Christmas Magic

My Mom Enjoying Christmas in her teens

I often hear the term "The Magic of Christmas" but this year we actually experienced it as my ailing mother, literally devoting all the energy she could, got dressed up and attended Christmas Dinner festivities at my house.  There were relatives here from out of the country - really for the purpose of seeing her and she didn't want to miss it.

But a false start earlier in the day had me preparing to transport dinner to her place because she just wasn't going to make it. But somehow she drew herself up and with my sister's help, got here.  She visited with our special guests and then lay down for a nap in the guest room.  She had a great rest - I know - I was checking on her regularly but about 20 minutes after my last check the dog started to bark outside the guest room door. Inside we found her unresponsive and minutes later I was riding in an Ambulance with her to the hospital.

EMS, Fire Service professionals and Hospital Staff who work on Christmas are true Christmas Angels. We saw them first hand as my mom received their calm, professional support over the next 36 hours.

So sensitive were the 3 Paramedics and 4 Fire Fighters in our house as the aromas of Christmas Dinner filled the air, the the small children playing in the next room with their new toys barely knew anything was going on.

Once at the hospital the staff of the Acute Care Emergency Department were professional yet so personable they put us right at ease despite our frightening situation through a long and uncertain Christmas night.

In the morning it became evident to my sister and me that nothing more could be done without violating Mom's documented wish for no extraordinary measures so we let the medical people know and in short order she was sensitively moved to the calm, peaceful atmosphere of the Palliative Care Floor where we then spent her final hours together.

Without pain or duress, holding our hands she passed away in utter peace.

There will be time for sadness - and no doubt lots of it - but for now I feel so good she didn't suffer (thanks to those wonderful Angels!) and that with our support and no small amount of Christmas Magic she was able to truly live until she died.

There's now a funeral to see to so I don't know when I'll be able to post next but I will be back. I hope to see you then!

Guilty Pleasures

Like everyone else, I'm in the midst of the "holiday" frenzy. Its obviously swallowed up my blog posting time  but l I'm managing the odd moment to still visit knit blog land where I read pretty much every knitter is reporting being swamped with Christmas projects and deadlines.

Glenna over at Knitting to Stay Sane is even dreaming of what she'll work on Christmas day when her other deadlines have passed.

Knitting for me these days isn't a to do list, rather, its my guilty pleasure. When I crawl into bed with my herbal tea at night and in the morning with my first coffee, hours before dawn, I'm knit on things just for me.

I'm knitting what I want, on items for me to wear - someday - no rush.

Amid the rest of the December demands, knitting like this does what knitting should do for me, in my life.  Calm, engage, sooth and satisfy.

Beatnik's sleeves are done and I'm at the arm holes on the back. Taking my time and working carefully is paying off nicely and I'm pleased with the results.

I'm planning on adding short row bust darts to the front of Beatnik so I set the sweater aside for an evening or so and worked up a Bandana Cowl from the free Purlsoho pattern of the same name.

One skein of luscious Malabrigo and  a few dozen short rows later my short row technique was all freshened up and ready to go on Beatnik and I had a great new cowl to show for it as well.

When I'm too tired to take the necessary care with Beatnik I've been working on my recycled yarn project. Big yarn, big needles, big progress even if only a few minutes are dedicated to it.

As I said, little, if anything else in my Nov/Dec timetable can be described in any such glowing terms but at least  my knitting can and in these all too short, dark days, that feels pretty good!

If you're knitting to deadline though, hang in there, good luck with all of it and thanks for dropping by!

So, So Canadian!

'Just saw this from Winnipeg teen Sean Quigley over at Needles & Things' blog.

To me, this video is so perfectly Canadian! I love how the snow is just there, all over everything but it could just as well not be there. Its just taken for granted.

And his cut offs and runners and open coat, mitts and toque - again in the snow - Number One Son and his friends call dressing like its not really cold out (because in relative terms to how cold it can be, it often really isn't!) "going Canadian".

His little smirky smile and direct gaze and the smiling teens with the multilingual signs - again I think that is what Canada is all about!

Low key, happy, confident.

And what a fresh and fabulous and relevant way to render that old song!

The video's gone viral so I mustn't be alone thinking like this!

I hope you like it too! Thanks for dropping by!