surviving the holiday hustle and bustle

oof, it's been a busy week.  we've had so much going on and every morning i'd think "ooh, i really need to blog!" and then i'd get distracted with something shiny and it just wouldn't happen.

surprisingly enough, unlike previous years i actually had several requests for cookies.  i find that most people like to make their own at holiday time, so it's usually quiet on the cookie front.  luckily, the majority of the cookies i was asked for were pretty simple designs, ones i've done plenty of times before:

although these were new - done for a friend whose two daughters performed in their dance studio's production of "the nutcracker."

and i finally made good on a promise i'd made to the bean a long time ago...chocolate crinkle cookies.

i adore these "my first christmas" jammies i found at petsmart and made cocoa and teddy wear for the last couple of weeks.  despite the look on teddy's face, i think he secretly loved them.

for the bean's last day of school before a two-week break, i made her this fun pullover that matched one i'd made for myself a couple of weeks ago:

that last day was just a half day, and so of course we squeezed in one last trip to disneyland before our passes are blocked out for two weeks.  i was hoping that it might not be too busy since a lot of schools were still in session, but of course as we got to the security checkpoint the lines were pretty long.

no biggie, though, because we weren't really counting on much besides grabbing some lunch, enjoying some seasonal treats, soaking in a little disney magic and doing a little last-minute christmas shopping for the old lady.

the next day, i busted out some pajamas for her to wear to her cheer team's christmas party.

for their white elephant gift exchange i'd picked this up, which she was happy to report was stolen to the game's limit.  isn't it always fun to see that people actually like the gift you bring?

we braved the mall the next morning, hoping to knock out the very last bit of shopping we needed to finish off our lists.  it's not her favorite place to be anyway, but bribing her with some sushi at her favorite spot did the trick nicely.

we got to spend the weekend with stevie while his mom and dad went out to palm springs to celebrate an early christmas with the old lady's special friend's dad.  he and teddy are BFFs.

teddy got one more pair of christmas pajamas, although he really only got to rock 'em for a day.

do you know what a VSCO girl is?  i was asked to make these keychains for a friend's daughter by christmas, and totally took it down to the wire as i finally sat down to stitch them out two days before.  thank goodness she loved them, because i don't know if i would've had time to redo them.

and my friends and i managed to find an evening to meet at the crack shack in pasadena for our annual GTG with the getalong gang.  it was surprisingly uncrowded in there, although we figured people were probably finishing up their shopping or home wrapping gifts - and it was cold and rainy, which probably didn't help.  this meant we were able to have them take seats at the bar for their annual group photo:

and it was fun to watch them hang out together like no time had passed, even though this group really only sees each other once a year, at these outings.

while we took our same spot in front of the giant chicken, like last time.

although this one is a way better shot, with a couple of photobombers.

gotta love the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, amirite??