Moments

I’m still a little flattened here – I did indeed get so sick, and so did enough people that at moments this Christmas, the whole thing reminded me of the voyage of the damned. It was indeed a holiday where a lot went wrong, but instead of whinging about that (and oh, there is plenty) instead I give you a few moments where things went very right.

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There was a lot to love in this tricky, tricky Christmas – and we’ve still got a festivity to go, when we all gather again tomorrow – assuming we’re all upright and standing. More after that, dear hearts, and I hope whatever challenges your family faced this holiday, it had its moments too.

89 thoughts on “Moments

  1. I hope you’re all mended and able to enjoy what’s left of the holiday. I spent mine alone with Hubby, his hand in a cast, and me with only a very slight cold.

  2. Thank you for putting up a picture of the final advent calendar! It was something *I* looked forward to every day.

    Get better soon.

  3. Pingback: Moments | Yarn Buyer

  4. Glad you seem to have survived, although possibly just barely. . . Indeed, keep calm and carry on. I’m hoping to hear about your mom’s present, because you offered just a tantalizing hint. . ..

  5. Well done, all y’all. Scrub your memories, install this golden posting. With a three year old and a seven month old visiting (and needing to fly home) I heard little virus footsteps at every moment, but we made it. Rest up, cast on.

  6. What stunning photos! I see joy, family, youth, growth and love. Now that’s the spirit of the holidays! Thank you for sharing despite the creeping crud.

  7. So happy you were well enough to enjoy some of the festivities. Your family is a clear example of “Love conquers all.”

    The Advent Calendar tree is lovely. Thank you for posting the image of it completed.

    As your health and stamina return I hope you will share some of the stories behind the photos. I am particularly curious about the quartet of cats. (Or are they “gatos”?)

    Be well.

  8. How lovely these photos are! The advent tree is splendid – thank you for showing us. What a wonderful new tradition for the family you have started. Hope you feel better soon! Love those dangling star lights in the window. And what are Cards against Humanity? I’ll have to go google those.

  9. It was great seeing the advent tree hanging, a really memorable gift. I’m looking forward to hearing what the costumes were all about. Please rest up for the binge cleaning you put yourself through every New Year.

  10. I am so glad it all worked out for you. Happy Christmas and I hope you enjoyed Cards Against Humanity–it’s one of my favorite games!

  11. Oh yes we here too had the Christmas where the tissues were near and the traditional dinner wasn’t made. Our wonderful moments were laughing through the sneezes and the extra cuddles that were needed. We were thankful for being together whatever the state we were in. Your moments looked wonderful. Feel better soon.

  12. Tough year for many, I think. I find myself unexpectedly away from home, almost two full weeks in a hotel. Still with some family, but longing to get back to familiar places and a real kitchen/pantry.

  13. I look forward to your posts. I am a knitter and my mother was too. She died five weeks ago , so Christmas has been hard. There were some good moments, but now I’m kind of glad it is over.

    • I am so sorry for your loss! The first year is such a roller-coaster of a year, and the first few months are like having a concussion (give yourself a break and don’t expect to remember even the simplest things)
      Hang in there, and hug who ever you can.

      • Agree! Lost my dad this year. We hadn’t been on the best terms for years and saw each other only infrequently. Still darn hard. Take care, be good to yourself.

    • I’m so sorry for your loss. My dad passed 2-1/2 years ago, and at times it all seems so fresh in my mind. Cherish those special memories you have!

  14. We are still facing what we are calling Christmas Pox (despite toddler daughter being vaccinated). Have to take her in as she’s had no improvement since Monday. I’m glad your family seems in theend!

  15. Thanks for sharing your good and not so good times. I have loved the advent posts – a moment to relax in a busy December.
    Despite the ups and downs a loving family makes it all worth every stressful moment.
    Hope you and your family are all better soon.

  16. As soon as I saw the second picture, I was hoping that she was drinking from her own glass, and hadn’t picked up one belonging to a germier person! My favorite gift this year: a t-shirt that reads: “knitting is sitting still for creative people”

  17. Thank you for these pictures as witness that Christmas happens, there is love and warmth and laughter and light, and that you can remember what you choose. Thanks too for the picture of the completed Advent calendar, a real tour de force. Love the cats. Blessings to you and your family.

