After Christmas Crash

I actually got all my Christmas stitching done. I finished sewing my daughter's pillow (above) at 9:30 pm on Christmas Eve. This scanned picture isn't very good. Maybe I can post a better one later. The totebags turned out beautiful. I had to redo one on the day before we had our Christmas celebration at my mom's, because I left too much material around the cross-stitch and the piece covered the whole front of the bag and the actual stitching got lost. So I took the piece off and cut it down some and resewed it to the bag and fringed it again. It was worth doing because it looked perfect. Everyone really loved their bag. My mom keeps calling me every few hours to tell me that she is looking at her bag and how much she likes it. I was hoping to be able to post some pictures of them, but DD didn't take the film to get developed yesterday. Maybe I can post them later today. DD was really surprised when she saw her pillow. It turned out perfect. too. It has been years since I've sewed anything. And my mom usually sewed any pillows I had cross-stitched for. So I wasn't sure I could make the pillow, but once I got started, it all came back to me. Now I know what everyone is getting for Christmas next year - PILLOWS!! LOL

I cooked the big Christmas Dinner - turkey, dressing, macaroni pie, etc. It all turned out great. Then I crashed (hence, the title of this post). LOL DD was very happy with all she got. I got my yearly bedroom shoes (Katie's dad gives me bedroom shoes every year - go figure!) It's really a family joke now. LOL We played the game Katie got - Sorry Revenge. This is a family tradition. Every Christmas one or both of the kids would get a game and we would spend the afternoon playing games. Such a happy memory! We still do it. We have started many new traditions since my son died, because it's really hard to do some things the same way without him here to participate. But we still play the games. Some traditions are too precious to change! Although I really miss my son at this time of the year, I still love Christmas and we had a very good and happy Christmas. I know my son was with us in spirit. And we had Christmas at my mom's the day before Christmas Eve. We had a WONDERFUL time. Even though we all missed my dad, we knew that he always loved Christmas and we could feel his presence there. We laughed a lot and got very silly (we always do) and even cried a little, but it was truly a wonderful Christmas.

I started stitching a charity quilt square yesterday. I'm doing the Picnic Sweatshirt that I did for my niece's bag. There's a picture of it in an earlier post if you want to see it. I am also starting my Christmas gifts for next year. I am going to stitch them now so I won't be killing myself next Christmas trying to get them done. Of course, I say that every year and I still end up doing them at the last minute! LOL Better go and get started. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas like we did!! Happy stitching!