and unto us a child was born . . .

Love one another and you will be happy.
It’s as simple and as difficult as that.

~ Michael Leunig

I do hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.  Our's was very nice . . . kind of strange . . . but very nice.  

I have four sisters and two brothers.  My younger sister's oldest son is in the Navy and is currently deployed to Afghanistan.  He is based in Pensacola and that is where his wife and kids live.  Since he isn't home, my sister, her husband and her youngest son, who is in the Air Force and just got home from being deployed, went to Florida to spend Christmas with Michelle and the kids.  She was eternally grateful that they would do that for her.  She couldn't face driving to Ohio by herself and had decided that they would just have a very quiet Christmas.  

My younger brother does all the cooking for his wife, daughters and mother-in-law (she lives with them).  He loves cooking and as a young child plotted to become the Galloping Gourmet.  He became a lawyer instead but loves to cook and try new things.  He also has very bad arthritis so a huge meal takes much out of him but he so enjoys it, no one can talk him out of it.  Eddie's wife, Debbie and their daughters came to our house on Christmas for a couple of hours.  I think he actually kicked them out so he could go at it in peace.  

My younger sister who lives in Kentucky drove up with her husband and 9 year old daughter.  It is a good thing because my 10 year old son insisted it wouldn't be any fun if he was the only kid around.  He and Mary are very close and thoroughly enjoy each other's company and the same things.

One of my older sisters was coming over . . . . but never arrived . . . .  She was going to be going to her youngest daughter's house for Christmas dinner but had said she would be stopping by for a bit.  But, her daughter's water broke and by 8:00 p.m.ish . . . unto us a child was born . . . and it too was a boy.  He was almost three weeks early and weighed in just over 5 lbs, 18 inches long.  

It has been a long time since we had a wee one around . . . at least two years . . . LOL.

Alone we can do so little. . .

Alone we can do so little;
together we can do so much!

~Helen Keller

Did I mention that I was going to attempt the 2011 Advent Scarf on Ravelry.  It is a fabulous piece of work.  I am using Knitpicks Chromo in Prism.  It is a fingering weight and I am using size 2 needles.  

We are given a "clue" every day, it is approximately 24 rows of knitting plus eight rows of spacer knitting.  There are optional beads in the spacers.  I'll see if I can upload a pic.  Sometimes blogger is cooperative and sometimes it just isn't.  But you can go here to see it.

But the goal of the thing is to be done by Christmas.  I am a notoriously slow knitter so I am not sure that I will get there . . . especially since I am just finishing Day 2 and should be working on Day 5.  Others who are working on it and are ahead of me, have said that Days 3 and 4 are relatively quick going.  The advantage to this project is that I can see what others have done and are doing.  It is interesting to see what happens with the various kinds of yarn and needles and beads (and skill levels).  People are so talented.  I am so impressed and humbled.  

Dave is going to Science Camp tomorrow morning through Friday afternoon.  It is at the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.  It is with a bunch of 7th and 8th graders and is part of the Gifted and Talented Program.  Should be interesting.  I know that I will get knitting done, which means I've probably cursed myself so that I run into some hideous problem.  Zachariah will be going to bed early.  LOL.  Who knows, maybe I'll go to bed early too.  I doubt that though.  When Dave was going to school and working nights, I had a terrible time going to sleep, especially on Sunday nights.  I would often stay up until 2:00 a.m.  In fact, the one time, he didn't have enough work and came home around 1:30 a.m. and scared me as I was twiddling away making panoramic Easter eggs.   Oh well.  

And Winter Cometh . . .

One kind word can warm three winter months.

~ Japanese proverb

I will have to remember this as our winter starts to hit full throttle.   I have my gloves, mittens, coat, scarf, boots and other fun stuff to help me get through the winter . . . now all I need are some kind words!  LOL.