Homemade Christmas

This year, I wanted to save some money and make Christmas even more special by giving as many handmade gifts as possible. These are the bags I made for my niece and nephews, I will fill them with cookies when I see them this weekend, and hopefully get a drawstring inserted into the blue bags, but I need a little help from my sister-in-law to do the buttonholes on the sewing machine. Hats galore this year. Actually, a couple are missing from this photo because I sent them out of town before I took the picture. Whoops! I was pulling my hair out with a couple of them. It took me a while to perfect the pattern, and I used an acrylic yarn for one of them which I will never do again. It was not fun to knit with!

Potholders for my sister-in-law.

Chili's monkey robe. This material was a pain to work with, but the end result was well worth the effort!

Had to get creative this year for the "tree." In all the moves of the last couple of years, the artificial tree was lost. We talked about getting a real tree, but have been busy, and that plan never materialized. This was what I engineered to hang our ornaments.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!

Movie Review: The Visitor

This movie is about a university professor who finds himself depressed and unhappy with his life after the loss of his wife. He is unsatisfied in his job, where he admits it's been a long time since he's done any real work. He tries to look busy and go through the motions, but without any real interest. He is trying to learn piano, I guess as a way of remembering his wife, who was a pianist, only to learn he really doesn't have the talent or love for it that has wife did. When he goes to another city to present a collegue's paper, he stays as his apartment there. When he arrives, he finds an immigrant couple is staying there, presumably someone named Ivan was renting it to them. They apologize and quickly offer to leave, but really don't have anywhere to go. When the professor sees them outside later, he offers for them to stay a few days while they look for something. This begins a friendship that brings him back to life. The two men bond over drumming, something the professor finds he has a passion for. When some unjust events bring difficulty to the lives of this couple, the professor is deeply affected as he sees and experiences the world from someone else's point of view. I highly recommend this movie. It can be found on Netflix watch instantly(for those who have that).

One BIG Snowman

The snowman Papi made for Chili.

Snowy Day

Chili enjoying some fun in the snow with Papi!
Oh, and this is the hat Mami knit her for Christmas. I love how it looks on her!

Funky Santa

Wishing you and your families a Merry Christmas!

1 Year and Over 100 posts!

Yesterday was my one year blogging anniversary. I've been sharing with all of you my journey to live simply and love strongly for one year now. I hope that my experiences have encouraged or inspired or at least amused someone out there...has it? Now is the perfect time to say hi if you've been reading this! Let me know what you've learned or enjoyed in this last year of live simply, love strongly.

Winter Wonderland???

Looks so pretty from the pictures, but the reality is, the roads have been a challenge to say the least. We are getting a little stir crazy. Personally, I think this winter weather is not so wonderful.