Preparing for Christmas 2013

Besides decorating, baking and house cleaning, we had some pretty exciting Christmas projects that we made this year. The most thrilling one was a book, made for our oldest daughter. I started it in October and worked through until the first week of December when it was finally ready to order. This was a project that required lots of scanning, editing of photos and saving them with the proper year and information. Also involved in the project, was the need to transcribe all my journals as well as Chad's in order to include the delightful growing up stories that had been recorded. You see, this book is a picture history - a life history during the childhood years. I loved the project so much that I hope to be able to do one for each of my children!!!

I spent so much time on Shylah's book that I didn't have a lot of time for much else, however, I did manage to make a book for my parents. Unfortunately, the order took longer than I had estimated and it didn't arrive until after the holiday.

The other large project I did for Christmas was an afghan special for my husband. Unfortunately, I never had time to finish it, so he received a half done afghan with the promise to finish it. I have been working on it too since that time, but alas it is not yet finished. This afghan represents our love, woven together in the calming and soothing colors of blue and green as well as the purity of white. We have faced the ripples of life together, and will yet face more, but we have felt the peace and calm of the love of the Savior helping us overcome, forgive, and become better. I guess, the fact that I have taken so long to make this afghan is also representative of the fact that we cannot be perfected or finished in a short period of time. It takes years, and rows and rows of experiences that purify us before we are ready to truly become sanctified.

I have found it difficult to crochet since I broke my shoulder. It makes my arm incredibly sore, but I have loved crocheting and I have been relieved of the challenge I developed a few years back where crocheting would cause my arms to break out in a bright red rash. I am grateful that that problem no longer exists. I will yet finish this project, for I love my husband too much to leave it undone. I am so grateful that he is a patient and an understanding man.

Aside from making piles of cookies to give away this year, Breanna did some of her own baking. This year she made cake pops.

We also made our traditional chocolates which were enjoyed very much during the Christmas season.