I’ve had big-time end-of-the-year blues this week. Hannah’s first Christmas was so amazing, such a perfect end to a wonderful holiday season. And then almost immediately I was left with this sadness that the most momentous year of our lives was coming to an end. I haven’t been able to get excited about any of my usual listmaking, organizing, new year projects that always pepper my winter breaks. I’ve just been cuddling and smooching the baby nonstop. And recovering from a cold and, of all things, a case of pinkeye that set in on Christmas Eve!!

We just put the baby to bed a little while ago, for the last time during the year she was born. And I burst into tears! Just feeling so sentimental, so sad to close the door on the most gratifying year of my life so far. Adam’s been reminding me of all the amazing things 2013 had to offer, and I get it. I really do. But I just needed a little cry, a little emotional outpouring, a little mourning for the year that we did this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this. I still have to post pictures of our visit to Santa, but that, too!! Such a year of memories, and I feel like we’re running out of all these firsts.

But I know that’s ridiculous, because there are so many great things ahead of us. So many more adventures to have and memories to make. And Hannah just gets more and more fun as the days go on! And once it was out of my system, I was finally able to look forward to 2013 and start wrapping up my year. Tomorrow, there will be resolutions. But for now, a look back.

My 2012 New Year’s Resolutions, let’s see how I did:

• On January 1, 2012 I’m happy. Really, truly happy. And I have lots of reasons to stay that way for the foreseeable future, so don’t forget them. I think I did pretty well with this, and now that I’m getting over my holiday blues I’ll do this again in 2013.
• Remember to be grateful. So grateful! So many great people who love our baby, and our family, and have been there for us this year.
• Be as domestic as humanly possible (cooking, quilting, crafting) on the limited amount of sleep I’ll be getting. I kind of can’t believe everything I managed to do, check out the list below.
• Try to break my 2011 Books Read record of 202, but don’t go crazy if I can’t. In no universe did this happen. I read a total of 120 books this year, my worst record ever!
• Decide what kind of mom I want to be. I will always be doing this.
• Show Hannah everything. Hannah was my buddy this year, she came with me everywhere and had quite a few adventures this year!

2012 in Craftiness! Here are all the things I’ve made this year, whew!

Quilts

• Hannah Banner
• Go to Your Happy Place Quilt
• J’adore Stella Quilt
• Laminated Beach Quilt
• Super Mario Brothers Wedding Quilt
• Little Apples Quilt
• Hannah’s Halloween Quilt
• Hurricane Sandy Baby Quilts
• Ryann’s Quilt (this is finished and delivered, post isn’t up yet!)

Other Things I’ve Sewn

• Nursery Gumdrop
• LAM’s Mug Rugs
• Kathy’s Mug Rugs
• Craft Fair Coasters and Mug Rugs
• Hannah’s Advent Calendar

Other Craftiness

• July 4th Holiday Cookouts
• Hannah’s Project Life
• Back to School Bulletin Boards
• Halloween Bulletin Board
• Winter Bulletin Boards
• 2012 Holiday Party

Favorite Recipes

• Freezer Chicken Parm
• Strawberry Jam
• Sweet Cherry Pie
• Spanish Chicken and Potato Roast
• Coca-Cola Chocolate Cake
• My First Tarte Tatin

DIY

• Hannah’s Room
• Soy Sauce Halloween Costumes

So I finally finished our new monogrammed family Christmas stockings. I started thinking about these a while back, knowing that Hannah would need one and wanting to take the opportunity to improve on our old ones with a new coordinated family set. The old ones have been great, but I’m a better sewer 4 years later. And, I can applique things.

We have a random assortment of stockings I’ve never gotten rid of, so I took one of the bigger ones and used it as a template for these. I made them extra long and wide, and Fat Quarter Shop had this special Robert Kaufman Spot On bundle called Deck the Halls that I bought (and then combined with dots from my stash).

I cut all my dotty fabrics into various strip widths and pieced together big sections to cut out my stocking shape. Then I used this tutorial for the stocking construction and this tutorial for the cuff sizing (I made 6″ cuffs on mine). I love these.

Just in time for Santa’s arrival.

We had a holiday party this year! We skipped last year because it was just too much with the baby on the way, but last Sunday we had a bunch of great people over for an early evening celebration. I forgot how much I missed this party. I took zero photos once the party started, which I’m horrible about every year. There’s always so much to do, so many people to talk to. Plus Hannah was up entertaining people, so at one point we had to go get her to bed.

Anyway, I did manage to get some photos of most of the spread before folks arrived. I didn’t get any of the hot chocolate bar, which is nowhere near as fancy as it sounds. Just a corner of the kitchen set up with hot chocolate, white and dark chocolate bits, crushed candy canes, caramel, marshmallows, and Baileys to mix in. I loved that, we’re totally doing it again for Christmas. But here are the other goodies.

Delicious, delicious cupcakes from Sugarush. Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies, a cookie decorating station, and chocolate covered pretzels. We also had the white chocolate peppermint M&Ms, they’re pretty darn good.

I used my Ninjabread Men cookie cutters. The America’s Test Kitchen Family Baking Book (my no-fail book) had a great recipe for thick and chewy gingerbread (as well as thin and crispy), and since I believe there’s no point to a cookie that isn’t chewy I was happy to use it. Maybe I’ll post it one of these days, but there are so many great gingerbead cookie recipes out there. The important thing is that these cookies are NINJAS. They will kick your butt into the festive spirit.

