Christmas taking stock of the season

So after having yet another day of Christmas knitting interrupted by that dreaded swear word WORK I have come to the realization that I am not going to be ready for Christmas and I am never going to have a hope in Hades that I will be ready for Christmas.  After a fair bit of prayer to St Therese to help to work out what is going on.  I just don't feel that I am ready for Christmas. Ok it is time to pull out Plan C that is to go with the flow and just bumble our way through this Christmas period. I really don't have the time or effort to go all out for Christmas. I have not even done the Christmas cards that horrified one of my colleagues today. Sod it are they really that important or a true part of the meaning of Christmas.

Christmas is meant to be the time to celebrate the joy of new life and the coming New Year not being this all consuming madness that stresses everyone out and causes people to compete with each other. Christmas is not about stores and shopping events but families and the friends. For many families Christmas time is the only time families can unite in one place to catch up with each other. For some Christmas is a time of excitement and joy but for so many it is also a time of despondency and heartache.

Christmas time in our family is when we take the opportunity to gather together and remember those who are no longer with us from our Christmas Pasts. Our family, like many Territorian families, have good and bad Christmas memories thanks to Cyclone Tracy.

Even now, so many years later, I still get anxious in the build up to Christmas and am not able to get a good night sleep until I have survived midnight mass on Christmas Eve. The 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami brought back so many memories but also provided an opportunity to help others like we had been helped in the aftermath of Tracy.


The Christmas break is also an opportunity to take stock of where we are at and prepare for the New Year. I like many use the Yule time period as an opportunity to reflect on the past year and prepare for the New Year.
I don’t make New Year Resolutions but I do attempt to hash out a few goals so that we actually get something done.

This evening as I drove across the wilds of Lancashire in the Fog on my own I had time to think about why I was so stressed and was it really worth it. I came to the realization that No it was not. We are all healthy at the moment, which after the year we have had is quiet remarkable. We are not rich and not poor we have elegant sufficiency so the bills are paid and we are muddling through. The kids are growing and achieving in school, they have friends and are happy; so what else do we need. Our little, healthy family is happy and contented consequently, do we really need all the rest of that fandango.

This Christmas we will be taking time to catch up with each other and have some of that quality time which we can lose in our busy lifestyle thanks to the demands of work, school and other activities that make up normal family life in today's busy society. While we are spending time together, we will also be taking the opportunity to pass on some of our good fortune on to others though organisations such as Oxfam and Heifer.

So please have a safe and Merry Christmas with your family and friends. If you can remember someone who is not as fortunate as you are do so.

Merry Christmas from the Kota Atok family.

Möbius Finished,

Well I have knocked off some projects and I am starting the planning and organisation of others that have been in my queue for a while. The Möbius for my scooter student has been finished, blocked and is now rapped for our session on Friday. Kate got her Travelling Women on Wednesday and she appeared to really really love it.

I have finished several sewing projects and some other objects that need finishing. So I have done some seaming seaming seaming. I keep promising myself a couple of rows on my current travelling woman if I get x or y chore done.

I have to rip a section back on my Ruby Ruby cause I am just not happy about it so I am hoping to get that ripped and back up to were I was so I can finish this UFO. Now I just have to get some photos for some of my projects and then I will be able to get some the UFO checked off on Ravelry.

The First day of September

Well the First day of September has arrived and if I was the other side of the equator I would be celebrating the first days of spring but unfortunately it is the first days of Autumn here. The Arctic winds have kicked in and we have had rain and no sun now for almost three weeks now. There has been a distinctive chill in the air in the morning which tells me Winter is on its way.

It is the last week of the school holidays so I have made it a priority to finish off some UFO's and outstanding chores over the next week. Between work I hope to have a couple of chores knocked off as soon as possible.

As this month is my birthday I have been leaving hints with the family that I would like them to actually remember it for once. I am still peeved about no present last year and I have a feeling that it will be missed yet again.

The Third Travelling Woman shawl has been cast on and I am looking forward to getting it a little longer than the earlier ones. I have also cast on a Möbius for a student of mine who has just brought herself a scooter to travel in and out of university. I also have to start thinking about what preezies I have to make for Christmas and some birthdays that are coming up.

Auntie knitting is getting so far behind that I am getting to the point were it is no use panicking as I have not got time to do it.

Chris for SnB thinks I must have smoke on my needles for the last week but it really a case of my job list is getting taller and taller.

Dissertation madness continues

Not getting much done creatively and it is getting to real nightmare. I often knit on the train and today I took J's vest on the train with me and everyone just stared. It may have been the size of the vest, it may have been the circulars (which I managed to pick up the other day) or it may have been that I was knitting.

I am having to knit more frequently in public thanks to my work and the lack of sanity I am getting. I find that knitting is perfect for controlling my BP and reducing the stress levels along with the frequency I call upon divine intervention. Some of my colleague can assess my mood by my knitting speed as have the nickname of Madam Dufarge. I knit when I can in meetings as it helps me concentrate or else I doodle my way through the meeting and have to be brought back to the point. It also helps me keep a control my automatic impulse to call a spade a spade reaction. Being a typical Aussie it is a little blunter than just a spade.