It's Christmas time...

Jami settled for a somewhat smaller tree than has been her custom of yore. On the plus side, she could carry it around tucked under her arm. And small though it be, its bounty was indeed, erm, bountiful. (And by the way, it's not actually snowing inside. I don't know what's up with my camera, though.)

Here you can see the fam. enjoying said bounty. (And that green thing is not the macabre-ly severed leg of the grinch, but in fact Frederick's stocking.)

Thomas, pleased by Grandpa and Margaret's Lego loot. (So were we - it kept him busy for hours.)

Thomas models his Granny-hat (and yes, he did pick out the colours himself). Jami can't take the Christmas spirit ANY MORE. That, and the fact that Thomas awoke at SIX THIRTY, full to the brim with yuletide cheer. Funny how that never happens on a school day.

The rest of the day was fairly low-key. We were spared the Christmas Dinner frenzy by the fact that we'd neglected to do the shopping until after 7 on the 24th, whereupon I discovered that everywhere (and I mean it - even Wal-Mart!) was closed. So we had a very nice Lasagna, with apple crumble to follow. And so to bed, with only the sounds of bleeping from the next room from Thomas's new Nintendo DS (and if you don't know what that is, you are so totally un-coral) to lull us to sleep.

Snowed In

Today we woke to find Flint buried under 8 inches of snow. We tried to dig our way out, but the snow just kept coming down. We then resigned ourselves to spending the day inside reading books, eating soup and the remains of granny's cookies (see below), and keeping the fire burning hot. Here Frederick relaxes in his beanbag chair while working his way through his extensive library. Note generous supply of flotsam and jetsam scattered across livingroom floor--that's what comes of having a Frederick contained in a house for too long.

Frederick interrupts Simon's (admittedly feeble) attempt to clean the kitchen for a quick review of large trucks, bulldozers, loaders, graders and the like.


Bryce and Thomas worked through the remainder of the day by playing some infernal game on that damn gamecube. What pair of morons bought Thomas that thing, anyway? Tonight's forecast calls for another 6-8 inches of snow (!) so the chances of everyone going to school tomorrow seem low. Sigh.

Granny visits

Granny visited for almost three weeks right after Thanksgiving. She immediately set to work in our kitchen, making bread, cakes and cookies every day. (Simon figures that as a family we ate over a stick of butter every day--scary.) And when she wasn't cooking, she was knitting. And here she is pictured doing both at the same time!


Here Jane attempts to teach me how to use my long ignored knitting machine. And in just three days I completed Thomas's newest sweater (green, dark red, light red, orange and yellow striped--he looks like a giant roll of lifesavers wearing it). It wasn't fun, but it was interesting. It was also extremely uncomfortable hunched over, straining with anxiety--a surefire recipe for upper back pain. Still, now I know how to use it and the world will be my knitted oyster.

Flint Handmade Craft Fair

On December 1st, The Lunch Studio hosted the first annual Flint City Homemade Craft Fair. I joined in when I thought it would be no big deal but was a bit anxious when the doors opened at 10 a.m. and there was a line of people crushing to get in. The crowd was amazing--particularly given that it was the only thing going on in downtown Flint on a Saturday. (And people from Flint know that that is no exaggeration--"nothing going on" really means NOTHING going on.) I covered for Stephanie Bills (of "Frankenstitch Monsta" fame) who has to work at the rival restaurant, Steady Eddy's (great pancakes, but sandwiches greasy). Here is a display of her works that Thomas has collected through the years. Payment for minding her table was that little wombatty thing front and center. I can't remember his name. [And for those that measure success in terms of cash intake, I did all right--taking in just over $400. I even cultivated a slightly scary fan who tracked me down to harangue me about Christmas stockings.]