Where the boys knit

Attention, knitterly men among us!

Registration for the 2009 Men's Spring Knitting Retreat is now open. May, upstate New York, men wielding pointy sticks - what could be grander?

(p.s. Check out the table corners - my coveted knitting machines of yore!)

The sixth day of Christmas

Here are the Top 10 Quotes of 2008, as compiled by the editor of the Yale Book of Quotations (via Associated Press release):

1. "I can see Russia from my house!" — Comedian Tina Fey, while impersonating Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin on the TV comedy show "Saturday Night Live," broadcast Sept. 13.

2. "All of them, any of them that have been in front of me over all these years." — Palin, responding to a request by CBS anchor Katie Couric to name the newspapers or magazines she reads, broadcast Oct. 1.

3. "We have sort of become a nation of whiners." — former Sen. Phil Gramm, an economic adviser to Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, quoted in The Washington Times, July 10.

4. "It's not based on any particular data point, we just wanted to choose a really large number." — a Treasury Department spokeswoman explaining how the $700 billion number was chosen for the initial bailout, quoted on Forbes.com Sept. 23.

5. "The fundamentals of America's economy are strong." — McCain, in an interview with Bloomberg TV, April 17.

6. "Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency." — the Treasury Department's proposed Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, September 2008.

7. "Maybe 100." — McCain, discussing in a town hall meeting in Derry, New Hampshire, how many years U.S. troops could remain in Iraq, Jan. 3.

8. "I'll see you at the debates, b------." — Paris Hilton in a video responding to a McCain television campaign ad, August 2008.

9. "Barack, he's talking down to black people. ... I want to cut his ... off." — Rev. Jesse Jackson, overheard over a live microphone before a Fox News interview, July 6.

10. (tie) "Cash for trash." — Paul Krugman discussing the financial bailout, New York Times, Sept. 22.

10. (tie) "There are no atheists in foxholes and there are no libertarians in financial crises." — Krugman, in an interview with Bill Maher on HBO's "Real Time," broadcast Sept. 19.

10. (tie) "Anyone who says we're in a recession, or heading into one — especially the worst one since the Great Depression — is making up his own private definition of 'recession'." — commentator Donald Luskin, the day before Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy, The Washington Post, Sept. 14.

The fifth day of Christmas

As you all know, there was much knitting at The Meema House in preparation for Christmas. There are times I fantasize about making huge, wonderful sweaters and the like for everyone on my list; I know myself well enough, however, to know that just isn't feasible. No way, no how.

Until today!!!

A person can make as many fantastical knitted creations as they can dream up with this gem of a website.

I like the blue one. I though you should know.

The fourth day of Christmas

I love these guys.

The third day of Christmas

If you didn't get the opportunity this year (or just decided you'd rather not sweep up candy sprinkles for weeks), here's a great mess-free way to decorate gingerbread cookies. I made one just for you, in fact.

p.s. Mom is going home from the hospital today. She wants Chinese food for dinner - a very good sign. :-)

Lights, please

If you're celebrating, have a merry one!

Hitting the fan

So here we are. Christmas Eve.

You may ask, "Meema, are you done knitting?"

Depending on my mood at the moment of asking, the response could be any number of things:

a) hearty laugh
b) "Hrumph!" (or something)
c) "Yeah, right."
or d) the Evil Eye of Doom

There are things completed, things on needles, and things which must be started YESTERDAY. I'm storing up pictures to post after the gifting.

Oh, yes, another holiday mix-in: my mom has been in the hospital since Sunday, and could be spending Christmas (and then some) there as well. Send healing thoughts Rita's way, would you?

Back to bloggerizing. I stumbled on these sites last year, and have been waiting to share until this holiest of days. Enjoy!

p.s. At 9:00 this morning, I'll be listening to the live broadcast

of A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols from King's College, Cambridge (England) on National Public Radio. It's an very traditional Anglican service, steeped in beautiful music. There's no better way to eat your breakfast on Christmas Eve morn...

A long day's night

nataliedee.com

All hail the lengthening of days that comes with the winter solstice!

Woo hoo - more daylight for shoveling...

It was good for me

I found it. Holiday frenzy bliss, that is:

Imagine leaning your head back into a shampoo bowl and receiving a loooong scalp massage while James Taylor is singing "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" on the Muzak.

Hoo boy. ;-)

A child's Christmas wish

Franklin Habit is a funny man, and seasonally à propos as well. Check out the sketch he posted today.

Can I hear you say, "Amen, Brother Franklin"?

Preparation, pageantry, and L&C on ice

TGIM. Strange, isn't it? It was a wonderful but crazy weekend, and I'm actually relieved to be back in the weekday routine.

Saturday started with a rehearsal for Lessons & Carols, which morphed into a long lunch with the AnderClan. Boy howdy, but the girls were squirrely! Oh well. It's amazing to watch B and Kidlet together - two peas in a pod. After lunch, Kidlet and I baked four dozen cookies, then made homemade pizza for dinner... bath, bedtime stories and songs, and one tired Meema.

Sunday morning was the children's Christmas pageant at St. Paul's 10:00 service. B and Kidlet were both cast as Mary. That's right - our Jesus had two mommies this year. Woo hoo! B struggles a bit with stage fright, but lasted much longer than previous years; Kidlet presented the baby at the end of the story while B looked on from the safety of Caytie and Mark's laps.

I've spoken many times on the love I have for my church choir. A feistier bunch of singers there isn't. Hearty, too, as yesterday would prove; Minneapolis was treated to a delightful winter rain which promptly froze as the temperatures dipped in the afternoon, just in time for our service.

Our annual Service of Nine Lessons and Carols was not as well attended as hoped, but those who braved the elements were enthusiastic and received a heckuva musical experience, IMHO. The choir sang so. freakin'. well. We performed Benjamin Britten's "Hymn to the Virgin", for which the four section leaders sang antiphonally from across the nave. I was blown away with how solid and sensitively the choir sang (YAY ALTOS!!!). Several other transcendent moments took my breath away.

The wonderful thing about singing in an Episcopal church is that we know how to put on a spread. Note the lovely traditional English Tea reception:

Following the festive gathering in the undercroft, Richard and Brian annually host a gathering even more festive in their Arts & Crafts bungalow. How festive, you may ask? Feast your peepers...

B and Kidlet learned the magic behind the Christmas decorations.
Maestro Scott finally gets a chance to kick back and relax.

Our genteel hosts, Richard and Brian, a.k.a. Mr. and Mr. Christmas.

And now we return you to your holiday knitting, already in progress...

Busy, busy, busy

2.5 hours of rehearsal for Lessons and Carols service? Check.

Four dozen Christmas cookies baked? Check.

Kidlet fed, bathed, and bedded? Check. (Sometimes it feels like a major event.)

Panic-driven Meema knitting down her gift list while George Bailey sticks it to Old Man Potter? Checkity check check check.

Please join us for A Festival of Lessons and Carols at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Minneapolis, tomorrow afternoon at 4:00.

Realization

This morning J and Kidlet were to meet me at Steamworks Coffee for our annual visit with Father Christmas; I arrived about 15 minutes before them. As soon as I saw The Man, my eyes went misty. Good Lord, I am such. a. girl.

It was an amazing time - everything we could hope for, and then some. Seriously, Father Christmas is Kidlet's first boyfriend. She is big-time crushin'.

Anticipation

Tomorrow we are visiting Father Christmas. I hope the resulting photos are in no way similar to these:

T minus 45

Is this thing on?

Actual content coming soon to a blog near you.