merryish christmas

Hope everyone is having a lovely Christmas.

My Christmas Bami Ballen

My Friend, Anesha, sent me a very old Bami Ballen that she made when she was a girl. Now she wants to know what I found inside.

So, Anesha, this is what was inside:


First a pen and a small crystal heart


Then a hair barrette


Followed by a second hair barrette with only half the clasp still present




Then a half an egg of putty that was stuck to the crepe,
after that, I found a little viking game



In the very middle, there was a pack of cards and a little bear puzzle wrapped back to back.

It was really fun to unwrap the bami ballen. So fun, that I think I might make them for Christmas.

Playing in the snow

He's a very small kitten, surrounded by snowballs.

These are the steps that a small black kitten goes through when he gets pummeled with snowballs:


Confusion


Fright


Sadness

These little poses might not look different, but they are.

Thank you, Anesha! For such a cute gift.

Not a total grinch!

Despite Matthew's insistence, I'm not entirely a little green grinch. Admittedly, I spend most of November and December growling and harumphing as Christmas approaches, but that's just because it always feels terribly unsuccessful.

This year, I didn't leave my Halloween decorations up until Valentine's day. In fact I took them down before the end of November(unheard of in our household) and replaced them with Christmas decorations.



As proof of my ungrinchlyness, here's a couple photos of my wee pink tree. I never put the baby tree up last year and I've regretted it for the past 11 months. It certainly helped spur me to set up the tree when my dear friend May sent me some darling Hello Kitty Ornaments in the mail.



I even made tiny presents to go under the tree.

How to cuten up a plain white door

This is a tutorial on how to Cuten up a plain white door.

Steps to follow:

1. Have a 28th Birthday
2. Receive the sweetest vinyl birthday owl from best friend
3. Wait a month trying to figure out where to put the vinyl owl (it mustn't be wasted on an unworthy spot)
4. Finally have a stroke of adorable genius and apply it to the plain white bedroom door that looks a bit depressing, when you really think about it (which isn't very often)
5. Notice how incredibly cheerful the new owl vinyl looks on the door
6. Wonder how it took a whole month to figure out where to put the owl



See, doesn't the door look so cute?



Cuteness abounds!

I can still pretend it's fall

Despite what the calendar says, Matthew and I are having a tiny thanksgiving dinner tonight. We had a fantastic thanksgiving dinner with friends on Thursday, but we still have to use up the free ham(from work) and the little pumpkin I bought for decorative purposes. I am still stuck in fall motif. Perhaps today will be my last stand for fall and the loveliness of my favorite season. (I actually already decorated for Christmas and will post photos of the darling Hello kitty tree and the darling Ghibli tree at a later date.) After today it will be all Christmas, all the time.

I was just enchanted by the delicate color and feel of the pumpkin puree. Not sure why it is so different than usual but I really liked this year's pumpkin. It was delicious with just a touch of salt and agave syrup on it for a snack.



This year, I did not make the Moosewood Cookbook pumpkin pie recipe. Instead, I made the pie with sweetened condensed milk. I've never made a pumpkin pie with SCM but since I've had a can of it in the cupboard for quite some time, I figured it was long past time to use it. I actually didn't realize how popular this type of pumpkin pie is and was surprised at the number of recipes that call for SCM.



Of course, I over cooked the pie but It still looks very good. The sweet little maple leaf and apple edging is particularly appealing. So Cute!