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Hands to Heads

Last February I decided to undertake a task that Jason believed was doomed to failure: knitting beanies for my mom, all of my sisters, and my sisters-in-law for Christmas. Unlike my doubting husband, I was convinced that this plan was accomplishable so shortly after the idea popped into my head I acquired supplies and commenced with the project.

Over the last 10 months I have leisurely worked my way through these hats as Jason and I have worked our way through movies. I finished the last cap around Thanksgiving in plenty of time to wrap them all up for Christmas. Jason should have known better than to question my ability to complete any job I set my mind to; I am, after all, one of the most stubborn people on the planet.

Although a long-term project, knitting beanies was a relaxing one.

Although not all of my family was present at my parents’ house on Christmas day, I gave my hatwears to those that were in attendance anyway. My headgoods appeared to be a hit. Drew seemed a little sad that he didn’t get one though. Sorry Drew, brothers just don’t deserve such niceties.

I made each hat different with the recipient in mind.

I enjoyed creating these comfy caps for the ladies in my family and was pleased that they came together at ever increasing speeds; Jason was shocked at how quickly I was able to construct them by the end. Regardless of my knitting rapidity, some might question the logic of spending any amount of time assembling an item you could just buy in a store for less dough. It’s true that baby alpaca hair yarn is not cheap and thus purchasing beanies would have been more economical for me than knitting them but nothing’s as cozy as a handmade hat. That extra warmth no doubt comes from the knowledge that someone decided you were worth unnecessary effort. You can’t help but feel cherished wearing a cap that’s got a little of the maker’s love in every stitch.

Rachel January 6, 2013 No Comments

Christmas the Midway Way

Jason and I try to make it to our timeshare in Midway once every winter. Sometimes it doesn’t happen but this year it did. Just a couple days before Christmas we took a break from the holiday hassles to enjoy the crunch of man-made snow under speeding inner tubes and the repose of an endless night of board games.

Jason and I never have to be convinced of the merits of going downhill fast.
Tubing entertained Isabelle for about an hour and a half and then she was no longer amused.

In keeping with tradition, we invited my brother’s family to join us on this outing. We started our getaway with an afternoon of sledding on the slopes of Soldier Hollow. Tubing went over far better with Drew’s kids this time than it did a couple of years back. Instead of disliking any rapidity, Isabelle alternated between demanding and detesting swiftness. Although she couldn’t decide if she wanted to go faster or slower, she handled the mountain mayhem relatively well. Jadon, the family chicken, surprisingly wasn’t intimidated by the hill this time; he particularly enjoyed racing down it. Even though he repeatedly insisted that his dad was the fastest sledder, experience proved otherwise. Drew failed to win any of our descent contests. Jadon eventually got wise and requested Jason as his racing partner, which resulted in an anticipated victory.

Jadon loved putting crusty chunks of snow in our inner tubes.
There’s never a dull moment with this boy.

After tubing we ate a yummy dinner at the Spin Café in Heber. This joint doesn’t look too impressive from the outside but the inside is cozy and the food is tasty. My favorite part of the meal was the candy cane chocolate gelato I ordered for dessert. The Spin Café makes their fantastic gelato in-house and I made a particularly excellent decision when I chose the candy cane flavor. Scrumptious!

Jadon thought getting served root beer in a cowboy boot was the height of sophistication.
We played a variety of games until 2:00 AM. Bananagrams turned out to be a little too extreme for Andrew. He had a wee meltdown during one round.

A night of intense board gaming later our quick trip was over. It was nice taking a breather from the all-consuming Christmas craziness. In just 24 hours we slid, gobbled, and gamed. Did I mention I lost at Sticheln? Such is the might of the mini-vacation!

Rachel January 2, 2013 No Comments

We Wish You a Hairy Christmas!

Mustaches were hung by lips with care in hopes that St. Nicholas would dig that hair.

Every year for one brief evening we welcome ugly whiskers and hideous jumpers into our lives with open arms. The Christmas spirit is, after all, about accepting the outcasts among us and what’s more untouchable than lip hair so bushy it might transform into a beautiful butterfly at any moment? Therefore, let it never be said that the Sabins are scrooges for not only do we repeatedly embrace the disgusting but we mercilessly force our friends to do the same.

The Ashleys dressed in ugly Christmas shirts instead of sweaters.
The ladies looked nearly lovely dressed in their attire glitches.
Yes, ridiculous comes in homemade.

Last week we held our annual Christmas party and the theme was once again unsightly holiday attire and revolting mustaches. Over twenty chums joined us, primed with their tacky sweaters and even nastier facial hair, as we celebrated the season of stuffing by enthusiastically consuming tacos from Rubios and cupcakes from The Sweet Tooth Fairy. Although our full tummies protested, we boogied away the hours after our meal with some beats from Dance Central and then proceeded to the highlight of the evening: the white elephant gift exchange.

Bart and Brandi wore the grossest sweaters they could find but they weren’t gross enough.
Kenny didn’t want anything to come between him and his clean shave so he opted for fabricated follicles.
Brett and Lauren forgot to bring the ugly to the party.

In our version of the white elephant game the gifts remain wrapped until the end of the frenzy. The uncertainty of what’s under the paper doesn’t stop people from picking favorites though and that makes it all the more entertaining when the present everyone’s been fighting over turns out to be a panpipe CD or a box of chocolates so old an archaeologist would consider it an artifact. The unbridled gift stealing this time took over an hour to finish in what was quite possibly our wildest exchange yet.

Jason's
Jason’s mustache was hideous indeed. It made him look like a disturbing combination of French king and country hick.
The men took foul to a whole new level with their knitted fineries, hefty hair, and flighty sentiments.
Jeremy had to shave his mustache for a business meeting a few days before our party so we mourned his recently deceased facial fur with signage.

It was a diverting evening filled with all the jovial overconsumption and cheesy superfluity you’d expect from the season. We hope those who partied with us enjoyed themselves and didn’t have too much of a lingering bellyache from the night’s constant bombardment of tacos and graphic staches.

Happy Mustachemas to all and to all a hairy delight!

Rachel December 11, 2012 No Comments
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