhill slope and spun/slid off the road. Used those karma points. Some nice guys stopped and helped us dig a path back to the road, one using a cooler lid as a shovel. Made it back on the road, and the rest of the drive to SE WA was relatively uneventful.

Time with my paternal grandparents: they loved seeing Doodle. She played, jumped, danced, and made great-grandma's antique glass reindeer nurse ("have mama milk" she said) on the mama reindeer. So cute.

Drive to my mom's: horrid. We left Xmas Eve, around 8:45pm. Slid off the road once, similar scenario to previous time. Got back on road easily. Now out of karma points. Kept driving in slick conditions. Nearly got runover by a speeding minivan, narrowly missing being rear ended by moving into the left lane. Pulled over at rest stop, chained up. Did you know that you can only go ~25 MPH with chains? And that, in doing so, it takes AN HOUR to go frickin' 25 miles?!?! Egad, that took forever. Rolled into Spo-town very late, where there was lots and lots AND LOTS of snow. Drove slowly through town, made it to mom's house by 3:45 am. Merry Christma...zzzzzz.

Christmas day: my sis flew in, only a few hours delayed. Hung out, played, had fun. Got a kick ass knitted purse from my sissy complete with snazzy quarter buttons. I *heart* it. That and my new tiger box (oh, don't worry...I'll post pics) made for a quirky, eclectic MamaBee Christmas. Doodle loved her photo book, J got his very first climbing nut... it was good. Ate lots of turkey, gravy and rice dressing. Yum.

Day after Xmas: Obligatory visit to maternal Grandma, where she gave Doodle a window-clingy stuffed animal with a tag identifying it's production date as 1990. Do other peoples' grandparents keep stuff like this around for 18 years? Followed this visit with a trip to the climbing gym. Doodle played on crashpads with Uncle T while J belayed my mom and sissy. Fun times had by all... though I do miss being able to climb with everyone. Maybe next year.

Following day: dug out the house. Massive roofalanches (snow falling off steep metal roof in large sheets) resulted in some damage to deck railing. J and my bro T dug out the deck while my mom got the snowplow stuck and unstuck plowing the driveway. Yes, my mom has to plow her driveway. Ugh. The snow was ridiculous. I dug out the mailbox area while Doodle was napping. At least we got to enjoy the hot tub.

The next day we were back on the road, this time via MT and ID. One good mountain pass and one nasty pass, plus a bunch further into Montana. Managed to psych myself out with dark and blowing snow while driving, so we stopped short of Butte for the night. Kept driving the next morning and it was pretty good. A stretch of road to Butte was slick, and just past the MT-ID border it turned to nasty blowing ugly snow. Gross. Made it past that, and the rest of the way home was great. We got home at a reasonable hour. No more snow driving karma points acquired nor required. Now completely sick of winter driving. Is it spring yet?

We were glad to spend time with family, introducing Doodle to my Uncles and hanging out with my loved ones. Hopefully, though, that'll be our last major winter trek driving all the way up north. Next time we have the holidays up there, we're flying.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Twelve days of Christmas

As I sit holed up at J's advisor's house working on my thesis, I realize I'm not in a very Christmas-y mood. I've been thinking nonstop about flowers, bees and pollination, all of which are great but not really wintery, Yule-type subjects. We're past Doodle's birthday, and in the homestretch to Christmas. I need to get in the mood!

John Denver and the Muppets to the rescue!



Ever since I can remember, John Denver and the Muppets has been a Christmas staple. My mom plays the record every year (I have it on cd, but she sticks with the vintage crackles of vinyl) before Christmas. Nothing gets me more in the holiday spirit than this album. (I should add that I'd never seen video of John Denver and the Muppets singing Christmas songs until now - YouTube is awesome.)

Hope you enjoy this little slice of Christmas-y fun. If you need me, I'll be humming the JD&Muppets version of Jingle Bell Rock while writing about bees and flowers and such.