Holiday Boys to Men

My parents came for our Christmas celebration this weekend.  They arrived late on Friday evening, stayed up talking and playing, then we woke up and had our Christmas breakfast casserole, opened our gifts then had lunch together.  Typical, right?  Right.  How many of you can relate to the following progression watching our boys at holidays grow to men?

Out there and lovin' it.

In between:  candy in mouth with cocked eyebrow

Fully evolved

...That's the way the holiday starts

One simply cannot celebrate Christmas, especially with children, without holiday treats.  Some treats are only myade for special occasions.  After my first crack at Pinwheels this week, I know better why Mom only baked some of the cookies she did one time a year. 

Evolution of the Pinwheel cookie

As a child, I never realized that the dough had to be made, then refrigerated, next each color/flavor rolled out seperately, followed by being rolled together and another trip to the fridge before slicing and baking.  Yikes!  But, the cookies did end up being pretty.  Worth it?  Maybe not for eating, since they certainly aren't my favorite by flavor, but for looking at, I can appreciate its design, and now I appreciate Mom's special treats all the more. 

This song is for my mom and sister...

 

The kids put together a gingerbread house earlier this month.  It is now in a Tupperware container with some leftover peanut butter cookies that C made earlier this week.  After the kids nibbled on the house, it was too ugly to keep out on the counter, but it was fun having it sit out the first couple of days. 

Finished gingerbread house.  Yes, I DID buy the kit!  :)



The Pinwheels smell so yummy cooling on the counter.  Think I will test one to make sure they are good enough to share.  The things we mothers sacrifice. 

Ornaments

This angel lost her felt wings a few years ago, but she still holds a special place in my heart.

If you have kept track this month, you'll know that I am not adhering to my original plan.  I am enjoying writing off track however and I hope you are too.  Imagine while you are reading that you can smell the cinnamon snap cookies I just took out of the oven.  I've propped the oven door open and am gaining a little extra warmth in the kitchen.  My kids are quietly busy with their schoolwork.  I've just answered an email from my mother.  All is well with my world.

Some of my friends and family members have not decorated much this year for Christmas.  I understand that.  Last year, after just getting back from Belize, decorating seemed extravagant but at the same time we didn't want have nothing for the kids.  Thankfully they were old enough to drag out boxes and they did a fine job of making merry and putting up their favorite decorations.  They did a fantastic job, so this year, they did most of the "work" again.  H, insisted on having Christmas music play while he worked on the tree.  Check!  K carefully sorted through special ornaments.  Check!  C had the dreaded task of checking light strands and there were glimpses of a young boy from Cleveland in my living room except his reason for wanting the BB gun was to put the lights out.  He likes tackling the tough tasks and I am certainly appreciative.   Once again we stuck with the minimalist approach to the yuletide trimmings.

My dad's

There are certain ornaments that I favor.  This ornament is my dad's, which I now have.  Every year he is placed near the top of the tree.  He is delicate, so that is part of the reason he is placed so high.  Another is that it is part of my treasured heritage and I want to place this ornament in a prominent place.

My first Christmas.

 Other decorations are special because they represent my childhood and stir warm memories.  This little girl spent most of the year in a Whitman's Sampler box wrapped in Kleenex, but opening her box and hanging her on the tree by her knotted golden thread awakens my memories as a small girl.  I feel that I should be sharing that old and ugly brown chair with my sister, our feet barely reaching over the cushion, staring at our lit tree in the room with the red sheer curtains and red and black carpet.  Ugly room, beautiful memories.

The dove I crafted in VBS 1980 while my cousin made the mouse for me another time.

I take joy in ogling the elaborate themed trees as much as the next person and appreciate the time and effort and creativity, but to me, nothing really beats the nostalgia of a tree decorated with homemade trinkets.  I love the eclectic flavor of a tree that is covered with love and memories that no other tree on earth can share.  It is the difference of covering one's self with a store bought quilt or a quilt scrapped together from material that was leftover from a dress, or tablecloth, or curtains, or blouse with stories behind each block.  I see beauty in the unstructured color and arrangement of trees with ornaments with stories.  I see getting to share stories with my kids as we look at the tree.  I get to see them spinning their own stories with the ornaments that they make.  I envision them telling their children one day of their own special Christmases and decorating the tree. 

Green

Mistletoe

Red, white and green.  Silver and gold.  Colors of Christmas.  As I looked around our home today for "green", I realized that each item I saw represents a tradition for our family and/or for our culture.  Sometimes the tradition is like kissing under the mistletoe.  We are firm believers in grossing our kids out on a regular basis.  Sometimes we do not even bother to stand under the greenery!  Sometimes the tradition is simply that a particular decoration is hung or displayed in the same place every year.

