Christmas Jumpers for the Twins (Again!)

The news will really get you feeling down these days.  I've half a mind (before I lose my mind) to stop watching it altogether, because it's just so incredibly depressing.  And this is no time to be depressed.  Thanksgiving is just around the corner, followed by the MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR!  Yes, Christmas is coming!  And just as Winnie the Pooh said you can't be uncheered by a balloon, you just can't be uncheered by Christmas. Everything about it brings the kind of hope and happiness that makes your soul soar--for how can you ever lose heart completely, no matter how dire things seem here on planet earth, when you remember that God sent us a Savior, His Only Begotten Son, to redeem us and open the gates of Heaven for us?

An occasion as momentous as the birthday of Baby Jesus certainly calls for celebration, with Nativity sets and wreaths and and lit-up Christmas trees and presents under the tree and stockings hanging over the fireplace and Christmas cards and Christmas carols and roast beast and red and green M&M's...but not chestnuts roasting by an open fire, thanks anyway.  (Do you know anyone who roasts chestnuts for Christmas?  Or who has even ever eaten a chestnut?)  And one thing Baby Jesus' birthday calls for, as far as this doting grandmother is concerned, is new Christmas dresses  for my little sweetie pies, Bonny and Kewpie.  Or Christmas jumpers, perhaps.

Last year, I made my identical twin granddaughters (who will be 18 months old soon) identical twin Christmas jumpers out of red velveteen that I'd found in my mother-in-law's attic.  If you've read this blog much, you probably know that my dear late mother-in-law, who was a gifted seamstress, rarely met a bolt of fabric that she didn't love and want to take home with her--and she did indeed take most of them home with her.  She was a true fabric fanatic, and she filled her attic with more material than one woman could ever use in one lifetime.  I have inherited some of her prized pieces, and this year I'm making the twins' jumpers out of some lovely green pinwale corduroy from their great-grandma's attic.

Yesterday, my dining room table looked like this, as I set about blocking out all of my worldly cares with the joy of sewing for my darling little girls.

And by the time I finished working on my happiness-inducing project, I had gotten the jumpers about half-way done.

Hopefully, I'll finish them today.  I better, I guess--because tomorrow my husband and I are flying out to South Bend bright and early, to see son #5, son #4 and his girlfriend, and other various and sundry family members; and from there, we'll fly out to CO on Sunday to spend the week at our oldest son's house.  By hook or by crook, I'm going to have two finished Christmas jumpers packed in my suitcase when we leave this house in the morning!

With any luck, I'll be posting a picture of little ready-to-wear twin Christmas jumpers tomorrow!