Osborn Fiber Studio

When last I wrote one of these round-up entries, I was not in a great place. It’s been a tough fall in a few ways, and the darkness and isolation was hitting me in ways it hadn’t hit me in a long time, perhaps ever. Soon after I wrote, I decided to re-start the SSRI medication I had been on for years, and that was immediately helpful. I share this because I think there should be no shame around taking medication for mental health. I went from barely holding back rage and tears while we decorated the Christmas tree, to being able to enjoy the many parties and activities we did this month. I can accept myself, and the limits to what I can do and feel and be, if I can do what I can as the person I want to be.

So with that, here’s a little log of what we did this month. The holidays are hard sometimes. This year, the lead up was very hard. But the celebration itself has been a delight, and I can appreciate it more because it’s been hard-won.

Travel

At the beginning of December, I traveled to Arviat for a weekend. That was my first time in another Nunavut community other than Rankin Inlet and Iqaluit. It was really special to be there for Nick, the Arviat congregation is delightful, and the land is beautiful. I even got to see the ice forming on the morning flight home, which I enjoyed.

Crafting

This month I finished a little sock spin that was a bit of an impulse. Dooner saw me spinning some samples for spring episodes of the Wool Circle, and had to have something with this highlighter-coloured fiber. So I spun the remaining 2.5 oz into a chain-plied sock yarn for her. I’m not sure yet what it will become.

I finished a cabled sock spin this month, and have actually already finished the crepe sock spin as well, though I don’t want to properly show you that yet! Come back in January.

And, as you know, I finished Jethro. I’ve been wearing it loads. I started another little sweater, but I’ll write about that another time.

Randomly one afternoon, I was possessed of an urge to crochet some snowflakes. It was addictive! I have a whole book of 100 snowflake patterns; I’ll crochet all of them as I get the urge. And they can be decorations all winter!

Last, but certainly not least, I did a sewing feat the I am rather proud of. I replaced the zipper in my beloved sealskin and leather parka. It took a bit of doing, but my machine handled it. Husqvarna Viking Emerald, salvaged from the dump, for the win!!!

Gaming

I have spun every day this month, except for the last couple of days, when I’ve been preoccupied with writing some end-of-year posts. I’ve also gotten sucked into some video games, both myself and with the kids, and magically I’ve been able to play board games again! Jared and and I finally took the time to learn a couple thematic worker placement games we’ve owned for a while but just haven’t had the wherewithal to try. They’re both really fun: “Robin Hood and his Merry Men” we’ve had for a long time (above), and “Through Ice and Snow” we kickstarted years ago but only just received (below). The latter is very respectfully Nunavut-centered, being about the expeditions through the Northwest Passage.

If you’re curious, the video games I’ve played are Curse of the Golden Idol, Rise of the Golden Idol, Assassins Creed (the original; haven’t gotten too far), and Big Pharma. We all play Stardew Valley as a family pretty regularly as well.

Gatherings

Shall I list them for you?

A candy toss at the elementary school…

Decorating the church with friends…

The fire department grown-up Christmas party, at which Jared was awarded Fire Officer of the Year…

A Christmas goodie exchange at a friend’s house (I made lemon squares again)…

Family craft night at the middle school (in lieu of a concert)…

The elementary school Christmas concert (Dooner is third from the left, doing her HO HO HO!)…

Dooner dressed up for her concert (she also lost her two front teef this month!)…

The Rankin Inlet Toy Drive, where every kid gets a gift…

The fire department family party…

The community feast (we’re having frozen caribou, a local delicacy)…

And my favourite, the Christmas pageant at our church. This is the one thing I’m in charge of, and we do it the same way every year, so it’s quite low-stress. This year we got a few new kids, and lot of old hands who knew the ropes and were excited to be there. A couple of my local mom besties helped out, and it was just a joy.

Christmas Day

Christmas day was a little unusual for us. On Christmas Eve we got home from the pageant, and had our usual finger food Christmas feast.

That night, the stockings were stuffed and the presents were laid round the tree with care.

Christmas morning stocking-opening was business as usual; we had an easy breakfast and slowly got ready and loaded up for church.

One problem: as we were slowly learning, at least half of the town had no power. We’d had some unseasonably warm weather over the previous few days, and there was a buildup of ice and wet snow that damaged several power lines. To make matters worse, the usual line crews were in another community, and rough weather prevented them from coming to Rankin to help out. So a small crew of hamlet employees and volunteer retirees was running around all day on Christmas, in said rough weather, trying to make repairs!

We had power at our house all day, but not at the church. When we arrived at church, it was 14 C, too cold to have an enjoyable service. For us, it was an easy day – we just went home, enjoyed opening and playing with gifts! But we were also keeping an ear to the ground for news. I had made a whole turkey for sharing after church; we ended up sharing that around with a few people who had no power. Jared charged a few phones for folks. Mercifully, the warm weather that caused the problem also meant that no one got too cold. But it was a weird day!

Since Christmas, we’ve been deep in holiday mode. Playing games, going sledding, cooking…

After a brutal November, December was just… fun. I kept waiting for the Christmas insanity to hit, waiting to find out there was a huge pile of stuff to get done that I would freak out about. But it never happened. The Canada Post strike meant that the offerings under the tree were a little light, but it also meant I wasn’t under pressure to get packages together to send out on time. The best part? The kids were fine with it. They were super-thankful for what they got and never complained. In fact, gift-giving was probably less emotionally wrought for being more modest. At the time, I was slightly worried we weren’t doing enough, that it wouldn’t feel special. But really, we got to just… enjoy Christmas.

Over the next couple of days I’m going to share two long posts I’ve been working on – one looking at my making over the last year, and one looking forward to what I’d like to accomplish next year. Overall, 2024 has been amazing, and I’ve been blessed to look back on it. For now, December has been a relief after a hard fall. I hope you were able to enjoy some of the holiday season as well, no matter what ups and downs you are dealing with!