I'm enjoying my after-Christmas knitting, although I'm actually still knitting a Christmas gift for Steve. But since it's an extra gift, I don't feel any pressure. I wanted to use this gorgeous Green Mountain Spinnery Alpaca Elegance yarn I bought in May at Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival and I decided on the Ancient Mariner Watch Cap pattern. I absolutely love how it looks. (Oops, I finished it since I started this post. Not working seems to make my knitting go faster. Huh.)
My oldest daughter is in town and since they're vegetarians, I wanted to make sure I had some snacks for them. Even though Steve and I don't eat a lot of meat, I sometimes feel stressed about having a variety of foods.
I made a White Bean Dip, using lots of garlic and lemon juice and loved it, although it was thinner than I expected. I also made a Black Bean version, swapping out the lemon juice for lime, and adding jalapeño slices and chili spices in place of the garlic. (I would have left the garlic in, but not everyone loves it as much as I do.) I also had a pan of macaroni and cheese and deviled eggs, along with a bunch of other stuff. They left today and our refrigerator is still packed with food, so I'd say I made enough.
Oh, how I love having my girls in the house at the same time. It happens so rarely and it makes me so happy. I was in the kitchen a couple of times doing dishes and listening to them talk and it was so very nice. They both missed Stephanie, which tells you how much they love her.
This is the old advent calendar the girls loved when they were growing up. They used to compete to see who would be the first one up in order to move the mouse to the next pocket and they still love it, even though they usually aren't here to move it anymore. Melissa told me she loves that I still hang up the Christmas cards on the door; my mom always did it and so do I.
I bought a personalized bone for my parents dog, Bailey, for Christmas from an Etsy seller, and she loves it.
I hung the girls' stockings up too, even though they are too old for them. Traditions are important, especially to them.
Melissa posed with her dad's dog, Henry, at his house.
And Gracie napped on the hand knits I had on the bed, before I was able to wrap them.
Olivia, known as Ollie, enjoyed her rope toy that I bought her for Christmas, although her look seems to say, "Why are you bothering me?"
The day after Christmas was so warm that we all took a walk on the beach.
This is Steve, Meredith, and Ollie, as they enjoy the smells of the bay.
Meredith and Ryan left around 3:00 this afternoon, which makes me sad, but we definitely enjoyed our time together, as short as it was. Today was a rainy, cold day, so Meredith and I elected to stay curled up in the couch in our pajamas until they left, knitting, chatting, and eating leftovers. Oh, how I wish she lived closer so we could spend more days like this together.
Hope your Christmas was lovely and your after Christmas even better.
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