december random

Bet you guys thought I was dead, didn't you?
Bet you've been ready to call 911 and ask them where I've been, huh?
I'm not dead, but my laptop has been all sick and viral. And I had to send it off to a friend's house to be fixed. And now it's fixed.
... Except the clock down there in the bottom right hand corner says 22:02.
... And I, therefore, have no idea what time it is.
It's like on the movies when the one soldier screams thru all the blood and guts to the other soldier, Soldier! 6 o'clock! Fire! Magnum 350! Meet up at oh 900! 360 degrees! 10 4 hut!
And I'm like, What the heck do all those numbers mean?
And I holler back at the TV screen, 2 plus 2 equals 4!
And somehow all the soldiers live.
That's what I think of when I look at the clock on my laptop.

It is now 22:07.

Anyway. It's December, guys. The busiest month of the year for my family. A good busy though.
Did you know that we have 6 birthdays in December? In my immediate family? Including mine? Did you know my 28th birthday was Monday, and that I'm still accepting presents? You can mail as many presents as you like and I'll never complain or anything.
I'm growing up so fast. It seems like only yesterday, I was 12 years old and still wetting the bed. It seems like only yesterday, I was learning how to walk. It seems like only yesterday, I was covered from head to toe in mosquito bites. It seems like only yesterday, my mom could talk about my Christmas presents in front of me by spelling them out loud because I couldn't spell C-A-T out loud if my life depended on it. Oh, wait... that one was yesterday.
I had a good birthday.
I got pie instead of cake because I've never been a huge cake fan unless it's Karen's chocolate cake or Olive Garden's lemon cream cake.
I got presents.
I got a handmade rosette hair clip from Lucy. It was her first time to make one and she did it all by herself. Then she made me a little birthday card. It said,

Dear Aunt Sunny,
I love you!
I hope you like this.
I made it on Sunday night.
It was my first one. So it is not so good.
If you don't like it you can give it back.
Love you!
Lucy

It looks better than the ones I make. I'll keep it, Lucy Goose.
And I got these from my big sister, Karen...

Be still my heart. I had no idea they sold these in a jar. I've said for years they should do something like this. Kraft listened.

I don't like real marshmallows at all, but I have a thing for the little dried up marshmallows in Swiss Miss hot chocolate mix.

And the ones in Lucky Charms.

They're a fat free food. Very nutritional.

My big sister, Shelly, saved packet after packet of those Swiss Miss marshmallows and put them in a box and gave them to me for my sweet 16th birthday. It was one of the most wonderful presents I've ever received.

I love sisters. They know me.

I got this from my fellow blogger friend, Jaime...

It's autographed and everything.

I love it. I laughed like a hyena.

Considering Jaime's never even met me, she knows me pretty well too.

And I got a dress, and shirt, and a ring, and earrings, and letters, and Christmas ornaments, and homemade chocolate sauce, and a picture I've drooled over all summer for my room, and a teeny pink glass pig to go along with the rest of my teeny glass animal collection that I started when my Moma gave my great grandmother's teeny glass animal collection to me when I was 12, and a homemade bracelet that's the brightest yellow I've ever seen, and a coffee mug complete with coffee and whipped cream and a straw and the entire thing was made out of chocolate, and finally... my sister-in-law, Jenny, had part of my blog made into a book. Which made me cry. She thinks of everything. Her gift is giving perfect gifts.

Then I bought myself a couple birthday presents too.
They were on sale so I had to. It was my destiny.

I don't things wrapped around my neck, but I love scarves and that scarf was only 4 bucks and I found this tutorial the day I bought the scarf.

Obviously, God wanted me to buy this scarf.

Karen bought those boots for Leah. I liked them. And even though I made a New Year's resolution 8 years ago that I'd never buy my shoes or clothing in the children's department again, I went and bought them for myself. From Target, on sale for 20 bucks. They've been on my feet ever since. They eat my knee socks, but my love is unconditional so I wear them regardless. I wear them to bed. And to the bathroom.

Me and the girls decorated for Christmas.

The decorating is one of my favorite things about Christmas. I like all my old stuff.

The tree skirt that Moma made for me, the old lady in a shoe music box that I've had since I was a kid (except the old lady is actually a mouse and her mouse husband is putting the star on the tree), the table runner that has the lace my great grandmother made sewed onto it, the vintage ornaments my friend Gloria gave to me that she had used since she was a teenager, the train set that's been around for years and no longer works and the weird little pinecone gnome man that acts as train station master. We used to have more of those weird gnome guys, but this one is the only living survivor.

