Christmas Preview

I haven't put up all of my Christmas decorations yet (sometimes when you're lonely and you feel like throwing up it's a little hard to get into the Christmas spirit), but last night as I put a few of my favorite things out, my mood brightened, and now I can't wait to finish decorating. Since it's not all up, you just get a little preview of a few of the Christmas decorations that mean the most to me.

This is a "Sandta" that my mom made when we were living in Hawaii. It's made of plain canvas that she filled with sand from the beach we lived on and then she painted it and antiqued it. She made a bunch of them of all shapes and sizes and mailed them to our relatives, but she saved a few and let us each pick one a few years ago. It reminds me of the year my dad dragged us all to the Aloha bowl on Christmas morning and years of thinking that cloudy weather was Christmas weather. (note to self- I need to snag one of the starfish ornaments that my mom painted like Santa to go along with this)

This is not just any picture of Santa Claus, it's a portrait of my Grandpa Borup. When we were little, all the neighbor kids thought he really was Santa and wanted to come over whenever he visited even though we explained to them that he was our Grandpa, not Santa. My sister Candice took this picture when she was in undergrad and printed copies for all of my family. I'm so glad it's a memory she preserved.

And last, but not least, this is my Christmas stocking. My first Christmas married I told my mom that I wanted most of my Christmas decorations to be silver or deep red like the color of the skirts my bridesmaids wore. She had some extra fabric leftover from the bridesmaids skirts and she made Larry and I these gorgeous stockings. She sent me the extra fabric so I could make a treeskirt, but I've been saving it in hopes that one day we would need more matching stockings and next year we finally will! I can't wait! (Mom, feel like another sewing project?)