And we shall name it Triceratree

We put our Christmas tree up Sunday. I have fond memories of driving to every tree lot in the greater Tri-City area as a child to find our perfect tallest, Charlie-Brown-y-est Christmas tree possible — only to return to the very first lot and buy the very first tree we saw. But since moving to Alaska there are not billions of tree lots on every corner. So we simply go to Home Depot, because it's cost effective.

This year our tree had three tops. So we appropriately named it Triceratree. One was taller in the beginning, but it had to be lopped to fit in our living room.

My sweet mom made us some very special hand-beaded ornaments this year, including the one above. The beaded wreath frames pictures from our wedding on both sides. She has a similar one from hers and my dad's wedding which makes it extra special.

 Triceratree in all her glory.

Davs and I made paper snowflakes out of coffee filters while watching Elf and the Christmas episode of "Glee."

3-D movie glasses are so much cooler than when I was a kid. Pop the lenses out for a fashion statement.

Carving pumpkins and roasting seeds

Halloween is Monday so it's pumpkin carving time. We drove all over town looking for the perfect pumpkins after early release from school today and ended up getting these beauties at the Carr's [Alaska's Safeway] down the street. Bell's Nursery, which advertised a pumpkin patch on the radio only had discounted, tiny, Charlie Brown pumpkins left.

The ones at Carr's were huge and of course Davin wanted the one at the bottom of the crate. So we rearranged nearly every pumpkin in the stack to get to it.

Above, the victims before carving.

We also toasted pumpkin seeds, at batch of sweet and a batch of savory. The savory were coated in olive oil, garlic salt and cayenne pepper. The sweet were coated in olive oil, cinnamon, nutmeg, savory and a spoonful of brown sugar. Just spread on a baking sheet at pop in the oven at 400 for 20-30 minutes. If you do sweet, watch that sugar, it will burn if you don't pay attention.

Happy Halloween.

Bear hug for Baby B

In an act of domestication, I busted out the sewing machine to take on a tradition of my mother's: the bear hug blanket. It seems like many of my friends are having babies like it's going out of style and I am so incredibly happy for them. Parenthood is pretty much the best thing ever.

My mother has been making this adorable, quirky baby gift for years for cousins, friends, co-workers and more. I remember visiting my cousin in D.C. years back and her two-year old took her bear hug in the stroller pretty much everywhere.

I learned how to sew by helping my mother make these, graduation quilts and costumes for school plays growing up. Even as a busy career woman, she made time to teach me AND my brother how to mend, cook, garden and do other domestic work. I can't thank her enough for teaching me those skills. (Another day I'll tell you about how my father taught me to paint vehicles, change fuses and solder pretty much anything.)

You can get an idea of the actual size thanks to interested Boy Kitty in the top left pic. While it's tempting to buy people cute baby socks and minuture outfits at Babies R Us, I think a homemade gift is so much sweeter. So spoiler future-parent friends of mine: you can probably expect a bear hug if you're expecting. Now I wish I could go back in time and make blankets for everyone I know that's had new family members arrive in the past year or so.

I made my first attempt at crocheting a blanket in the spring for a new mommy friend of mine. But midway through I kind of felt like Audrey Hepburn's character in "Breakfast at Tiffany's" when she says she's worried she mixed her pattern up with blueprints for a home, "There's a good chance I'm knitting a ranch house."

Congratulations to the parents of Baby B, who are are expecting their first little one and are the new owners of the blankets feature here today.