And, of course, supplies to decorate your little warriors. Within my minimalist Scandinavian color scheme, obviously. See what a grownup I was this year? No cartoon reindeer or snowmen or polka dotted tray liners this year.

Red. Velvet. Cheesecake. Brownies. I found this recipe on Pinterest and made them, they were pretty darn good. Fudgey (Fudgy? nothing looks right) and awesome, and even though I got distracted and (very slightly) overbaked them, the cheesecake layer more than made up for it.

The whole shebang.

And from the other side. Fancy.

This was the “savory spread.” Chips, dips, cheese and crackers. I actually just remembered that I also made garlic knots from a Bon Appetit recipe. That one I’ll post here, it was really good and Bon Appetit doesn’t keep all their recipes online forever.

I had a great time this year! I wish I had taken some photos of the actual party, especially Hannah hanging out and entertaining everyone with her baby piano. There were a lot of new faces this year, and it really was such a nice time. It definitely helped get me into the festive spirit, I’d been feeling a little overwhelmed by the holiday To Do list until then.

Garlic Oregano Knots (from the December 2012 issue of Bon Appetit)

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter plus more for baking sheet
1 pound store-bought fresh (or frozen, thawed) pizza dough, at room temperature for 30 minutes
All-purpose flour (for dusting)
3 tablespoons minced garlic
1 1/2 tablespoons dried oregano
Flaky sea salt (such as Maldon)

Lightly butter a baking sheet. Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface into a 12-inch square. Cut dough in half. Cut each half crosswise into 1-inch-thick strips (for 24 strips total). Tie each strip into a knot, gently stretching dough as needed. Place on prepared sheet. Loosely cover with plastic wrap; let rise in a warm place until slightly puffed, 1-1 1/2 hours.
Preheat oven to 375°. Bake knots until cooked through and golden, 25-30 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat 1/2 cup butter with garlic in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until garlic is fragrant, about 3 minutes. Transfer garlic butter to a large bowl; stir in oregano.
Place warm bread knots in bowl with garlic butter; toss until well coated. Transfer to a platter. Sprinkle with flaky salt.

Read More http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2012/12/garlic-oregano-knots#ixzz2FwMGblZ4

It’s December 20th already?! How did that happen? I’m finally getting some steam back today, and I think I’m just running on adrenaline knowing there’s only 1 more day until winter break. Hannah got a second tooth last week, and as of yesterday we think she’s working on a 3rd. Plus, since the stubborn little thing will NOT eat solids, she’s starting to get extra hungry just drinking milk and formula. So, this basically means a LOT of waking up in the middle of the night this month. On top of stomach bugs and all kinds of other excitement.

So I never posted about our trip to get a tree on the 2nd (you didn’t miss much excitement on Hannah’s part).

Or Adam’s excellent job on the lights that same afternoon. My mom came over to see them lit up that night.

I haven’t even posted any pictures of Hannah’s first impression of the tree that day.

This one was taken last Saturday, the day she turned 9 months (and I never posted a photo of that, either!).

So, yeah. Behind at life, failing at the holidays, etc. etc. No, not really. Just very sleep deprived, busy, unable to get much done. But I’m really starting to get excited about Christmas! I’ll post more tomorrow.

I know I’ve mainly been posting about Hannah’s Firsts lately, but there have been a lot of them all at once. This one I’m actually really excited about. I’ve been working on an Advent calendar to match the ones I made for Adam and myself last year. I followed the exact same tweaked tutorial from The Purl Bee and finished hers last week.

But then I had to ask myself, “What in the world do you PUT in an Advent calendar for a baby?” It’s not like I can give an 8-month-old chocolates and small toys. I thought about it a lot, and I’m really proud of myself for the solution. It’s one of the more creative things I’ve concocted.

I decided to put 24 different textures in her calendar. She spends so much time hanging out with me in my sewing room, I’ve seen the way she loves to play with pieces of yarn, old magazines (she REALLY loves those), and especially wires. Now, obviously she won’t be playing unsupervised with most of these, but we really want her to explore and figure out all the cool things she can do with her little hands and fingers. So, why not give her a cool new sensory item from around the house each day?

So the sensory goodies are, starting from the back left: old wrapping paper, plastic canvas (for cross-stitching), parchment paper like the doctor’s office (she loves to roll around on that), aluminum foil, stiff felt, soft felt, a Post-It pad (Adam recently discovered how much she loves those), quilt fabric, fat green yarn, Play-Doh, blue tweed from an old skirt (she is half-British), batting, an old pair of (clean) yellow socks (she loves anything relating to feet). The front row is pink cardstock, orange tissue paper, a Christmas bow, plastic from a presentation sleeve, a USB cable (Adam’s idea), blue flannel fabric, red and orange canvas fabric, silver smooth ribbon, green grosgrain ribbon (hidden next to it), brown an white yarn that she already loves, and a page from her favorite magazine to tear up.

And here it is all filled!

So far it’s been a big hit with her. I filled it late yesterday afternoon, so she played with the magazine page a little before bed. But then this morning she got the silver ribbon and has not stopped playing with it all day. I call that pretty successful. And the best part is that I’ve been pointing to today’s treat, and she goes right to that pocket and picks out the right treat for the day. I love this, and all I had to pay for was the felt!