If you are not doing what you love, you are wasting your time. ~ Billy Joel

On the 4th day of Craftvent my unopened package reveled to me a surprise! (Sung to the tune Of the Twelve Days of Christmas.) The past few years I’ve struggled to get in the holiday spirit. Given the crappy year 2020 has been, I fully expected to have a hum-bug Christmas mood. Quite the opposite has happened. I suspect that my inner introvert is secretly happy she doesn’t have to make small talk at a bunch of holiday parties that are really geared towards extroverts. (Let’s face it, if you decline holiday parties people assume you’re a Scrooge even if as an introvert you prefer a gathering of 10 not 110. And 10 includes 2 or 3 pets.) Whatever the reason, the British Hubby and I are determined to make this season merry.

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I think that’s why I’m enjoying my craft and tea calendars so much. It’s a surprise I know I’m going to love or be excited to try. Day 4 involved no yarn at all. My crafty self-care package revealed a fun project bag. I never have enough project bags. The Craftvent packages yielded two Craftvent 2020 pins. Not real sure what to do with one pin let alone two, I decided these would make fun ornaments. With a little holiday ribbon, these now adorn our tree right beside Godzilla.

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• Day 1: Needles and pattern code, msm hand cream and tender loving care herbal tea “Tea-LC” from Plum Deluxe.
• Day 2: Yarn for the first lace section and DK weight yarn in Barn Door from Apple Fiber Studio. I had some amazing teas while working on this section. Chocolate-orange rooibos from Lizzy Kate, Elderberry Wine from Adagio teas, and Grandmas Caramel Butterscotch Black from Plum Deluxe.
• Day 3: Yarn for first transition section. My crafters self-care advent calendar had Dream Catcher tea from Flying Bird Botanicals. I had to laugh because the last thing I need right now is more tea, but I’m always excited to find new local businesses. Flying Bird Botanicals has drinking chocolates in interesting flavors along with honey, matcha and tea. I see more of this brand in my future. Since this took less time to knit, I only managed to get through two packages of advent calendar tea: Spiced Apple Chai from Adagio and Lizzy’s Breakfast Supreme from Lizzy Kate. The breakfast supreme was a great pick-me-up for sluggish mornings when I need to be alert for the day job.
• Day 4: A project bag and Craftvent 2020 pins that became ornaments. This time I drank two teas from Plum deluxe. (In case you were wondering, I’m not drinking the teas in the order I open them necessarily.) Fog Cutter black and Decaf House Blend both were scrumptious.

The British Hubby found these cracker sized cheese chips. I’ve been eating these with various keto dips, cheese or some form of protein like sliced pepperoni. It’s great for keto happy hour.

SkeinHerder’s Songs: Today I’ve been singing The Gremlins theme song. I thought I would share the annoying goodness.

Ernie was not excited to volunteer for the jingle bell festive collar. I tried to explain how he was letting all his blog followers down. (He’s the real star of this blog after all.) This is all he would pose for.

Tomorrow’s the Winter Solstice. How are you going to honor the darkest day of the year?