Coming On Christmas

Why is it Christmas already? The calendar must be joking. I'm melancholy this year, like that Joni Mitchel song River, and I can't seem to shake it off and be merry instead.

I cannot make myself feel like Christmas this year. Nevertheless, it's just a few days away, and that continues to surprise me. Yes, we already have the tree up and decorated. The requisite wreath is on the door. The stockings I knitted for Knitting Olympics are hanging above the fireplace. I've even had the Kitchenaid out, mixing up cookies that my students are happy to eat. We went to the Christmas party for d's work Friday night, driving through neighborhoods lit up like adobe versions of gingerbread houses. So I should be feeling the vibe, yet it feels like mid-October.

Yesterday, I finished three knitting projects/Christmas gifts. Which is a lot of knitting in one day if you are me. I prefer to sip my knitting, and yesterday I was gulping. I wasn't doing a marathon of knitting in order to be done ahead of time. These projects had to be done yesterday because my mom is on a plane today taking said gifts to their recipients in Colorado. I knitted a simple, fast beanie for my brother using the Hot Head pattern from Stitch & Bitch and charcoal grey Lamb's Pride bulky yarn. My sister-in-law is getting these fingerless gloves in black baby alpaca. And my mom, who thinks 65 degrees is "freezing," has a new chunky scarf to ward off the chill while she sees the sights in a place that really is cold.

I'm knitted out. Today, I'm making cookies. Christmas cookies. Even though I feel like I should still be finding Halloween treats.