I have been meaning to read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society for months. When I was pregnant and my sister was visiting, she bought the book for a friend and I started reading it then but never really got into it. So I shied away from picking it up for months but last week I decided it was finally time.
As it turns out, it was absolutely delightful. I loved the format of letters written back and forth among multiple characters and the stories and the characters were very colorful, lovable and fun to watch.
Had I known it was sort of about the second world war, I would likely have not touched it at all. It was a relatively small part of the book tone-wise but still anything about that bothers me. In the end, I am glad I read it and would highly recommend this pithy yet quick read.
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 And then David joined him, too.  All while I was having a video conference. Nice eh? And when he finally ventured away, it was towards the kitchen where there are too many things that he shouldn’t be going near. So I had to give up on the table and move to the couch where there’s lots of open carpet. (and the Christmas tree but that’s going to be an adventure either way.  I put some small lights in the other living room, too, which is where our stockings live.  Those weird green lights on the stockings are from the UV filter on my lens, gotta remember to take that off. Today was very unproductive but I did take Nathaniel to the doctor and he’s gained 1.5lbs in the last month. The doctor had wanted him to gain at least a pound so we’re good! Still at 12% but he wasn’t worried. Nathaniel got his second flu shot and didn’t even flinch. Here’s to a more productive tomorrow. December, here we come!
 Then we took out the ornaments. I realized most of the lights were not working so we had to take another break. When Nathaniel went down to nap, I drove to Walmart and bought a ton of new lights. Now we were ready to decorate. David helped me, of course.  And Nathaniel watched us and was quiet, mostly.  And here’s the finished tree with the lights on. It was late at this point so there was no light out.  And here’s one with the lights off.  Yes, the tree is crooked. But I love it anyway. I love Christmas. I love smelling the tree. Seeing the twinkles. I loved every little thing about the holiday season. And now I am tired and need to rest before Nathaniel wakes up for milk.
 I wanted to create a bouquet of flowers (like someone presenting flowers to me.) with wire and beads. I learned this technique from the amazing Rebecca Sower. She inspires me endlessly.
 Lest you think it’s just the arms, several on the floor too.  He does like eating them, too. When I undressed him tonight to put him down, I noticed at least five stuck inside his clothes, maybe he was saving them for later.  I finished all my layouts and David’s book with the AMM kit from this month. I am still reading my book for the week but I might be able to finish tonight, if not, definitely tomorrow. I’ve noticed a spike in comments lately, I am not sure where you’re coming from, but that you so much, knowing that people are here, reading, and communicating back really makes my heart happy. Five days to my Big Picture Scrapbooking class on reclaiming my time. I am officially excited.
 I now sell some of these tags in my etsy store. If there’s a tag you like and are interested in, email me or leave a comment and I’ll be happy to add it.
 I’d read that the Grand Firs were the most pungent of all the trees and I wanted something that smelled a lot and would last the longest. So once we found our tree, Jake got to work. I tried to help but I am not sure I was useful at all.  Nathaniel watched pretty quietly most of the time.  And when he wasn’t, his big brother was there to soothe him.  After we got the tree up and netted and tied, we rode the little train and listened to Christmas songs, we drank cider and even watched a super-short puppet show. A bunch more hard work from Jake, a lot of trimming, a huge mess, and the tree is now in our house. I attempted to take a shot of it but trees and I, we don’t seem to get a long. I will make another attempt tomorrow, I promise. After all the kids went to bed, I dug into the December kit from AMM and already finished three layouts. I have a few more to make and David’s school mini. I even made the 47th tag. Of course, I didn’t finish my book yet and still have my writing homework to do and six more items on the todo list but I will get to them all in due time. And, of course, tomorrow….we decorate the tree! Christmas season has officially begun and I couldn’t be happier. Today’s video is a continuation in the lenses series. We cover macros today. Lenses used to take photos of teeny tiny things. Next week, more lenses. Feel free to let me know if anything is unclear or if you have questions. Photography Tips is a weekly feature and is posted every Friday. You can find all of them here.
 Doesn’t he look amazing? While he was running David played and smiled and was generally happy.  Even Nathaniel was smiling but don’t let that fool you, he was cranky.  Not this one, though. Sweet as ever.  When Jake finished, David did a run around the track, too.  Then we went home and I foolishly thought that Nathaniel would finally fall asleep. But no. He slept for 20 minutes and he was up. While he was sleeping, I got all of our food into bowls and started cooking the broccoli and butternut squash. Even though he was sitting next to me after he woke up, he whined and cried the entire time. He wanted my attention on nothing but him. I then put him down at 4 again and he still wouldn’t take a nap so I finally just gave up. I’m not one to care too much about Thanksgiving. I didn’t grow up here so I never had the tradition. And often times there’s too much family around. I am more of a one-on-one person and get easily stressed with too many people around, even if it’s the people I am closest to. And since we had no one visiting this year, I thought Jake was going to be happy skipping Thanksgiving altogether. But it turned out he wanted to have it. So last night we went to Whole Foods and got a few items we loved: a roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, roasted vegetables, Israeli cous cous, mac’n’cheese, and stuffing. Today, he went to get rolls, cranberry sauce, and a pumpkin pie at the grocery store. I made the same butternut squash casserole from a week ago and some broccoli (with a little cheese and onions.) We had enough food for 16 people and it was really just me and Jake since David’s a picky eater and only wanted to eat rolls. (In the end he did eat some of the squash, chicken, mac’n’cheese, and stuffing, too. And pumpkin pie with ice cream of course.)  All in all, despite the lack of naps and much crying, it was a wonderful, peaceful and quiet thanksgiving. We’re all full, happy and feeling thankful for so much of what we have. If you live in the US, I hope your Thanksgiving was special, too.
 And here’s one of those puzzling eyes.  This promises to be a quiet Thanksgiving in the karenika household. It’s just us four. We’ve got the food all set and plan to rest, relax and enjoy each other’s company. My little boy is seven months old now and the big one’s almost five. Time passes all too quickly. See you tomorrow. This week’s download is a set of holiday themed tickets. These are PNG files so they can be recolored as you wish. You can also make a new file, drag them all on to it and print it out on kraft cardstock and cut them out like actual tickets. That’s what I intend to do. Here’s what’s in there:  You can download it here: holiday tickets set download. You are welcome to play with these as much as you want and use them anywhere you’d like. You are NOT allowed to sell them ever. You don’t have to but I’d appreciate a link back if you do use them. This is part of a weekly digital download series. They are posted every Wednesday. You can find all of the ones that were posted here.
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