Sew... Last Week...

As usual, our Christmas started early.  On Saturday, Robb's sister and her family arrived and we had a super secret steak night.  The day was full of cleaning and food prep until they arrived mid afternoon.  

Sunday afternoon was full of re-clean the house and constant dish washing in front of them. They helped some too but mostly our BIL worked on Meri's car in the sub-zero degree weather.  He is a car wizard...  and a great guy!  We wrapped up a ton of presents that afternoon also as well as got some crock pots full of soups.  That evening, Robb's brothers and their families arrived and we had Robb's side of the family Christmas soup dinner and gifts.  

 

The tiles went over well!  As they were opening and admiring them, I said, "Do you remember these gracing the wedding reception tables as cheese platters?"  One nodded in agreement and enthusiatically said YES!  

LIAR!  "Well, you didn't.  They didn't make it ONTO the tables!  So we decorated them and now they're yours."  They make awesome coasters and trivets.

On Monday, we mostly relaxed.  One of Robb's brother's families hung around and didn't leave until Tuesday morning.  So we put together a puzzle that I had received the previous year as a gift and then we colored it.  Pretty cool!  And these women below are puzzle masters...

On Tuesday, they took off and I re-cleaned the house and did some more food prep with Robb.  We were having our personal family Christmas that evening.  Maddy and Matthew were able to attend after all due to a wedding that Maddy wanted to go to that weekend.  Matthew still had to work, so he left her here for the rest of the week and headed home on Wednesday morning.  But we were all together on Tuesday night (most of us for the dinner) (Chinese food this time!  Turkey and ham are getting old...) and then all of us for gifts as soon as Ryan got home from work.

The kids practiced being surgeons while waiting.

 

 

and Meri just napped.

Leon was super patient waiting for his dad, and we did let him open a few stocking stuffers.  It was a very late night for all of us.  

 

They all loved their sharks vs mermaid blankets.  Or at least, that's what they said!  

But Ryan hasn't taken his off and waddles around the house with his feet in the fins all the time, so maybe they really did like them...  

Leon found 3 pins still in his...  oops!  

 Ryan had brought home a package of giant handbells party crackers from work that night and we had a blast pulling them apart and playing music with the bells provided.  There were 8 of us and 8 bells and Maddy directed calling out the bell numbers.  

SO much fun!  Staying up til midnight was totally worth it!  Plus we got some funky little hats to wear too!

I spent the rest of the week working on refinishing a special chair for Matthew. 

 The college cross country team pick up any furniture on the sides of the roads when they're running and give it to the freshmen men.  Matthew was the proud recipient of a super comfy chair and loved it all through his college career.  However when they got married and moved all their furniture into their apartment, this one stuck out like a sore thumb.  The upholstery was very outdated, worn and ripped in spots.  After a lot of deliberation, they had Robb and I move it down and out to the dumpsters.  On the walk out, Robb joked, "Wouldn't Matthew be surprised if we recovered it and gave it back to them for Christmas?"  So we threw it into our van instead.  

He got to unwrap a section of the new fabric (same as the new futon cover) pinned to the old fabric.  "wha??"  He didn't understand what it all was about until Maddy started laughing and then he realized it too.  Now they'll have MATCHING furniture!!!  Well, almost.  I wasn't done with the recovering yet AND since I'd lost the paper with the futon measurements, I didn't have the futon cover done either.  Maddy got to open a scrap of fabric that illustrated that gift. The futon project is totally THIS week.

I had last week off from work, but spent every spare minute working on the chair.  Well, when I wasn't sitting down and reading my new Cook book that Ryan gave me this year...

The girls and I were going to try and drive to go see my folks on Thursday but the weather was icy and we had to turn around and go home.  Friday was only more snow, so that didn't work out either.

Instead, we spent the morning making the rest of the lefse and some crab rangoons and deep fried stuffed pickles.  Then I got back to that darn chair.

Good thing I didn't have anywhere else to go because that chair was a tricky one!  But finally got it mostly finished by the time Robb and I drove Maddy back to Wisconsin on Saturday. 

That night, Maddy and Matthew helped me put the hardware back on the chair parts and put it all together again.  After putting in some sliders backwards the first time, we had success on the second attempt and he tried it out.  

Don't know what we'll do with the extra screws...

I left them with those two in case they discover what they're for... :\  

I learned a lot recovering the LazyBoy and found some things that I'll do differently the next time I recover it.

And I think the Christmas tree will stay up until I have more energy back.  Maybe Easter?