Picture Recap, and a Giveaway!

Remember the bootie and cap set I made for my new cousin, Kathryn?

Well, I was blessed at Thanksgiving to get to see her wearing it in person, AND her mama graciously gave me this photo of little Kat modeling it. :)

As you can probably tell, Kat has a little bit of growing to do in the noggin area before it fits perfectly... I resized the pattern from a 6-12 month pattern and clearly didn't make it small enough. Oh well! The good thing about babies is that they grow fast, and in the meantime, she doesn't seem to mind.

Last Sunday we stuffed our ham! For those of you who are not lucky enough to live in St. Mary's, stuffed ham is our regional dish. :) It actually has its roots in Africa, where natives would preserve meat with greens and spices to keep in the heat. When slaves were brought to Southern Maryland, they brought the recipe with them and adapted it to their new land. Google it for more info, but in short, stuffed ham involves tons of kale and cabbage, onion, spice, and fun. We were lucky enough to have friends from church join us!

Alexa, Dad, and I were in charge of processing the kale, cabbage, and onions. We had two food processors set up with me in the middle, trimming kale and cabbage to be minced.

Dad, deboning our ham.

Once stuffed, the ham is rolled up tightly, tied with twine, and wrapped in cheesecloth.

It sometimes requires two people - or more! :)

Thanksgiving was stressful for me this year. I love the holidays, I love being with family, and for me the holidays are a time to set aside the pettiness that we get caught up in. Unfortunately, not everyone shares this opinion, lol, and so our Thanksgiving this year was more about conflict and tension that giving thanks. :( I got lots of practice in using all the new coping techniques I've been learning in class. And that's about the best thing I can say about it.

My mom chose to celebrate Thanksgiving with friends from church instead of her family this year, so our morning was pretty much spent getting our Thanksgiving dinner ready.

In the midst of this, the cat decided to be needy and kept meowing at the door until Maggie relented and went out to hold him. :)

Such a bad cat!
We had an absolutely stunning, Normal Rockwell-esque bird this year. Even I was impressed, and normally I could really care less for turkey. I guess this is part of my tastes changing, because somehow this year I can't get enough.

I didn't get any pictures once our guests arrived, because I was having absolutely too much fun! We had a lady from church and the same family that we stuffed hams with over, and we spent all afternoon regaling each other with funny stories and tall tales. :)

Around 5, Maggie and I headed over to my grandfather's house to celebrate with my mom's family. There is nothing like being with family... as soon as we arrived, all my stress melted away and it suddenly started to feel like a true Thanksgiving. :) I am so grateful for my family - my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. It was especially fun to get to see the two new family additions, Kat and Zoe. :)

My Abster was there, also, but spent too much time running around shrieking in delight to be photographed. :)All in all, I am thankful for the holiday, and thankful that it's over and it'll be a year before I have to stress about it again. :)

Now - on to the giveaway...

I am not a huge crafter, but I got a chance to sit down today and make some holiday gift tags, something I've been putting off but couldn't procrastinate on any longer, seeing as the pile of wrapped gifts in my room is growing and I'm anxious to label them before I forget which gift goes to whom. :) I got all my tags made, and even got a chance to make a set of twelve tags, which I am giving away to a reader! :)

This is a set of twelve tags: four large, four medium, and four small. All are red cardstock with stamped or punched vellum overlay, tied with green ribbon.

The small tags.

The medium tags.

The large tags.

I will say the camera makes them look orangish, whereas they really are true red. Aren't they cute?

Close-up of one of the large tags.

If you'd like me to send them to YOU :), here's what you do:

1) Leave me a comment for one entry.

2) Become a follower for an additional entry.

3) Blog, tweet, or mention this giveaway in your Facebook status for additional entries (be sure to leave me the url of your blog/twitter in your comment).

I will randomly select a winner on December 4th! :)

I hope y'all are well into your Christmas celebrations by now, and that you're feeling the blessings of the season!