Frosty

Tonight I was hemstitching fleece blankets for the local fabric store. My hemstitch machine resides in my unfinished basement next to the outside air vent. It's the only place in the basement with an electrical outlet and the temperature down there these days is, oh, 40 degrees, if I'm lucky. Every time I work on the hemstitch machine I emerge from the basement in a near hypothermic state. So tonight I got smart and bundled up to do my work. For the first time ever I emerged from the cold cement depths a warm gal. G captured the moment.

Yuletide Christmas Riddler

Can you name the Christmas carol based on the clues? See the answers in the Comments. How did you do?

1. Quadruped with Crimson Proboscis

2. Eight P.M. to Six A.M. without Noise

3. Minuscule Hamlet in the Near East

4. Ancient Benevolent Despot

5. Exuberance Directed to the Planet

6. Listen, Aerial Spirits Announcing

7. Trio of Monarchs

8. Yonder in the Hay Rack

9. Cherubim Audited from Aloft

10. Assemble, Everyone Who Believes

11. Hollowed Post Meridian

12. Fantasia of a Colorless December 25

13. A Dozen Twenty-Four Hour Yule Periods

14. Befell During the Transparent Bewitching Hour

15. Hypothermic Homo Sapien of Crystallized Vapor

16. Desire a Pair of Incisors on December 25

17. I Spied My Maternal Parent Osculating

18. Perambulating Through a December Solstice Fantasy

19. Adorn the Vestibules

20. Tin Tintinnabulums

Dank u Sinterklaasje

On the eve of December 5th, Sinterklaas sails by steamboat from Spain to the Netherlands with gifts for the children. The children leave their shoes by the chimney filled with carrots and straw to feed Sinterklaas' horse as he and "Zwarte Piet," or Black Pete, walk the roofs dropping gifts down the chimneys into the children's shoes. If the children have been good, they receive gifts and chocolate letters. If they are naughty, they get coal and sticks used for spanking.

I remember Sinterklaas coming to visit at my Grandparent's house. After telling Sinterklaas what we expected for Christmas, each of us would receive a chocolate letter. Then we would all sing "Sinterklaas Kapoentje."

Me (dressed as the angel that I am) and Sinterklaas

Many years later while several family members were planning a trip to Holland with my Grandparents, my Grandpa asked if any of us could speak Dutch. I broke out the only Dutch I knew - you got it - Sinterklaas Kapoentje. Everybody joined in with glee. Toni may have even harmonized. When we were finished with the song Grandpa shook his head laughing and said, "You guys don't know anything. That was terrible! Don't sing that in Holland." Apparently we completely slaughtered the words. Grandma tried to sweep up our mess by singing the song again properly, in her loudest most punctuated singing voice.

Here are the words, and how it is really sung.

Sinterklaas kapoentje
Gooi wat in mijn schoentje,
Gooi wat in mijn laarsje,
Dank u Sinterklaasje

Translation:
Saint-Nicolas Little Rascal,
Put something in my little shoe,
Put something in my little boot,
Thank you little Saint-Nicolas!

Vrolijk kerstfeest!

Spirit of Christmas

I have to give a shout out to Creche-A-Day. This is Michael's reminder of the reason for the season. I think it's quite clever.

Church Bag Sophisticate

Introducing my latest project, the Ava bag crafted by yours truly, using the finest damask fabric by Joel Dewberry and coordinating fabric on the inside. The pattern indicated "easy" and it is, in fact, reversible. I couldn't resist. Not only did I order enough fabric for one bag, I picked up some fabric for an additional two, which is really four. A girl can never have enough pretty bags. I figured I could have it made in a couple of hours. It started coming together quite nicely, and rather quickly until step # 9: "Make Curved Trim and Handle" when everything fell apart. It all started to read the same - sew right sides at trim on bottom of contrasting side to top of trim right sides together for the contrasting side of handle facing. I was confused. I had to unpick many, many times to get it right. I even ended up re-cutting a few pieces of fabric, it was that bad (or I am that much a perfectionist). Then getting the top stitching to work perfectly with both sides of the bag (remember it's reversible) was another challenge. This bag took forever to make, but isn't it lovely? It's currently my "church" bag. It's roomy enough to carry my scrips, Sunday school manual, writing utensils, Kleenex, pack o' gum, chap stick, meeting programs, announcements and a baggy of Cheerios should I get hungry in the third hour.