Little December joys

As Christmas approaches, I find a special joy in all the little details in this month. I wanted to mention a few that are especially enjoyable for me this year. A list of this year's December "favorite things," if you will.

1. A good hand cream. This one has been a favorite for the last few years running. It moisturizes, but doesn't feel greasy, so I can get back to knitting faster (a key detail)! And I especially enjoy the clementine scent this time of year, since clementines are in season.
2. A 12 days of Christmas puzzle advent that I ordered on a whim. For advent calendars, we are doing my childhood velcro nativity one, (which the boys love) along with our church's advent reading when I remember. But since Cooper really enjoys puzzles, and we aren't doing any treat or toy advents this year, I thought that a 12-day puzzle advent could be really fun, and we can take care of it to reuse it in years to come. Each puzzle consists of 80 tiny pieces. We have loved it so far!
3. A stand for our paper IKEA Christmas star. We've had this star for years, but only in the hanging configuration which is sort of awkward. Nicholas picked up a stand for $6.50 from IKEA and now it might be my favorite Christmas decoration, any time of day. It's right next to my very favorite spot to sit in the evenings.
4. A Christmas pillow we've had for a few years, a handknit blanket I made in late high school/early college, and some red berry accents around the house. Since our tree is set up downstairs this year, I like having little (other) bits of Christmas cheer sprinkled throughout the upstairs. This is one of my favorite corners.
5. A few Christmas books that both my boys love: My Merry Christmas by Sally Lloyd-Jones and Sounding Joy by Ellie Holcomb.

6. Washing day for handknit socks! Between Nicholas and I, we have quite the collection, and I usually wait awhile to wash several pairs at once. Most go in the machine on cold, delicate cycle in garment bags and hang dry, and some I prefer to hand wash. Some of these pairs I knit when we lived in Texas, and not one hole (looking at the Paton's Kroy and Regia socks, specifically). I hang them up on another favorite and very useful item: our wall-hanging drying rack. We've had this for about a year now, and I can't recommend it enough. The capacity is sufficient without it being too big, and the whole thing folds up and out of the way when out of use. It's called "the beadboard drying rack" and we have the single panel. It is pricey (and ships from the UK, where it's made), but it has been a worthwhile investment for us.
7. My Loré Pemberton calendar from last year. The paintings are delightful, and I have enjoyed every month.

8. A batch of long-fermented sourdough sugar cookies. I tried this Little Spoon Farm recipe this year and they're good! They are not super sweet cookies. I made a butter/powdered sugar/vanilla/milk icing and dipped some of them in. All the dough can be done ahead of time, so they were rolled out and chilled and reading for cutting during Finn's nap yesterday. It was a really sweet activity for some quality time with Cooper.
9. A Christmas gift exchange with my dear friends Molly and Jessica. Molly lives locally so she came over and we videochatted with Jessica. An annual tradition that is so sweet to me!

10. Wearing a Sophie Scarf that I knit last year (mentioned in this blog post). It's the tiniest accessory and kept my neck cozy (indoors and out) all day long. I have two that I wear and could certainly knit and wear a few more in other colors.
11. A completed pair of green mittens! I've had this yarn mentally set aside for a pair of mittens for the last few months. It's a farm yarn, gifted from my friend Maeve, naturally dyed with indigo and marigold (I think) and I love how the mittens turned out. It's a great free cabled pattern that I knit back in 2016, I believe.
12. A pair of self-patterning Christmas socks. I deciding to cast these on for a bit of color, since my other two primary knitting projects are both beige (a new sweater for Nicholas and an oatmeal-colored musselburgh hat that I wanted to have on hand for miles of plain, vanilla knitting). I am really enjoying the colors and the patterning on the Christmas socks for a change of pace.

And lastly, I'm soaking in all the snuggles from both my boys, whenever I can get them. It's always a big family shift to welcome a new family member and such a bittersweet thing to have your littlest no longer be your littlest. We are so excited for this new chapter for our growing family!