Christmas....say what??

By this time last year, most of my christmas crafting excel spreadsheet was filled in red (the colour I used to indicate a project was finished) or pink (the colour I used to indicate a projects' imminent finishing). I made *ALL* of my gifts last year - 9 pairs of socks, 3 adult sweaters, a full size quilt, 2 hats, 6 aprons, and I forgetwhatelse..... It was intense.

This year, despite having taken the Handmade pledge, I find myself sitting in a tiny pile of half- finished projects. A sock....a mitten....one half of a bag. I'm in the christmas spirit, I can feel christmas, I am excited for it - but the shopping, the crafting, even the thinking of a good gift - tires me out. I've ordered a bunch of stuff from etsy & even snuck in a couple of gifts that aren't handmade (shh!) but still, my arms are basically bereft of gifts to give. My spirit, she runs high, but I'm operating on like, 20% energy. Anyone I've confessed this to immediately jumps to my defense: "No one expects you to have gifts! Not after what you've been through." Sure, the past couple of months have been busy & tiring & draining & actually, I don't even really remember the month that Gord was in hospitals & being tested & diagnosed. But for some reason I just cannot let myself off the hook for having little to give.

Mostly I am looking forward to a whole week off where I will try to do stuff for *me*. I plan on making dresses, knitting myself some socks, finishing up some sweater projects & organizing my sewing room. I want to *finish a book* & take an afternoon nap. I want to play my parent's Wii. And drink wine. Lots of it.

I did manage to finally get a haircut. The Thermal photos were the slap in the face that I needed. My hair! It was getting huge & unruly & so gross! Now. Short. and sassy.