Winter Solstice

I am another half a year older. The days will start to get longer again from here forward. Planting time is about three months away, or less... it sure doesn't feel like it. And of course, Christmas, and the season of being together with the family and giving real thanks for all that has become and will be towards the new year.

Grandpa Henry is home from the hospital. We hope he gives himself enough rest in bed to truly recover. Please don't push yourself too hard! Esme was so happy yesterday she could have nearly spun through the floor telling me about how she went to 'help Grandma and Daddy and Esme we go to the store, and no Mama, and we shop - and then Grandpa! We found Grandpa!'

I was home early and was going to have a late day today - so I broke out the sewing project. I chose another McCalls 8001 dress in navy blue with a lower waist treatment and it turned out quite well. It doesn't look half as 'Amish' as the last dress did - a bit 'avant garde' with the lower waist and the rest seems to fall perhaps 'Japanese' because of the same formal sleeves and the Japanese rabbit fabric. Esme wore it while playing Portal with Daddy on his computer (she mostly is just a back seat driver) and Daddy and I puzzled through several levels together, as well. My semi-left handedness makes the controls frustrating but Mark is able to do the 'fiddly' bits of dexterity and the problem-solving is really refreshing. I finished the dress in three hours even which is a pretty good time run for me. I need to wash it before any pictures come up since a glass of milk found it's way onto it and all of Esme's bedding minutes before bed last night.

I don't have much other news at this point... working on post-Christmas gifts to send out in the mail and still have to wrap more than half of the Christmas day items. I need to get an orange and some chocolate coins for Esme's stocking... she liked that last year. Basically I feel that it just can't really be Christmas yet - working in retail will do that to you. 'Christmas' starts just after or sometimes even before Halloween there, and by the time it arrives everything seems like it has been there forever - and the day itself creeps up, usually to emerge that morning as 'oh yea - this is the real thing.... wow'. I guess that is the way it should be.

//growl// My older sister keeps calling Esme 'Isabella'. She sent a Christmas card to her under that name today saying that 'she loves her even though she has never met her' (there are reasons for that) and saying she has this special present she bought for her when she was born that has her name on it and she has never been able to get it to here - she hopes she can send it etc etc.. ' *growl again* I'd really just rather not deal with all of that and send it to the round file. My mom has memory problems and was able to get 'Esme' somewhere in the first year - and my sister has it written on numerous things as well as all over Facebook to help her out... and still goes off and writes something else. She just knows how to push my buttons - from anyone else I would brush it off.... but I have my sister feeling that it is intentional to see what I am 'going to do about it.' btw: her daughter is 'McKayla'... would she like it if I sent her a letter addressed to Michelle?