we need a little christmas

My uncle's funeral was this morning. It was really, really nice. The priest who said mass knew my uncle and that makes such a difference. It's awkward when you can tell the celebrant never even met the deceased and yet they try to say nice things...in this case, it was very genuine. Apparently my uncle was a member of a group of elderly gentlemen who regularly serve at funeral masses, and they call themselves "The A Team," which cracks me up. My aunt is doing very well, considering the circumstances. I find myself quite consumed with worry for her emotional well-being. She'll probably be fine, but I just keep trying to imagine what it must be like, after 57 years of going to bed and waking up next to the same person...and then having to get up each day and drink a cup of tea and read the paper without that person sitting across the table. What a shock to the system, you know? It makes me sad to think about it. But her sense of humor appears to be intact, and faith is pulling her through.

Still, there have been two funerals too many this year for my taste. :(

I don't feel much like doing anything today. I have changed from my dressy clothes into some relaxin' clothes, and I think I'll make some tea and knit a few stitches. It's warm out (60s) but dreary...a good 'curl up on the sofa and hang out' day.

Here are a couple lousy pictures of the Christmas dress - the camera appears to be on the fritz, or maybe the batteries are dying, I don't know:


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The color looks pretty accurate on my monitor - it's a dark sage color. I don't really go for the bright red and green at Christmas. I much prefer the muted tones of pine, dark sage, cranberry, etc., mixed with silver and gold (side note: our first Christmas tree as a couple was decorated in burgundy and silver with white lights...it was gorgeous).

The info:
Pattern: New Look 'easy' #6175 (also the pattern I use to make the pull-on pants)
Size: Large
Fabrics: Dress - fine wale corduroy from Joann Fabrics, about 1.25 yards. Bodice lining - leftover calico from making our Christmas stockings a few years back. It's gold with stars.
Buttons: Gold stars with shanks from Joann Fabrics
Mods: only one - I hand stitched the bodice lining down after attempting to machine topstitch it as per the directions. It looked like crap, so I redid it by hand. Much better.

As I worked on this dress, I remembered why I never make anything with gathers. I hate making gathers!! I have lots of trouble sewing straight seams when one side is gathered and one is not. This came out ok, but there was much finger-crossing involved. Oh well, at least it's done and we can try to get an official holiday photo now.

I'm hoping to get our tree this weekend. I suddenly find myself jonesing for some Christmas spirit. I got out the stockings and holders last night, and my Santa tea-light holder, and the Christmas textiles (towels, table runner, hotpads, etc.). I can't actually hang the stockings, though, because they hang from heavy holders that spell out N-O-E-L, and if Daughter were to pull on one of the stockings we'd probably end up at the Emergency Room getting stitches in her head. I'm really wanting to use my Twelve Days of Christmas goblets, too. They've never been out of the box! You guys want to come over for a party?

Anyway, I am hoping for a fake tree this year. I know, I KNOW, it's not the same, but people, can I just tell you that I am STILL finding needles from last year's tree? No matter how much I vacuum there are always more needles. I can't take it. I want a nice, fake tree so I can just swing the branches down and voila! Instant tree! Plus we won't have to water it and have that skanky wet trunk to drag out in a month, the dog won't try to drink from the stand, and Daughter won't be able to pull needles off and then come running to me, crying and hollering "ick! yucky!" when they stick to her fingers. Yes, a nice fake tree. That's the ticket. Anyone know of good deals on about a 6-7 footer? I think I will check out Home Depot and Lowe's. I seem to recall they had good prices.

I'm off to take advantage of naptime. It's a rest day. Hope you all find time for some rest too.