Happy Christmas!

I've posted this one before, but it never gets old.

So here we are, finally at the end of the Nativity Fast.  To be honest, the Fast seemed to go quickly this year, more so than other years.  Probably because I spent the first three and a half weeks of it nursing sick kids!  There were plenty of challenges in the Fast, however, as is usually the case.  

This seemed to be the Fast in which Toilets Did Not Behave.  We have issues with our plumbing anyway, because it is the city, and apparently no one in this area vents plumbing stacks, ever, and heavy rain seems to make things a bit worse (and there was a lot of rain this month) but I do what I can to mitigate things.  In any case, our second floor toilet required quite a bit of intervention this past month.  Thankfully, it seems mostly resolved now.  

In related plumbing issues, the down pipe from the shower in that same bathroom has a tendency to work loose on the u-joint at the bottom (the pvc screw that attaches the joint to the pipe above gets loose) and then leaks into the kitchen, but thankfully we have an access panel just below that join, so I can tighten the pipe screw as needed.  So there were a few leaks to deal with this month.

This isn't even all of them.

The girls spent the past two weeks busily making things in their room, and hiding their presents from prying eyes.  There was a truly impressive stack of cards and things to unwrap!  

Boo made me a little boat out of wood and painted it himself with watercolor paint--I'm so impressed.

Multi-colored on the sides.

And since I'm sure you are dying to know what I wore yesterday, here it is, all thrifted except the tights and hat: cashmere sweater, cotton undershirt, wool skirt, wool tights, dansko booties, and handknit beret from a couple years ago.  I wish I could remember what size needle I used for this hat, because I really like how it fits and haven't been able to replicate it on subsequent hats using the same pattern.

I've lost a bit of weight this month, and my corduroy skirts are all too big and look pretty sloppy.  I've already taken in the blue and green ones once, and I confess, I'm not looking forward to altering all three again, as I think I shall have to take them completely apart and start again.  I thrifted some Sag Harbor wool skirts recently (of which the red skirt above is one) and I plan to use one of them as a block to alter my Anne Adams 9481 flat pattern, since it clearly needs adjustment.

Part of me is also concerned that I might alter the skirts only to find that they don't fit again after the holidays!  (But I'm also trying to get into a mindset of eating in the middle of the lane all the time, and not swinging to extremes during fasting/feasting seasons, so perhaps it is good to solider on with alterations).

 

But that is a project for another day, since I am very tired today, and fighting a cold.  So I plan to do little things, but mostly just rest.  We are having Piglet's birthday meal tonight (his birthday is Christmas Eve, and he decided a few years ago to wait for the meal until the 8th to have non-fasting food!), but it is easy since he wants Shake Shack and ice cream.

The kids received a number of lego sets for Christmas, and I have to think about storage for some of them.  (I have a pretty good storage system in place, but several of the sets are rather large and require some re-jigging of the system on my part).  

In the meantime, the sun is shining, the air is crisp and cold, and my to-do list is manageable.