Christmas Day 2014

Christmas Day was wonderful with our daughter and her family. I spent the day before cooking and filling crockpots full of appetizers so that all I had to do Christmas Day was retrieve all the crockpots from the freezer, I mean garage, and plug them in. Rocketman had no idea we owned so many crockpots in all different sizes.

                                               This was a huge hit with little Judah.

After opening all the presents, the boys were plum tuckered out. We stayed in town this year and, although we missed everyone in Illinois, it was nice to not have to worry about the weather. I'm not a fan of driving in snowstorms.

We are still waiting to see our boy for Christmas. He's had to work a lot and is also suffering from the flu. Tis the season.

Christmas Eve 2014

Lights, Camera, Action!  This is what my living room looks like right now. And no, it normally doesn't look like that. I had the bright idea a few month ago to offer on-line videos of Korean maedeup knots. I am going to demonstrate through video the first ten knots. They are they simplest to learn and I found that I learned the knots much quicker by watching a video. I will also share many tips from my maedeup teacher, Su-Mi. I will also share some stories of Korea too. They always seem to sneak into my life.

I thought we would have begun by now but little did I know all that is involved in video production and putting out the best video I can. Rocketman has been studying for months and buying equipment. He is now testing the equipment and I anticipate we should start taping in January. Still with all that is involved, I don't think the class will be finished until Summer and maybe Fall. But we are having fun with it.

I have been busy knitting baby blankets for the twin girls that my friend, Hellena, is expecting the end of January. I got the bright idea to make two totally different blankets but as I finished the one and started the second, I realized the Hellena would love identical pink blankets. So I ordered more yarn and will be knitting like a crazy lady until they are done.

We are ready for Christmas tomorrow with our daughter's family coming over including our three grandboys. Christmas is so much more fun with little ones. We are also having a rare green Christmas here in Minnesota. The last was in 2011 but we spent that Christmas in Korea. I spent all day cooking a bunch of things to snack on Christmas Day.

Christmas will also be held in our family room because of the situation in our living room. Have a Merry Christmas everyone!!!

The Constant Baker - 2014 Edition

Every year I make Christmas treat plates for family and friends. It takes me usually a week just to make all the treats and then a half a day to divide everything out between among the plates. The deadline this year was December 17th because Rocketman signed up to bring treats for his annual work Christmas party. I made all the usual things I make every year and you can find most of the recipes here.

I'm exhausted when all is said and done but I wouldn't have it any other way. Don't even ask how much sugar I go through. I'm glad it's done until next year although I still make things throughout the year for the grandkids.

The Passing of the Torch

My mom has been making Christmas stockings for every member of our family since I was a little girl. She found the pattern for the knit stockings somewhere and made each of us three girls a stocking. When I married Rocketman, the first thing I asked her was to make him a stocking too. She got the gauge wrong and his came out huge which was great because he is a tall guy anyway.

She has made stockings for our husbands and continued by making them for each of her grandchildren. That was when she originally was going to call it quits but I convinced her to make a stocking for my first grandchild which was followed by two more grandboys, her great grandchildren.

As you see above, when we were home for Thanksgiving I picked up little Judah's. She had me cast on for this one because she had forgotten how to do a long cast-on. And repeatedly, she told me as she stressed about getting it done, that this would be her last one. She showed me the well worn pattern and also a brand new one she bought.

She was passing the Christmas stocking making torch to me and I was happy to continue the tradition. But she's not quite ready to give it up yet. She told me that she was thinking of making a bunch of stockings with the name blank and I can fill it in as needed with a needlepoint stitch or something. So I guess she's not quite ready for me to take over and that is fine with me.

Here is a photo of our little tree with our stockings. Mine is over 50 years old and still in great shape. Rocketman's is over 30 years old. It's an amazing legacy my mother continues to leave even though she does grumble when another one needs to be made. She also is proud of what she has done, that I am sure of.

Package from Korea!

When we were in Korea, I had discussed with Metal Guy that I wanted to add to my Korean findings with the Korean anthem "Fighting!" pronounced "Hwaiting!" If you have ever watched a Korean drama or been to a Korean game, you know this is their battle cry. I am so pleased at how they turned out.

This is the necklace. You can find them on my Etsy site and right now until Sunday, you can get 20% off with the coupon code HOLIDAY2014.

                Also included in the box was the two chilbo paintings I had made at Nan Young's.

                 Now Rocketman needs to figure out the best place to put them on my chilbo wall.



                                  Nan-Young also sent a bunch of presents. It is so like her.

                            Also these hand painted miniature fans. They are so beautiful.

 Hannah sent the package and had heard I had been ill so she sent me a bunch of ginger tea. I'm struggling with a bad cold so I will make good use of the tea.

Hannah had also spent a month in Jeju which is an island south of Korea. Her cousin runs a small hotel there and she went to rest and also worked for him. She sent this to me. Do you have any idea what it is? It is a net used by the haenyo women divers of Jeju. Here is another article on the haenyo divers. I was so excited to get it. I absolutely love it and remind me daily of the hard work these women do every day.

                                          She also sent me a couple of postcards from Jeju.

Maedeup Monday!

I recently got a request for maedeup bracelets from our favorite chef, Rita, at Donatelli's. She wasn't picky at all except when it came to the colors. Can you guess why these bracelets are shades of purple and yellow (gold)?

                                                        She's a huge Minnesota Vikings fan!

                    No matter if they win or lose although she prefers that they win, she's a fan for life.

I am also offering 20% off everything in my Etsy shop until Sunday. Use coupon code: HOLIDAY2014 to get your discount.

We headed down to Illinois for Thanksgiving and had a great time with family. Grandson Noah developed a high fever and is still sick. Then his little brothers caught the bug. Little Ez, shown above with his dad, today has a fever of 104.7F. Baby Judah is also sick. Noah is feeling better but still not well enough to go to school. I returned home with a nasty cold but it was worth all the cuddles with the grandkids. We are just hoping my sister and her family don't catch it.