FYI, some of these are the kits I just bought to make for gifts and myself this year.

oh, pretty! some of the Santa/St. Nick ones look a bit like Jim Shore ornaments.

I used to collect Xmas ornaments as keepsakes from wherever I went on travels. They were small and easy to pack and having them meant the tree was full of stories. That was until I married The Jew. Non-practicing though he may be, a tree is where he draws the line. I have channeled my Xmas frenzy into stuff like snowglobes and garlands for the mantels. My fave decoration is three holiday cards from the '20s I framed in white frames. I put them our on a table and they look so cool and pretty.

Aren't those Santa faces terrific? I was thinking about getting those, but instead, I went with some of the ones on the top of the first page, and several of the word ones on the later pages (loved the "Naughty" and "Nice" ones!). I've already made the musical instruments that are on the final page earlier this year.

if you want to be pregnancy buddies, please email!

I would love to be pregnancy buddies! Aw, now I'm all excited.

I should also mention that Gris and his lovely (and also pregnant) DW just moved to our area and we've hung out with them a couple of times, AND she gave me a tip on reducing nausea that is pretty much the only reason I'm up and walking around this week. I'm pretty psyched to have them close by. So yay pregnancy buddies!

And now I'm all excited for Christmas and tree-trimming too. We have a smallish but well-curated and well-loved collection of ornaments, and it makes me happy just to think about getting them out and putting them on the tree. Plus there's a chance we might do Christmas at our place this year and have our families come to us, rather than traveling all over like we've done the last couple of years, which would be fantastic.

My fave decoration is three holiday cards from the '20s I framed in white frames.

What a great idea! I bought greeting card recreations of some local Chicago-area travel posters from the 1930s the last time I was at the Chicago History Museum, and I will eventually get them framed in some really cool way. (I've got the idea in my head that I'd love to find some cast-iron-like sculptural wall piece that has frames scattered throughout it so I can group them together, but I might have to design it myself and get it custom made, someday after I win the lottery.)

Oh, and I meant to say earlier: Congratulations to Kate and DH!!! Babiesbabiesbabies!

My mom is a big collector of certain things (her current collection is the Byers Carollers), so when I expressed an interest in a few Jim Shore pieces at a store we were at, she thought I'd be collecting him. Um, no, I just like what I like and I liked a few of his things. I'm not looking to Collect Jim Shore, just keep an open mind and get what I like.

I want a pregnancy buddy!

ita, you have to get pregnant. Unless you're up for a sympathetic pregnancy, where you get all the symptoms but no baby at the end.