Christmas by the Numbers

2: recycled sweater strawberries for my niece
8: Santa place-mats made at 3:30 in the morning Christmas Day for my sister-in-law
1: table runner for Jake's aunt, candy cane stripes.
2.5: the number of hours I slept Christmas Eve night, after getting up at 7:30 to cook at church the morning before. A week of low sleep followed by a night of no sleep. Sigh.
134: slices of pie I cut and packaged at homebound holiday meal prep
4: the number on my test for celiac disease, which I got the results of on the 23rd. 5 or higher would be positive. Whew (also, my other two tests were soundly negative, this was the only one close). It's been quite a December.
6: days until the liquid vitamin D I started taking took effect. I was stunned by the difference. My heels no longer hurt.
2: nights this break waking up in bewildering facial and mouth pain. It's easier now that I know it's my masseter muscle, but it's still, well, the worst pain I've ever felt that wasn't a root canal. And remember, I did 37 hours and 52 hours of labor (two other numbers--Fiona, Daisy).
25: minutes until the deep pressure massage, hot compresses, relaxation breathing, and ibuprofen teamed up to completely, suddenly, amazingly, relieve that facial pain.
4: pairs of minky dot pants for nieces and daughters
0: pounds gained or lost since Thanksgiving. This is a WIN.
4: nights at my in-laws, doing nothing. Nothing. Also a win.
1: movie watched. The new Sherlock Holmes movie. Which has just about nothing to do with Sherlock Holmes but I like it anyway.
2: new Waldorf dolls arrived, made very welcome (do you catch the Prisoner reference?)
36: deviled eggs at my mom's house. It's a holiday thing. And we put pickles in ours. My kids love them. Don't be confused by Daisy's look. She's trying to imitate my sister Bevin.
5: days post-surgery was my father from his knee replacement when we came over for Christmas Eve. But I think it was ok. My kids weren't totally obnoxious...
3: quilts. One is a checkerboard for Jake's cousin's boy (a year older than Billy); one was a checkerboard-center picnic blanket that I shamefully failed to photograph before giving it to my sister Colleen, and one was a round Christmas quilt, like a treeskirt with no opening, for my mother-in-law.4: awesome handmade items for my kids from my sisters (Colleen, the happy tattooed one above, is the seamstress): a tutu, a messenger bag, a hunter's cap, and this spectacular cape for Daisy. Daisy's quote: "I don't know why anyone would not love Colleen when she makes wonderful thinks like cloaks."
1: happy but confused boy. Santa brought a Christmas train. He had other trains and track and a wind up tractor and emergency vehicles and a dollhouse-sized firehouse. So confused. But happy.
21: balloons in the title of the story by William Pene deBois, which I rendered in crewel embroidery for Bevin. Now I want to do more. Anne of Green Gables? The Hobbit? Dandelion Wine? So many choices.
5: pairs of new wool hiking socks for me. I have a pair on now. They're like flannel sheets for my feet.
2: magnet boards, for Jake's brother and sister-in-law, and for my niece.
10: little tiny polaroid picture magnets created from a tutorial online and attached to the magnet board.
2: IOUs, one from me to Jake, one from Jake to me. New faucet for the clawfoot tub in the bathroom; new grill or smoker outside. Neither of us wanted to make the choice on our own. So I gave him a grilling/barbecue cookbook of sorts, and he wrapped a wrench for me. I know now, more than ever, that not only are we well matched, but we are perfect for each other.
30: minutes before midnight when we said our goodbyes to Zelda and Travis after a lovely dinner at Mojos Tapas (I had my first vesper--probably too strong for my taste these days) and then an even lovelier low-key evening around their chiminea with red wine.
5: kids who didn't go to Mojos with us. Happy new year.
45: donuts made this afternoon because our church didn't have them after mass--we usually do on a Sunday but it's the first of the year. So I came home and made them myself, for the very first time ever. Jake grew up making them. We never fried anything. So we made donuts and about 1/3 were cinnamon sugar coated, 1/3 plain, and 1/3 with this old-fashioned chocolate icing with coffee as an ingredient. An in-greedy-ent. They are lovely.We spread them around the neighbors best we could. 45 is a lot of donuts, even small like these.
1: nap. Only one nap. I'm telling you. It was a hard break.
27: (I think) folks over for lunch on the 26th. Somewhat annoyed, I put jeans on instead of hanging out in pajamas. And then after the 26th, I was recuperated enough from Christmas to not want to hang out in pajamas...
2: months until I start the crafting and sewing for this year. I cannot make myself go through another autumn and especially December like I did in 2011. Especially if I go back to work in the fall.
3: more days home with the girls. There is much to be done. But first, I need to increase that 1 nap to 2...Merry Christmas! Happy 2012!