WHEW!

I did it!  I crossed all the preparation things off my to-do list and two days earlier than I expected to.  The next big item on the list if going to the post office, but I won't do that until Saturday or Monday, so I have at least one day to relax.

So, the week went like this:  Sunday, I put the cards together.  I forgot to take a picture and they're all in envelopes and ready for mailing, so you'll have to take my word for it that they are beautiful.  :-)  On Monday I started in on the baking and crafting in earnest with a couple batches of cookies and the gift cards and small packages.  This year rather than make gift card presentation cards I decided to make and decorate the envelopes that hold the gift cards or small gifts.  Each one is different, but here are my two favorite gift card holders:

and here's my favorite small gift box:

This box is 1" square.  I did a little trimming after I took this photo so those little bits that are sticking out here are gone now.
Tuesday was a carbon copy of Monday.  Wednesday I did more baking and some finishing. 

I'm not thrilled with the shape of the heel, but at least it looks like a stocking and I finally framed 12 Days of Christmas from Plum Street Samplers.  I finished the stitching on this last November or December:

This was one of the more difficult pieces I have framed myself because of all the straight lines, but even if they were all wonky, I'd be happy because it's finally framed.

Today was wrapping of big gifts, packing shipping boxes and candy making day.  All the candy items were chocolate dipped, so lots of chilling, melting and waiting.  One of my recipes called for a couple tablespoons of heavy cream.  I'll be honest here, I normally throw out the remainder, but this year I decided that was too wasteful, so I poured it into a jar and started shaking it after I put the lid on.  In a few minutes, I had:

Yes, that's right about a half cup of butter.  I'm sure this isn't anything neat or new for many of you, but it's a first for me and I'm quite chuffed about it.

Now that everything is cleaned up and I've crossed all the extra things of my list, I'm feeling a bit let down.  In order to counter it, I pulled out an old WIP:

This is Snow Girls by Country Garden Stitchery and the last time I put a stitch in was something in February of 2012!! I've added a few stitches, but nothing much really, so will wait until I have something to show before I post a progress picture.  I plan to stitch this to a finish and then will start on my obligation stitching unless I change my mind again...

While walking to the mail box this afternoon, I saw this:

Yes, that's a dandelion flower with some sort of flying insect on it.  Yes, I live in the northern hemisphere and it is effectively December.  While I enjoy the warmer winters here in Virginia, I'm not sure I'm ready for one this warm.  Now that I've said something the bottom is going to drop out of the thermometer and we're going to have blizzard after blizzard.