Victorian tree in the entryway.

Sometimes the tradition belongs to the parents.  Perhaps it is something that is passed from from one generation to the next.  One of ours is that the Christmas story from the book of Luke is read every Christmas morning before stockings or presents are even touched.  Our hope is that this will become part of our (future) grandchildren's custom as well. 

A few traditions belong to the children.  Ours enjoy making silly poses for the nativity figures on the advent calendar.  They take turns every day sticking up a new animal or person and they rotate years so that everyone has a chance at putting Jesus on the board on Christmas morning.  C and K think that H is too silly sometimes and rearrange his day, but he always finds them out and puts his back.  This year we have sheep that are jumping into each other and a sheep kissing a cow. 

One of our advent calendars.
 

There is yet another kind of tradition--the one not kept.  I miss giving H his special ornament every year.  That tradition died out since so many were broken in storage.  (Perhaps I need to create a box for the ornaments and make sure the tree is bare before it is tucked away for the year.)  We used to buy the kids new pajamas.  I'm not sure why this stopped.  I remember as a girl Mom would make a paper chain with something new to do or craft every day.  I tried to pass this on with my kids, but it just became something they "had" to do and wasn't fun for them. 

Here I thought I wouldn't have much to say with the idea of "green", but as it turns out I've had a pleasant visit with Christmas Past.  OH!  That reminds me of another of my favorite Christmas traditions!  I love to watch A Christmas Carol starring George C. Scott beginning at midnight on Christmas Eve.  I don't always accomplish this, so perhaps it is not technically tradition, but it is certainly something I desire to do every year. 

I would love to hear some of your traditions!




December Potpourri

I missed blogging for several days due to my lovely phone being out of commission, but my truly fantastic husband is a whiz and he has fixed the problem and I am now back in business!  Yay!

Since the idea of a "photo-a-day" was to get me back into the swing of blogging I will spare you the multiple catch-up posts to stay on track.  Instead, I'm asserting my right to NOT stick with the schedule and do what I want to do. 



B took me out to The Rathskeller this weekend.  I was a bundle of nerves heading out since I am not always a fan of trying something new, which is funny because generally I end up liking what I try.  He'd made reservations, which was good since the place was jam-packed with people.  I had no idea the place was that big.  The dining rooms are intimate though so it wasn't overwhelming.  The food was fabulous!  After dinner we headed down to the band playing in the bar area, but decided against staying since we still wanted to talk--music was too loud to be able to hear each other.  I'd like to go back and take friends with me next time. Any takers? 

Since I was still trying to take pictures for the blog that night, I needed a picture having to do with "Bright".  Again, my husband is so thoughtful.  He drove me to the Circle just to get some shots of the tree.

The following day, the family kicked back at home and played some games.  Remember this one?

 



Shopping

Homemade wheat bread and soups
 

I am not a shopper.  I make a list and stick to it.  Some of you might even laugh at me if I showed you my shopping list for the grocery.  There is a 2-sided grocery list stored on my computer so that I can print off multiple copies to keep in my pantry.  On one side, I keep the menus for the week, marked with notes if it is simple enough for hubby to make on my busy days so he can just pick something.  The other side is divided into the sections of my store in the order that I walk the aisles so that I don't waste time running back and forth in the store.  Of course this makes it doubly aggravating when the store rearranges their shelves, since not only do I have to re-learn where everything is, I have to re-write my template.  (Let the laughing commence.)

I realize that the mention of Shopping at this time of the year refers to gifts, but I don't always enjoy that either.  Not that you haven't heard it before, or is it any less true or important to mention, but this time of the year has become WAY too commercial.  I don't like the pressure of feeling like I HAVE to buy something for everyone.  I don't even want to make something for everyone.  Am I a Scrooge if I don't want to buy something for my neighbors?  Am I a Grinch if I don't want one more party or dinner for each child per club they are in? 

MomII said that she really enjoys Russion Orthodox Christmas.  It is celebrated much later on January 7.  It focuses on Christ's birth and since it is held later, the commercialism has died down.  Here is a link to learn more about this holiday.  I think that I see a Russian Orthodox Christmas unit in our school's near future! 

Since I don't want to go shopping just to take a picture for today's blog, I thought that I'd post what I didn't shop for that I am giving today.  I made bread yesterday and the soup I thawed from leftovers. This is what I gave my family for lunch. (Yummy Zuppa Tuscana and Tomato Spinach Orzo) At any rate, maybe I should have titled this post, "Anti-Shopping".

