string wrapped presents and cards and cookies!

Do you get as excited as I do about giving gifts? I love to find just the thing, and then to see the surprised, happy look on the person's face. That's pretty special! (I bet that's how God feels about giving gifts to us, too...)

Part of what gets me excited about the gift is how it's presented. Extra time and creativity put into the wrapping just makes it feel full of thoughtfulness and love! This is why it takes me a good week to wrap Christmas presents. I just want each one to look great on the inside and the outside!

This year, I closed some of the tissue-wrapped interiors of boxes with monogram stickers or letters to spell out the person's name. I added jingle bells to some, made individual gift tags, even made some of the gifts!

Each year, I like to go to the post-Christmas sales and pick up cards, wrapping paper, ribbon, tissue, and anything else to store for the next year's wrapping. I'm pretty good about guessing how much I'll need, but this year, I ran out of ribbon! Gasp!

I saw this idea somewhere, possibly here? and it sure came in handy. The last presents to arrive in the mail this year were for my brothers, and so it didn't really matter that I was out of ribbon.
(Shh... let's pretend I meant to do this all along. Yes.)

I wrapped the present in the middle with the last of the gold metallic kraft wrapping paper, and had a wide strip left over. Then, I wrapped the other two in kraft paper, using the leftover gold strip as a wide "ribbon" across the middle of each. For the gold-wrapped package, I added a strip of leftover plaid wrapping paper.

Next, I wrapped red cotton string around and around and around and around one of the kraft wrapped packages. It really didn't take very long!

The spool of string sat nicely on one of the dining room chair posts. Norah-kitty was rather delighted by this. I remembered that I have metallic gold thread, so that went on, too. Tucked in a tag, and it was done!

For this one, I first wrapped red around the middle, being careful to line up each wrap of string with the next. Then white cotton string went around the outside of the red string, followed by gold thread and another wrap of red. Pretty!

The last present is for my handsome husband. His gold-and-plaid wrapped gift was finished off with a wrapping of red and green string, with some gold metallic thread to give it a bit of sparkle.

On to the card! I feel like with each card that I made this year, I got more and more creative. I love the way this one turned out! Merry Christmas, Sarah P.!

My friend, Jamie Z. came over for cookie making and tea last Friday, and these are some of my favorite cutouts.

I took waaaaay too much time on my Santa cookie, but I love how it turned out! Look at the little wrapped present and teddy bear in Santa's sack of gifts!

This Scottie dog was supposed to have a plaid blanket, and this is the best I could do! I'm pleased.

Throughout this week, I've also made a second batch of cutout cookies, Swedish ginger cookies, pumpkin pie, and Spritz cookies. I promise I haven't eaten more than...five? or six? Most are wrapped and ready to give! I wrapped some in parchment paper, tied with red and green string, and tagged with a festive fabric label.

Did you know that tape won't stick to parchment paper? Yeah, neither did I. So that was tricky, but I like how it turned out!

So with that, Merry Christmas, friends! I hope yours is full of peace, joy, and love.

oh, the wish list!

I am a shop-ahead Christmas gift shopper... most of the time, I have all of the gifts by Thanksgiving, or at least have planned to make them! I'm always slightly disappointed when I find out that something is on super-sale and I'm missing it.

And then there's the yearly wish-list compilation. In an effort to help my family know what we're hoping for, hubby and I put together a list with presents from the $10 and below range to the we're-sure-you-won't-buy-it range: true "wish" items. Sigh. It makes me feel like a kid.

Then, I remember that Christmas isn't really about the gifts at all, but about the Gift of God-in-flesh, the gift of relationship with God himself, the gifts of peace and hope for the future complete restoration of the world.

And I feel slightly guilty for making a wish list. But, anyway. There's always something I come across after I've already sent the list, and I realize that I simply Must. have. this. please? (probably a result of too many cookies and too much Pinterest)

So, with no further ado, the additions to the wish list. Thanks to Minnesota Public Radio's advertisement on their Christmas stream, I've come across Fjorn Scandinavian. Heritage and beauty all in one.

Topping my list is this advent "wreath", a simply beautiful candleholder made of brushed metal - it's an art piece, certainly. Sigh.

I've thought for a long time about how I might incorporate mistletoe into the Christmas decorating scheme. I don't have access to the real thing, and silk flowers aren't my thing, but this ornament is just perfect!

Because my name is hard to find in English-speaking countries, I've enjoyed the prominence of "Linnea" in Sweden. My grandma gave me the matching table runner to these placemats. Wouldn't that be a lovely spring or Easter or summer table?

Finally (for now!), a throw that also bears my name.

Not that I actually need any of these things, but, hey! Now you know what I'm wishing for, right?

To balance out all these admittedly expensive wishes, here is a link I found to some beautiful free printables at Dear Lillie. She has so many lovely things besides those, too. I love the idea of spreading poetry all throughout my house and introducing high quality literature to my (someday) children from an early age.

crafted Christmas

Being a grad student means I have a lot less time to do crafts. I miss that!

However, holidays require decorating. They just do. So I bow to the pressure (read: neglect the vacuuming and dishes) and create. Cards, garland, card hanging garland, table decorations, more cards, decorating cookies, knitting, making other things. Here are some of the projects that have consumed my spare moments.

I am particularly proud of these two cards! I made a bunch more, but I love how these turned out.

Two of my favorite cards

This one I am very proud of - I drew and cut out those letters and shapes!

This evergreen swag was made by my mom and left "blank" for me to personalize with ribbon. etc. I'm not there yet, but I have some ideas!

