Knitted Mitten Garland and Christmas!

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas! Ours was fantastic -- I got to spend time with family and my best friend, and I received some amazing and thoughtful gifts. And I ate sooooo much delicious food!

And I finally finished my knitted mitten garland for the mantel! I started this sucker before Christmas last year and it languished in a drawer in the coffee table for months and months. I finished the last mitten over the summer but wasn't sure how I wanted to string them up. And just the other day I came across some miniature clothes pins that I'd bought for another project and realized they'd be absolutely perfect for the purpose. For now, the mittens are just strung up on some garden twine. I had intended to make a fancy braid out of knitted i-cord, ribbon and twine... maybe next year!

 

The mittens are from the Smitten pattern on Ravelry. They're super fast and easy. And anything in miniature is just adorable. I love my mitten garland! Maybe now I'll have the motivation to finish that felted heart garland I started before last Valentine's Day!

 

We cut down a magnificent tree this year! It's a stunning 9 1/2 feet tall and fits the corner perfectly. And almost a month later, it still smells good. It might just be the best tree we've ever had!

 

Perched at the top is our boxer tree topper. I'm so glad we bought it last year -- now Conan can be with us every Christmas.

 

We didn't do a whole lot of Christmas-y activities this year, but we did go to the Columbus Zoo Wildlights with my best friend, Katie. The zoo was decked out in zillions of beautiful lights and the effect was quite spectacular!