decking the halls

This looks like a really fun decoration. I have to be careful not to do too much because then the house looks really cluttered, but I think I could hang a couple of these in the window... click here for instructions.

joy joy joy

deck the halls of 1039 griswold!! we found a great family-owned and operated tree farm in Allendale - complete with hay-rides and popcorn balls! It was a little muddy, but we had a flurry of big snow flakes to make it feel more like a Midwest holiday season (oh, and not to mention a recently shot deer hanging from a tree... yikes. some Midwest traditions I could do without).

And look at what we came up with! Daniel found this beauty of a (douglas?) fir and we got a little carried away with the height, ... what a Christmas tree!!

happy thanksgiving!

gobble-gobble all the way through the weekend! Our wonderful friends Chris and Lisa shared the day with us, and what a day! Lisa is an amazing chef. and Chris shares my love for all things Christmas, so he snuck some Christmas music into dessert before we all watched "Elf". Conrad's cousins, Bella and Peanut, are visiting for the holiday, so we have a full house!! Daniel and I have so much to be thankful for, we are bursting.

granny erin

Just call me granny... I'm learning to knit. :) Yes, it's true. When you live in Michigan, and you know you have at least 5 months of nasty weather ahead, well... crazy things start happening. You develop a taste for the $7 red wine from the corner store (instead of opting for the lovely reds from the specialty store 7 blocks away), the tea-kettle becomes your best friend, the first 20-minutes of your day are spent looking for slippers, weekends revolve around movie times at the discount theater, and projects - particularly the crafty type - occupy your mind and hands.

I really love the changing of the seasons here. And I love the chance to do some different things like knitting in the winter and gardening (well, weeding really) in the summer. We've had a few fires in our fireplace, but this fall has been so mild, just now we are actually feeling the cold. The garlic I ordered from Seed Savers finally found its place in our backyard today... apparently this is the time for that, and it feels like an appropriate ending to a warm season. Seeing as I've never planted anything other than houseplants, I thought something with the name "hearty" and "German" might have the best chance of success. We'll see, I guess.

As far as knitting goes... I'm just beginning. Maybe I'll ask for some books for Christmas. For now, I hope my family is ready for all the scarves coming their way. If only I knew someone who was having a baby... baby blankets would be a good step-up.