Deck the halls with boughs of haul-y!

Otherwise known as the requisite 'What I got for Christmas' post.

This year, as has become our tradition, we spent Christmas Eve at Brandon's house. There was an incredible amount of gifts under the tree, and we were all very excited to get to sleep so morning would come quickly. Of course, no one could sleep. We turned the TVs on to the 'Yule Log' show, which was literally a tv channel that was broadcasting video of a fireplace burning along with holiday music. Coolness!

We awoke that morning at 7:30am to Brandon chiming out 'Merry Christmas!!!' ... in his usual exuberant fashion, of course. We all hit the bathroom and then the extravaganza began. I must stress extravaganza because it took us 3 hours to finish with all the gifts. Of course, we take turns opening, because then we get to enjoy the experience.

I gave to my loving husband both seasons of Carnivale on dvd, a quick-change flyer and extra bobbins for both flyers (for his spinning wheel) and a nostepinne (an old fashioned ball winder), all stained to match his wheel, a Scene It dvd game, another dvd of Reba in concert doing South Pacific, candy for his stocking .. and that's all I can recall at the moment. Bradon received a clock radio (for his room at our house), flex-needles in 4 sizes he uses often, enough yarn from Elann.com to make himself a sweater .. and again I can't remember anything else. There was more .. but I'm blank. I'll have to look at the pictures to see if I can figure it out. Sassy got a rawhide house with rawhide treats in it, which was a huge hit with the little bundle of ruff to my great delight. Kathy much delighted in her felted tote which I finished in the nick of time .. ie, Christmas eve I was felting the strap and putting it together. And she of course loved the frames she got too. Johnny got books and a dvd from us, as well as a frame with picture of Kathy to keep with him in the truck.

I made out like a bandit. I received yarn in abundance, to make a coat (Llama/Wool), a sweater(Alpaca/Silk), a smoke ring (which is like a cowl but it functions as a hood too)(more Alpaca/Silk), a beaded bracelet kit (which doesn't use yarn exactly but it's still knitted), and hand-painted yarn which will probably become a shawl, but I've not decided yet. In addition to the yarn, I got the patterns for the coat, the sweater, the smoke ring, the bracelet, and about a half-dozen more patterns for socks and shawls all together in a binder. I also got two pairs of Lantern Moon Destiny circular needles, one of which I'm already using to work on a project I've wanted to work on for a while. I also got a knitting book, Domiknitrix. I got a few halloween themed things too - a little snuffer, a Limoge witch's hat, a silk scarf, a pumpkin-head doll to go with my pumpkin man statue, and a candle holder. I also got a pirate devil duckie for the bathtub *squee*. I got kitchen-y stuff too - a mini cuisinart, a set of stone mixing bowls, a chocolate fondue fountain, and a deep fryer. The fryer was really to both Jason and I, but it's still a kitchen thing, so I'm counting it. Oh yeah, and I got beautiful snowflake earrings, and a hand-made quilted tree skirt that will go with our blue & white theme when we go back to it, the new Loreena McKennit cd, and my 2007 Witch's Calendar.

So .. yeah. I got spoiled rotten. Not all of it was strictly for me, but a lot of it was, and I feel incredibly blessed to have such wonderful friends and family. Oh yeah, and all of this is before we have our christmas with Neely and with momma & diddy.