We are deep into winter now. Maisie has figured out that she can warm up really quickly if she sits on top of a heating vent. On Friday we woke up to discover it was -37℃. I don’t think my toes have felt properly warm since. The deep cold means the sky is clear though and I’m willing to trade a bit of warmth for the chance to see the sun during the brief period it is up. We’re counting down to the shortest day and looking forward to the growing light that comes afterwards. Maisie had her first school concert the week before last. I’m not sure who was more excited: her or us. She picked her own outfit of a sparkly pink dress over her fish shirt and some sparkly lip gloss she found in my drawer. Watching her on stage was so much fun. All the kids did a wonderful job and the teachers knew to keep things simple.

The Saturday before the concert we took Maisie to see The Nutcracker. I always love it and it’s even better when I’m sharing it with her. It was right at the beginning of the month this year and felt like the kick off for the rest of December. I’ve been working on a few holiday crafting projects. Somehow I thought I had loads of time until about the 15th when it hit me that there were only ten days until Christmas and I have a stop-crafting-on-Christmas-Eve rule that means everything needs to be finished by the 23rd. The 15th is also when I realized I still had things to put in the mail. If you’re expecting a card from us don’t be surprised if it doesn’t arrive until the week of the 26th. I’ve gathered up all the things I need for my sewing (no knitting this year) into a basket - patterns, fabric, notions, etc. - so I don’t have to hunt around for things as I switch between projects … and so I can’t accidentally forget about a project.

I’m looking forward to the rest of the month. We’re going to have some meals with family, drive around and look at the lights (some of these new LED lights are just crazy!), meet up with friends - big and little - and enjoy some quiet time at home by ourselves.

Eve listened speechlessly. She had so much to say that the difficulty of selection rendered her dumb.

- P.G. Wodehouse, “The Best Sauce,” The Uncollected Wodehouse (New York: International Polygonics,1992) p.139

That is one of my favourite lines from one of my favourite Wodehouse stories and perfectly captures my current feeling about sweater knitting. At the moment I want to knit all the sweaters. I have yarn set aside, some even wound up, for at least three; I have some other yarn tagged for something - as yet unsettled on - for Maisie; a gift certificate for yarn for a forth - just need to pick a colour; and a strong desire to force Rob to pick himself a cardigan pattern. Consequently I’m knitting a little shawl. The pattern is Ishbel by Ysolda Teague. I’ve made it before and it’s a nice one. Simple, well written and the result is a scarf I still regularly receive compliments on. This version is for a fundraiser at Maisie’s school. The yarn is delicious: Tanis Fibre Arts Red Label Cashmere Silk Single in a colourway called fjord. It’s been marinating in my stash for a few years waiting for the right project and I love the way it is working with this pattern. I’m almost done and then I’ll have to get back to trying to decide which sweater to start swatching for.

Maisie finds joy in so many things.

So many things that I often think of as chores are things she will excitedly ask to participate in. It’s the most wonderful reminder that the world is very much what we chose to make of it. Recently Maisie taught me this lesson when it was time to shovel off the porch. She was excited about her newly repaired hand-me-down snow pants and put them on as soon as I was finished (and then again after I fixed the part where I’d accidentally sewn the leg shut). She ran around the house singing “Oh, I love my hand-me-downs” and asked to go outside* and use her shovel. I hadn’t been looking forward to dealing with the snow and would have been happy to stay sitting in the rocker a bit longer but it was clear that wasn’t an option.

And we had fun. Maisie shovelled off portions of the porch and even some of the driveway, carefully piling her snow just to the right of the steps. She insisted that she do the steps herself and I was not allowed to help until she was all done her part. Rob and Abby headed out for a walk and we stayed outside and moved snow around and cleaned off the whole porch and talked about how we would make warm cocoa when we got back inside. When we were done Maisie put her shovel away carefully next to mine so it would be ready for next time. Not only did we get more shovelling done that I would have bothered to do by myself. I actually found myself smiling when I woke up the next day to fresh snow falling and a thick new layer already covering the porch and car.

*She refused to wear her jacket but did concede to putting on a sweater. It wasn’t really too cold outside. She insisted her hat be on this direction.