The Night Before Aoife

My latest holiday extravaganza improv Christmas quilt.  Made it a few  years ago, who knows where it has been until now!!!!

This is a tough year for us all.  The kids are so upset at their daddy's choices and miss him so..for the holidays.  Me too!!  We are all trying to accept life on life's terms and create new traditions.

This is new:

The children told me that their daddy taught them how to put up the outdoor lights.

They say that a new tradition is that they do it themselves.  And in a blink of an eye, way before I get outside to supervise and shout to them not to fall, they had the lights up. 

 Amazing kids and so proud of themselves.

Uncle Brendan sent us a lovely box of fruit.  What I did not know is that the kids had never eaten grapefruit before!!  Amazing to me since I grew up in Phoenix with grapefruit trees in my backyard and lived 20 years in Miami.

I have now ordered a few grapefruit spoons and taught them how my grandma taught me...the honey on top!!  They ate all the grapefruit in one day.  Next day, Lynsey took out the juicer and juiced fresh oranges for the family...Wonderful!!  We have only had this fruit box 24 hours and it is already empty...Yummy!!!

Somehow all the dinnerplates have been broken these past 2 years....our wedding china in daily use for 40 years.  There are two plates left.  Online I found these pasta bowls...Kids are thrilled with the colors and shape.  Here is a snack adorned with one of my grandmother's Bakelite knives.

The children's middle school has been so supportive of our family.

I told the children that  when we can sew, there is no reason to spend money on gifts.

Today, they gave out 15 homemade teachers' gifts.  I forgot to take a picture of Dylan's jar opener and Lynsey's potholder...Next week I am sending in a basket of tissue holders for the office staff...Teaching the kids that we give back.

Other news:  Lynsey auditioned for a part in the school play...and was accepted.  She is soooo thrilled.

She was also asked to speak at a convention on Zoom...Way to go girl.

I had a wonderful video of our Aoife but cannot seem to upload it!!  grrrrr,

I had a lovely present to give to our Orkin guy...He said that he really loves the one I gave him last year....the same thing...OMG I am so losing it!!  I am a Christmas present failure.  TBTG I  have a cupboard of things I have made through the  years. I gave him a basket instead. 

 Then, Lynsey found a zippy bag I had made and filled it with bandaids for her PE teacher.

A lovely cleaning lady came today.  She made my bed with fresh sheets....so wonderful...Until, I saw

that the arrogant Stitch claimed the only cat Christmas pillowcase for himself... Really Stitch???

He shows no remorse!!

The Irish Chain I made and by now is soft and comfy.

The "T" quilt is the first antique quilt we bought for our collection. It is a 100 year old political quilt."T"  is for Temperance.

And so we wait for Aoife. God willing, in 12 hours she should arrive in Charlotte.

It is a dream come true.