Happy New Year! It's that time of year when every blog goes one of two ways. They either tell you HOW to make new goals for the year, or they tell you WHAT the goals are. Well, I am certainly not telling you how. You can go to Simple Mom or Organizing Your Way for that. No weight loss goals or eating goals here. You can go to The Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans for that. And I certainly don't talk about budget goals. Better luck checking out Nikki at Domestic Cents or Money Saving Mom. For parenting goals it is best to read Megan at Simple Kids' ideas for engaged parenting (excellent, if I might add).

No, you won't find any of that here. Here you'll find my modest lists of things I'll do this year. Not resolutions, not exactly goals. Just a list I hope to complete early in the year and move on to other things. So here you have it.

What I'll read, and actually finish reading this year:

The Bible in 90 Days. I'm starting today.

Crazy Love by Francis Chan

The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne. My brother gave me a copy of this a couple years ago and I've yet to crack it open.

Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin

and hopefully a fluff book or two thrown in if I can.

What I'll sew:

Crate covers for our toy crates

Wall pockets

A shirt for myself, imagine that.

A skirt or two for myself. Double imagine that!

And hopefully much more...

What I'll learn:

How to use lighting in photography

How use my serger for more than just a basic stitch

What I'll organize:

Our learning and craft cabinets. Oy!

Our basement. Double oy!

To ski. Oddly enough, I've only been skiing once in my life.

What I'll make:

My almost 5 year old's baby book. I'm hoping to start it soon and finish before she turns 5!

Our 2009 photo book. And the plan is to get it done before December this year.

That's it. That's all I'm committing to. Now I'm going to go eat more of this:

Incidentally, I did a taste test of different peppermint bark recipes and this one is my favorite. Phenomenal. Way more than just a couple layers of chocolate and oh so easy. 

I made my first stuffed animals. I decided on the elephant. I'm glad.

I learned some things. For instance, after you sew up the shell, don't just hand it to your husband with a bag of stuffing and expect him to just "figure it out." 

I also learned that I hate hand sewing. I'm not very good at it. It takes too much time and concentration. If I was going to make these elephants again I would cut some more corners and avoid some more hand sewing.

The pattern is from the book Sew Everything Workshop. I love the book. It is a great book, especially for beginners. I did make a few changes, in case you plan to make this little buddy yourself. He does take a bit longer than I expected. I can't say exactly how long it takes to make but I would say plan on 2 to 3+ hours, depending on your level of experience sewing, and the amount of distractions you have!

1. Add a layer of fusible interfacing on each of the ears. Fuse the interfacing to one of the outer fabrics before stitching right sides together. This makes the ears a bit sturdier so they'll stand out from the elephant's head.
2. Instead of hand sewing the opening in the ear closed after turning it I topstitched the whole ear. I don't think it detracts from the ear. If anything, it gives it more character.
3. If I had it to do over, I might leave the opening in the elephant on the underside rather than the top of the elephant. This way is a bit more forgiving for your hand stitching.
4. The pattern tells you to stitch the button eyes on after you stuff the elephant. I would recommend sewing them on before sewing the little guy together. Much easier. I also used a piece of round felt for eyes for the baby's elephant. She sleeps with it and I don't have to worry about her choking on an eye. 

There, now go make yourself some cute little elephants.

As the new year approaches I've been reconsidering the multiple personalities of my blog. I just haven't been that into it lately, to be honest. I'm bored with it. So, things are a changin'. You'll notice less of some stuff, more of other stuff. I guess you'll just have to wait and see... Mostly I just want it to have a clearer purpose. I hope that will be evident. If you only stop by to read about my kids and find out about our zoo trip you may be disappointed. If you want to know how to get your kids to go to sleep, you'll be disappointed as well. I still don't know how to do that. 

My new banner is up. If you are reading this in your blog reader you can just click on through and see it. I like it. 

You'll also notice that my full disclosure statement is up. Left hand column, under the paid advertising. Not that you care to read it, but it is there, thanks to the FTC.

And speaking of the disclosure statement and the paid advertising, feel free to frequent any of the advertising in my side bar. It is much appreciated. If you would like to advertise your shop or site just let me know. Bargain basement prices here.

Okay, in the spirit of full disclosure, I know how to get my kids to sleep. I just don't know how to get them to sleep in their beds all night. There, I said it.

Be forewarned that I'm still tinkering with the blog and you may stop by to have it look rather wonky from time to time. Just stay with me, I'm indecisive. 

