The Final Night of Hanukkah

The last night of Hanukkah is always the one where we celebrate most.  Tonight was it, so we had potato latkes and our present was chocolate coins, of course.  Fun, fun.  Last night we each got bandages (I happened to know they were from Archie McPhee).  Mine look like tattoos.  Aweeeesssome.  Also, they came with a tiny rubber monkey wearing a tiny fez.  How cute!

Today I finished the second mitten of long ago.  As I’ve said before, I couldn’t find the original pattern and therefore had to improvise on another pattern.  They both fit and all, but the second mitten has a much smaller thumb part so they don’t look completely a like.  Still, they keep my hands warm and that’s really all that matters.

I managed to get an invite code to lookbook.nu, an invite only fashion site that I have been a humongous fan of for quite a while.  I don’t know if I’ll be brave enough to post a look of my own, but now I can hype and comment and favorite all of the pictures I’ve long been partial to.

We had the i-cord machine exchanged today.   Now I have one without a broken crank and, let me tell you, it works fantastically.  It’s super easy once you get the hang of it.  Now I just need to buy some more lightweight yarn.  I have loads of worsted and some bulky and aran, but no lightweight to be found.  Maybe I’ll convince my mother to bring me up to Joann’s.  They’re having a sale on all yarn.

Well, Emma needs help with her knitting machine so I’m going to go and do that now.

Farewell, and happy almost Monday.

Pshaw

I could type for hours and still not even touch on how absolutely lovely today was. Firstly, though, I’m going to touch on the not-so-lovely part of today, which happened this evening not too long ago.

Okay, so Jake often sort of pretends to punch people. This type of ‘punching’ is up close to one’s face, too close for comfort. I’m always sure he’s going to miss and accidentally punch me for real, and that is exactly what happened. Clara was (still kind of is) crying and nearly hyperventilating. Her nose might be broken. I’ve never been that scared after somebody gets hurt.

Now, I’m not going to say another word about the incident because I don’t want to keep remembering it over and over again. I saw it happen.

On to the holiday festivities (speaking of which, we still need to light the menorah):

Most of my family woke up bright and early this morning, or at least before 9 am, and then we of course proceeded to wake those who were not yet up, consisting of Jake and Lydia. Then it was time for the obligatory kids “walking to the presents” picture. We stand in a line in the hallway, oldest in the back to the youngest up front, and my mother takes a picture. Shockingly, she only took one this year. I guess she’s starting to realize that we don’t like standing still for oodles of photos in order to get the “right one.”

Next, of course, it was present time. I ended up getting so many presents over the course of the day that I couldn’t believe it. I was under the impression that this Christmas would be much smaller, but it sure seemed grander than ever. Maybe I received to many because the things on my list were all relatively low in price. Either way, here is some of what I received and some pictures from the websites to go along with them. I am pleased as punch right now.

^Lovely earphones, I think, but my mother hates them. Says they’re creepy and that she’s noticed that a lot of my presents this year are disturbing.

^It’s a music player! It’s a phone! Could it be…both? Yes indeed, and it was free after having my old, beloved phone for two years. It’s real spiffy.

^These are the most adorable little miniatures! Super detailed and I love them!

^All four are thigh high socks from welovecolors in gold, royal, emerald, and red (funny how they’re the four “basic” colors, eh?). My knee highs are always falling down (to my knees, which makes sense, but still) so I thought I’d get some taller ones.

^ Oh my goodness, that stuff is amazing! With my luck, of course, there was nothing really sour in the house to try it with, but we did have some clementines. I ate like, three of those. They tasted like candy! Delicious, healthy candy! Marvelous, it was.

^It just looks like a pile of floating books, but it’s actually a hidden bookshelf. Awesome stuff.

^That was my gift from Santa. It actually broke shortly after being opened, so we’ll be returning it for a non-broken one. It knits i-cord.

^It’s an ornament and much cuter in person. That is the best picture I can find.

^Micro Spy Remote– a universal television remote that’s tiny.

^On a t-shirt

^AMAZING! I saw it in theaters and loved it and I’ve watched it already. Absolutely fabulous. Highly recommended.

^The milk chocolate ones. It’s a tradition for my dad and me to each get a box of them.

Oh, and I also received some The Office related things, sticky notes and pens and such, including a stress ball of Dwight’s head.

Aaaand for Secret Santa it turns out Emma had me. She gave me an amazing purple umbrella and mini peach rings. I had Clara and gave her purple eyeliner and gold eyeliner. Last night I also received pajamas with lovely little triangular trees all over them.

Well, this post is long enough, I think, and it’s getting late. It’s been a long, fun day and a happy holiday indeed. As Travis from YouTube said (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nQJdQUX8uw), Merry Whatever.

Love you all to pieces.

EDIT: (I tried to add this last night shortly after posting, but the computer was being a douche again)

I also got an amazing dinosaur plant, as seen below:

It really is amazing.  It grew in three hours.

As one site says, it is:

• A Prehistoric evergreen that keeps coming back to life!
• Grows in one day! Unconditionally guaranteed to grow!
• Can “sleep” for fifty years and spring back to life in one day!

So, yeah, it is pretty amazing.  It actually looks a lot greener and leafier than in the picture.

Bye now.