"Spring is coming!"
My mother and grandmother would call each other on the Winter Solstice and say that with glee. The tradition continued with my mother and me, and I think of it when the day rolls around each December.
Winter Solstice is today's Yuletide prompt. I was looking for a hardy looking pony, maybe wearing a blanket. I was reaching for Mittens, the 2023 Pony for Christmas, when I spied this piece among my Mistys.
Wish from the 2018 Wish and Wonder set. Perfect!
I've shown her as a Canadian Rustic Pony and as a Eriskay Pony, and she has a NAN card.
A base coat chalky, she looks like a pony that could survive during the depths of winter with her shaggy coat and windswept mane and tail.
Speaking of winds, this was yesterday morning. I was glad I was in my warm home!
So, everyone, spring is coming! The days are getting longer! Soon all the snow and blow and ice and chills will be over. Although we do have to get through January first... But it's on the way!
Yesterday I was busy working on Christmas until the evening hours.
In my embroidery stash, I had a set of 8 red dinner napkins. I've always wanted to make some holiday napkins for Christmas dinner, so I pulled them out, found a design, uploaded it to my embroidery machine, and got started.
I wanted something simple and classic, so of course I chose sleigh bells.
Our family gathering will be smaller this year, but still, ten people are coming. I was two napkins short. But, I also had a set of white dinner napkins in my stash, so I took two of those and embroidered them in red to match the other set.
I embroidered them, I washed them to remove the stabilizer, and then I ironed them.
I am really pleased with how they turned out and can't wait to see how they look on the table Christmas Day.
The rest of Saturday was spent in Christmas Central (aka our bedroom) wrapping gifts. I wrapped, and I wrapped, and I wrapped. (Principle of three!)
I tell my kids I will wrap their dad's gifts if they send them to me and usually I have a few of those to do, too.
I laughed at Jessica's note to her dad on the address label! And so did he!
Of course, the girl who thinks I need guiding was with me the entire time. (Her favorite guiding job? Guiding me to her food tub!)
Tammo started out with us, but I sort things into piles as I go, and whenever a box was tossed over to the recycling pile, it made him uncomfortable.
Despite my reassurances and that Pepper was with him, he finally got up and went out to his bed in the living room where no boxes were randomly flying across the room.
I put a few things under the tree, broke down the boxes and put them in the recycling tub in the garage, and finally collapsed into my reading chair for the night.
My back had become painful after doing all that standing, reaching, lifting, bending, and carrying. (The injection I had in November is clearly wearing off.) Craig cooked dinner and offered to bring me a plate, sweet guy, but I was able to get up and get it myself.
I have one last gift to do - Kathy and I are going to take something over to Tsao, our pedicurist, on Monday or Tuesday, but other than that, I'm ready for Christmas!
Ho! Ho! Ho! (Principle of three! LOL)
