Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Of mice and men ...

"T'was the week before Christmas ... "

I'm actually not sure where I was heading with that, but this is indeed a bit of a catchup of what's been happening 'round here.

Saturday was my grandson's 2nd birthday and the plan was that David and I would drive down to Melbourne, get onto the Eastern freeway to pick up Nonna, then cut across to collect Nadie, admiring her [ clearly genetic ] Christmas decorating skills in the process, then onto the Monash Freeway for the trip out to #1 son's.
The reverse trip was planned for later in the day and then tomorrow Nadie and Chris were to have collected Nonna en route to Castlemaine for Christmas celebrations. She [ MIL ] had expressed a desire to stay on for a few days.

So no real drama there - just a lot of time spent in the car on Saturday, and then 4 days to tidy up loose ends, get the dinner plans under control and prepare the house for MIL and finish her faroese shawl in time for Christmas
Ahh yes but we all know that saying about the best laid plans ...


but enough of that - onward to the party:

we had a lovely time with my son's family
much food was consumed
early presents exchanged as they can't come up here on The Day

my birthday pressie to the little bloke was definitely appreciated to the point where Stephen didn't get to put it together fully before it was claimed and tested out. Seeing that it wasn't really designed to be a convertible, and without the roof in place for reinforcement, one of the doors insisted on falling off repeatedly ... but no one cared and that was eventually rectified when the berfday boy had a sleep.
Some of the cousins were permitted to have a ride but he was very firm about letting them know just whose car it is
I was pretty impressed with all the anklebiters actually. Not one temper tantrum did I see. We think it 'mazing. [ sorry - outdated Aussie pop culture reference there ]
and here's the boy of the moment with his mummy - you can all see where he gets his colouring from, eh ?

and now I'll return to those best laid plans that I mentioned earlier:

When I arrived to collect a certain elderly Italian mother-in-law-of-mine , standing next to her front door was a collection of carry bags that clearly did not contain birthday or Christmas presents.
she was packed
everyone had been notified of her absence
she was ready
regardless of what I thought was the running order for the week
she was coming home with us

and so my week has taken a different turn than anticipated
meal times have gone out the window
as did any hope of finishing her present in secret
as far as she's concerned it's for me, and she'll find out otherwise tomorrow night


there have been a few small mishaps - like the full bottle of cinnamon oil that she couldn't see and
a] knocked over
and then
b] thinking it was just water, wiped all over the bench with the sponge
but hey - my kitchen smelled really Christmassy all day yesterday !

she's actually a pretty easy house guest and has spent most of her time just napping in the sun

and I did get the shawl finished and blocked in time


and Oakley even allowed me to work on his quilt
so it has minimal quilting and is bound and that's enough for now

8 comments:

Lindi said...

The shawl and quilt both look lovely.
Wishing you and yours a very Happy Christmas!
Re the Avon Nutcracker Suite ornaments - I have the Mouse King, the Sugar Plum Fairy, the Soldier, and the Nutcracker. I think that was all that were released, otherwise I would have bought more. My Aunt was selling Avon at the time, so she warned me as soon as they came out.
I have a beautifully illustrated Nutcracker book, too. (Not Avon) Unfortunately, my Christmas books are still packed in boxes from moving all the bookcases into the spare room.

Anonymous said...

Oh the shawl is just lovely - and Nonna looks so content, napping in the sunshine.

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday!

Donna Lee said...

Beautiful quilt. I worked on my husband's socks in front of him because there wasn't time otherwise. I think he suppects but oh well. What are you going to do? Have a Merry Christmas and a joyful and wonderous holiday.

Mia said...

That shawl and quilt are both amazing! And that chair in the sun looks like a pretty perfect napping place to me :)

Enjoy the holidays - and be blessed.

Anonymous said...

Good puss cat, glad you decided to share.
Congratulations on work well done Mum....Nonna looks very peaceful.
There is not much they want at this stage of their lives, except us and it is too easy to forget that as we race on with out lives.
Go girl.

Alwen said...

Look, sunshine!

It is as dark and gray and rainy here as you can imagine. But warm! 60 degrees F! (16 C) In December.

Anonymous said...

It's a beautiful shawl!

If you can forgive me for advertising it, if you'd like to find circular lace shawls knitted top-down so as to have a little more width there, and a with a v-neck that makes it easy for them to stay on, I have a book of such patterns out along with a story to each: "Wrapped in Comfort." Just for whatever that might be worth.

Warty Mammal said...

Catching up on old posts.

Bless you for bringing her on home with you.

I'll have to remember that packed bag trick.