This week’s Think Write Thursday topic is to write about my favorite holiday tradition – what I love about it, how it started, and why it’s important to me.
So, here is my favorite holiday tradition that absolutely makes my Christmas brighter:
Christmas music – hundreds of hours of it. And, an eclectic mix of it that is heavy on English Carols, but includes Aaron Neville, James Taylor, Vince Guaraldi, and lots of Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra. Those are the sounds of Christmas to me – but the best part of all were my mom’s Firestone Christmas Albums. And, singing along – so much singing along – loudly and with much joy! The Julie Andrews albums were my favorite. I came from a musical family, and every Christmas it feels good to be immersed in musical memories.
This pairs with the tradition above and involves more singing! But this singing is in church choir on Christmas Eve. To lift my voice in joyful song – there is nothing better in all the world. I have sung in choir since high school and cannot imagine Christmas without it.
But, what about you? Do you have any Holiday Traditions?
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I am making progress on the Christmas Request knitting. I have one more sock to finish, and perhaps another pair of slippers – depending on how the sock moves along!
I am also knitting my four repeats daily for Project Peace – and I am really enjoying it. From daily Peace posts to the knitting meditation – there is a noticeable change in the atmosphere at Casa del KatKnits!
I got a nice surprise this week from the Sheepspot Breed Club – Southdown! I have never spun (or knit, for that matter!) with this fiber and I am eager to give it a try! The colors this month were also interesting. Is it yellow? Or green? As you can see, others had the same question! Jillian has a great article in the new Knitty on color blending that I am going to try with the multi-color braid. And, yes – this fiber seems to be saying “card me”!!
My reading has stagnated a bit I am sad to say! I have yet to finish Burial Rites, which hardly seems possible with the insomnia I have had this week! However, I have about 75 pages to go and I hope to have this finished today!
The library just emailed me that a book I had on hold was available, so I have that to look forward to as well but, I am not certain this will help my insomnia!
However, this was the best find all week. Thank you, NPR, for this incredible list! So many books I have not read, but I was happy to see several I had read on this list! But, my “to read” list has grown exponentially! Perhaps, 2017 will be the Year of Good Books (and little else)!
I am also contemplating what knits I need to finish – and there is a list of them – as well as what knits I want to start in 2017. Mapping out the New Year is always a good plan!
What do you want to knit or read in the New Year?
Linking up with Ginny’s Yarn Along, where you will find plenty of well-read knitters!
Tuesday…You are becoming more dreaded than Monday!
Trying to work out a convenient thing for Tuesday’s is giving me fits! Perhaps even causing insomnia!
Okay, maybe my insomnia is a problem of an entirely different sort – you know, the one that comes with being a certain age?? Yeah, that one.
Anyways, at 2:30AM Blog Post Eureka struck.
Christmas cards!!
That’s right – I am a Christmas card sender – and getting them done is on my list this week!
Now all I need are some Diwali stamps, which will be hopefully obtained today. (That is if there has not been a run on Diwali stamps at my post office!!)
My favorite part of Christmas is the anticipation that Advent brings.
I love the twinkling lights, the decorations, the candles, and the music. They all add to the anticipation of the season – that feeling of getting ready for something special.
It was not always this way – I grew up in a house where we did not put up a tree until Christmas Eve – and most years we took it down on the day after Christmas.
Perhaps because of that, the minute I had my own place – Christmas anticipation started early! Most years, decorating began the day after Thanksgiving – and I kept the decorations up until Twelfth Night. And, trees – I put up more than one. There was a “fancy” living room tree, a Santa Tree in the den, Kitchen Tree, and small trees in the bedrooms. But the best tree was the “kids tree” that they could decorate or undecorate as often as they wanted!
Christmas now is a more relaxed affair – there are not trees everywhere but, the anticipation of getting ready for something special is the part of Christmas that I hope to never let go.
The start of peaceful knitting began yesterday at Casa del KatKnits – and it feels so, well, peaceful and meditative! While knitting yesterday I was thinking of other knitters who are joining me in this journey – there are 2,192 projects currently listed on Ravelry (however as of 11/29 there were over 14k participating!!) but I am especially thinking about those I know who are knitting along with me.
I hope you all managed to get 318 stitches cast on and began knitting yesterday. I completed the cast on and the first 4 rounds yesterday. I will continue today with the second repeat of the pattern. I am happy to say that the pattern is easy to memorize.
I am looking forward to 20 more days of knitting and meditating on peace for this world.
I am fortunate Steve loves me so much, he surprised me yesterday with a pre-holiday package from Miss Babs and Jenny the Potter! A mug for me and some yarn from which I will make a hat for him. Thank you Steve!! And, thank you Miss Babs for the sample of Tarte! This will be the perfect accent for my next pair of Squad Mitts!
Now, how about some links?
Parker Beanie (the model of the beanie has the most infectious smile!!)
For this week’s Think Write Thursday we are welcoming December with a hearty hello:
Hello, dear December,
I love you so much, but you can be a bit overwhelming at times.
With the flurry of activities that you bring, it seems that you can be over and done with before I even know it.
This year let’s try something different, shall we?
I think we will both be much happier if we slowed down and savored the season.
I love the anticipation that is Advent…my savoring plan to appreciate Advent each day will start with some Advent meditation.
I love the decorating portion of preparing for Christmas. The tree is up, the lights are on – but there are no ornaments on yet. AND – the tree in this state is not making me crazy! I know, right? My savoring plan for tree trimming is that it will be part of this Friday’s Happy Hour celebration – cocktails, good eats, music – and Steve and I will trim the tree together.
I love the foods of Christmas, and especially the sweets. However, all those sweets are unnecessary – and don’t fit in with the diet very well. My savoring plan for cookie baking will be to bake just one or two favorites – and it a manageable quantity (not dozens and dozens of cookies of a million different types!) And, these will be things to savor – one or two at a time – over the course of the month.
Other things to that I will be doing to remind myself to slow down and savor… tune out the news and tune in the Christmas music or turn off the television and open a book and read – things that are a good reminder that the world will keep, but December won’t.
I am glad you are here December and I am looking forward to spending some quality time together!
If you’d like to join Carole and me on our Think Write Thursday journey you can sign up here!
