Post Christmas Dread

Well, I tomorrow I will have reached the 27 week mark! I am getting more bulbous by the day - I rejoice in that! At my last appointment I had remained status quo, with no progression, and my contractions have slowed considerably! The medicine (or dutiful bed rest, or prayer, or a little bit of all for them) is paying off! So tonight, I am going to reward myself by going to the Christmas Eve candlelight service, where I will sit as the rest of the congregation stands to sing. John offered to bring a reclining lawn chair; maybe it would be better to cut a whole in the ceiling and be lowered down on a mat.

Darren and I were just sitting back and enjoying the peaceful moment of quiet, admiring our Christmas tree. This year I went a little crazy with making gifts and ornaments. Each of the kids are getting a homemade stuffed animal. Cora is getting elaborate sock puppets. Seth is getting an hand sewn odedama set (aka Japanese bean bags with a target).

And I made a ton of Christmas ornaments - something on the order 35 to 40 ornaments, in fact. And most of them have been exceedingly time consuming and tedious. I like these the best, not because they are putsy, but because they usually come out the most beautiful. Here are some of my favorites from this year ...

A paper quilled holly leaf

A needle felted gnome

a paper quilled poinsettia

a sequin kimekomi ball

a paper kusudama ball

a drum made from a toilet paper roll, candy wrappers and toothpicks

I have had a nice time just quietly enjoying the season, thinking how fortunate and blessed I really, truly am. But as I lay here, sipping my decaf, still on bed rest, I have a distinct sense of post Christmas dread. What, oh what, am I going to do if I am not making things for Christmas? It will seem so anti-climactic to make Christmas ornaments. Or Christmas presents. Seth's birthday is only five days away. And my anniversary quilt is getting close to being done. So it is back to netflix and books I go. I can always paint, or draw, or use my watercolor pencils. But what I really want to do is just get back to my normal life. John says that two months is really nothing in the grand scheme of things and it will go quickly .... but he isn't sitting on the sofa.