The Stockings were hung...

by the chimney with care.

The Nutcrackers are standing guard, on the look out for Santa and his reindeer!

While two little kids toss & turn in bed, hoping that visions of sugar plums will soon be theirs... but all of this excitement keeps sleep away.

I feel like Christmas just snuck up on me from outta nowhere!

We've been so busy and the weather here has been very warm.

But oh, tomorrow morning should be fantastic! I know the kids will be hopping happy when they see their gifts and actually get to open them.

And later my Mom and brothers will come over! We haven't seen my older brother in several years now and the kids are so curious about him. I'm really hoping to sneak a picture of him. He's never been the type to let me take a picture, but now I'm older and sneakier.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

I truly hope you all feel as blessed as I do this season.

A beautiful sight...we're happy tonight

Hans brought an entire bunch of these gorgeous Thistle blooms home,

and I'm so in love with them.

Such a darling man to bring flowers to me...and to know me so well that he brings thistles instead of something too sweet and fluffy.

Also loving my mail lady this week! A huge new batch of baker's twine for Lumpling tags and a vintage crafting book make life a wee bit kinder this holiday season.

Today I've been making bunches of Snickerdoodle cookies to give to our neighbors so the house smells just like a home should; cinnamon and sugar!

Tonight, we will go door to door with cookies and the handmade scarves for the neighborhood children. When we get back home there will be a gingerbread house to decorate and hot chocolate for all.

And after all of that wonderful, almost too perfect, holiday love I will lock myself in a room and get frantic with wrapping paper and gifts. Hans has wrapped my gifts and nestled them under the tree which has caused Ella to cry and look pitiful because she wants her gifts under the tree too.

She doesn't quite understand that Mama is lazy and hasn't wrapped them yet. One day I'm sure she will understand, but at age three it doesn't click.

We Want Some Figgy Pudding

Our new German gummy bear ornament:

In Lumpling news:

I've been working down the line of people who emailed regarding the extra Lumplings. There is just one Lumpling left! I'm waiting to hear back from someone about it and if they don't want her I'll keep on moving down that list.

I will, of course, email the rest of the people on the list with my apologies if this Lumpling gets adopted before her picture gets sent to all.

I was so surprised at how many emails I received regarding these extra Lumplings! I had no idea there were so many of you out there reading this blog!

I feel slightly paranoid now. In a good way!

Last night I taught the children how to make paper snowflakes. We made several each and taped them in the front window.

While we were cutting away our snowflakes the doorbell rang and I almost didn't answer it because it was dark and I couldn't imagine who would be here that late, but then I could see the glow of what looked like a lot of candles and I opened the door to a group of people singing christmas carols!

I've never had that happen before and I wasn't sure what to do really... so I stood there holding Finn and Ella next to me like the people do in commercials. I couldn't help thinking that maybe I was supposed to tip them or something.

At the end of the song the loudest singer barely finished the last line before saying "That's enough", and they all took off.

It was a slice of suburbia that I've never had before. I grew up in a nice suburb of Atlanta and people there would never dare come to our house to sing. We had a reputation as a party house and the neighbors hated us!

My mom had a soft spot for kids whose parents had tossed them out...for some reason that happened to a lot of kids I knew growing up. But mom took them all in and they would sleep in our basement. You could walk down there at any point in the day and see at least five guys sprawled out asleep. We had pot heads, skin heads, skaters, hippies, punks, death rock kids and everything in between living with us. And my mom was known as the coolest lady around. Here she was a single mom to three kids and she took everyone in and fed them without complaining. I seriously don't remember her ever bitching about it.

Oh, and we had five dogs and about thirteen cats... so the neighbors really hated us!

Usually my communication with our closest neighbors involved my middle finger and turning up Siouxsie & the Banshees a bit louder.

Heh. Yeah. Good times.

But our neighbors here are so nice that they sing to us!

And tomorrow we've been invited to a neighborhood Christmas party!

As Mama would say: Hot Damn!

about those extra Lumplings...

Just a quick note to let everyone

know that I've gotten all of the emails asking about those extra Lumplings!

I will reply to everyone tonight!

I've had more requests than I have Lumplings, so when those Lumplings are all done and ready to be adopted I will start down the line of people and email with a Lumpling picture and a chance to adopt it. If rejected, then I move to the next person.

