What I said I wouldn't do and evidently shouldn't have.

Oh, man. So, like I said, I wasn't making nothing for nobody for Christmas. I mean, I didn't even WRAP the cookies for my mom, and I LOVE wrapping stuff.

But then, there was going to be this last-minute addition to our Christmas day, that person who just moved to town but ain't got nobody in town to celebrate with. Ya know - just moved to the big bad city, two friends in town, one of them is our roommate - he was gonna come to our place for Christmas and I wanted him to feel welcome and have a real Christmas a little bit. So I did a real race-to-the-finish little Odd Fellow from Jess Hutch's book so he'd have a real, handmade present made for him under the tree, and I knew he would really like it. And a big fat chocolate bar (a really big one) and I took the paper off and made it a silly quickie customized label with his name on it. I was really pushing it to get them done, so I wrapped them before I took a picture - figured I'd get the Odd Fellow in the daylight.

And then, for Christmas, he didn't come. There was a 3 PM phone call indicating that he might meander our direction maybe later, maybe who knows, maybe whatever.

Which starts me thinking I'm developing a trend here of the unwilling & uninterested on whom I'm foisting my Christmas crap. Last year I knitted scarves for my father's mail-order Ukrainian widow and her daughter. We really wanted to have them and my dad for Christmas, to be welcoming and family-like. Then he went and died, and then I thought we should really have them for Christmas. They really didn't want to be there. Didn't come out of their bedroom until after noon, then couldn't be bothered to look at their (also handmade) stockings until after they'd made a few phone calls.

So, yes, we can all admit that we give gifts partly to feel good about having made someone else feel good. By "we" I mean, "you all" because me, I'm giving gifts to make myself feel like crap.

If The Blanket turns out this way, watch this site for a big giveaway of every craft implement and supply I own.

Oh, sigh... I did squeak out a tiny stocking that was well received:



And I got this mug? With a little tiny pig on it? Which sounds so dumb, but I LOVE it. A lot. And this bookmark that someone made for ME. It has the letter of my name on it. For ME. And I'm already using it, because who doesn't need a bookmark?



Oh, yes, and of course there was good food. Another non-daylight picture because before the sun was up, my husband made me breakfast with some of the leftovers. More here.



So, yes, my Christmas was fine, thanks for asking.

But I swear I'm not making anyone anything next year, for real.