Charlotte models her new "sleeping dress"

I’m not much of a seamstress. I do alright with hand sewing, especially when I’m working with a forgiving fabric like fleece, but I get impatient with patterns (or rather, with my clumsy attempts to follow them), and when I decide to dust off the machine, my ambition generally sets me up for failure. It’s always been this way, ever since my 7th grade home-ec class, when a set of festive holiday pillows became so frustrating that I stopped halfway; somewhere, my mom has two red and green pillows, bedecked with holly, that read “NO.”

Anyway, lately I’ve been so inspired by Amanda Blake Soule’s new book, Handmade Home, that I’ve braved my anxiety, set up my sewing machine next to the wood stove in the living room, and begun to work on all kinds of projects. The girls now have a set of fluttery purple flags hanging from their ceiling, my office is newly curtained, and the rest, well, they’re Valentine’s presents, so they’ll have to remain secret for a few more days.

In the middle of this sewing frenzy, my favorite monkey pajamas finally frayed through. On a whim, I took out my scissors and pins, and pulled together a Charlotte-sized nightgown. Don’t be fooled–it took a lot of seam-ripping, and in tight spots I turned off the machine and pulled out my thimble. But it’s wearable, and Charlotte is delighted. She’s been so happy twirling in her monkeys that I’m tempted to clothe the whole family in my pajama scraps!

Crafts, Family Crafts, Family, pajamas, recycling, sewing

Like the Romans of old, the chickens surround and begin to dismantle our holiday “ginge-agogue”

The end of the holiday season is generally marked sometime in early January with the dismantling of the last decoration and the curbside deposit of the Christmas tree. The last remnant of our holidays was the gingerbread synagogue, or “ginge-agogue”, that Margaret and the girls had made in December (see it here in all its original splendor). It’s been hanging around because we couldn’t bear to get rid of it, but the “ginge-agogue” was beginning to look a little pecked, as a few pieces of candy seemed to disappear daily from the creation. So, in an act of housecleaning as well as an attempt to save Charlotte’s teeth, we decided to give the house and what remained of its sugary trim over to the chickens. We’ve been calling it the destruction of the temple. Sacrilegious? Perhaps, but would the compost pile be any less? The chickens did seem to enjoy their part in the historical re-enactment.

Crafts, Judaism, poultry chickens, destruction, gingerbread, Holidays, synagogue, temple

Beatrice and Charlotte embrace their eye pillows

As Karl mentioned in an earlier post, I spent the end of December and the beginning of January laid low by pneumonia. I’m generally pretty healthy–rarely under the weather, much less incapacitated by fever and racking cough–and the experience was jarring. I’m an active person, and it was strange to be sedentary. Family and friends pitched in so that I could lie in bed, sleeping, drinking tea and reading Batya Gur’s mystery novels. Except for the coughing and sweating and weird, fizzy sound of my breathing, it was kind of a treat at first. After the third day, however, I was frustrated and ready to be productive again. My body had to stay in bed for another week and a half, but my mind wandered, and around the Feast of the Epiphany (January 6), I had one: I’m simply not very good at resting. I’m good at sleeping, but between the humans and the critters and the various projects I take on, sleep is usually just a nightly collapse, not a mindful, restorative pause. I’m determined, in this new year, to change that.

To that end, I’m beginning 2010 with a resolution to make time for more: more rest, more quiet, more of all kinds of things that bring me pleasure and a sense of balance. These aren’t the big things–our family has already made the choice to slow down and nurture each other and our little patch of earth. Rather, these are the small details that are pressed so far into the margins that they often fall off the page.

I’ve been writing down the things that I want to put more energy into, and I welcome suggestions, especially if there’s something that’s helped bring balance to you. Here’s what I have so far:

Margaret’s List of More

Crafts, Family balance, epiphany, lists, resolutions, rest

Our gingerbread synagogue — a ginge-agogue?

Wishing everyone light and love this holiday season!

The Ten Apple Gang

Crafts, Food, Judaism candy, gingerbread, Hanukkah, Holiday, house, Jewish, synagogue