Christmas 2014

This Christmas my brother invited his wife Kathy (they'd been living apart) and my sister invited her new boyfriend Geoffrey for Christmas.  

BC Company Christmas Party

 

There are 3 locations of the particular company I work for.  All 3 locations got together at the owner's house for a Christmas party.  I won a tower (the largest gift) of desserts.  Santa Claus was there.  Everybody was having a good time.  We all were forced to take off whatever socks we had on to put on festive socks that waited for us upon entering the door.

Upcycled Ribbon Spool

 I was wrapping gifts when I ran out of ribbon on a spool.  When I looked at the empty ribbon spool, I thought, "This looks like a thread spool. I've seen those become recycled.  I wonder what I can do with a ribbon spool."

I've seen a craft for a thread spool before.  It was used to create a miniature list of all the good boys and girls, with your child's name on it, then string added to be hung from a christmas tree.  I didn't want to do that, though.  What I had was a ribbon spool, much larger than a thread spool.  So, I went on Pinterest.

And what do you know?  I made a tiny gift basket for a gift card I will be giving away; with the help of Pinterest, of course.

You can sort of see the gift card I tucked into it after I added a quarter piece of tissue paper.  A full size sheet of tissue would be too much.

I poked the sides with a pencil to break a hole so that I could string a ribbon through to make a handle.

I slightly trimmed the rounded part off the bottom of the side of the spool, so that it would not roll.  I also covered the sides so you didn't see the barcode.  The sides are covered with a "Christmas card" which was actually a piece of "junk mail."

Personalized Ornament

 

Just in time for Christmas.  I ordered this ornament and it got here just in time.

Family Picture 2014

 

This is our year's end Christmas photo.  We took these in Corona Del Mar, California.  In the picture where my daughter has a serious face, but the rest of us have laughed; I started laughing because Kalib said loudly and between clenched teeth, "You can go away now," as this girl was watching us getting our picture taken.  Other than that, this was fun.

My First Real Nutcracker

 

Tonight, Mike and I went to Home Depot and I couldn't resist getting this nutcracker. I've named him Monsieur l'Argent (Mr. Silver [or Mr. Money] in French). In pre-Germany, nutcrackers were given for good luck and protection of your home. Mine is 15 inches, but I would love a taller one. Monsieur l'Argent will do for my first nutcracker, though.