Furry Christmas Helper

Hi! I'm Annie, the more appreciated feline in the family. Since it is Christmas, it becomes my duty--and pleasure as well, now don't get me wrong--to help Janice with her Christmas sewing. I promised not to tell what this material is being used for since certain grandchildren of hers might look at the blog. But I can tell you this: the flannel is most comfortable and soft. I wish she would make me a fluffy bed pillow from the scraps. (Hint, hint.)

Here I am inspecting the material for flaws and administering the sniff test at the same time. There is one tiny flaw, but I warned Janice, and she did avoid it. As if it might show. Ha!!! But Janice gets a bit anal about stuff like that. She thanked me and picked me up for a quick pet. I don't understand why she then released me on the floor. She knows I like to be where the action is. And I hadn't reported that it smelled of fabric softener!

Here I am telling Janice she dropped a pin. I like to pretend I'm a pointer dog, just for fun. I know that if I hadn't told her, she would have found it later with her foot. Even in winter she walks around the house with only stockings on and sometimes even bare feet!

I'm not usually one to say "I told you so," but I TOLD her she should have stuck to the layout the pattern company suggested. But NOOOO. She thought she could do better. So, as I told her, she ran out of material and has lots of big scraps that are too small to use for her remaining pattern pieces. She's going to have to return to JoAnn for another yard. Good thing for her, the material is still on sale.

This is Roger. He lived here long before I came, so technically he is The Top Cat. He isn't interested in sewing and quilting as I am. He just likes to stick his nose into things to remind me of his status. Like, we nap and play together, so often he sees me on an equal footing with himself. I don't really mind that he feels he has to supervise or put his stamp of approval on what I do. (He knows nothing about any kind of sewing or crafting, and doesn't care to learn.) He said he guessed everthing looked OK. But then he warned Janice that she needs to get the table cleaned off before supper time and not leave her scraps and threads all over the place. After all, he reminded her, she has a whole ROOM for that kind of stuff.

Merry Christmas from the Anderson Cats. Let's hope Janice gets her projects all done before Christmas!!

Aunt, Uncle, and Cousins!! Oh my!!!

Tuesday Ginger was in Anoka to bring Kayla to her father, Steve, for visit. While in Anoka, Ginger and I took Janice to meet her Uncle Justin, Aunt Madelyn and their girls for the first time. Justin loves babies. It was like old times for him to have a baby girl on his lap.

Mazie--now 14 years old--was equally as happy to meet her new cousin. Mazie and Janice are both quite mellow and agreeable girls. "You can get endear yourself to everyone by just giggling quietly and smiling a lot," Mazie is instructing her. "Sounds easy," is the reply.

You can easily tell Hannah, 12 years old, and Janice are related from the looks on their faces. I'd caption this shot, "Hmm m m ......" They share a studious nature.

This is Nina, now 10 years old, laughing with her new cousin about how great it is to be the "baby" of the family. Nina is telling her, "Yes, and when you get into a little trouble, all you have to do is . . . . "


It was great to catch all their family at once and visit by the family room fireplace. Visiting this way really gets the holidays off to a great start.

Feeling the Christmas Spirit

Each of us experiences Christmas in our own way. Actually, in multiple ways I suppose. The first experience each year is most often soon after Thanksgiving, going shopping on "Black Friday" or putting up the Christmas tree. I now leave the thrill of the hunt for Christmas bargains the day after Thanksgiving to the younger and those with stronger legs and stomachs. But I'll never forget shopping with Andrea about 11 years ago at Walmart the Friday after Thanksgiving in Nebraska. We aced out a man in a wheelchair for the last drastically price-reduced crock pot! It brings a giggle every time I think of it. But this year, the kinder and less adventurous me is content to get the tree up as a beginning to our Christmas celebration. If I were an animal, I would be a cat. . .

and be content to cuddle on the tree skirt and bat around an ornament or ribbon when I got all slept out. And here I must give thanks to Dan and Jenny for setting up the tree this year and dragging the bins labeled "Christmas Stuff" in from the garage. We set it up on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, and it occurred to me that when we retire and move to Watertown, I won't have Dan to help. After the prick of panic passsed, I grabbed Bob's arm as he passed us on his way to find a snack in the kitchen and tried to "share" some of the spirit of Christmas home decoration. Bob's middle name is Virgil, but I think it should be Scrooge, as he even repeated, "Bah, humbug!" as he headed to his recliner with snack in hand. I'll have to work on that next year. By now, I'm pretty sure I can cajole him when necessary. He'll be the reformed Ebeneezer one day.

Sometimes the Christmas Spirit pops out of nowhere and surprises us. For me, it came as I was pulling into a local SuperAmerica gas station (aka: The Icee Store). On the car radio I heard Kenny Rogers singing, "And she believes in me. I'll never know just what she sees in me." Well, I just melted and filled with thankful tears. I had to stop the car, breathe deeply, and wipe my eyes in order to park. This song is about a man who comes home late and tries to slip into bed without waking his wife. He has been working at a singing career for a long time without feeling he has made much difference in doing so. ". . . with my little song." The wife wakes and is happy to see him. Years ago when that song was played more often, I grew to love it because to me, Bob has always been the one to believe in me. Not that I've tried a singing career, but that through all the changes and time together, he has always been there loving me, believing in me. And so often I have wondered "just what [he] sees in me." It is this attitude in him that gives me hope in myself when I'm sure I am a failure trying to slip in unnoticed and fall into oblivion. He is the greatest Christmas gift, and all I need is to have him with me again this year. Like the Jesus, he makes up for what I can't do; he is my savior. And if I can't always love myself, I always do love Bob. Merry Christmas, Sweetheart.

My strongest childhood Christmas memories are of times spend with family. Sure I remember a couple of magical gifts from Santa, but more than anything, I treasure the times with aunts and uncles, cousins and in-laws. People is what Christmas is all about to me. I am blessed by the family and friends in my life.