  18. Christmas in Honolulu was warm and sunny. Hawaii knitters generally mailed their creations to family and friends on the US Mainland, although Hawaii Island can be cold and there is some snow on Mauna Kea. I checked in every day to see what Luis added to his Tree. Sure to be great fun for years to come. I hope you feel better for New Year’s. Aloha and happy holidays

  19. oh! Please tell me where you got those strings of starlights hanging down the French doors! I <3 them! And kudos to you for finding the joy in the midst of frustration or disappointment.

  20. Oooh, it’s ‘Little Blue Truck’! In Spanish, too. A great favorite at our house.

    Merry Christmas to you and yours, I always love hearing and seeing about your family. Your home seems to be a beacon of love and hope, no matter what. Here’s hoping you get some rest and are back up and kicking soon.

    P.S. good heavens, is that grown-up person Hank? And did you get your annual auntie shopping trip in for his mom? (even if he *is* old enough to go on his own)

    • Oh, that’s right! Did you?? And many thank you’s for the daily December posts with what Luis was hanging. I looked forward to it each and every day. Hope everyone is feeling better soon!!

  21. “Oh if life were only moments,
    Even now and them a bad one;
    But if life were only moments,
    Then you’d never know you had one.”

    Sorry. Couldn’t resist.

  22. The photos show that the best part of Christmas, time spent with loved ones, reigned. My Christmas ended with a flood in the kitchen on Boxing Day, but to put a positive spin on it, my kitchen floor (and the ceiling in the laundry room) is now really, really clean. Keep Calm and Carry On, indeed.

  23. so much life, joy and love in these photos! thank you for sharing! it’s been a tough fall and december – the pictures are a nice bright spot! and I’ve loved the december posts. i jope you feel better very soon!

  24. Perhaps another Hot Toddy will put everything in an upright position.
    Hope all recover quickly!
    All the best to you & yours this New Year!!!!

  25. Love the wonderful Christmas pictures, and the final view of the amazing Advent calendar. Wonderful, wonderful! After the first time I played “Games against Humanity”
    I had to order them for both of my sons in law. What a hilarious, naughty game!! Enjoy, and get well quickly.
    Thanks for so kindly letting us peek into your wonderful world Stephanie. Glorious New Year!

  26. I got addicted to ‘what Luis hung on the tree.’ What a great project. Lovely pictures of creativity and love. Hope you’re all on the mend. (We were sick too…sucks)

  27. We had to put my 87 yr old Mum in dementia care the day after Christmas….in spite of years of conflicts with her and no other options, my heart is broken. Your post of family photos and warmth does my heart good. Thank you and get well soon.

  28. Where is the Green Sheep is a wonderful book. Buy Luis anything by Mem Fox ( Time for Bed is my favourite). And best wishes of wellness to you for the new year.

  29. Well, I spent 4.5 hours in the ER on Christmas Day waiting for them to finally sew up my foot. Needed 7 stitches after tripping on an area rug at my daughter’s house. But ti was none the less a lovely Christmas. Everyone got along, the gifts were hits, lots of knitted lovelies. Get well. My foot is healing just fine.
    Julie in San Diego

  30. I too have not felt well over the Christmas season but I am so blessed with wonderful family near. Thank you for showing us the completed Advent Tree. It is wonderful. Thank you as well for the gift of your time over this season when I am sure you had other things you could have been tending. Have a wonderful New Year.

  31. So good you’re feeling somewhat better; we got hit by that quick-and-dirty stomach bug here too, spent 100% of Christmas Day in bed. Really good to know you’ve touched base, too–so much better than the year you said you were Going To The Mall and then didn’t check back in for DAYS: we all thought maybe you’d actually been eaten by the machinery of commercialism! At least this year we were pretty sure you were safe in your own bed…we do worry, you know! =)

  32. It looks like a lovely Christmas time, Stephanie. All that family. All those memories. I’m glad you posted the good times so, in the future, you can look back and think “Christmas 2014 was Wonderful.”

    Here’s to a brighter, even better, 2015.

  33. So sorry you had a sick household at Christmas. It was hard enough for us to have a sick toddler! But there are definitely moments and thank you for reminding us the moments were what really mattered.

  34. Thanks for sharing all the great Advent Calendar posts. I really enjoyed hearing about which one Lou was hanging up each day. He’s so cute. You also helped me brush up on my really pitiful Spanish. I’m so sorry that you were sick. We had a lot of that around here too. It sucks! Rest up, feel better, and keep playing Cards Against Humanity. I’ve heard that laughing chases the germs away!

