About Gifts

Confession time: not all the knit gifts made it under or on the tree. But the knitting gods didn't strike me down for taking time out from the craziness and let be what shall. I enjoyed time with family and friends Christmas eve. There was more food and drink than is possible to consume in a week let alone a night! And then I made that one extra dish in case there wasn't enough... At least there wasn't a cloud of flour hanging in the air once the guests started to arrive (yes, the kitchen fan did come into service). Lene isn't the only one that values tradition. When my husband and I married, we merged two very different sets of traditions. Him from Nova Scotia, born and bred; me from Poland. All food homemade, the rabbit pie held a place of honour beside the plate of pierogi (sauerkraut and mushroom), Solomon Gundy beside kopytka... There were Christmas carols playing and talk of Christmases past. Kids were perfectly behaved (a Christmas miracle in itself!!).

After the guests left, it was a mad (if slightly intoxicated) rush to get presents wrapped and under the tree. I must say that grandmothers that live far away (my kids' Babcia resides in Ontario) are sneaky. Sure, send money to the mother (that would be me) about a week before the DAY and say, "just buy something to put under the tree. You know them best. You know what they need/want..." A WEEK BEFORE? WHAT WAS SHE THINKING??? Getting back at me for something I did when I was three years old, no doubt about it. But all is well that ends well. It never ceases to amaze me how quickly all that work can be reduced to mountains of wrapping paper and the odd gift.

This is what arrived just in time:

My new Kromski Mazurka spinning wheel. Isn't it Beeeautiful?