Christmas hasn't really come yet...

for our family, that is. I mean Santa came and all, but I don't recall much since I was "praying to the porcelain gods" quite early on Christmas morning-and no, it wasn't from too much egg nog!! I wish!!

My oldest daughter got croup on the Thursday before Christmas and kept a fever of 102 through until the day before Christmas Eve-when my youngest took it from her and has since had a fever. Both have unbelievably bad coughs and congestion and b/c I felt so bad for them, through all of my comforting and consoling, I managed to get it as well. Oh, did I mention that this also came with a weird sort of pink eye too? The nurse practioner swears that this doesn't require antibiotics b/c it is just from all of the congestion, but if you were to see my daughter's eyes, you'd rush her over there for some tobromacyn for sure!! So far, hubby, who has been a saint through all of this, has been spared, but since our luck isn't the best, we're thinking he'll get it right before New Year's....b/c of course, we're planning to have our BFF's over. Nice...

Now for knitting! Well, this sickness and loss of the usual Christmas visiting/plans has made way for a lot of sitting and knitting. I've been sitting around so much that my tush is sore! I've managed to stop cursing the retrofit sweater that was supposed to be THE GIFT of all gifts for the DH, and I picked up the needles to finallly finish the shopping tunic that I started in April and put into hibernation. Here it is... This is THE SWEATER that broke my holiday knitting spirit! Notice the LACK of stitch definition-that is b/c, oh yes, it is felted!! Can it be saved?? We'll see....(more notes on Ravelry on my projects page about this bad boy-I just can't bring myself to type it all out again) and...the project that brought back my knitting mojo:

This is the Shopping Tunic from Wenlan Chia-Twinkle's Big City Knits. I started and completed this in three days!! I call that an instant cure for my broken Holiday knitting spirit! Also, a good-close second cure....my Christmas gifts from DH!! I was also spoiled rotten by my darling husband who gave me all things knitting for Christmas. He really took to the theme, gifting me knitpicks options circs set, a ravelry t-shirt, the new KNIT TWO novel by Kate Jacobs, KNITTING by Anne Bartlett, a cabled knitted mug from Starbucks, hand balms and creams, two skeins of really nice red variegated bamboo yarn from Jill Deal, Inc in Milford, and a really cute pair of cable-knit clogs from American Eagle Outfitters ( a store I never normally shop at-but these clogs are soooo cute!). Oh and a recycled knitting needle bracelet from Sassafras Creations-I love this bracelet!! She makes such beautiful things!!! Check it out!!

Ok for some pics...

This is my Christmas loot! Oh-forgot to mention the way-cool game called Mancala that hubby and I are addicted to! Love it! When we're all better, we're going to lug it over to the coffee shop for coffee and gaming...

This is the bracelet from Sassafras Creations on Etsy-I LOVE IT!!!

Misc. catchup since I haven't blogged in awhile (due to broken holiday knitting spirit-it is all connected for me...)

These are my special White Chocolate Cranberry Almond cookies-I made the first batch for the Scranton sit-n-knit group and since have made two more batches for Christmas cookie gifting! Amber of Ambersambry posted a game of tag where you show a pretty picture of something on your blog and then show what you cropped out. Finally, I'm getting around to playing this tag! See what a ridiculous amount of free-time-due-to-sickness can do for my blog?? haha!

This is what the kitchen really looked like:

And again, with my beautiful winterberries for my dining room centerpiece (I love these-they're my favorite part of winter!)

What the scene really looked like:

Thank goodness for cropping!!

This time of year has also brought about some good creative juice to my hubby as well. Before he realized that we were all sicker than dogs and therefore, we would NOT be having any company whatsoever, he made an ice wreath, something he hasn't done for years.....here is a pic of it during the "freezing" process...

He sort of gave up on it though-and it is still in the freezing process on our front porch-he will probably keep it there until we're all better and we have company....here's hoping!

Well, I hope all of you had a wonderful, germ free holiday! And I hope we all have a Happy, Healthy 2009~~ Happy Knitting!