Warning: This should probably be two posts, but I'm far too lazy for that. Proceed at your own risk.
Firstly, the big tragedy:
Sunday night I was desperately trying to finish up Christmas presents. I had everything done and ready to go except for Erica's poncho. I was sitting in bed weaving in the first of many ends when the dog jumped up on the bed climbed onto my pillow and proceeded to start peeing. I panicked and tried to throw the poncho to safety. Unfortunately, the dog's front paws were caught in it... and when I ripped it out from under him he ran across my leg, the poncho and the rest of the bed... all while still peeing. It was a great day.
I had to wash it still which meant that I needed to weave in the ends (to try to keep it from unraveling in the washer). So, I sat down in my pee soaked pants and weaved in ends of a pee soaked poncho...
Here it is fresh out of the washing machine... with the sheets that had also been washed.
The only major damage:
But, I was out of time... So, into the box with the ball of yarn that I needed to fix the hole and a crochet hook. Then I wrapped it up. I had to fix it after Erica opened it on Christmas. It came out alright. I didn't get a photo, but you'll have to take my word for it.
This is the mitten I had done for my dad when I left for Minnesota. Not ideal. He actually got an empty box on Christmas, but I finished the second one and had all the ends woven in by the time we left Minnesota. Again, no picture of the finished set.
The scarf for my mom:
Up close for detail:
Vest for Michael. He's helping me start my Etsy store. He'll be advertising these vests to the seminarians because this is a wardrobe staple for pastors.
Andy's sweater front and back:
And thus concludes the Christmas knitting for this year. On to the driving, hospitalling and Schweenanigans!
It turns out when you live in a terribly flat state that any little land form is REALLY exciting. I spent most of the trip exclaiming that there were "mountains". Here is a "mountain" in Wisconsin. We accidentally deleted all the good pictures of the "mountains" on the Wisconsin/Minnesota border... So, this is the only picture you get.
Here is a not so good picture of the border. I was driving at this point. I was also doing a lot of squeeing about hills and mountains and land forms. Our windshield was REALLY dirty. After the snow started it was cleaner.
This is the hospital that my mom is at. Isn't it beautifully Gothic!? It's a very old building and definitely is foreboding. We stayed in a not quite as old hotel across the street. The stoplights are just for crossing between the two. If you don't mind having to sprint you can run out and push the walk button then wait in the lobby til the light changes and dash across the road. This trick is impossible with a toddler in tow.
My dad insisted on taking pictures of Ryan and me in front of the nativity scene out front and the poinsettia tree in the lobby. Please appreciate the hats we stopped to buy at a Farm and Fleet on our way up. We didn't really have any winter wear and well... windchill.
I think there was some concern about having Christmas with little ones in a hospital/hotel, but Anderson settled right in. The bed was comfortable and "Woody and Buzz" were available on demand. Mom was in good spirits. There is a pretty good chance that she will get to come home next weekend which would be really nice... though she'll be coming home with her wound still open which is not so nice.
Simeon also made himself at home, but he's a pretty easy going guy. Also, this is the only picture I got of him in his hat. Another design destined for the Etsy store.
The hospital has a perfect playroom (usually used for consultation and CT Scan waiting). It had tables to crawl under (and on) and plenty of space for batting, throwing and sliding. It was also the perfect size for all the adults to sit on the furniture around the outside edge and still be able to reach a soccer ball almost anywhere it was kicked. We used this room to it's full potential.
I spent a lot of time in this room holding up a coat rack.
Here's a pretty adorable Grandpa/Grandson shot for you. Andy's pretty much a mini "Bobby" as he now calls him.
We took a family Christmas picture in front of Dad's favorite Rochester attraction. Cousins Subs lived up to it's hype. Good sandwiches. Jimmy John's style meat on perfect bread.
And Erica and I got matching Day-After-Christmas haircuts. I would like to point out that with our matching hair it is pretty clear that we have very different facial features and don't actually look anything like.
All week we got to enjoy some Schweenanigans. Here are the moments we caught on (digital) film:
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| Just look at that kid! |
On the way home we stopped for some lunch near Madison, Wisconsin. I turned the wrong way to get back to the interstate... So we went and looked at guns. There were a lot of guns. This picture doesn't do the setup justice.
Then we sprung Rem out of puppy prison and went home. He was tired and stressed out and ready for a nap.
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| Don't ever do this to me again, Mom. |
All in all a pretty nice holiday. More celebrating tomorrow with the extended fam. Can't wait!
