Finally rested up from another exhausting Christmas, but like always, the effort is definitely worth the results. I was extra tired this year because, after losing both of their doggies in the past few months (they were 18-years-old), I decided (kind of last minute) to make a cross-stitch portrait of Penny and Two-Bit for Lolo. I dug out a picture I had taken of them years ago, searched until I found a good (and free/immediate) online program to create a pattern out of it (I used Pic 2 Pat and would totally recommend it) and started stitching about six weeks ago. At only 6 x 10 inches, I didn't think it would take too long, but for perspective, the image was 200 x 100 squares, which is 20 000 squares, which is 40 000 stitches. I also kept getting discouraged because it didn't look like there was enough contrast between the brown of the dogs' legs and their shadows on the ground, and until it was finished, I wasn't sure if this untested program was any good.
I was stitching every day for a few hours at first, and every day, Dave would come home, look at my progress and say, "Are you sure you're going to get it done in time?" Discouraging. Then, once Kennedy was done school for the semester, she offered to keep stitching while I showered or walked Libby or otherwise gave my eyes a rest, and she was so helpful that I started wondering why she wasn't helping me even more. By last week, I was stitching 8 - 10 hours/day. Ken called me on Friday to say he was on his way to his kids' Christmas concert and asked me to come along, but since I was on my final push, for the first year ever, I said I wasn't up to going. It was finished on Saturday, framed on Sunday, and that left me scrambling to otherwise get ready for our Christmas traditions.
During all of this, I had told only an internet friend about what I was working on and she said that she bet my brother and sister-in-law would cry when they got the portrait, and I was proud enough of the results to make this little collage to show Darlene:
Meanwhile, on Christmas morning, when we entered the family room to open stockings, I was given this:
Over the years, I have cross-stitched stockings for everyone in the family and used one that Dave had bought for me. This year, starting way back in August, Kennedy started making one for me. She was feeling her own pressure over the past couple of weeks to get her own project done, and even though her own eyes were strained and her own fingers were cramping, she kept offering to give me breaks (and remember, I kept hoping that she would pick up my doggy project more often. I kept hoping she would work on it like the shoemaker's elves when I went to bed, and even though I was slightly disappointed every morning to see no progress, she was spending her time working on my stocking.) Well, you better believe that I started crying when I saw this stocking -- a special serendipity led me to do the portrait of Penny and Two-Bit so that I would have a fresh perspective on just how much work and love goes into one of these projects. I didn't need one more thing for Christmas (but of course was spoiled by everyone else as well).
We had our gift exchange with Ken and Lolo last night and my portrait was also appreciated (but no tears over there). Lolo unwrapped it, thought it was a framed/enlarged photo at first and was just saying, "Thanks so much, isn't that..." and then looked closer and, "wait...did you make this? Oh my God, Krista, this is gorgeous, Ken, look what Krista made..." In short, my effort was recognised and enough fuss was made to embarrass me into wanting to change the subject. As we were leaving, Lolo gave me another thank you and a big hug and I know that she understood the love that I put into my project, too.
Another story: Dave had brought home some extra stocking stuffers for the girls one day, and as I was stitching, I didn't really pay attention to what they were as he hid them with the rest. It wasn't until Tuesday, when I was pulling out everything to make sure the two piles were equal that I realised Dave had come home with two books and a cd for Mal and just a comic book for Kennedy. Freaking out because I wouldn't have time to figure out more presents for Kennedy, I knew I would just have to sleep on it and worry about it the next day -- Christmas Eve. So I did my food shopping the next morning, was basically uninspired, and when I got home, I googled "best art history movies" and checked the website of The Beat Goes On to see which were in stock. The Girl With the Pearl Earring was in stock in town here (which was good because I wanted to see if they had a stocking stuffer for Dave there) and a movie called Fur was in stock up by my sister-in-law's house and Dave called his Dad to see if he would pick it up for us on the way from Rudy's house to ours. That was no problem, so I prepaid it and left to pick up what I could here. I eventually had to pick up Mal from her shift at the pork plant (poor kid) and when I got back, Dave's Mom was here but his Dad was on a wild goose chase for the movie we sent him for, and he had gone back to Kitchener to a third location of The Beat Goes On. I didn't understand what the problem was since I had an email telling me that Fur was waiting for pickup at the first location we had sent him to, but since I only had a few more hours until our party, an since my father-in-law doesn't keep his cell phone turned on and was unreachable, I had to put it out of my mind and get to cooking. I eventually got a call from Rudy saying that their Dad had called her to let her know he had the movie (and that all the driving around and getting lost -- and his anti-diuretic meds -- had caused him to pee his pants at the store) and to let us know he was on his way here. Meanwhile, my mother-in-law was standing at the door, "Oh, I wonder what's taking Jim so long to get back", and that stress wasn't good for her Alzheimer's, and after he did get home, and after she talked to him at the door, not two minutes later she was in the kitchen with me saying, "I'm just so worried that Jim isn't back yet". So, in my father-in-law came to the kitchen -- the conquering hero who saved Christmas with a three hour movie hunt -- and he handed me the movie Her. I had to say, "But, this isn't it. It was supposed to be Fur." He could have cried. "That's what I told them, but at the first store they said I must mean Her because there is no movie called Fur, but they didn't have it in stock, and they sent me to another store, but they didn't have it, and so on and so on, and then they sent me to the last store where they said they would put it aside for me, but I got lost and was driving around in circles and had to stop three times to ask people to point me in the right direction, and I waited in line for half an hour and then they had to search for it...and it isn't the right movie?" So Dave called the original store and they confirmed that they had our movie, but by now it was 4:30 and they closed at 5, and even though my father-in-law offered to go back and get it, I wouldn't send him out again. Dave finished yelling at the poor guy who answered the phone and said, "I guess we'll get it after Christmas". That wasn't good enough and I told Dave he should call the store back and demand they deliver the movie to Rudy's house (it really is a five minute drive away from there), but when he tried that, the guy on the phone said that neither of the guys at the store drive. So finally, Dave called Rudy and got her to go get the movie (even though she was getting ready for her own party) and she brought it for Kennedy on Christmas. What a fiasco -- but again, many loving family members did what they could (and really went above and beyond) to try and make Christmas as special as possible.
We pulled off another successful Christmas Eve party -- about 30 people came -- and more than one person made a point of telling me that this tradition is important to their families (even Dave's cousin Shannon thanked me at the family dinner on Sunday for giving her Mom and Stepdad a place to spend Christmas Eve every year so they're not alone).
Dave read The Night Before Christmas to the girls (and hopefully they'll never be too old for that), we got maybe six hours sleep, opened presents (including stockings), I spent a couple hours cooking for brunch, was happy to have all the Thompson side together, and then went to dinner at Ken and Lolo's.
Christmas is always so exhausting, but there's so much love put into each part that I wouldn't have it any other way.
