Rocking Around the Christmas Tree

Yes, this is THE Christmas LAMB! My daughter made this in kindergarten awhile ago and it has been the star of the tree ever since. I can't imagine Christmas without the lamb on the tree. A manila folder cut into a lamb shape, with cotton batting glued on and then black paper features, red mouth and a red bow. What a lamb has to do with Christmas has always been a mystery to me. We lived in Georgia then. Maybe that had something to do with it?

Tiny Sock Monkeys. On an after Christmas trip down south, we visited many Cracker Barrel restaurants in search of "sock monkeys on sale". For some reason they were Christmas decorations. I got LOTS!. I love sock monkeys. One tree usually has all the sock monkeys and red ornaments on it. But last year I shared the monkey love with all the other tiny trees. Which reminds me. I need to find the carton of lights. The tiny trees need more lights.

I took a picture of the decorated stinky plastic tree but since our living room is on the north side of the house with a front porch blocking any sunlight; it's way too dark in there. So the pictures looked all blurry and dark. You will have to use your imagination.

Last night we had the annual library employee potluck. We had a sign up sheet on the door with the different menu items listed. Entree, salad, dessert. So I signed up for and made an entree. Lazy Lasagna. Homemade marinara (spiked with red pepper flakes), frozen cheese tortellini, sliced mozzarrella and frozen spinach squeezed dry. Baked till golden brown and delicious. Good thing. My dish was the ONLY main dish. Everyone else though "entree" meant "salad". And for dessert. Cheesecake. Three of them. And one Chocolate Cake. And Cream Puffs. And Cupcakes. So maybe all the salad was a good thing since we were going to be having quite a big plate of dessert. I was busy doing something when they divided up the leftover desserts so I didn't get a piece of something to bring home to G. He was sad.

We exchanged little $5 gifts and then picked up and went home. It's more fun when we make ornaments. I was going to have them all make little stuffed trees with thread spool stems. But then I saw little wonky stripe felt trees with tree branch stems and thread spools on a new blog I found. Now I want to make them.

And my book from Amazon came. Kokoro no Te: Handmade Treasures from the Heart and I can start making all the things JuJu has been posting on her blog this week. I just wish I had some small bits of Japanese kimono for these projects. When my son went to Japan for vacation in 2004, I mentioned wanting some kimono scraps. I guess I'll have to find a source and buy some bits and pieces myself.

So today is all about being "CREATIVE". No cleaning allowed.

Sam just called and needs canvas bags made for catnip toys. Is that "CREATIVE" ?????