TUSAL, YOTA and anything else I may have missed

First things first:  Happy Birthday to my sister Nancy!! 

I finally feel like I have recovered from Thanksgiving, although we are I am still eating leftover turkey and will be for a while. Next year would you all please call, email or text The Hubs and tell him that a 22 pound turkey is not necessary to feed four people?  Fortunately, I do not have to worry about him getting anything bigger as I don't have a roasting pan that is large enough for even an ounce more. 

I had a wonderful week off from work.  We did not get the predicted Yuck but we did have white lumps  in the rain Wednesday afternoon.  According to the forecast, the Yuck is predicted again for Saturday evening through Sunday.

Before I get to the stitching, here is my last TUSAL post for 2014:

If you're interested, I heard a rumor that Daffycat was going to continue the TUSAL for 2014, but haven't seen it in writing yet.  The little house is my finish-finish of The Nutmeg Company's Gingerbread House Oranges and Lemons.  I had trouble getting the bottom on correctly so it's a bit wonky, but it will be fine hanging on the tree.

Speaking of SALs, I've joined a couple more for next year.  Stitching Lotus posted sign-ups for the 2014 Smalls SAL.  You can click on the badge on the left side bar or here for information.  Pull The Other Thread is hosting the YOTA SAL again in 2014.  Sign ups are open now.  And Measi at Measi's Musings is hosting the WIPocalypse. Clicking on that link will take you to a place holder page as sign-ups aren't open yet. The nice thing about all of the SALs is that they are no pressure, just have fun and stitch events.  YOTA and WIPocalypse are specifically to whittle down your pile of WIPs/UFOs if you don't have enough, I would happily lend you a few And for me, the Smalls SAL will help reduce my stash a bit.  Yes, I do realize that is a foreign concept to most stitchers... 

So on to the stitching:

I did work on Santa's Magic but did not make the progress I hoped.  Here's the before:

And, for my last 2013 YOTA posting, here's where he is now:

I finished the pears and added some of the furry stitching at the front of his hat and the gold headpiece, but that's about it.  Oh well, each stitch done is a stitch closer to finished.

I did start my December ornament:

This is the 1995 Santa from The Prairie Schooler.  It's stitched on an unknown 28-count blue evenweave with DMC.  I have to admit that this one gives me the creeps as it reminds me of the Roboform Santas from the Doctor Who episode, "The Christmas Invasion".

I'm not sure how much stitching time I will have this weekend.  I have to finish making cards and envelopes hopefully The Hubs will help with those, decorate the tree and bake goodies for the Kiddo so that I can get his box in the mail next week, and, Saturday is another big college football day the games are really going to have to go some to beat that wild finish to the Auburn/Alabama game last week.  If you didn't see it, Google it!  It ranks right up there in the top five of wildest finishes.