Ornamental

My family has a lovely tradition at Christmas.  Every year, usually on the first Sunday of Advent, my mom will give my brother and I each a new ornament for the tree.  It usually has some significance to the events of the previous year.  I hesitate to say "always" because truthfully I can't place all of the ornaments anymore.  In theory there should be 28 of them now but I don't know for sure which they all are, I must be losing my memory with my advancing years.  Events that may have seemed significant at the time have now faded with the passage of time.  A tiny pink purse ornament must have meant something at one point, but I can't remember the significance now.  Maybe my increased interest in shopping when I became a teenager?

Now that I'm past the years that I was inflicted with braces, started dating, learned to drive, graduated high school, travelled on an airplane for the first time, graduated university, married the Enabler, and bought a house, my obsession with knitting is evidently the most significant part of the last couple of years.

Last year's ornament was an adorable knitting snowman:

And on the same theme, this year's ornament is an adorable snowman made out of balls of yarn.

I'm not criticizing my mother's choice of ornament to be sure, they're great!  She's right about the role that knitting has played in my life in the last few years.  I don't expect any ornament-worthy new developments in the next year, so Mom, better keep your eye out for more knitterly ornaments!

This past weekend my LYS had their annual fibre retreat.  It was lovely and relaxing, although I was surprisingly tired when it was over.  Who knew that sitting around by the pool, eating and drinking and knitting for two days could be so exhausting?

I'm really glad I decided to use my last few vacation days for the year for the few days after the retreat.  It's been a nice time to put up the tree, do a few chores around the house, take care of some long overdue appointments (like the dentist... ugh), and most importantly, knit (and watch Gossip Girl... I mean thought-provoking documentaries... yeah...).

One of the classes I took at the retreat was making beaded ornaments.  I finished my ornament up today and now it has a place on the tree along with the many other knitted decorations.  

I definitely need to make more of these, but I don't have enough beads for another one.  I suppose I'll have to go shopping, since I'm certainly not on a bead diet!