December

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December...much like the whole year.  Plough on and focus on what went right...

Will THIS Be The Last Christmas Post?

Probably...

 As I slogged through yet another month of 2023, I was having trouble getting excited about the upcoming Christmas season and even toyed with just skipping it.  I knew that in the end I would have been really disappointed not seeing all my holiday lights and old friends including my 25 year old Charlie Brown Christmas tree.

I set myself up with a Solstice Advent challenge and I made a special effort to find the space to enjoy even tiny bits of joy every day and by the end of the season I'd had one of the nicest winter holiday seasons ever.  As an extra special treat I made a new friend and received a beautiful card with three two and a half of my favorite sheep.  Murphy....

Okay, when I mentioned the Advent challenge, I realized that I never shared the final picture of my daily prizes.  To avoid yet another Christmas post, I'll do that now.

I'd collected a bunch of these vintage lead sheep figurines ahead of time and Auntie Reg wrapped them all up and tucked them into my calendar.  Every day I got to unwrap and place another sheep or two in the window.  I grouped ewes, lambs playing, lambs with their mommas, rams watching over, rams thinking about fighting...  It was grand fun :-).

One day I got surprised by this cutie and there were a couple other fun sheep mixed in as well.  It was a fun way to end each day and to make each day a little special...the way every day should be.  

December

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December was a blur...but it was a pretty darn decent blur.

Maisie's Red Sled And Some Of My Favorite Things

I mentioned the red sled that went a** over tea kettle "several" years ago and broke into a million pieces.  See the kind of weird red plastic Christmas tree ornament?  It was made from that sledding wreck :-D.  It's one of my very favorite ornaments.

I love ornaments that have special stories or memories behind them.  Even years when I don't really feel like putting up any decorations, I always do because I'd hate to not visit with these special friends. 

I had plans to do a post every day this week sharing something special from my Christmas.  Even though it's only Wednesday now Thursday (!), I feel like the week has completely gotten away from me.  And actually, I just realized that one of the main reasons my week has gotten away needs his own blog post before I go any further.  Be right back. 

Okay!  Archie was a pretty good Christmas gift, eh?  :-D

I don't do a lot of traditional holiday stuff, but I do have some favorite things I'd like to share in case you might be struggling to find some Christmas spirit this year.  

One of my very favorite Christmas stories is The Tree Nobody Wanted by Tom McCann.  I love audiobooks and McCann does a wonderful job narrating if you go that route.  It's short and sweet and even if it's not a true story...and it very well is...it's a true story.

I always make a pan of gingerbread from Fields of Greens by Annie Somerville.  This year's (first :-) cake was my best yet.  Turns out if you use the actual called for size cake pan you don't have to stress about how much longer you have to bake it or how to get the middle done perfectly.  Thanks, Auntie Reg :-).  Sometimes I top it with poached cranberries (also in her cookbook), but usually I just warm it up and pour milk over it.

 

Years ago Tim put together a CD collection of our favorite Christmas music.  Yes, a CD collection, that's how long ago it was :-D.  He listens to his copy now on an iPod, but I'm still playing the CDs ;-).  Here's one of my favorite songs.  Sing along and sing it loud!

Of course my favorite sheep are maybe the best part of my Christmas.  I love being in the barn at night any night, but Christmas Eve is always extra special.  We'll once again do a live cookie party at some point in the evening.  I'll post the time on Christmas Eve...which is tomorrow :-o.

Dreaming Of A White Christmas

There is actually a pretty good chance we'll get at least a little snow tomorrow if the cold front moves in fast enough.  You'd not know it by today though.  I'm not sure what the actual temperature hit, but I think it was the upper 50s.  Tomorrow night the low is predicted to be 14.

Tomorrow night is the annual Christmas Eve Office Party.  Fifties would be much nicer for a cookie party, but we'll all wear our warm wool sweaters and enjoy our party regardless.  I haven't decided the time yet, but I'm leaning towards 9:00 eastern time.  That seems doable.

I'll host it live on Instagram and then save it to my feed.  I'm thinking I'll do the cookie party first and then do a flock walk through after so I can check in with specific sheep you'd like to see or answer questions...  If I'm not completely frozen, I may try to figure out how to do a live Facebook cookie party.  If so, I'm guessing that would be around 9:30.  

I'm still working on several gifts (sigh...) but I do finally (as of this afternoon) have all the decorations up.  I almost didn't put up the yard cut outs, but I didn't want to hurt their feelings and I decided I'd really enjoy seeing Hank out there.  I like them positioned under Salt's tree.  I should make a Maisie cut out.  

I always hope to be more ready for Christmas than I always am.  It's still fun though.  I hope you can find some peace and joy as well.  

