Humbuggery.

I've been determined to hang onto my Christmas cheer, but I must confess, I'm just not feelin' it today. I must have missed the memo that declared today Mental Defective Shoppng Day in the city of Newport News. And they were out in droves! How hard is it to drive like a normal human being and get through a simple shopping transaction? Apparently it's really hard for some people.

And it's like 75 degrees today, which would be wonderful in, say, April, but on December 18, driving around with the AC on makes me extremely grumpy. I was hot all dang summer long--I really was looking forward to being COLD for a few months at least.

And the music, the horrible, horrible Christmas music assaulting me where'er I go!

Came home to a house that looks like a bomb went off in every single room, and my neighbor doing something with a power tool that sounds like an enormous dental drill boring right. Into. My. BRAIN.

Time for a long cleansing sigh.......ahhhhhh.

In the mailbox today was a Christmas card from my sweet grandma, who wrote, "We are sorry you won't be able to be with us at Christmas but are glad for the new job, and thankful Christmas blessings don't depend on where you are."

Christmas blessings don't depend on where you are--I'm thankful for that, too.

In other news...my computer chair broke under me on Thursday, and the weekend was busy, so I'm four days behind on my Christmas journal. Now I have a new stinky chair (what in the world are they putting in/on these things that make them smell like this? It just can't be good for you!) and hoping to get caught up. Over the weekend I worked on these:


Which will all be belated Christmas gifts for my aunts on my mom's side, whom I hope don't read this blog! There's a fourth, but Blogger is being difficult as usual, and won't let me post it.

The squares are pasted on 8x10" canvases and varnished. I covered the raw edges with Krylon gold leafing pen, which is my absolute favorite thing in the world. Then I applied a few 3-D embellishments to the front. I'm pretty happy with them! They're a take-off of Ali E.'s holiday project from her November e-zine.