I was so busy trying to get gifts purchased, events gone to, gifts wrapped, food prepared that my latest craft was a hurried project. And that's why there are no before or during pictures of it! I bought most of the materials early enough but I didn't have the right color of thread to even start on the project. I wanted to make a t-shirt dress for my 4 year old niece, miss T for Christmas. I've done a few very simple sewing projects before but it had been a while since my machine had some major issues that needed to be fixed. I finally was able to get the machine into a repair shop so it's back in working order just in time for me to work on the Christmas gift for my niecey! I was pretty nervous that I was going to mess it up so badly that I'd have to go buy another dress to take it's place. With a couple measurements and combining several different craft/sewing blog tutorials to make the dress I invisioned, I started out. I had an aqua long sleeved girls t-shirt that I cut the bottom of the shirt of at the point it would hit at my niece's waist. I cut the bottom off of a 2 XL ladies mock turtleneck shirt the length that would hit to below her knees and stitched the two together. Using the piece I cut off from the girls t-shirt, I made three rosettes on the skirt. And cutting out a flower shape from the ladies shirt left over, I appliqued by hand the piece to the shirt part of the dress. I was so happy when I finished and it actually looked decent (not perfect but I wasn't expecting it to)! But the best part of this whole experience was when miss T opened the present and said "It's beautiful!" I am so blessed to have 5 nieces in my life to do girly things with and for since I wasn't able to have a girl of my own!
I need to apologize to anyone who was keeping up with this blog. I'm sorry that I haven't been posting anything for several months! I guess I just have been busy and then didn't think I had much to blog about but I should really try to do better. After all, this blog is supposed to be about the blessings, of which I have way more than I deserve, and of the blunders, of which I have more than I'd care to admit. So I should have plenty to blog about, right?
I am so blessed to have a wonderful church and church family! I really enjoy going to the different events, the bible studies, just for fun and fellowship events, and services where I know I'm going to be told the absolute truth and learn more about God's word.
Lately I've been really discouraged with how Christmas has become such a gimme, gimme time of the year and incredibly stressful for me with figuring out what to buy for everyone, doing the shopping and spending the money, and all the focus being on material things and feel good stories of Santa and other things that are NOT the reason Christmas is supposed to be celebrated. Christmas is about the greatest gift of love ever given. God gave His only Son, born to die, for us so we could know how much He loves us and a way to have a personal relationship with Him. How can we overlook that year after year and get so caught up in our worldly views of the holiday season?
My family and I are making changes to the way we celebrate Christmas from now on. Christmas isn't our birthday so why should we go overboard with the gifts? Next year we will only buy one gift per person. We'll go all out for the birthdays. No more impersonal, boxed Christmas cards. It will be a picture card and/or a family newsletter. It's a better use of my time and money. We will keep the focus on Christ and the love He shows us and the love we are commanded to show to others.
So for anyone who happens to be reading this, merry Christmas! May you be abundantly blessed as you celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior and share that love with others!
