Saturday, January 2, 2010

See Ya Later, Christmas!

I thought I'd do a little cleaning on New Year's Day--just so I had a clean house for the rest of the weekend. What started out as a little cleaning turned into a much larger undertaking involving banishing Santa Claus and his friends to the garage for another 11 months.

Hubby took down the tree in the living room a couple days ago, so that was done, but I think I was just TIRED of Christmas and ready to do the rest. Sort of. You see, if you haven't been reading my blog since last Christmas, then you probably don't know that not all of the Christmassy things are banished right away--some linger on into late February.

It was hard, this year, trying to decide whether "peppermint" could translate to Valentine's. In some instances, I decided that it could, and in others, I decided it couldn't. But as near as I can tell, my kitchen is now ready for Valentine's Day. And yes, as a matter of fact, I DO have a Valentine's Day tree. I'll try to get photos to show you tomorrow when the lighting's better.

And the "guest" bathroom? It's still heavily populated by snowmen and snowwomen (are there two "w"s in snowwomen?). I know several people who leave their snowmen out after Christmas and some who don't even GET them out until after Christmas, so I think I'm in good company there. But they'll probably melt away in another few weeks--as will the snow village that's still on the mantle.

Following my family's tradition, we had tamales for New Year's Day. When I was growing up, my dad worked at a liquor store in a part of town that was heavily Hispanic and many of his customers would bring him tamales they'd made at Christmas, so that became our traditional New Year's meal--either on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day. It was always fun to unwrap a tamale and see what was inside--usually beef, but sometimes pork or chicken--because the tamales came from several different families. Because I made all those tamales last weekend, I had plenty on hand, and they're so easy to heat up for a good and filling meal!

And speaking of tamales--Boy Boss's birthday was last Tuesday, and it's become tradition (three years now, I think!) for me to bring him a dozen tamales on his birthday, which is one of the reasons last weekend was my big tamale-making fest! Boy Boss got another birthday gift today--albeit a late one--when Ohio State (his alma mater) beat Oregon in the Rose Bowl. Go Buckeyes! The fun part of that match-up is that his wife's side of the family has ties to Oregon, so it's been quite a rivalry in the weeks leading up to today's game.

With having put Christmas behind me (quite literally when you consider the calorie- and fat-laden treats we've been enjoying!), my thoughts are turning now to Valentine's. I didn't THINK I needed to make any Valentine's Day quilts this year but now the bug's hit me and I ordered a couple charm packs of L'Amour by Sandy Gervais. How about you? Have you started to think about any Valentine's Day projects? Need any inspiration? If so, go visit Melissa HERE and she'll point you toward a project or two!

Tomorrow I'll be back with a few photos of my decorations and past Valentine's quilts. Happy stitching!

8 comments:

  1. As I was puttering around my sewing studio yesterday I came across my pile of pinks and reds for my Valentine quilt from last year...what do ya think the chances of it getting done this year are? did I mention that I'm still working on Christmas Snowman for this past Christmas...LOL

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  2. I don't do much decorating for Valentines Day, but I do hope to make a table runner this year.

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  3. You not only cleaned your house you cleaned your blog. Love the new digs. I forgot how to get these, you have to tell me again. It's very easy for me to read now.

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  4. I decorate a snowman tree which I usually leave up until the end of February. I don't do much Valentine's Day decorating, but I also order two charm packs of L'Amour, although I'm not sure what I'm doing with them. All of your talk about tamales has me curious as I've never seen one let alone eaten one!

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  5. I'm one of those that don't take the snowmen out till the Christmas stuff comes down - small house and not enough room for all of it! Hopefully that is today's project. I don't have many Valentine's decorations at all but I've been meaning to change that so maybe this is the year!

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  6. Wow, how wonderful that you have moved on and are feeling the energy of the new season upon us. The Tamale Tradition is a lot of work for you, yet, I remember tasting some of them last year AND they are delicious! I bet Boy Boss is tickled with your very kind, generous, and in good taste, birthday present.

    PS - I still want that mug and it looks like Heckety has her eye on it too. Good eye!

    :0)

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  7. Yup! I'm watching you!!!!

    Different tradition here in that NO ONE takes down their Christmas decorations or tree until Jan 6th, Little Christmas, and then everything is packed away in one go.

    It really interests me the way people do things differently...except for mugs of course, a polka dot mug is a must-have in any place!!

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  8. We banished Santa and his friends to the loft on New Years Day. Strangely this year we've tidied up earlier than last and in a way it's been better...I think the kids mentally are ready to go back to school because the house looks "normal"

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