Christmas Spirit

Christmas has officially begun in our house - we have a tree. A big, beautiful, bountiful tree. Did I mention that it's big? Really, really big. It didn't look so big standing on the hill in the forest amid even bigger trees. It wasn't really a forest, it was a tree farm, but it was a sort of back to nature experience. We loaded up our citified kids and drove off to the country side to chop down a tree. Actually, we sawed it down - apparently the tree farmer thinks axes are too dangerous for families and probably a little bit of overkill. There were six of us altogether hunting for this tree. It might have taken us all day to find one on which we could all agree, but it was really cold - sting your face make your hands hurt cold. It just froze all the argument right out of us. The tree is gorgeous even if it is too wide of the alcove into which we like to put our trees.

Now we continue the preparations and celebrations. I’ve been making these plans to buy the 5yo all this great stuff for Christmas and I think I need to rein myself in for her own good. She wants an American Girl doll, but I think I’ve convinced her to go for the much cheaper Target “Our Generation” instead. Then she wants to go with the doll a horse, a bed, a beauty salon chair, a spa set, a dog, several outfits, a bathtub, a tent and sleeping bag and a closet. And that’s just for the doll – there’s a whole separate list of polly pocket/little pets/ flying pony thingys. I just want to make her happy and it’s hard to keep it straight that material things won’t make her happy when she seems so convinced they will. I read all these stories around this time of the year about families who have so little and their Christmas is made wonderful because a stranger gives the kids a shirt and a toy. It seems the Walmart/Target/Dollar Store culture that has changed all that. Toys are so cheap, they’ve become far too abundant. How can the kids (even us big ones) truly appreciate our things when it is so easy to accumulate so much?

Here is what I really want this year – a good joke that I can share with my friends who need a good laugh and friends to share it with.

This scarf is even softer and more lucious than it looks in the picture. It's knit with an Italian yarn, Douceur et Soie, the Gourmet Collection from Knit One Crochet Too. It is baby mohair and silk. If you can get your hands on this yarn, by all means do. It is fantastic to knit with and even more fantastic once knitted. It's light and airy, but oh so warm. (I'm a little obsessed with warmth these days because it's been below freezing all day and there's no sign of a thaw) The pattern, rabbit tracks, is a fun but simple one that I found on the Internet. It doesn't take too much to memorize the pattern. It would work well with a slightly thicker yarn as well. The scarf is off to a friend who is a mom of 3 in her first year of law school. She has finals coming up just as Christmas is coming and I figured she could use a little TLC.