Boxing Day

[kerravonsen]

This year, the family did the family present opening on Boxing Day, midmorning until lunchtime. We had cold meat (left over from previous day's roasts) and salad, and then The Pudding, including my Christmas Pudding Ice Cream, which went over well. The Puddings themselves had been cooked by brother-in-law in the Proper Way Learned From His Mother, back in Canberra before they came down, and then re-heated when it came to eating time.

It was a bit of an endurance test for me, because while my brain wasn't spinning at half-speed like yesterday, I was SO TIRED that I wanted to go home and go to sleep even before we had lunch. As it was, when we finally finished lunch and I went home, I was so fuddled with tiredness, I went to sleep with my glasses on, though didn't realize that until I woke up three hours later.

But before lunch there were presents.

I received:
A crazy-patchwork craft bag from my sister. Lined with maroon velour, nice.
A prayer shawl from my sister.
"Thr3e" by Ted Dekker from Nephew M - I haven't heard of this author, looks like it's a thriller.
Seed money from my father going towards a sewing cabinet.
An amazing framed photograph of a light-show in China from SiL D from her recent trip to China (she didn't take the photo, but the group's elected photographer did)
A skein of absolutely gorgeous hand-painted (blue/green/purple) possum-wool yarn from brother D and Niece T.
Some nice pony beads from SiL S.

I gave:

Dad
purple tote bag (crocheted from purple and lavender nylon knitting ribbon)

brother D
bookmark, notebook,
magnetic tic-tac-toe,
self-powered flashlight,
blue green crocheted nylon soap saver + peppermint soap

SiL D
necklace: blue-green crochet with green agate pendant + matching crocheted earrings
dark-blue/light-purple nylon crocheted soap saver + lemongrass/lemon myrtle soap

Aunt E
rainbow diagonal crocheted soap saver + orange soap
white nylon crocheted soap saver + jasmine soap

Nephew E
CD Mother Earth by Within Temptation (which I bought my own copy of. Grateful to Nephew E for introducing me to Viking Metal!)

brother J
"A Soldier's Duty" by Jean Johnson (yes I will review it soon!)
Asterix tie, bookmark
CD Paul Stookey Real To Reel (another CD that I got my own copy of; I have fond memories of the record when I was a child, but it was lost in the intervening years, so both of us were very glad to have a copy now.)

Nephew L
big box of Lego
matchbox cars
connectible erasers

Nephew M
Doctor Who audio: Dead Air
bookmark
New Zealand Poi (because he would make better use of them than I would)

Sister N and BiL S
scarf: beige/brown
scarf: brown/beige
light-blue/light-blue stripe crocheted nylon soap saver + lavender soap
yellow/yellow/cream crocheted cotton soap saver + chai soap
bookmarks
CD Steven Curtis Chapman: All Things New

Nephew S
crocheted Mobius scarf

SiL S
crocheted off-white draw-string cotton bag with shoulder strap
rainbow cotton crocheted soap saver + soap

Niece T
huge collection bangles I had when I was her age
silver sparkle bookmark
rainbow horiz-stripe cotton crocheted soap saver + raspberry soap
silver sparkle hair clips
silver + grey beaded hair clips
hair elastics

Niece V
blue bead-crochet necklace with matching earrings
bookmark

Niece L wasn't there, but hopefully her family will give her present to her when she gets back from Japan.

I did go rather mad with crochet this year.

Comments

[vilakins]

Wow, that's an enormous number of present you gave! The possum wool sounds gorgeous. What's the prayer shawl like? I gave my sister one (this tallit) a couple of years ago.

[kerravonsen]

Wow, that's an enormous number of present you gave!
I just kept on finding/making cool stuff!

The possum wool sounds gorgeous.
It IS gorgeous. Now I have to think of something worthy to make from it.

What's the prayer shawl like?

More like a scarf. The idea was that she was praying for me while she was knitting it, that's why it's called a "prayer shawl" - sort of the opposite to what one would expect, which would be a shawl one wore while praying.

[vilakins]

a shawl one wore while praying

That's what I think of a prayer shawl as being. But what a wonderful idea yours is!

For the possum yarn, have a look on Ravelry. I bought some turquoise cotton with glittery bits on impulse then looks for something to make for that weight and length and found a wonderful teardrop scarf. it's so pretty I bought more yarn in white to make one for my sister.

[kerravonsen]

But what a wonderful idea yours is!
Yes it is, isn't it?

For the possum yarn, have a look on Ravelry.
One can look up patterns by yarn type? I hadn't realized.

[vilakins]

You can filter by all sorts of things: weight, type, crochet as opposed to knitting, how much you have, what size hooks are recommended... I also ask for free patterns. :-)

[primsong]

What, pray tell, is 'possum wool'? It sounds like lovely colors.

[kerravonsen]

(sporfle at icon)

What, pray tell, is 'possum wool'?

It's a blend of merino wool and Brushtail Possum fur. While Brushtail Possums are protected in Australia, in New Zealand they are an introduced pest that destroys native wildlife, has no natural predators, and spreads diseases amongst cattle. So not only do I get some lovely yarn, but I contribute to the NZ ecology.

And it is lovely yarn. It's warmer, lighter and softer than plain wool. IMHO, it's nicer than Alpaca.

So I have to think of something suitable to make with it. Likely a scarf or some gloves.

[imhilien.livejournal.com]

I hope you feel much better soon, poor you. :(

The presents sounded nice. :)