Feeling Christmas

Christmas has arrived to our house this year in a simple, restrained kind of way.  Instead of hauling up all the boxes of decorations from the basement, we have only decorated a few, high impact areas.  Our normal ceiling-height tree became a five-footer.  While I love the usual decorations, I'm finding the simplicity quite nice.

The piano becomes our mantle, as we have no fireplace.  Every year Gus asks, "But how does Santa get into our house?"  Hmmm... the door?  The back door?  Molly the dog lets him in?  As a result, our next house WILL have a chimney. 

The pots this year are a hodge podge of purchased and found, clipped from the yard and imported from up north.  I was going for Scandinavian modern... a bit of Ikea in the candle holder and more sparse than usual.

We inherited six bags of almond bark from a friend who was moving.  Six bags?  Tough to use it all up.  Pretzel decoration with friends for afternoon group fun became presents for school friends.

Feeling December

It is December and we are feeling excited around this house. Generally we wait until after the birthday season to start decorating, but this year my birthday hasn't yet arrived and we already have the stockings hung on the piano with care. Such joy!

Our favorite decoration is the advent calendar and the kids take turns choosing which pocket to select an ornament from to hang on the tree. It is fun to watch the three of them negotiate with each other about who gets to choose on which day and which ornament. In most Advent calendars people choose what is behind the date, but we've decided to be a bit more flexible, allowing for personal choice as well as argue prevention.

We're also trying a new tradition I learned about from Sarah Jane: wrapping up all our children's Christmas books and unwrapping one each night before bed to celebrate the season of Advent. We have about ten books and I plan on picking up a few more to add to our collection or maybe even wrap up some library books for fun. (P.S. They were all wrapped with the exeption of the ones we had opened on Dec. 1 and 2, but our 2 year old niece visited on Friday and thought it was time to open presents. Back to the wrapping paper, we go!)

A Step Back... part two

We hosted officially ONE event here during the Christmas season, a post-Christmas pageant brunch with our parents. Our oven had just officially died and we were faced with the prospect of making brunch, oven-free. As a baker, I wonder if there is a more difficult fate? Alas, we remembered the electric fry pan and realized that our brunch could be saved! Hello beignets! We served a southern inspired four-course brunch. Louise had fallen asleep on the way home from church and continued her slumber. Carl and Gus busied themselves playing Legos nearby while both sets of grandparents enjoyed the leisurely pace of the meal.

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Mimosas, a tangerine and roasted beet salad on arugula with cranberry vinagrette, a tweaked version of of this succotash (corn, red peppers, green beans, baby lima beans, zucchini, herbs and a splash of cream!), red beans and rice, and coffee and beignets for dessert. We might have set a record for brunch at our normally fast-paced breakfast time.

A Step Back... part one

I let Christmas pass by my blog this year, accidentally. Oops.
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In the spirit of the new year and starting over, I'm forgiving myself and allowing myself to go ahead and post a few highlights, knowing that someday I'll be glad that I just went ahead and posted them, end-of-January-or not.
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Here was our holiday card this year, designed by Flipawoo. I found her on Etsy and loved her speed and quality.

Ready, Set, Decorate!

I'm keeping the Christmas decorations minimal this year, mostly because I think I really dislike putting them all away after Christmas. With my birthday in early December, we usually wait until afterwards to put up the tree. Ron's birthday is in early January, so I like to take things down before then. The time is so short... so I'm focusing on my mantle this year. Er, my piano, since we have no fireplace. (Please excuse the scratches on the piano.... it was once used religiously as a race track for match box cars. We did buy it used, however, for its great patina, so I don't mind a bit.)
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The felt trees were a great find last year at the dollar store. I think they were a subtle influence on the styling for our Advent calendar, though it may have been a chicken or the egg type situation. Did we style our Advent calendars that way then I fell in love with the trees? Or was it the other way around?
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On my to-do list is finish aembroidering my name on my stocking. Already the kids tease me that my name is "Je". Hey, their names are complete. Isn't that what matters most?

And you? How is your decorating going this year?

Time with Santa

Every year since Carl was born we have taken him to Bachman's to see the annual Santa and Albert the elf skit. It is a 25 minute show, filled with magic tricks by Albert, a little back and forth banter between the two of them and a sing-along at the end. This year, I was very brave and brought my two nephews along with our three, by myself. All were well behaved during the performance, but getting five kids dressed and ready to go on a cold and snowy day? I was ready for a hot toddy! Gus volunteered as a magician's assistant. He's excited, really.

Louise's doll Dalla got to come along in her matching dress. The doll dress was my mother's doll dress, hand sewn by her childhood neighbor. It was mine as a child also and found itself in Louise's doll clothes box to her utter delight!
No trip to Bachman's is complete without a visit to the koi ponds. It is the ultimate bribe... "If you _________ (fill in the blank), we can go watch the fish at Bachman's!"

The Advent Tree: A Year in the Making

Over a year ago I began a lovely project with my friend Kristine. I think I'm finally finished. Today it went up on the wall. As pictured, the kids hadn't yet visited to hang day one of the Advent Season.

Stay tuned for the end of the month when all of the handmade tree ornaments are on the tree. Merry Christmas season to you. With our dusting of snow these past few days and the shiver-inducing weater, it's beginning to look alot like.....