Our security detail is on duty, but if Santa showed up, Dusty would greet him happily. We are safe from casual intruders, and the UPS person doesn't have to ring the doorbell. Meanwhile, Sandy was off somewhere recharging his batteries.
It has been a busy week, as usual. We finished the greeting cards last week, and this week, I wrote our holiday letter. I had to make this map, showing our big trip during the summer. The green line was our route eastward, showing where we went camping in Utah, where Peter's family and Alex joined us. Peter's family followed the same route to Wyoming and South Dakota, and we camped together along the way. We parted company in South Dakota. They headed back, doing some camping on their return trip, while we continued on to Wisconsin to visit Karen and her family. Finally, we drove to Indiana to visit Tim with his family. We hightailed it home, covering the distance in only five days. It took less time to make the map.
I'm waiting for buttons for my Oregon Autumn Cardigan, which may turn out to be an Oregon Winter Cardigan, as winter is quickly approaching. However, I got a start on a doll sweater, which was supposed to be for Max, a Little Kidz doll going to honorary granddaughter Elsie for Christmas. Pauly generously offered to part with his pajama pants, a jacket, a sweater, his sleep mask and some sneakers, and I can take my time making new ones for him. that takes some of the pressure off. I can bring this sweater to Elsie when I go to the Yarn Crawl in March.
I bake almost every week. This week I made Pulla. We're eating one now, and one is in the freezer for Christmas enjoyment.
Here's the recipe. I use a bread machine for the mixing and kneading and then bake it in the oven.
What do you suppose is in this box? Or maybe I should ask "who" is in the box.
My muses told me I needed a new character for the stories. I'm not sure yet where this will take the stories, but they always come to me in their time.
She says her name is Olivia. She arrived when the other Kidz were out (it had just snowed). We hadn't been expecting her until later in the day. She had some pretend tea and got acquainted with Mandy and Veronika.
She wanted some pretend toast with something called "Marmite" on it with her pretend tea. She is going to be interesting.
Fancywork yarn shop was having a trunk show with an indie dyer, A Skeiner Darkly. The owner of the company was there, Ann Woods. We had a nice chat and I saw some of her lovely yarns. I couldn't spend any more money this month, but I found out she will be at the yarn crawl in March, so I plan to pick up a skein or two from her then. She also has an Etsy shop. Before I left the shop, the shop owner drew my attention to a sheep in the window wearing a doll sweater. It's sort of redundant, I think, to put a sweater on a sheep, but he sure looks cute!
On Sunday, my back had been bothering me, and the choir didn't have to sing, so I watched the service on YouTube. Our (fairly) new priest included the children in the service and had them come up to the front for the sermon.
For some cuteness, here is Soren, eating some soup (I think) while his two eagles listen to the discussion over by the fireplace.
There's still lots to do to get ready for the holidays. Are you ready yet?
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What's in The Doll's Storybook: This week's story from #TheDollsStorybook is
Dreaming of Christmas. The Kidz go caroling at a home with a boy and a girl in a wheelchair. It's about where happy dreams come from when there are dolls living with you.
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