I made my card-hanging garland this year out of three strands of cotton crochet string. I "chained" it as long as I wanted, using my fingers instead of a crochet hook to get that loose, open look. The cards are just taped onto the string. I hung the garland with tiny picture nails so that it could support all the cards!

This is my sparkly pine cone centerpiece, which currently has a lovely life on my breakfast bar.
Never mind all the flash reflections in the ornaments!

This garland is made of felt circles (ridiculously hard to cut, by the way) and red cotton string. I like how light and airy it looks! The kitties are pretty sure it's a fabulous toy made especially for them. Frustrated about that. This, by the way, is the same reason we don't have the tree up this year.

I made bird seed ornaments, following this tutorial. These are for my father-in-law, gifted with an Audubon Society bird identification book! I hope he'll love them.

Anyway...soon, there will be Christmas cut-out cookies (as requested by my husband), and present wrapping, and more knitting and...

...this girl must first finish her final exams.

early spring, please?

'twas the week before Valentines'
and all through the apartment,
Linnea was cleaning -it's her job department.
The cobwebs which hung on the ceiling with(out) care
Were all brushed away - not a speck, none left there.

The Christmas decorations were all put away,
Even the pinecones that glittered so gay.
And all the red candles, each ornament bright,
Had been tucked away for next Advent's sight.

When all of a sudden, there rose such a clatter -
What had Norah done? What was the matter?
To the china cabinet I ran so very fast
And saw the door open... naughty little cat!

The sun on the opened cabinet beamed
Revealing pink things that shimmered and gleamed
Light floral candles, ribbons and white
Small candy hearts - green and purple, and tealights!

The newly cleaned house just begged to be given
A new color scheme and an abundance of ribbon.
So out with the red, the green, and the gold
In two short months, that scene has grown old.

In with pastels! With pinks! With blues!
In with the Valentine's candy hearts too.
In with the florals, the romance, the birds,
The cards, the chocolate, the cheesy sweet words.

I'll invite all my friends, at least just the girls;
We'll make V-day cards and wear pink and our pearls.
With a flourish of pens and paper and glue,
We'll wish a quite happy Valentine's Day to you.

Christmas has come!

At least, to our house! My husband and I celebrated Christmas this past Saturday evening, since he doesn't have any non-weekend evenings free, and we'll be with family for this coming weekend.

The day started off with a quick trip to his parents' house - his dad is an experienced mechanic and was able to fix a minor issue with our car. We drove home through a pretty snowscape and not too much snow on the roads - excellent.

We had planned to have Christmas on Sunday, but it was just getting too exciting. What could we do? :o)

I pulled out a frozen beef roast and let it defrost a bit on the counter while we snuggled on the couch and enjoyed our (almost destroyed - thank you, kitties) Christmas tree.

Dinner was served on our fine china, with glasses of festive red cranberry juice standing in for wine. I used my newly-created pinecone centerpiece, my Orrefors raspberry crystal tealight holders, and my brand new placemats from my in-laws. Perfectly festive. My husband and I dressed up a bit, took pictures, and enjoyed the feast.


...and it was finally time for presents!


My sweet husband surprised me with a cozy zip-up fleece jacket, a new journal (thank you, honey!), and a new CD by one of my favorite bands. He got a few little gifts, too - an ocarina (small ethnic flute), Farkel (a dice game), BuckyBalls (a set of 200+ rare earth magnets), the Bourne Trilogy on blu ray, a Christmas CD by one of his favorite artists, and a cute penguin that I crocheted. This is my second-ever completed crochet project...he's pretty adorable, isn't he?

hello, December!

It's hard to believe that we're already halfway through December...my fancy music-themed advent calendar says so:
Whew.

Things were frustrating when we first got here, and my perception of the rest of my life was colored by that. I don't think I began to have a positive attitude about this semester until about halfway through October. Shameful - I wish I hadn't reacted like that. Do you ever wish you could go back and just change?

I have had a good semester, full of great opportunities that I might not have encountered. My husband did finally find a job, though it's 450 miles a week and really demanding hours. We do get to see each other on weekends. I've lost a lot of sleep - he's endured a lot of boredom. I feel like we've skipped over these past four months, like they didn't really happen.

But, oh, does the bank account say otherwise. We are barely hanging on, and I know that it's only God's provision that's allowing us to stay in the black. We have some huge bills looming over our heads, but we still can't pay them. The commute that my husband has is just eating through what he earns. It's so frustrating.

When we do get to see each other, we're both tired and stressed. He needs time to recharge all by himself, and I've been lonely for him all week. Does being a married adult have to look like this?

We did have a wonderful date night just last week. We pulled out some gift cards for the Cheesecake Factory - delicious. It was a brief escape for us, and that was amazing. We walked around the mall and held hands like we were dating. I loved that! We were both so happy and relaxed. I wish sometimes that life had fewer sad, frustrating valleys and more of those happy peaks. I love my husband so very much, and I wish I had more energy to give to him when he comes home so late at night.

Things have slowed down for me as the semester is coming to a close. I have only had to give a few presentations after handing in my papers, and I have one exam on Friday. Not bad! I didn't even have to sing a jury, for which I am so grateful.
I have had time to (gasp!) make cookies and decorate them...

...set up and decorate our tree,

...I've had friends over for dinner, I've finished knitting the Christmas gifts I hoped to make. My presents are wrapped, cookies are in the freezer (don't tell my hubby, or there won't be any left!), and I've actually vacuumed my house. There aren't any dishes in the sink (well, except for tonight's one small pot from dinner), I'm actually going to do a craft tonight, and I've sent Christmas cards. I even shoveled part of the driveway, spent time playing with my cats, and played piano for fun.

God is still good, even in the middle of our frustration. We're going to make it!