My Christmas Loot

My Moo order has finally arrived! So I can now record for posterity my Christmas loot. Back before Christmas, Trixie emailed all my relatives and told them that she knew I would love a Williams Sonoma gift card for Christmas, so did anyone want to pitch in for one? (I knew nothing about this, and I was touched by my baby putting all this together on her own -- that was actually the Christmas gift part for the mom in me). She got such a great response that instead of tying me down to one retailer, she gave me the collected offerings in a card and told me I should just buy whatever I wanted with the cold, hard, cash (this was a wise suggestion from the Consort). The deal was, I had to spend it all by my birthday (January 17), so that it wouldn't just fade away into regular purchases.



The first thing I did was get a chicken pitcher. I first came across this at a local Italian restaurant. If you chose the 2-person prix fixe menu, it came with a "chicken-pitcher" of wine. Chicken pitcher? Yep, chicken pitcher. They are a traditional Italian pottery, and come with a story of attempted betrayal. I could have purchased this at Williams Sonoma, but the restaurant was selling them, too, so I went with the local merchant.

Then, because I'd really like to start baking sourdough, I bought one of those wicker brotforms (later in the week, we'll see if mine turn out as lovely as the ones in that link!). I'm taking advantage of the fact that we live right by the headquarters of King Arthur Flour this year -- so again, a local purchase rather than a Williams Sonoma one!

In the fall, I learned about postcrossing from Marsha. It's an international postcard exchange project, and it's been a lot of fun participating. I bought a pack of New Hampshire themed postcards to use, and I was almost out. So I decided to order Moo postcards made from some of the photos I've taken during our summer and fall escapades. (Nope, not local -- they're based in England.)

I also bought the Jake Shimabukuro CD from iTunes. Have you heard of him? He's a ukulele player from Hawai'i (of course) who has revolutionized the instrument. No longer just for Don Ho-style "Tiny Bubbles", we can now hear ukulele versions of things like While My Guitar Gently Weeps (blows your mind!), Ave Maria (glorious!), and, believe it or not, the Star Spangled Banner. Really. (So I guess you don't have to believe it or not, 'cause I just told you.)

And lastly, do you notice that skein of yarn in the bread basket? Yep, I bought some more sock yarn. I made a shawl with Noro (a Japanese yarn) a couple of years ago, and they've just come out with a sock yarn. The colors are, ummm, pretty vibrant, but I figure, if you're making hand-knit socks they might as well be visible! Another local purchase (in the sense that I bought it from a local shop -- but Noro itself is pretty distant!).

So, for those of you who participated in this Christmas gift, I say: Thank you! I'm very pleased with the things I chose with your cold, hard, cash. ;-)