Not A Creature Was Stirring...Except The Mouse

As anyone who's lived in the country knows, every fall, mice try to move into your house.  In the past, Betsy has taken care of this situation.  This year?  We had evidence of a mouse in the basement.  A mouse chewed a hole through the pantry wall.  A mouse got inside our oven.  It's been ridiculous.

Thanks, Betsy.

So, a couple of weekends ago Tim tore out the entire pantry, cleaned up the mess and rebuilt it with heavier duty walls.  The oven?  He tried to take it apart to see if it could be cleaned out.  We had to order a new oven.  It finally arrived this past week.  

In the middle of all this I was decorating for Christmas.

My dad spent a good effort this fall trying to talk me into taking some/all of my mother's Christmas decorations, specifically ornaments.  Our small tree is so full that I have several branches carrying two ornaments apiece, so I stood fast on No Ornaments.  I did ask for the Nativity scene though and he brought that down.

As I carefully unpacked each each character I found Mary, Joseph, the Three Wise Men, Baby Jesus...and then something that felt different.  I unwrapped...an ornament.  It was a mouse.  Oh for crying out loud.

A camel, a few sheep, an angel...and other mouse ornament.  Oxen, more sheep, the shepherd...and another mouse.  Seriously!?!  

There were nine mouse ornaments tucked into the Nativity box.

I'm sure someone is laughing somewhere (hopefully not in the pantry).  It's only just now starting to be me.  They are pretty cute  though.  And one is even knitting.  

If you can't beat 'em...

Christmas Comby

On The Third Day Of Christmas

...the barnyard gave to me...

...three adorable lambs in fleece collars...

They are what all the stylish Christmas lambs are wearing this year!

Can you believe this is little Mop Top from just last week?

Isn't he handsome!

I am in love with this sweet little smiley white lambie.  And her brothers... ;-)

I am embracing the TWELVE days of Christmas this year!

If you'd like a festive Christmas puzzle...

Enjoy!

Tilly Toes

Sorry I've missed so many days posting :-o. Here is a cute silly kind of embarrassing picture of Tilly this afternoon as a prize for anyone still checking in!

And here's the whole picture with a snippet of holiday yard sheep decorations in there to prove that we haven't ALL been belly up in the grass ;-).

Maisie's Christmas "Orneries"

Back in the early fall when we were making plans for the house remodel, I naively thought I'd be getting SO much extra work done at the Wool House because I'd be hiding out up there while the guys worked (go ahead - insert insane laughter ;-).  I made a list of fun projects I wanted to get done - Christmas cards, felted sheep, wool wreaths and Maisie ornies (slang for ornaments).  As I wrote "ornie" I couldn't help but change it to ornerie :-D.

I finally got the Christmas card painted and off to the printer (aka Saint Tim) Saturday...and again Monday (a long story that of course sort of involves Maisie) and decided that maybe it wasn't too late to think about a Maisie Ornerie.  

The first thing I did was dye a skein of Lamb Camp yarn a rich Christmas red.  Well, at first I dyed it a too purple-y red because I added too much black, but Sheepmom suggested over-dyeing it with some yellow and that fixed it.  Well, the really first thing I did was have some white mat board cut into sheep shapes, so the next first thing I did was find where I'd stashed them ;-).  

Want to make a Maisie Ornerie?  

You'll need a small piece of cardboard, some wool roving, yarn or ribbon for the bow, yarn for a tail and a small brass bell.  A tapestry needle would be handy.  A felting needle is helpful, but not necessary.  A hot glue gun...everyone should have a hot glue gun!  Needle nose pliers will help, too. Oh, and some thread or fishing line for a hanger.

Mat board is good and solid, but poster board would work just fine and will be easier to cut by hand. Sheep are a pretty simple shape.  You just need some legs and a head and a hole about halfway back for a hanger.

The next step is to draft out/thin down (if your roving is fat) some of your favorite wool roving.  I'm using actual Maisie wool so it's very fat ;-D.

Start wrapping around the cut out.  I go around the body horizontally and then around the neck and then around the body vertically.  If you don't like how it looks, unwrap it and start over.  

Sheep are a pretty simple shape - round and fluffy ;-).

If you have a felting needle handy, use it to tuck in any loose ends or straggly fibers.  Felting needles are a special type of needle that have barbs (click to biggify) along the pointy end that catch individual wool fibers as you push it in and tangle them with other fibers as you pull it out - over and over.  

Safety disclaimer - yes, you can push them into your fingers and no, you really don't want to do that. But you will, so they say you should make sure you have a current tetanus shot...which you should anyway.  But still, try to not stick yourself...but you will.  You've been warned ;-).

Here's something interesting you might not know.  Or maybe you do know and I was the only one who didn't...but if I was the only one who didn't know, they wouldn't have posted this really interesting TED talk about tying your shoes (and other bows).  It's very short.  Go watch it.  It will change your life.  I promise.  You'll never tie another crooked/sideways bow again!

