The holidays are finally over!
I don't know when the "holidays" end for most of you folks. When I was a kid, it was on the Ephiphany - January 6th. Mom was raised Catholic and the tree came down and all the decor went away on that day. That's when you knew it was all done.
For the last 10 years, the Holidays are over on Packmas. Packmas is always celebrated on the first Saturday AFTER New Years, providing that New Years does not fall on said Saturday. The entire Pack, whatever its membership may be, shows up, we eat, and we go round-robin picking and handing out gifts then watching the recipient open them. It's always important that no one feels like they need to rush through their presents, and no one feels like theirs was slighted. Watching other people open their presents is literally the best part of the day. And there's a tradition of getting presents that you not only think other people will like, but will make folks laugh.
For instance, on year Quinn received a large cardboard box full - seriously, full - of little Taco Bell Hot Sauce packets, because he always asks for extra ones when he'd go through the drive through, to cook with. One year we all chipped in and got C this gorgeous silver-headed walking cane. One year Fox was given a bright orange T-shirt that said "Seriously Cheezy" on it, with the cheetos-cheetah on it, and he loathed the color... so the next year, mom gave him a pair of pajama pants to match it. Sometimes it takes us a very long time to wade through it all - one year it took us six hours and we had to call an intermission/lunchbreak halfway through!
Well, this Saturday was Packmas. And wouldn't you know it, I was DEAD ill. I mean, seriously, I got a cold from Hell Thusday night, it almost laid me out Friday and so I went to Packmas just dreadfully sick. But skipping or rescheduling totally NOT an option! It's PACKMAS!! The most wonderful time of the year!
I'm going to post Packmas pictures AND the pictures of the presents I've been stressing over for the last month, worrying no one would like them. Happily, they were all very well received, which made up for the dog-sickness :)
The Packmas Tree! Some years we almost bury this poor thing...
Fox explaining how much fun he had wrapping my mother's present in the most obscene configuration possible.
Santa-Saoirse!
Jeremy unwrapping the first of my presents - a little book-sized shoulderbag.
I made three of those bags - one for Chris, one for Mom, one for Jeremy. Jeremy's was dark grey and blue courderoy. Mom and Chris got this neat fabric covered with affirmations.
Fox unwrapping one of my mother's suncatchers. She made everyone these wonderful glass panes for Packmas... and then chickened out drilling the holes to hang them with! lol
Wendy, Kirstin, Mom, Chris (and C's knee, foreground)
Kirstin opening the Farstar cross-stitch I made her.
This alphabet was originally white cats with orange spots and little grey toy mice. I made the cats into pearl-merle rats and turned the little toys mink-brown, since that's what Kirstin breeds!
Yay! Fox liked his hat!
I also gave Fox a cross-stitched bookmark...
Those grapes were an utter and complete pain in the ass.
Wendy with the giant T-rex skeleton kit she was given - you can see Fox's suncatcher from Mom hanging in the window.
Gettin' a little nutty with the wrapping material and burying Jeremy in it...
Andi enjoying her cupcake hat!
Rawr! Wendy and her stuffed Voidwalker, Belphogg!
I'm going to laugh so hard if that thing ends up being a toy for their future children...
Cathy really liked her bunny hat and gloves!
Kirstin is happy with her hat and gloves too!
Caesar snugging on his bacon-and-eggs fingerless gloves. Shortly after this he shouts "Fists of Breakfast Fury!!" and waved them around.
Caesar put the word "bacon" on his Packmas list. He seriously did. So Cathy and Jeremy got him a soft-sided cooler... with 12 pounds of frozen bacon in it!!
The post-Packmas wrapping debris.
Stuff I made people for Christmas:
Bookmark for James... this isn't a bookmark design, it's a slice out of a full-sized cross-stitch. It was a TOTAL PAIN! There are like 400 greens in this damn thing and they're all blends! *beats head against desk*
Bookmark for Mom - she used to have this huge salt water reef tank and she's made it a point to point out fish she used to have whenever we see any illustration or toy fish anywhere. It's kinda an in-joke with us :)
Cross-stitch for Arthur and Shannon. You can't really see how much tinsel thread is in this damn thing, but oh my god... the border, rings and birds are all that crap.
With the frame... people who design cross-stitch designs suck. They always make the finished dimensions something impossible to freaking frame.
Ipod monsters for Arthur and C. The mouth flap opens and you put the ipod in and velcro it shut. There's beltloops on the back.
I was really hoping that even if people didn't like the gifts to use, they'd at least be amused :)
And what did I get? Bah, that's not the fun part!
The usual, books, DVDs, a couple burned CDs of TV show downloads, an awesome T-shirt, a LOTRO game card...
A wedding band... (did I mention C and I are the most bass-ackwards fiance's EVER?)
