Christmas Sunday and other things

In the hustle and bustle of OUR LAST (!!!!!!!) 9am church we didn't get a picture before church of everyone in their Christmas finest. Late in the afternoon I got 4 people begrudgingly back into their church clothes so we could get a couple pictures. I tweaked and post-edited as best as I could - we need to remedy this camera situation soon!

My three babies. This year, I did something I have yet to do - make Christmas dresses for all my girls. A few years back I made 2 flower girl dresses for Meghan's wedding but this is the first time making 3 Christmas dresses. I adore each one of them. All simple and fit their personalities and they fit well too! Phew! Made headbands as well.

Now on these dresses. It is no secret that in the past year I have become an even greater fan of thrifting and recycling clothes. In fact, it has been since August that I bought something brand new for myself to wear. Anyway, I made a decision a couple months ago that I would follow suit in making my girls Christmas dresses. Every component would be thrifted or something I already had in my stash of fabrics. For me, the sweater I bought years ago at a thrift store, I don't remember where or when. It is from the 50's, I think. My skirt was a recent goodwill find. For the girls, the red taffeta (L & K) came from the skirt I wore for Meghan's wedding and the leftover fabric in my stash. The black fabric (C) was in my stash of fabric too. I can't remember why I bought it. The white accents came from a goodwill $1 shirt that I bought knowing I would use it for the accents - it was the perfect fabric. (I have bought a few things like this on dollar day - a great way to buy buttons too.) It is the sash on Lindsay's dress and the fabric flower on her headband the tuxedo accent on Caroline's. The black accent on Kate's is also from my stash. It was literally scraps. I then had all the interfacing, elastics, and buttons needed to complete the dresses. The only thing I purchased ($3) was the pattern for Caroline's dress. The other two I either didn't use a pattern or modified one I already had. So not counting items from my supplies and stashes of fabric, I spent a grand total of $4 on 3 Christmas dresses for my girls. (And several hours...)

I am going to do a big fat toot of my own horn. I am quite pleased with how they came out!

Obviously someone wasn't interested in modeling. You can't see the matching black band at the bottom. It looks like the sash.

Now this one knows how to pose. All perfectly tied up from head to toe. We went thru a few fittings to get this right and now she is in love! The first try on erupted in tears. The arms felt wrong. The neck was wrong. But I tweaked and altered and pinned, added a temporary sash, took her to the mirror and her face lit up like New Year's Eve. She loved it. The final verdict? "Mommy, I love it. It is so comfy!" Not something I expected from the first tears about weird armpits.

And Caroline can pose too. Once we found the idea for this tuxedo inspired dress, we knew it was perfect and it fit right on the money. I love this kid - her missing teeth might possibly be my favorite part of Christmas 2009.

We also celebrated Caroline's birthday and had our Christmas with Dad, Debbie, and Molly's family. I gave up taking pictures... We had a yummy lasagna dinner and Caroline received some super fun gifts - a magician set and a gift card to Old Navy - that is quite the grown up gift and she cannot wait to use it. Debbie selected personalized ornaments for everyone celebrating their accomplishments, talents, and interests of the year - soccer, gymnastics, running, work, and my perfect little angel received an angel ornament. Lindsay finally got a Taylor Swift CD and Caroline a baseball glove - for our little south paw. Steve and I got a little help towards big items on our wish lists. Thanks Dad and Debbie - very thoughtful gifts indeed!

Oh, and a couple other things:

1. Last day of school....

Caroline's class party - Caroline was not feeling well so I took her home early.

Lindsay's class party - as long as she wants me at school I will be there!

2. I am a working girl again. Read my bio here. 7th bio down. I will be working with a friend from the girl's school who has a small marketing firm. It looks a bit fancy pants but in reality I will have 5-10 hours a week of work writing, research, and some social media marketing. Honestly, it feels a bit like junior high school - one of my main assignments as a "copywriter" will be summarizing articles to use a blog posts for client websites. Sounds like Friday current events in 8th grade. I will also be occasionally tweeting and facebooking on behalf of clients. I was nervous adding something else to my day but a) I like how it forces me to re-structure my day and b) I liked getting my first paycheck!