    When did Hank get so big!!! Wow! Time goes by so quickly. He almost looks grown up in that picture. I hope that you have a wonderful happy and healthy New Year!

  35. Sending out healthy vibes your way — I hope you’re family is all on the mend.

    I LOVE that you have Cards Against Humanity! That’s a favorite around here. 😀

  36. The advent tree is lovely.
    Christmas that has many things going wrong becomes part of the family mythology. We have few of those in our mythology that the kids love hearing about. It helps keep them from having unrealistic expectations of the season when they grow up.

  37. Thank you for sharing your holiday, the downs as well as the high points; we all have them. And for the spreadsheet! I was sick too, but fortunately managed the long drive to sons homes first, where my awesome accomplished daughters-in-law did fantastic jobs preparing their feasts while I dozed. Still have one sock to finish, though… [back to work].

  38. Merry Christmas! Thanks for the December posts. Hope that you and yours are well by now, and enjoying the last bit of holidays! What beautiful photos!

  39. Glad you made it to the other side of Christmas with some good memories. Hope you feel all the way better soon, and can celebrate more at New Year’s!

  40. just started reading your blog a few weeks ago. I have so enjoyed your posts…thank you. The advent calendar is lovely!
    Happy New Year!

  41. I too am new to your blog and so enjoyed watching every day for the item that would be placed on the Advent Tree. That little one is just precious and will enjoy this gift for all of his life. Thanks you for sharing and I pray you are feeling better soon.

  42. There is much to be said about laughter … we played “Cards Against Humanity” also. And laughed ourselves into oblivion.
    Glad you survived the “dreaded lurgy” attack … being sick over the holidays is NO fun.
    Thanks for the joy you share.

  43. Hope you feel better soonest. Your daughters certainly had the right idea to wear those t-shirts! Best wishes to you and yours for a happy new year.

  44. Thank you so much for all your posts this year especially the Christmas ones. Wishing you and yours a very happy and healthy New Year from the UK

  45. I am so sorry you got sick over Christmas, and that it cast a pall on everything. We had major water damage in our house on Christmas Eve, so I certainly understand your feelings. Hang in there! Somehow we managed to still enjoy ourselves, and insurance adjusters are coming today to assess the damage, so there is that.

  46. I hear ya! My husband and I have had the cold from hell for going on three weeks for me, two for him which kept us from visiting our son, daughter in law and two grandchildren. Our youngest daughter is in a cast recovering from major ankle surgery and both she and her sister left here with the beginnings of an entirely different sort of cold. However, we also managed to salvage a lovely Christmas from the wreckage and I actually committed my first act of yarn bombing–on my daughter’s cast! Here’s to 2015! I wish you and your family the very best!

  47. Those beautiful pictures will become the best-remembered part. Love to all.

    We prepared for a nephew and his wife to stay here for his brother’s wedding this Saturday and found out the day they were to come that they weren’t going to stay here after all–but the reason was that his mother had gotten her father to come along on the trip and wanted them to spend as much time with her father as possible; he’s fading and this trip will very likely be his last. So they are all staying together, and not here. We get family time (even if a bit less of it) without the houseguest time.

    But we get some time together. And you got some time together. And we are all very fortunate.

  48. You still inspire- even when you’re down for the count. May we all suffer from a little more “pathological happiness”!! 🙂
    Warm wishes.

  49. Your advent calendar and little knitted ornaments were both very inspiring (as your posts.) Can we look forward to a book with all the patterns for the ornaments???

  50. I love the Advent calendar and everything looked lovely. My surprise, though? Look how Hank has grown! I’ve loved watching your little family grow over the years. Thank you for sharing them with us. 🙂

  51. A belated Happy Christmas, Happy Solstice and a (current) Happy New Year to you and yours, my friend. I still remember your delight, astonishment an sorrow in our whirlwind tour of New Orleans before your book signing, and the beautiful post you wrote.

    I am still trying to gather myself after Dave’s death in February. My sole New Year’s resolution is at once simple and impossible: create a “new normal.” Part of that involves moving to Portland, Oregon, as Dave and I had planned, as soon as possible after I can sell our business. New city, new job, new chapter in life.

  52. Such lovely photos, conveying warmth & happiness. You are very blessed. Ok, time to start knitting for next year’s Christmas gifts!!

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