Do WHAT to the halls?

OK, I do know what time of year it is. I know my neighbors' trees are up, and their halls are decked. But don't let the photos here mislead you... my halls are NOT decked! These are photos from last year. My tree is not up, my mantle is not lit, nor is my stairwell. My little collection of cabins is not prettily arranged for the grandchildren to 'ohh and ahh' over. I have hung my Swedish star in the window, but that, I confess, is with the intent to deceive. I want the neighbors to think I'm keeping up.

The reality is that I am still knitting the sweaters, creating the books, and making out shopping lists, having not gone to the mall or downtown to shop yet. Now is the time to start panicking, if you are on my Christmas list! And those few things I have been doing to ready myself to face the holidays have been squeezed into the moments I am not sitting here at my computer, inputting exhibit information so I can get it all to the juror the moment the holidays are over. Needless to say, no weaving has been on my daily ToDo list for a while either, though I have been painting more little birds for the kids' book.

But now, I think, I am catching up a bit with exhibit work. Maybe now I can deck a bit of the halls, make a batch or two of Grandma Maisie's fudge and some cinnamon popcorn, and help out the economy by going to the dreaded mall. Maybe I can even finish those sweaters on the couch in front of "White Christmas" or "Little Women." The acapella women's singing group I lead will be singing carols at a holiday party Saturday night, so I'll get out that red and green sweater with reindeer on it and even deck myself out a bit! After all, it IS 'beginning to look a lot' ..... well, you know what I mean.

Of note (in a small way): I got my new issue of the American Craft magazine today, in which I am mentioned in the "Accolades" section. All it says is:

Colorado artist Kathy Spoering got an award for excellence from the “American Tapestry Alliance“:http://www.americantapestryalliance.org for The Gift, a fall-themed weaving that “has a great deal of spiritual significance for me,” as she notes on her blog.

But you already knew that, didn't you?