Affected by the Weather?

It has been so gloomy lately with only glimmers of sunshine here and there. All I want to do is veg out. It's a struggle even getting out of bed in the morning. It's so cozy and I can check my social media or listen to an audiobook whilst in a horizontal position. Fortunately I have appointments and engagements that are mostly fun and really help me get motivate to 'get a move on' on those lethargic mornings.

Last Friday, I met Scooter in The Big City. We had a late lunch at the chicken place then meandered over to the Fairmont Royal York Hotel to see the Christmas display.

It was so festive and busy. Being Friday afternoon, lots of people were checking in for the weekend.

The main tree was at least 20 feet tall. Breathtaking in person.

Of course, Scooter and I had to take a selfie.

If you're anywhere Union Station or the Royal York, I highly recommend you pop in to see the decorations. We didn't venture up to the Eaton Centre as it was Black Friday and sure to be a mob scene. I don't really do Christmas shopping any more but it might be fun to pop in there for a look-see when I'm in The Big City again on Wednesday for Afternoon Tea at the Windsor Arms Hotel - for Lorna's belated birthday celebration. 

Scooter and I did go over to Brookfield Place but the decorations weren't as breathtaking. Just the same as previous years. 

It was nice that we could access all those spots underground - without going outside.

Saturday I met Alexa and Poppy respectively at CAA to book our trips for next year and our flights to Madrid for our February yarn tour. I'm pretty excited to be lining up fun things for 2026. Other than the Iceland/Norway trip this year, I didn't take any other big trips. Of course, we'll be doing road trips here in Ontario - any excuse to get away with fun folks.

I indulged myself with a couple of online purchases last week. I previously mentioned the Peanuts jigsaw puzzle. I also had ordered the coveted Lego Gingerbread House. It was backordered and scheduled to ship on December 5 but it arrived last week! It was so fun to put together!

Battery operated tea lights would be great for night-time illumination, especially through the bow window on the left.

All their pieces are shipped in paper now. Those Danes really are ecology conscious.

There is a bedroom, bathroom and vanity, kitchen with sink, stove and eating area, and living room with fireplace.

The two sides are hinged 

so it closes up, too. 

All this fun for only $49.99 CAD plus tax (free shipping). That's only about $35 US. Compared to other Lego sets, this is the cheapest one I saw. I sure hope they made a lot of them because I'm sure they'll continue to sell out. 

Today at stitching, I continued to work on Ginger (hmm - seems to be a bit of a theme). I didn't have too much trouble counting - and completed most of the upper part of her dress.

Judy brought her little Ginger she stitched over one thread. She's so sweet - only about 3" high. It's finished as a standup - so cute!

The Jingle Ball is this weekend starting on Friday night. It will be a lot of stitcherly fun. Those of us outside the US receive any materials as downloadable and printable .pdfs so can sign up for classes right up to Friday. I'm looking forward to seeing what is in the Shopping Hall as some of the designers will have new releases. I have a bunch of charts in my stash I already want to start but I'm sure there will some new ones to tempt me. 

I have the houses done for the Hello from Liz Mathews snow globes. I have one more motif I want to stitch to include with the houses. Also need to find some styrofoam for the finishing. I'm pretty sure there's something in the basement I can use. 

I've done nothing on the Christmas Pears and have even misplaced the white silk hank of thread. Not expecting to get anything done on it. Just will watch her finishing. I'm sure it won't be much different from the ones I've already done 

- I just won't be using velvet for the back. 

I haven't been doing much stitching between Monday morning sessions. What I have been doing is cranking out octagons for the second Persian Tiles blanket. Last night I finished the 15th one so am half finished if I do another 5 x 6 blanket. I erroneously knit the same octagon twice but the overall design is so random It can easily go on the extra rows and columns. Here's a refresher of the one I completed previously. 

I didn't get my tree up on the weekend. I just didn't have it in me to haul it up from the basement as well as the boxes of ornaments. Hopefully sometime this week. 

I did get the wreaths on the front doors and hooked up my inflatable Snoopy. 

We used to have a big snowglobe inflatable with a blower that flung little styrofoam balls around the globe part but it sprang a leak a few years back and after the duct tape repair, only lasted a few years. I think I bought this little Snoopy one on sale at the end of the season last year as it seemed to not have been taken out of the box before. If I ever see the snow globe inflatable on sale again, I'll grab it - regardless of how much it costs.