Catching My Breath

Hello there, long time no see!  The month of December has completely flown by and there wasn't a blog post in sight.  December started off really poorly for our family, as my step brother passed away. I have struggled with whether I really want to write about this, but I still haven't decided.  I think it's still something that's very fresh for my step mom and step sisters, so I don't really want to pull the band-aid off their freshly healing wounds.  The first half of the month was really a blur, though, and blogging was the last thing on my mind.  This post is off to a sad start, but I promise it gets better.

In the midst of the family stuff, I traveled to Pittsburgh on the 5th for Handmade Arcade.  Heidi came along, because she's the best friend and craft show helper a gal could ever ask for.  I think the show went really well.  I so love interacting with customers, seeing old friends, and meeting up with new ones!  I'm finding, though, that craft shows are just really too consuming for me right now.  I think I may stick to just applying to this one again this year, if I apply to any at all.

I was pretty gosh darn pleased with my set up at this show!  My grandma was sweet enough to entertain my idea of doll face stockings by making me over twenty adorable lined stockings, so I had to come up with some displays for my new additions.  Most of what's pictured here has gone off to new homes, but you can check out my shop for leftovers.

It didn't feel like I could properly relax or even think about the holidays until after the craft show stuff was wrapped up, but that still gave me plenty of time to get into the spirit.  I just realized that I didn't take any photos of this year's decorations, with the exception of some Instagram photos, so you'll just have to take my word that our house was definitely festive.  I'm always a little sad to see it go!  I am so grateful that we always have such a lovely Christmas, full of family and fun, and this one was no exception.

Did I mention there were plenty of gifts too?  Our New Year's celebration was lovely as well, spent at home playing games and eating ice cream and finger foods.  It has to be good luck to end a year with ice cream, right?  So this brings us to January and a new year, one that I'm pretty excited to start.  I think this year is going to bring really great things and now that the dust has settled from what was left of last year, let's hope I can get back to some regular posting.  :)