The Friday before Christmas, GimletBlog HQ received its much-anticipated advance visit from Santa. Or to be more accurate: most of us look forward to Santa’s arrival, but Thing Two is still reserving judgment. He did better than last year, though, accepting a candy cane and sitting (very briefly) on Santa’s lap with Thing One for pictures.

This year’s family Christmas Eve party was held in our new family room, which proved to be as well-equipped to host a large gathering as we had hoped. Thing Two decided he needed a break from all the unfamiliar faces and noise, so he retired to the stairs where he could watch the festivities from a secluded spot.

It snowed the afternoon of Christmas Day, which has not happened in Seattle since 1990, and only five times in the city’s history since 1891. The boys made a nice big snowman which took all week to melt.

Best wishes to you and your families for this holiday season and for 2008!

I bought a cross-stitch birth announcement kit to work on while expecting Thing One, and wanted to make a matching sampler for Thing Two. Although the floss and fabric were purchased well in advance of Thing Two’s arrival, I didn’t actually get around to starting it until the week before this Thanksgiving. (Yes, Thing Two is two and a half now.) The goal was to finish it in time for Christmas; I managed to complete it a few days after the holiday. Still, considering all the other tasks and projects that needed attention during this time, I’m pleased that it took only six weeks to complete. The design was worked on 18 count white Aida fabric and measures 11″x14″. Next I hope to finish up a set of small Peter Rabbit designs (also 18 count) that were started when Thing One was a baby.

ETA: I should have mentioned this kit was by Heartwarmer Designs, purchased from Deseret Book. I haven’t seen the kit in stores for years, but it occasionally shows up on eBay. Heartwarmer Designs doesn’t appear to be around any more, either.

The original package included fabric, 14 colors of DMC floss, and a needle. No fancy embroidery, just cross stitches (using 2 strands of floss) and back stitches (1 strand). Kits were available in two color schemes: bright primary colors and pastels; I own the pastel version. While the personal information can be stitched in pink or blue, the main poem and border around the sampler are blue; it would be interesting to see how the sampler would look with those parts stitched in pink.

Besides stitching samplers for the two Things, I think I stitched one as a gift for a nephew. I don’t remember making any others for the rest of the nephews and nieces, so if any of the sisters-in-law feel like their children have been sampler-deprived, get in touch and we can work something out.

Enjoy this lovely four-minute slideshow of nativity scenes, courtesy of BYU Magazine and photographer Bradley Slade. The slideshow is in QuickTime format. Merry Christmas!

Aside from hiking reports, we haven’t blogged much about Thing One lately. This has been a very busy school year for him, especially because he decided to audition for this year’s school play, The Princess and the Pea. The drama class is an after-school elective for 7th and 8th graders, and we were all pleasantly surprised when Thing One was cast as one of the lead villains! He has been attending rehearsals twice a week (and lately three times) since October, and the two performances were last weekend. Here’s the synopsis:

Come enjoy an evening out with this great story and wonderful cast. Full of humor, fast-paced action, laughs, great costuming and a HUMONGOUS, multi-mattress bed, this classic tale is set in a kingdom somewhere on the Royale Isle. However, not all things appear as they truly are and getting a good night’s rest proves to be more complicated than eating your peas.

Thing One played Edgar, the scheming younger brother of Prince Harcourt. His goal, assisted by his wife Princess Greta, was to prevent the choosy prince from finding a true princess, even resorting to sleeping potion to counteract the effects of a pea in a stack of mattresses. Villains often steal the show; Thing One’s evil laugh may have made Thing Two cry, but he earned lots of laughs and applause. As he was on stage for most of the play, he had a lot of lines to memorize, and he did a great job. A few more photos of the cast are posted in the Gimlet Gallery.

A local theater company loaned a nice set of costumes to the production, and the multi-mattress bed was especially creative. It was a fun play, performed by an enthusiastic and well-prepared cast. Thing One has been bitten by the acting bug — he had a wonderful experience and is eager to audition for the spring musical.

We had our first snowstorm of the season today! Earlier this morning we bought Christmas trees and ran other errands; during lunch we noticed the snow had started and hurried home. The flakes were falling in large clumps; Thing One discovered they were perfect for making a snowman. Thing Two appreciates snow in theory (one of his favorite books right now happens to be The Snowy Day) but he prefers to be warm, so he was happy to watch from the window as his big brother made tracks and rolled snowballs. Thing One, on the other hand, has always loved snow and must be reminded to come indoors to thaw out.

I don’t suppose posting this photo counts as sending out my Christmas cards, does it? Oh well; it was worth a try. It was a gorgeous afternoon, though, and since snow doesn’t stay around very long here, we have to enjoy it while it lasts.