mid-December and so forth

Guys, it's the middle of December.  Over a month ago I quickly mentioned an upcoming craft show, threw some photos onto this blog and then disappeared into a full and busy litany of events.  I used to wonder whether I'd ever get bored staying home with Wren.  "How does one stay busy and productive?"  Oh former self, you are a hoot!

Our days are varied and surprising it turns out.  Even when another driver pulled an illegal u-turn into the side of our car, totaling it and stalling the process of replacing it by disputing the fact that he was at fault...yep, I've ended up stranded at home with a 4-month-old for several days on end while Luke bikes a bunch of miles to and from work...in December.  But somehow even those stay-at-home weeks will fill up with the daily cooking and straightening and book reading (or Wren's favorite activity: book eating) and diaper washing, visits from friends and time with family and lots of teething: 

And on those invigoratingly bright and unseasonably warm afternoons we like to venture out for a walk around the neighborhood:

And on top of all the excitement of experiencing this new season with my new best bud in the whole wide world, there have been crafts to vend and gifts to prepare.  The sale went beautifully.  My first long day away from Wren, my first cups of coffee and chatting with old friends sans the diaper bag in tow.  And a "success" from my point of view.  How pleasing and gratifying it is to learn that other people think it's cute to upcycle old onesies with all manner of bicycle and composting paraphernalia.  And it's incredibly exciting when people actually buy something you've made to give to someone else as a gift.  It is seriously (though a bit cliche to say it) a dream come true.

And so in the wake of all that embroidering and zigzag stitching I've turned my attention to Christmas.  The sewing machine has been humming along steadily for a few weeks now, and there is a nice pile of handmade gifts gathering around our small and humble Christmas tree.  I can't wait to post some pictures here and tell you all about my gift-giving inspiration.  But I guess that'll be all in good time.  Even though I'm fairly certain my nieces aren't avid readers of the blog (especially not the 2-month-old), it just doesn't seem right to spill the yuletide beans until the gifts are nestled away snugly in their arms.

Instead I will share with you some last minute creativity I whipped up last night when Luke suddenly realized he didn't have any cards or gifts for his ESL students' Christmas party.  Since we remain car-less for the time being we obviously weren't getting to a store at 10:30pm, so I dug into my ever-trusty-Weis-Market-plastic-grocery-bag-of-scraps-and-junk and created a holiday card design comprised of parts of our extra wedding invitations sewn onto baby announcements we never used.  I rather like them, though I wish I could have found the felt-tip pens purchased for such a time as this.  But I suppose ball-point will work too.