Is this Lumpling Pimping?

Should I wear a fancy fur coat while doing this?

~~~~~

In other news!

All of the Lumplings that were paid for last night went out this morning and will be coming to everyone via UPS. I like UPS this time of year because we can track those little suckers.

And really, the ladies at the post office start to look a wee bit psycho with Christmas cheer. I'm afraid of them at Christmas. Hell, I'm a little afraid of everyone around Christmas.

But it doesn't feel like Christmas around here... over 70 degrees people!! Jeez Louise!

all my babies leave me....

A successful adoption has just taken place! I know because my hands are still shaking from typing so much!

Mistle & Toto here were by far the most requested and they were snatched up at once.

I kept back a few Lumplings that I wanted to dress and make tiny Lumps for, so they will go up in the next few days.

If you are super interested in adopting one of these extra Lumplings, drop me a line and I'll send you a picture first before putting them on the site!

So now things really start to hop here in Lumpling land!

Invoices must be made and sent out to everyone. All of the adopted Lumplings will get name tags and a small birth certificate that my sweet husband, Hans, prints out for me using canvas on his big professional printer. Everyone gets wrapped up in spotted tissue paper and tucked in a sturdy box.

Meanwhile, my children and kitten look on wide eyed and somewhat distressed that I'm sending Lumplings away. They all do their best to sneak away with Lumplings before I've put them up for adoption.

Many many thanks to everyone for coming to see the Lumplings today. I'm so proud and humbled by the interest in them and all of the Lump Love!

Lumpling Update!

**((While I sent this notice out to everyone that has signed up on my mailing list, I've received lots of "blocked for Spam" responses! especially from Comcast and AOL email addresses. I don't know a way around that happening, so hopefully everyone will see the notice here!))**

Hello Everyone!

Do you hear the pitter patter of little Lumpling feet?
Here comes a new Lumpling herd!
http://www.amyrue.com/


They will all go online on:
Friday, December 15th
At 1pm Eastern Standard

If you see a Lumpling that you would like to adopt, please email me at amy@amyrue.com and
I will send a Paypal invoice your way or a note letting you know the Lumpling was already snatched up.

Remember to ‘refresh’ the adopt page every few minutes, because I start putting up the ‘adopted’ notices as soon as I can!

I have more than just Lumplings in the shop now; there are little carryalls, pillows, soaps and other fun items. If there is something that you would like to add to your invoice, just let me know!

Sometimes Lumplings go very fast and I will be typing my little heart out replying to emails, but I do reply to
every email. If you don’t hear back from me, please check your ‘spam’ folder… sometimes those emails are sneaky.

Adoption fees are Paypal only.
Shipping for one Lumpling $6.00 in North America and $8.00 International.

Please remember that Lumplings should still be considered choking hazards with wee babies under age three.
or anyone who likes to gnaw on little animals. You know who you are.

~~~

This week my mind has been focused on the Kim Family.

My heart and my prayers go out to brave brave Kati Kim and her beautiful little girls. I hope that in this time of sadness that she can feel all of the warm thoughts being sent her way from people all over the world.

~~~

Wee felt trees came together for our Holiday village last night. Lucky for me this is sturdy wool felt because I'm too lazy too add a bottom and stuffing. Maybe I should pink the bottom edge?

I found a wooden village to put together for super cheap on Ebay and I've been wrestling with hot glue and small wood bits since yesterday.

The village will probably just get painted white until I feel all more holiday crafting urges next year... I might already be tapped out this year!

We had such a nice time at Disney World. They even had a Santa there for my kids to attack.

Thank goodness this was the first year that Ella didn't scream and claw her way over my head to get away from the evil Santa. She always remains calm until that last crucial moment when Santa beckons and you start that slow walk to him... all Hell breaks loose!

But this Santa at Disney was a smart Santa. He came through the line and introduced himself to Finn & Ella before they came into his area. Good Santa.

Last night I also worked on the next herd of Lumplings. I really hope to have a decent amount of them for the next adoption...complete with babies and tiny ornaments. I started making the wee felt trees to go with the Lumplings, but it didn't quite work out the way I was thinking...so it was off to the village for them!