Almost 12 Days of Christmas

I know, you're all tired of the 12 days of Christmas.

In fact, most places have gotten past Christmas, past New Year's and are already thinking about Valentine's day.

A lot of folks think of the 12 days of Christmas being the 12 days BEFORE the 25th of December. Actually it's traditionally the 12 days between Christmas and Epiphany which is January 6th and is the day celebrated as when the Magi arrived.

We leave our tree up and light it until January 6.

And in recent years as our children have gotten older and have their own lives, as do my sister and her husband, sometimes the Christmas get together actually occurs with them closer to Epiphany than Christmas.

We had our family gathering at my folks house on Saturday. These gatherings usually include presents and food and a good deal of chaos -- Eight adults in a small space, everyone talking at once plus the usual mess of wrapping paper, boxes and ribbon from the unwrapping.

My sister was obviously reading my wish list this year. These were the presents I got to unwrap:

A box of pins!

Ok, you may not get how great this is, but these are an essential (and time saving) item for quilting projects.

And since I've had at least one quilt project and usually more going for quite a while, this will keep me happily moving along on those for this year


Off of her knitting needles to my hands -- lovely mitts to keep my wrists and hands warm while allowing me to write, sew, knit, draw or even type!

She had made me a pair of these last year (in bright red) and now I have a pair to wear and a pair to wash --- a wonderful thing!!!

I really love this heather-y blue yarn


There was also a package of Christmas blend coffee -- yummy --- sorry no pictures, I couldn't wait to open it and so I'm enjoying a cup-a, as I write this morning





and this book

I had read on someone else's blog (sorry, I can't remember who) about this book back when it came out in the fall and I really wanted to read it

It's great

One of the things in the first chapter talks about how long and cold and dark the month of January is and what you can do to "winterize" your mind.

I'm trying to put into practice 2 of the things

1) seeing the sunrise and the sunset every day and enjoying every precious minute of daylight

and

2) repairing something with my hands -- sew it, glue it, Fix It! I'll be mending a pair of jeans and a couple of shirts today

Sometimes when we have this family gathering I learn something new.

To say that my dad is not a great communicator would be a major understatement. So I was really amazed to hear him say how pleased he is that my sister and I are not only sisters, but have learned to be friends as well.

I know he's been hearing horror stories from one of his neighbors about one brother stealing from the other, and perhaps that is what put this on his mind.

But, yes, given that we are about as different in most ways as two sisters can be; that for most of our adult lives we've lived too far apart to even see each other for years at a time, we are friends.

So, I choose to start the new year instead of making resolutions that I probably wouldn't keep just to say how grateful I am to have a sister that is my friend ---

For all the gifts and all the times you've pulled my butt out of the fire --- thanks sis!