A lovely change of pace...

This morning I woke up and began to rush. (Not freaking out, just rushing. To understand the subtle yet important distinction between the two you can read here.) I had to finish the second capelet so that my friend Myra could help me block it, which we were going to do yesterday but couldn't because of an unforeseen knitting emergency. (i.e. I misread the pattern and had to rip the stupid thing halfway back and re-knit it.) Also Caitlin was coming down so we could have a sewing party and slam out the Christmas jammies. The house that I had cleaned spotless on Friday was now a cluttered mess, including two days worth of dishes in the sink. (Because I've been dealing with knitting emergencies, and no one else felt moved to clean up around here I guess...)

Myra arrived shortly after I weaved in the last end, and very kindly pointed out that we would need the sink in order to block my knitting. No problem. I scrambled to unload and load the dishwasher. And just I was rinsing off the last dish and about to scrub the sink out, Evie came upstairs to inform me that there was water leaking out of the laundry room ceiling. "Like, a LOT of water Mom." (I may have started to freak out a little bit at this point.) I mopped off the top of my washer and dryer while I called Brian to demand he fix this problem request his help in finding a solution to this dilemma. Brian called a brother in our ward who is a plumber, and he was able to replace the section of pipe that was completely corroded. (There are not enough Thank You's in the world for Bro. Pease, he has been so kind and helped us so much over the past few months!) In the meantime, Myra blocked my knitting for me, Caitlin looked up information on the rash on Lila's face to see if I needed to take her to the doctor's, and I changed the twenty-seventh diaper of the day.

I could feel the rushing starting to become freaking out, so I made a very important decision. I went to the store and bought Christmas jammies for the kids. I feel good about this decision. I've received a lot of reassurance from my family to back it up. Caitlin (who also gave up the idea of sewing Christmas jammies this year) reminded me that the fabric will keep and we will can have a sewing party after Christmas just as easily. Jacob assured me that his Christmas will not be ruined if his jammies aren't sewn by me, although he did confess that he was hoping for green flannel pants with red holly berries on them this year. (Yeah, they weren't.) And Brian... he calmly agreed that it was a wise decision on my part. But he couldn't quite suppress the glee in his voice that tells me he was singing the Hallelujah Chorus on the inside and thinking, "The crazy Christmas crafting lady is gone!!!"

I just know that the money I spent on the jammies was worth every penny for the peace of mind it gives me. I can spend the next three days calmly and contentedly spending time with my kids, watching Christmas movies, tidying the house for the festivities, baking cookies for Santa, and enjoying the holiday without rushing from project to project. (Except for a couple of skirts for the girls, but I can make those super fast...)