(Disclaimer:  I have purchased and handmade several gifts this year.  I am not against gift giving or shopping.  I just do not like the HAVE TO mentality nor the guilt that is pushed upon me for not doing so.  This gift is not mine to give, but I can share:  Jesus came into this world to give you the gift of eternal life.  All you have to do is accept it.)

Today's Temperature

Technically, I missed a day of blogging.  I apologize.  It was due to techincal difficulties.  My phone/camera has decided to take a vacation and if it doesn't straighten up soon, I'll be making sure it takes a permanent vacation.  I could have posted last night, but it would have been without a picture. 

When I printed the list of ideas to blog this month, it was 70 degrees!  A couple of days later it snowed.  Now we are in this holding pattern of 40s and overcast.  We Hoosiers certainly know the full range of seasons! 

I am not a big fan of Winter.  It is my least favorite of seasons.  I usually joke that the only good thing about Winter is that it makes me appreciate the other seasons all the more.  There are a few things that I do like about this cold part of the year.  I like looking out at a fresh snow, sledding (with cocoa to warm up afterwards!), knitting without getting hot sitting under my project, seeing Christmas lights, singing carols, having legitimate reasons to sit and knit, feeling the warmth of the fire (even if it is gas and not wood) and my anniversary, which happens to be today.  Happy Anniversary, B!  I love you! 

Joyous

Today's December inspiration is the word "Joyous".  I have been planning all day for what pictures I wanted to accompany my post today and my (having trouble thinking of a decent adjective) phone/camera wouldn't work the way I wanted it too and actually locked up twice tonight.  Isn't that the way it happens?  So the picture I have is not the picture I'd hoped it would be. 

Our church's Ladies' Christmas Tea was tonight.  I had hoped to post pictures of all our happy faces to display "Joyous".  Pastor's wife said, "I just love it when we church ladies get together."  I couldn't agree more.  Who else gets to see you at your highs and lows and still love you?  (Husbands and kids excluded here.) 

This is my favorite church event.  We bring our own tea cups and a creative gift to exchange.  It is probably our best attended event.  This year I received a homemade hand scrub that is scented like pomegranate.  Our hostess also stitched together tissue holders for our purse.  Another lady painstakenly made tea cups from ice cream cones and cookies held together with icing.  She even made the tags.  What creativity and love!  I had a wonderful evening.  I might even call it joyous!

Red

Today's image is "something red".  Since we started our day off baking, I decided to photograph our red cookie cutters.  Miss K asked why anyone would use the large stocking cutter.  I answered that cookies that size neatly decorated would make a nice gift.  Maybe she should take orders. 

My Favorite Christmas Movie



Curling up with a cup of hot cocoa and my knitting to watch this classic Christmas movie is something that I look forward to doing every year.  I love Irving Berlin's arrangements and have since even before watching this movie for the first time nearly 10 years ago.  My high school choir director introduced me to Berlin.  (I got to see my director this weekend at home.  Just the back of his head as he was stepping down the curb at McDonald's, but I interrupted a conversation with my husband to point him out.) 


The voices of Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney can melt hearts and Danny Kaye and Vera-Ellen are great too.  Often I catch myself singing "Sisters" or "Count Your Blessings" throughout the year.  "Snow" is fun and I like the harmonies.  "White Christmas" is the perfect ending to the movie. 

The dance numbers are fun to watch.  If Judy's (Vera-Ellen) waist got any smaller she'd simply disappear.  One of the funniest scenes is watching Bob and Phil don the sisters' costumes and perform in the club.  Is it just me or should Danny Kaye win an award for his funny faces? 

 

 

The storyline is heartwarming and has purpose.  Can I live and work with the Wallace and Davis team or be another Haynes sister please?  Can Hollywood produce some more holiday movies with this feel please?  Can we have relationships like these characters?  What great times.  Perhaps I should holiday in Vermont.  Maybe the General has room for me at his inn.  I don't even think I'd mind the lady at the front desk steaming open my mail.  :)

 

 



My View Today

The Storehouse

As I mentioned yesterday, I am attempting to blog everyday this month and I am using a Photo-a-Day I found on Pinterest.  (Click here. for list.)  Today's inspiration was to take a photo of "your view today".  Two of my kids competed in a Teen Bible Quiz in my hometown.  My view today ended up being the church where the competition was held.  I remember this church being built, but I'd never been inside.  Great atmosphere for kids! 

I'm looking forward to being here with you everyday this month.