The older I get, the more I realize I just don't like Christmas programs. First of all, what are you going to do? There's music, or a play/pageant of some kind. There's a lot of great Christmas music out there (and some dross, but a lot of that is people trying to put their own spin on classics and screwing them up. Mary J. Blige and Andrea Bocelli singing "What Child Is This," anyone?). So if the group in question is a band, choir, or orchestra, your project makes sense, and has a clear purpose, go ahead.

What is the point of a Christmas play? If it's an established drama group, like a high school club, or college theater department, that's ok. Same principle as the band, the group exists, has a purpose, if they want to explore holiday-themed material, go for it. If it's a church group, that's fine, too. After all, Christmas has been a religious holiday for over 1,000 years.

Otherwise? No. Just, no. The act of celebrating Christmas is, in itself, a time-consuming undertaking. There are gifts to buy, there is cooking to be done, and it's always nice to spend time with family and friends. Don't make the holidays harder by filling the time with extraneous stuff.

This has actually been a fairly productive weekend. I haven't felt like doing much around the house on weekends lately, because October and so far, November, have been so busy, all I want to do is hang out. This weekend, though, I went to the nursery and bought two little pots of swiss chard, which I planted in the garden, and a handful of white tulip and purple crocus bulbs, which I planted around the dogwood tree in the round bed. I bought a bag of potting soil (which it turned out I didn't need), and re-potted my ivy into larger pots. This is the ivy that was in my wedding bouquet that my mother-in-law got started for me. So far, they seem to like their new, bigger pots. I also got an amaryllis bulb in a pot, which I haven't planted yet. I cleaned up the geranium in the hanging pot on the porch. I'm surprised it's not dead. I was going to take down the pot of former impatiens that did not make it, but I found a bird's nest with two little eggs in it. I'm not sure if the eggs are still viable, or if the nest has been abandoned, but just in case, I put it back. Last night, we had a nice visit with Clare and Steven.

Today, we went to Home Depot and finally got a new dishwasher. It's being delivered on Dec. 5, and installed either the 11th or 17th, hopefully. We also got another rake, and a heavy-duty broom for outside, and a leaf blower with a vacuum attachment, so once you rake the leaves up, it basically mulches and bags them. I also got some birdseed and actually filled my old bird feeder for the first time in ages. Sometime, I want to put some hooks on the corners of the eaves by the sunroom, and hang some feeders there. It'll be like kitty cable.

Where is the year going?

I have given up on a completely machine-pieced quilt, because I kept looking a the pile of pieces, and looking at the sewing machine, and sighing and going off to knit. Instead, I sewed all of the blocks together by hand, and added the inner border by hand. I'm going to go to Hobby Lobby probably this afternoon to get a few more yards of navy blue cotton to sew to the fabric I've already got to make the backing, rather than make up something with more pieces, but I may change my mind. I kind of like the idea of a patterned medallion on the back. Either way, I'm getting close to finishing the top, there's just the outer border, once I decide how I'm going to handle the navy fabric, and then putting it all together and quilting it.

The heat is fixed! Yea! This was mainly taken care of by The Husband, while I was curled up on the couch, dozing. I think I may have been fighting something off, because Monday and Tuesday, I was a little congested, but feeling really run-down and tired. Today, I feel a lot better, but I'm more congested. Go figure.

Last night was Open House at school, preceded by the mad dash to get things mounted and hung on the wall. It actually went a lot faster than I'd thought. At 2:00, I was beginning to be afraid that I'd have to stay really late, but I was on my way home by 3:15. Everybody seemed to have a good time. They usually do, but it's always nerve-wracking, because I have the paranoid fear that someone is going to be unhappy with some aspect of their child's work and make a scene. I know it's crazy, but knowing is half the battle. I really appreciate team-teaching this year. It's so nice to be working with someone who's creative, and has so many good ideas, like writing down some of the funny things the children have said and putting them up on the wall.

I'm really digging the shawl pattern. I've used up a skein of yarn, and it's maybe a foot long. Fortunately, I've got, like, 11 more I can use. Now, though, I need to go start dinner.

Diamond Wars is over! Yea! I will not be nastycrat for an event for a long, long time. I am totally cool with having to ask my children at school "did you flush the potty and wash your hands?" because they're still learning to take care of themselves. The fact that I had to clean up after adults at this basic level disturbs me. I should not have to wipe urine off a toilet seat after a grown man, nor should I have to flush for an adult.

Our heat is out. Fortunately, the home warranty is still in effect, and someone should be calling tomorrow. Even though it's been chilly outside, the temperature inside the house has stayed in the 60's, mostly upper 60's.

I'm starting to get back into projects. I'm still working on one sock. I'm kind of waiting until Friday nights even out, so I can get some help with turning the heel of the second one, and write down the instructions this time. I've started working on a shawl with the wool/alpaca yarn I collected. I'm using a stitch pattern from the book of, well, knitted lace patterns I have. I can't remember the name off hand. It's just a rectangular shawl in pale blue worsted weight yarn. I'm going to finish Hunter's quilt, and then after I finish piecing it, I may start a new dress.

I'm getting back into my original persona, which is late period Irish. I think I'm going to go late 15th/early 16th century. Actually, I've kind of decided on Italian/Irish. Italian woman married to an Irishman. I've even decided on a name and device, Medb an Doire, "Medb (pronounced MAY-ve) of the oak grove." I may register an alternate Italian name later as my "birth" name. I even have that picked out, Mea Caterina Della Rovere. I was going to register that, but still go by Medb, figuring that my Irish husband picked that as my Gaelic name, but it would cause less confusion, I think, if I just register that as an alternate persona name. It kind of still works with wearing Turkish garb. There are a lot of portraits of Italian women, particularly from Venice, wearing Turkish enteri/yelek/caftans open over gowns, even closed over chemises.

Well, the Mongol coat didn't really work out, and I have too many other things to do for this event, so I'm giving up on making new garb. I'm still going to try to make Neale a new undertunic, but tunics take no time at all.

I need to get to work on the handouts for the bread class. I hate store-bought bread at feast. I'm not crazy about it most of the time, unless it's real bread, but at feasts, it's particularly disappointing. So, as part of the chef's seminar at Diamond Wars, I'm going to teach others how to cheat with refrigerated dough.

I'm older now

Since the last post, I've had another birthday, finished my embroidery projects, and that's about all. I'm currently working on getting the trim ready to put on Neale's Mongol coat, which is cut out, but not sewn together yet. I'm not quite sure how I'm going to do the neckline, with it being wrap-front. I think if I measure from where the sleeve is supposed to attach and cut the actual neck-hole based on that, I can sort of fit the rest of it on Neale. Maybe.

One unconventional thing I'm going to do is the placement of the trim. Traditional Arab tiraz bands go around the bicep, above the elbow. For one thing, the bands I embroidered aren't quite long enough to do that without some empty space. For another thing, Neale chose the pattern because "it looks like the Captain's braid on the original Star Trek uniforms." So, I've decided to put the trim a few inches above the ends of the sleeve, about where the braid would be on Captain Kirk's tunic, just for Neale. It's actually in keeping with the way Mongols decorated their clothing, but to be really authentic, I'd need lots more decoration.