And, as promised...
Schooooll bus! 15 pinkies, yay Packmas!
A good end to a fabulous day :)
For the last 10 years, the Holidays are over on Packmas. Packmas is always celebrated on the first Saturday AFTER New Years, providing that New Years does not fall on said Saturday. The entire Pack, whatever its membership may be, shows up, we eat, and we go round-robin picking and handing out gifts then watching the recipient open them. It's always important that no one feels like they need to rush through their presents, and no one feels like theirs was slighted. Watching other people open their presents is literally the best part of the day. And there's a tradition of getting presents that you not only think other people will like, but will make folks laugh.
For instance, on year Quinn received a large cardboard box full - seriously, full - of little Taco Bell Hot Sauce packets, because he always asks for extra ones when he'd go through the drive through, to cook with. One year we all chipped in and got C this gorgeous silver-headed walking cane. One year Fox was given a bright orange T-shirt that said "Seriously Cheezy" on it, with the cheetos-cheetah on it, and he loathed the color... so the next year, mom gave him a pair of pajama pants to match it. Sometimes it takes us a very long time to wade through it all - one year it took us six hours and we had to call an intermission/lunchbreak halfway through!
Well, this Saturday was Packmas. And wouldn't you know it, I was DEAD ill. I mean, seriously, I got a cold from Hell Thusday night, it almost laid me out Friday and so I went to Packmas just dreadfully sick. But skipping or rescheduling totally NOT an option! It's PACKMAS!! The most wonderful time of the year!
I'm going to post Packmas pictures AND the pictures of the presents I've been stressing over for the last month, worrying no one would like them. Happily, they were all very well received, which made up for the dog-sickness :)
The Packmas Tree! Some years we almost bury this poor thing...
Fox explaining how much fun he had wrapping my mother's present in the most obscene configuration possible.
Santa-Saoirse!
Jeremy unwrapping the first of my presents - a little book-sized shoulderbag.
I made three of those bags - one for Chris, one for Mom, one for Jeremy. Jeremy's was dark grey and blue courderoy. Mom and Chris got this neat fabric covered with affirmations.
Fox unwrapping one of my mother's suncatchers. She made everyone these wonderful glass panes for Packmas... and then chickened out drilling the holes to hang them with! lol
Wendy, Kirstin, Mom, Chris (and C's knee, foreground)
Kirstin opening the Farstar cross-stitch I made her.
This alphabet was originally white cats with orange spots and little grey toy mice. I made the cats into pearl-merle rats and turned the little toys mink-brown, since that's what Kirstin breeds!
Yay! Fox liked his hat!
I also gave Fox a cross-stitched bookmark...
Those grapes were an utter and complete pain in the ass.
Wendy with the giant T-rex skeleton kit she was given - you can see Fox's suncatcher from Mom hanging in the window.
Gettin' a little nutty with the wrapping material and burying Jeremy in it...
Andi enjoying her cupcake hat!
Rawr! Wendy and her stuffed Voidwalker, Belphogg!
I'm going to laugh so hard if that thing ends up being a toy for their future children...
Cathy really liked her bunny hat and gloves!
Kirstin is happy with her hat and gloves too!
Caesar snugging on his bacon-and-eggs fingerless gloves. Shortly after this he shouts "Fists of Breakfast Fury!!" and waved them around.
Caesar put the word "bacon" on his Packmas list. He seriously did. So Cathy and Jeremy got him a soft-sided cooler... with 12 pounds of frozen bacon in it!!
The post-Packmas wrapping debris.
Stuff I made people for Christmas:
Bookmark for James... this isn't a bookmark design, it's a slice out of a full-sized cross-stitch. It was a TOTAL PAIN! There are like 400 greens in this damn thing and they're all blends! *beats head against desk*
Bookmark for Mom - she used to have this huge salt water reef tank and she's made it a point to point out fish she used to have whenever we see any illustration or toy fish anywhere. It's kinda an in-joke with us :)
Cross-stitch for Arthur and Shannon. You can't really see how much tinsel thread is in this damn thing, but oh my god... the border, rings and birds are all that crap.
With the frame... people who design cross-stitch designs suck. They always make the finished dimensions something impossible to freaking frame.
Ipod monsters for Arthur and C. The mouth flap opens and you put the ipod in and velcro it shut. There's beltloops on the back.
I was really hoping that even if people didn't like the gifts to use, they'd at least be amused :)
And what did I get? Bah, that's not the fun part!
The usual, books, DVDs, a couple burned CDs of TV show downloads, an awesome T-shirt, a LOTRO game card...
A wedding band... (did I mention C and I are the most bass-ackwards fiance's EVER?)
And, as promised...
Click to viewSchooooll bus! 15 pinkies, yay Packmas!
A good end to a fabulous day :)