For my Maisie Ornerie I added a tail.  Most sheep don't have tails so you may not care to add this extra step.  I used some leftover Maisie sweater yarn and threaded it along the top of the ornerie, just out a bit by the head, removed the tapestry needle and pulled back on the tail until the front of the yarn was hidden by wool.

I used my felting needle to tack it a few times (poke, poke, poke), just to be safe, but as long as your cat doesn't get ahold of it, it should stay pretty secure without the needle.

Run a piece of thread or fishing line through the hole in the middle.

Use needle nosed pliers (just trust me on this) to hold the tiny bell and put a small dab of hot glue on the bell and stick it to the bottom of the bow.

A Maisie Ornerie or another favorite sheep ornie :-)

It's starting to look a little like Christmas around here, but it sure doesn't feel like Christmas.  Yes, I was making these outside on the porch watching the sheep graze on the still pretty darn green grass. It was something crazy like 60 some degrees this afternoon.  Gorgeous. 

I realize it's getting a little late in the game, but I do have a small basket of Maisie Orneries ready to sell.  As I was typing out the directions, I thought I could probably put together a kit to make your own as well.  Any interest?

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Updated - If you'd like to order an Ornerie or kit, just drop me an email thecrazysheepladyATgmailDOTcom and let me know what you'd like and your shipping address and I'll get them right out.

Thank you all for your support!  It really helps :-D.

For Anyone Who Is As Stressed Out About Christmas As I Am

No stocking hung by the chimney with care?  Shopping not even started? No greeting cards in the mail?  Guess what - I haven't even painted ours yet :-o.  But I've at least got the sketch done.  At this point, it's a small victory, but I'll take it.

The remodel...what a terrible time of the year to be stuck in the middle of this mess.  I'm sure (I keep telling myself) that it will all be worth it in the end, but when I realized over Thanksgiving that the chances of it being done before Christmas were looking slim...  

I have scheduled the carpet installation for the 18th.  I hope the living room is done by then. Regardless, my beloved Christmas decorations are coming up from the basement.  'Nuff said.

Here is a sneak peek of the 2016 2015 Christmas card.  And yes, that is Graham dressed up like a big fat donkey :-D.

Updated: HAHAHAHA good catch by Linda on this is the 2015 card, not 2016, although if it was, I'd be so far ahead of the game that it would be scary...and never going to happen ;-D.

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I believe I have all the calendar orders caught up.  Thank you thank you thank you!!!  If nothing else is going right, at least the barn loft is full of hay and straw and the sheep and horses and chickens (yet another story to share) are happy.  That's a huge relief.  

If you've emailed me and I haven't responded to you, email me again.  If the embedded email link doesn't work, click on the "view my complete profile" over on the upper right corner and it will take you to a 'for sure' working link.

There are still a few Equinox Farm and Lamb Camp calendars left.  We have plenty of Lamb Camp yarn available.  And there is still plenty of time to send Christmas cards...just running short on time to paint and print them...but it will all work out.  At least I know a good printer who is happy to is used to doing rush jobs for me :-).

Santa's Little Helpers

There are too many pictures here, but I just can't decide which ones to keep and which to cut and I've been working on this for over two hours, so here you go. It was actually pretty dark when we headed out. I had my ISO set to between 4000 and 6400 to brighten everything. This will make sense when you get down to the bottom pictures and think, man, they must have been out there for hours. 

No sheep were tortured in the making of these pictures.  Well, except maybe Maisie...but she kinda had it coming.  Just kidding ;-). 

The boys are excited for the opportunity to go out and spread some Christmas cheer!

Maisie?  The Naughty Elf?  So mad we almost couldn't get her to leave the barn.  Even with CHEERIOS!  Hank and the other sheep look on in disbelief at her temper tantrum...or maybe it's her hat ;-).

Once she settled down, she actually had some fun.

Though at one point she'd decided she'd had enough and was going to go back to the barn...but then she saw there were more Cheerios...

Baaxter got his head stuck in the Cheerios box...

...and just kept on eating :-D.

I hope you can see Baaxter looking in at the Christmas tree.  Such a cute lil lambie :-).  He is surely on Santa's good list this year!

Maisie?  She probably "needs to pack a few things" ;-). **

Baaxter's ears are tucked inside his Elmer Fudd reindeer hat.  He didn't care :-).

I am planning to video another Christmas Eve cookie party in the barn tonight like last year.  I doubt I'll make it until midnight to see if the animals can all talk, but we'll see.  

** This is a reference to one of the funniest David Sedaris essays, 6 to 8 Black Men.  Here's a link to a print version, but it's better to listen to him read it.  Should be some on YouTube.