I love bringing those things out every year.

See the card in the background? Sune... that's how my 7 year old niece, Mik, spells my name.

Look at all those fancy curlicues!

I love it. I love Mik.

Hey, Sun... get a picture of me kissing my pink tree.

Lily loves Christmas stuff. I have pictures of her kissing all kinds of Christmas decorations.

I say good morning to my Christmas stuff so I can't really blame her for the kissing.

I made almost all of my Christmas presents this year.

Never done that before. Thank you, Craftgawker. You're a blessing.

I made a mercury glass jar...

Then I put it in the closet and it reproduced all by itself. Very creepy.

Then I filled them with cookies, candy, and flowers and gave them away.

Wanna make your own mercury glass jars? Wanna put them in the closet so they can reproduce and creep you out?

Click here for tutorial.

And click here for rosette tutorial.

I have this thing for glass jars. I have a large collection of them taking up space in my kitchen cupboard and I thought I'd use them for this project since I never do anything with them, but... I couldn't bear to part with my beloved jars. So I went to Walmart and bought these spaghetti sauce jars instead.

So now I still have lots of jars that I don't do anything with.

And I have lots of frozen spaghetti sauce if anyone needs some.

I made a wreath...

To see how to wrap your wreath in yarn, click here.

To see how to make the felt rosettes (because it's different than making fabric ones), click here.

To see the cutest yarn wrapped wreath in the world, click here. (That one's for fun and I'm going to make it someday and keep it for myself.)

And the girls made gingerbread houses.

Because what's Christmas without making a huge gingerbread house mess?

Lucy and Lily made this one.

Notice anything different about it?

It's not a house. It's a manger scene.

Lily wanted to know why she couldn't add a TV in there for baby Jesus to watch.

And I believe the day the girls made these houses was the same day I had this text conversation with Karen:

Karen: im about 2 throw out all the gingerbread houses, men, women, candies, hot cocoa, mnm's, toys, paper, crayons, beds, dressers, closets, carpet, sink and counters full of dishes, 100's of christmas cards, wrapping paper, ... or else i may just go put my head under a blanket and pretend its not all there.

Me: i was thinking about coming and getting the girls so we could make a craft thing I bought all the stuff for today. they could spend the night. k?

Karen: k. if they're still alive and not in the trash can when you get here :)

If you're a mom and you just read that, aren't you glad you aren't the only mom out there who has considered throwing your kids in the trash can?

Disclaimer: Karen didn't really mean it. Maybe. I think.

Our kids put on a Christmas program at church.

They were so cute and sweet and talented and getting so big since I first moved here that I had to cry.

 
There's Lily up front being a sheep. And drinking her cuppy.
And here's the little sheep who stole the whole show...

That's Baby Hannah.

She doesn't like for me to call her a baby, but I have to in order to distinguish her from the other two little girl Hannahs we have at church.

And see what I mean about them being so cute I cried?

We had our church's annual Where's Waldo event.

Half of us dress up and "hide" in the shopping crowds at the mall, and the other half of us "seek" the hiders.

Here's the best costume winners...

Cute little girls aren't they? Only they aren't girls. They're brothers. Those boys have guts.

Here's the "least found" winners, Ben and Janel...

Let's see that again so I can point out all the important details...

I think Janel should be on The Office in that outfit. She could sit next to Pam.

I didn't hide this year, but I did for 3 years in a row.

My favorite year.

I went as a 12 month pregnant woman and my fake husband carried my newborn infant.

I'm not very good at math and adding up months and all that.

And some super concerned shopper stopped me and told me I should rub creams and lotions on my poor belly. It was awkward.

One more thing before I go.

This is my freckled, 9 year old niece, Marianna...

 This is her little sister, Charity...

Cute aren't they?

They belong to my big sister, Shelly.

I got this text from Shelly the other day:

marianna walked past me holding a gift she wrapped about 1-2 weeks ago n says "this is for Charity. i gotta c if its not dead."

WHAT???????

I hoped Marianna hadn't wrapped the neighbor's pet fish up or anything.

Turns out it wasn't the neighbor's pet fish. Turns out it was a slug. Turns out the slug was still alive and kicking.

Charity is so lucky to have a sister like Marianna.

You can have so much with a slug...

It is now 18:14.

I don't know what that means exactly, but I think it means I need to go get ready for church.

Farewell.