And there you have it.

The girls and I made some treats and delivered some to the neighbors after dinner. We got all bundled up for our 10 foot journey outside. Did you know that even if you are walking 10 feet it still takes 10 minutes to bundle up? Incredible. I decided to knock a couple minutes off our time and told the older girls they didn't need to wear hats.

I opened our front door to head out. This is the sight we saw.

Did I mention that the "treats" were peppermint bark? Oh, how I love peppermint bark. Too much. That is why we were taking half to the neighbors. I was a bit afraid I'd finish off the rest by myself. It is good. Oh so good. I'll share the recipe at some point. I wasn't really sure if a picture of peppermint bark would still look tasty next to this one.

Have I mentioned how great our neighbors are? There are 3 boys living there. A 5 year old, a 13 year old and I think the other is 11. The boys shoveled our front walk and sidewalk for us on Sunday. All 11 inches of snow! Well, when we got outside Arthur helped out, but how sweet are they. Truth be told, I think they were having fun shoveling. I'll let you know if they are still enjoying it in February. At any rate, I thought they deserved a treat. So I shared my beloved bark.

Oh, and leaving the hats off the girls was a bad move. They complained for 10 feet there and 10 feet back. Of course.

So, the door. Can you believe that?? I was in shock. There I was, standing with my girls and our glass door was absolutely disgusting. Do I clean it up before we go? How do I keep Maggie out of it. After all, she has wanted to be held all afternoon. There wasn't much of a chance she'd just hang out while I cleaned up the mess. 

I opened the door and saw the mess had dripped onto our welcome mat. Well, now I'm angry. I'm not sure that will come out. I decided that I couldn't get them all across the mess without them stepping in it so I cleaned up a bit. Thankfully Maggie stayed out of it.

We took the candy next door and I helped everyone step over "the red" so it didn't get on anyone's boots. Phew. Their boots have bunny faces on them. How bad would that look with red streaks? 

I finally was able to clean up most of it (the part that wasn't frozen to the door) after they went to bed. I'm upset though. I had really liked this.

Well what did you think it was? The truth is, a window above our entry door was leaking all day (and the landlord still hasn't come by to check it out). I hadn't thought to move the wreath. Once it was wet it froze to the glass. It came off the front door and just stuck to the glass door. Nice.

Don't forget to enter to win a Mei Tai baby carrier! 

I love Christmas. I know that isn't always the case with people. I know quite a few people who really don't like it. Some that dread it and some that are a bit indifferent. And then there are the people that LOVE it. Most people fall into one of those categories. 

I happen to love it. I have great memories as a child of Christmas. I loved everything about it. I've been trying to recall what my favorite part of Christmas was. It is hard to choose! I loved waking up early, debating with our parents about what time we could wake them up, opening stockings, spending time with my family, seeing my cousins and grandparents, playing with new toys. I loved it all (except the food, but that's a different story). 

But I think if I'm really honest, my favorite memories are of the night before Christmas. Not Christmas Eve, but the actual night before Christmas. I could never sleep. Never. And fortunately for me, my brothers could never sleep either. I loved staying up all night with them. I'm sure it wasn't really all night, but it felt like it. A few years my youngest brother would sleep in my room, or maybe I'd sleep in his, and we'd hang out. I don't remember what we did. Maybe we played Super Mario Brothers. Maybe we talked, maybe we didn't. I'm not sure, but I remember I loved it. Every minute of it. 

I think it surprised me to think of that as my favorite memory of Christmas because I loved presents. I really loved opening them and playing with them and anticipating them. Like I said, I couldn't sleep. But if THAT was my favorite memory, how easy is it to parent a kid through special holidays? Is it possible that it really is the interaction and special moments that is important? 

What is your favorite memory from Christmas?

Christmas brings out so many emotions from people. People usually love it, or dread it. Well, I love it. I've been making a conscious effort to focus on the reason we celebrate Christmas and to keep it simple. And, I think we've been doing a pretty good job of that! It helps when we have no parties to attend, no family events, no traveling, nothing! 

There have been some great, thought provoking reads out there lately that I urge you to read, if you haven't already.

Missy at It's Almost Naptime challenges your mental picture of what the birth of Jesus was like. She is so right! If you've had a baby, you'll probably want to read this.

Know someone who grieves during this season? Life as Mom lets you know how to be there for them.

And, because I love to get your blood pumping, Just Mothering Through takes on the animal rights celebrities.

One week to go. Make it a good one.