Good morning all! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.  I’ve been on vacation all week, and it’s been AWESOME. I really needed the break.  If I’m being honest, this time between Christmas and New Year’s is my favorite part of the holiday season.  It’s still festive but there’s less pressure about Christmas, and you stop hearing Christmas songs ad nauseum.

Here’s what I’ve been up to this past week.

Christmas and Crafting

It sounds cheesy to say, but I don’t really *need* Christmas gifts. The goal of Christmas for me isn’t getting presents, like it was when I was a kid; it’s being with my family and partaking in our traditions, and making new traditions with Husband and his family. That being said, I have very generous and loving family members on both sides who gave very thoughtful Christmas gifts.  My parents gave us an InstaPot, which I’ve been wanting for awhile; I received awesome clothes and purses from my mom, Jo-Ann gift cards from my parents and brother, and Make Trouble by Cecile Richards from one of my in-laws.

And I received a yarn bowl from my mother-in-law!

I’ve always wanted one, and was super excited to get it.

I like working on little festive-themed crafts during the holidays and playing catch-up with some of my kits.  On Christmas, I started the festive reindeer kit from Mollie Makes issue 86.

It’s a little derpy but passable, I suppose.

I’m now working on the festive amigurumi llama from Mollie Makes issue 63, but it’s not in any shape to take photos of yet (unless you want to see dismembered crocheted llama limbs, which I don’t think anyone does).

As a quick aside, this was my first Christmas where I had to board Apollo for the holiday.  I had a hard time boarding him during Thanksgiving, but I think I did a better job during Christmas.  It probably helped that he was a total psycho on the way to the pet hotel, barking incessantly and leaving a little present for everyone in his kennel when we arrived.

I received this picture from the pet hotel on Christmas – essence of Apollo.

Organization

This little house needs some serious organizing and downsizing over the next several months. I’ll go into more detail in a separate post, but I’ve since started culling some items to get a head start.

I bought this basket from Target in hopes of keeping all my yarn in it.  What will you think of me if I tell you that maybe a quarter of my yarn collection fits in this basket?

ONLY GOD CAN JUDGE ME

Books

I’ve been able to meet my (low bar) goal of ten books this year. I have quite a few books to review in a separate post, but I finished up Lying Game by Ruth Ware several days ago (which actually wasn’t terrible).  I am now reading Slade House by David Mitchell, and it is shaping out to be a creepy story.  I also bought SkinnyTaste One and Done by Gina Homolka so I can get some InstaPot recipes!

Well, I’d like to post about the great Fredericksburg/Enchanted Rock trip Husband and I took yesterday. But I can feel everyone’s eyes glazing over at this point, so I’ll leave it as a separate post. I hope you all have a great, cozy Saturday!