Making Christmas

 In my last post I mentioned how incredible it is to spend some time on projects and activities that don't involve reading, writing, or my computer.  Here are some of those projects...

First, I replaced my broken-zipper wallet with one made from scraps of a skirt I made last year.  The inside of the wallet is gloriously full of pockets, if only I could figure out a way to keep things from sliding out of their places... still working on the concept, maybe I'll get it right next time.   

 

I also took the big step of retiring my old versatile herringbone bag, which has seen me through many a good time and a long travel.  It had surpassed my ability to patch it up, so I saved the bits I thought I could reuse and said goodbye to the rest.  I lit some candles to help myself say goodbye :P

Below is an example of one of the trips it made with me, 

to visit my dear sister Rachel studying in London...

 I whipped up some cute stockings for Christmas time in Indiana... As you can see below, they were indeed hung by the chimney with care;.

 While in Indiana I got the chance to play lots of games with my fun new family.  Below is Jeremy winning the game of life as a teacher.  That's talent.

Also while in Indiana, my industrious sister-in-law Jenny held a soap-making workshop.  We kicked all non-goggled members of the household out of the kitchen, and emerged four hours later with four batches of soap. 

 We also took advantage of the fresh snowfall to go sledding on the hills of Goshen. 

And my final pre-Spring-semester project is this journal I made today.  My new years resolution is to keep a journal this year (which I haven't done regularly since before college) but with a twist: my journal entries will consist of my favorite memory from that day, and one thing I'm thankful for from that day.  And I'm going to try to write my entries in cursive, in the hopes that my current 4th-grade cursive will turn into something like my mom's lovely penmanship by next December.  Now I have a nice brand new journal to (hopefully) inspire me to keep up the habit. 

And that's that.  End of break.  Tomorrow my classes start again... sort of.  At least one class does: Biodiversity Law, which takes place in the US Virgin Islands.  I know, bummer.  I'm not sure what to expect, but my bags are packed, including two swimsuits, hiking boots, snorkeling gear, and a 1000-pound 1000-page textbook.  I fly out tomorrow!